Alashan people and camels grow and migrate together, becoming the closest survival partners, and the camel culture derived and accumulated from this has become the most dazzling flower of Alashan culture.
Because of my work, I have worked and lived in Alashan for more than three years. In my impression, the bactrian camel in Alashan is more like a "white princess" standing in the lonely smoke of Alashan desert.
What does Alashan "Princess in White" look like? What does the princess like to eat and drink? What is the princess's little temper? How does the princess love? How does the princess protect her mother's grassland? I heard some stories from Alashan herdsmen, and I would like to share them with you here.
One,
Camels originated in North America, then evolved and migrated to three regions of the earth. Bactrian camels in Alashan, Inner Mongolia, China and Xinjiang, dromedary camels in West Asia, and alpacas in Australia and New Zealand. It is said that these three kinds of camels can also have children with each other, but I have some doubts about it.
When I was a child, I recited Mulan's words: "I would like to borrow a camel and send my son back to my hometown." This camel refers to the camel in the west of Alashan. Twelve Elephants of the Ming Camel is a complete sketch of the bactrian camel. It may be hard for you to believe that all twelve animal signs are embodied in camels.
Camel is an elf species, and its figure embodies the outstanding features of the zodiac: mouse ears, hooves, tiger backs, rabbit mouths, dragon necks, snake eyes, horse teeth, sheep noses, monkey heads, cockscomb, dog legs and pig tails, all of which are typical features of the zodiac.
The height and neck length of the camel can be seen from a distance; Camels have a keen sense of smell. They can find water and avoid sandstorms. The nose will be closed to prevent dust from entering; I'm not afraid of scalding my legs. Toes are wide and open without sinking; The hump on the back is a warehouse for storing nutrients.
Camels can walk slowly in the desert wind with their eyes closed and walk out of the storm calmly without getting lost. Alashan herders have carefully observed that in the dark sandstorm, no other animals dare to take a step against the wind except camels. Camels advance accurately in the storm, which is due to their good endurance and the memory of identifying directions in their minds. When encountering a storm in the desert, the camel will use its body as a barrier for its owner, dig a big pit with its hoof webbed and arch its mouth for its owner to escape. It will lie on its side to block the storm that covers the sky. If there is no one, a group of camels will lie in a castle, borrow each other's armpits, wait for the wind and sand to disperse, and wait for the clear sky in the desert to be reconciled.
Zoologists have found that the bactrian camel in Alashan has double eyelids or triple eyelids and thick long eyelashes. When the eyes are closed, these layered eyelids and thick eyelashes can form a safety barrier to stop the raging sandstorm and protect the eyes from any harm. Camel's nose is fully functional. It can not only sniff out the information of aquatic plants several kilometers or even ten kilometers away against the wind, but also adjust its breathing at will, and close its nostrils freely like a gate when the dust is flying, blocking every tiny grain of sand in front of it. Ruthless storm, turbulent sandstorm, in front of these soft, open and close barriers, there is nothing to do, and finally disappeared into the vast expanse. The philosophy of being flexible and surviving the fittest has been applied incisively and vividly in camel's survival and life, just right.
Camels have amazing memories. The reason why it won't get lost in the sandstorm is that in the fine weather of clear Wan Li, they will open their eyes, integrate the world into their cognition and memory in detail, and integrate the terrain and scenery of Fiona Fang 100-200 square kilometers into their hearts. Its super memory is positively related to seeing more and observing more at ordinary times. If you watch it too much, you will analyze it with your own thinking. If you watch more, you will strengthen your memory, you will understand many truths in the world, you will learn to coexist and be kind with human beings, and thus understand human philosophy.
Second,
Water is the source of life. Camels are extremely sensitive to water. They can accurately find the water source one or two meters underground. In summer, camels must lie down and rest near the water, so that the moisture in the water can help them cool down. Herdsmen have mastered this characteristic of camels. If they are short of water when grazing, they will dig water with shovels where camels lie, and soon clear springs will come out to nourish the hot and dry season. Grass is a necessary food to sustain life, while tall camels are actually herbivores, which makes many people don't understand. After the soft grass is eaten by the camel, it can gather huge energy, support the huge body to run and run quickly in the desert, and set off waves like water waves under the fins of the thick and solid pier.
The camel's huge size determines the amount of food it gets. It is not picky about food, what it eats in its mouth is food, and what it swallows after ruminating is energy. Therefore, there is a spiny plant in desert, wasteland or Gobi, which is the favorite of camels. Therefore, this plant is named "camel thorn" after camel. As the name implies, the camel thorns are covered with sharp thorns, but the camel sticks out its tongue, and these thorny branches and leaves smoothly enter the camel's mouth and become delicious food. Pearls, Nitraria tangutorum and Populus euphratica leaves on Alashan Yuan Ye are all delicious food for camels.
