Every day discovering a pair of little wings, help you drive away the gloom~

Here is your attention Yan Yan Parrot (manually grinning teeth).

Today let everyone introduce the most stupid and cute birds in the world – African national treasure 'Big Panda' – Cranes with Whale Heads: The head is like a brain, and the 'handsome' is not available, so the head is sacrificed to be 'handsome'!

If you ask about which bird on earth looks most unlike a real bird, it must be the whale-headed crane. This bird is huge, with a huge beak and a peculiar body proportion, and has recently become a focus on the internet.

Recently, in the flower and bird garden of Shengjin City, Japan and Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, a whale-headed crane was exhibited. When feeding it, it stood motionless, and when the staff left it a little bit of food, it even shook its head, seeming to refuse. Even if the staff fed it fish to its mouth, it constantly shook its huge head, seeming very 'arrogant' and unwilling to eat.

The largest head, but seems not very smart

If you want to award animals with Guinness World Records, this silly and cute bird can also take one

The whale-headed crane is the largest bird in the head volume in the world. This huge head has a very interesting and cute face, and its huge beak adds a sense of humor to this face. It's huge beak is the widest bird beak in the world, with a width of up to 12 cm.

The ancestors of this bird can be traced back to the ancient Egyptian period. Its image has appeared in the ancient Egyptian paintings. However, besides the paintings, people know little about this bird. This situation continued until the 19th century, when British ornithologist John Gould first formally discovered this bird.

It cannot be said that the whale-headed crane is low-key, it is only distributed in the swampy areas of the central African region, and it is scarce and has a low density. It is almost impossible to find them without careful pursuit. This is why it has avoided the search of biologists and zoologists for several centuries.

British ornithologist John Gould discovered it for the first time in 1851, and exclaimed, 'This is the most wonderful bird I have observed in recent years!'

Although this bird looks a little silly now, but it is actually the top predator in the local ecosystem. Except for crocodiles, there is no natural enemy. Sometimes it's reported that it preys on juvenile crocodiles, which shows that this bird is not a 'hand-empty' bird.

When hunting, the whale-headed crane is very patient and has a flexible technique. They can stand motionless in the water waist-deep for several hours, guarding the appearance of the prey. As soon as the prey appears, it will quickly fly out and chase it.

At this time, its huge body and sharp beak, coupled with tremendous kinetic energy, will penetrate the water and grab the prey. It even can crush and pierce the prey in an instant. However, when hunting, it seems a little silly because it's afraid of its eyes getting wet, so it will close its eyes in an instant. This is why it often unintentionally grabs pieces of wood and branches, making people feel very comedic.

Although hunting sometimes has minor deviations, its terrifying patience can ensure that it can hunt something every time, almost no animal can escape from its mouth. The main prey of the whale-headed crane is African lungfish, but its menu also includes various fish, amphibians, snakes, turtles, mice, and even small birds.

It suddenly went red

This species suddenly went red in 2009, which was a completely accidental photo. A photographer accidentally discovered a whale-headed crane rushing for speed in the San Diego Wild Animal Park in the United States.

The photographer thought that the whale-headed crane would hunt and kill the deer duck, but this silly bird carefully took the duck and placed it aside, then rushed on. The duck stood there for a long time before realizing that it was still alive.

This photo caused a huge reaction on the internet. Internet users couldn't help but comment online: 'How silly these birds look!' If I were that duck, I would have been scared to death.

From this time on, this bird began to enter the eyes of the world. Whale-headed cranes in zoos around the world also gradually gained popularity.

Although the crane in the zoo looks silly, this is not its original appearance. The photo taken by the American photographer also has a certain coincidence. The wild whale-headed crane does not look so 'funny' in the wild. It becomes so in the artificial environment because the artificial-bred whale-headed crane has a behavioral abnormality. This big guy seems to be 'pretending to be stupid' and 'selling cute' is largely due to plenty of food.

Different from the wild ones

In the wild, the whale-headed crane cannot hunt enough food, and even when raising young, it will only devote all its energy to the first cracking chick, and other chicks born will be regarded as unlucky chicks because of their parents' indifference. However, this doesn't completely blame the whale-headed crane. In fact, even if there are three chicks in a nest, usually only one of them can survive. Moreover, the reason for the food causes it to be difficult to raise multiple chicks at the same time.

However, aside from this, the whale-headed crane is a pretty good parent. It's not only busy with incubation and feeding, but also takes its young to live, until its young have matured and can self-support after three years.

Aside from these, the survival rate of the whale-headed crane is quite high. Whale-headed cranes living in good environments can live up to 35 years, which is considered a high age in birds.

And because it went red, this bird was gradually appreciated by hunters, and in recent years, the number of species has become increasingly rare due to the encroachment of human living environment on its habitat. Therefore, its species has been shrinking and has become a national treasure in some African countries. Like giant pandas in China, the whale-headed crane is often given as a diplomatic gift to friendly countries.

Fortunately, it was because of this that the almost extinct whale-headed crane was rescued from the increasingly severe environment in Africa. This is why the article starts with the experience of the American photographer.

Summary

Today, many species face the danger of their habitats shrinking or disappearing. Their survival is being tested. All this is almost attributable to us humans. It is now necessary for us to protect these wild animals.

Protecting wild animals and protecting the environment in which they live is actually protecting the nature we rely on. Only by harmoniously coexisting with nature can we build a better home.