Third,
As the saying goes, eyes are the window of emotion. It is said that camels often have tears in their eyes. Is it true?/You don't say.
When the daughter of the host family got married, it secretly shed tears; The master's family was ill, and he also secretly cried. Therefore, Mongolians in the past would never eat camel meat. Camel is one of the three animals mentioned in the Bible that people can't eat. The other two are rabbits and pigs. Camels were originally soft pads with five hard hooves, but later Swedish taxonomist Linnaeus only classified camels as cloven-hoofed, apparently never seen Alashan bactrian camels.
Anyone who has seen camel's eyes will praise her beautiful eyes. Camels rarely blink, but they always look at you intently, so sincere and enthusiastic that people are willing to be friends with them. In a few cases, people's shadows will appear in camel's eyes. In most cases, camel's eyes will take in blue sky and white clouds. In Alashan herdsmen's jokes, the most magical thing about Alashan bactrian camel's eyes is not that it can resist sandstorms freely, but that it can accurately identify people's good and evil. The man who can see his own shadow in the camel's eyes is a good man. This man's heart is kind, and he is a man who makes a difference. People who can't see their own shadow in camel's eyes have filth and ugliness hidden in their hearts, and their thoughts are stubborn, so they can't make friends. Because of this, many people will look for their own shadow in the eyes of camels and correct their mentality, behavior and temperament. Good people will leave their shadows here, and bad people will strive to improve themselves and let their shadows appear in the eyes of camels. Camels appear in many novels and movies. For example, San Mao's novels and mongolia film's Crying.
It is difficult for the mother camel to give birth to a small white camel. Once the mother refuses to breastfeed, herders will send her children to a distant place to invite an old musician. When the melodious Ma Touqin and the long tune sounded, the female camel shed tears. At this point, the child's camel mouth reached out to his mother's breast.
Camel is a very emotional animal. When it is sick, it will quietly hide in a place where no one finds it until it is well. When it feels like leaving this world, it will return to the place where it was born when it was a child.
Someone in Alashan asked me why camels often have tears in their eyes, just because they love Alashan deeply. In the eyes of herders, camels are like their children, and each camel has a name. I once visited the herdsmen in Alashan, and they thought it was a normal thing. No matter how many children there are, the mother will remember their names.
Fourth,
A major disaster on the grassland in winter is camel estrus. The estrus cycle of animals is a sign to measure the evolution of animals. Estrus cycle, primate about 365 days; Dogs and horses; Female seasonal estrus; Male and female ruminants are in seasonal estrus. Camel pregnancy needs 12- 14 months. And "cats, three dogs, four pigs, five sheep and six rabbits have a nest in January."
In order to make camels estrus in advance, herders often fill camels with wine. It seems a bit inhuman to put a small flag on the camel's head after drinking. When a mother camel gives birth to a baby, she will run around when her stomach hurts. This really makes me feel sad and moved.
Five,
Herdsmen in Alashan once told me: "Without the grassland of wolves, horses will become lazy, and without the desert of bactrian camels, Haloxylon ammodendron will not grow." Camels have made special contributions to desert ecological protection. They are free pruning engineers of Haloxylon ammodendron leaves in Alashan. Secondly, camels also help to kill rats on the grassland, let alone fertilize them.
The 270,000-square-kilometer Alashan Plateau consists of mountains, wasteland, desert and Gobi. Two-thirds of the bactrian camels in Alashan live in the deserts of Wulanbuhe, Tengger and Badain Jilin, and it has also gained the reputation of "Hometown of Bactrian Camels".
People say that the desert is a sea of death, which is obviously biased. Although the desert area is dry, with thousands of miles of bare fields and sparse vegetation, it is indeed a magnificent home arranged by God for camels. Despite the harsh environment, no camel has given up the desert. On the contrary, the desert is a paradise for camels. Camels can always find a place to adapt to their own survival and forge their own way of life in the desert. Strong winds blow from time to time in the desert, flying sand and stones, and many animals escape or die in the desert. However, the bactrian camel in Alashan always stands extremely safely in the wind, facing the confidence and loftiness of the wind, and it has become a frame of scenery, a culture and a lofty spirit. People also position this unyielding standing as the high point of a spiritual coordinate.
In fact, grassland is an ecosystem composed of "people-livestock-grassland", and artificially dividing the relationship between the three is the greatest damage to this ecosystem. After grazing prohibition, the number of Alashan bactrian camels decreased from 250,000 peaks in 198 1 year to 70,000 peaks now. Protecting Haloxylon ammodendron means protecting bactrian camels, and vice versa.
"A distant mirage, the camel team is like a moving mountain, the mysterious dream is on the horizon, and the figure of Abba is looming; In the vast golden desert, camel bells brought me back to my childhood, and a lullaby sounded in my ear, and my grandmother's voice suddenly approached and drifted away.
I especially like this song "Alashan is like the sky"? But only listening in Alashan will have a more different feeling.
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