Big Head, Big Head, No Worries in the Rain, It's Hard to Have Both Brains and Cuteness, Better to Have Brains, But It's Better to Have Cuteness!
Every day discovering a pair of little wings, helping you drive away the gloom~
This is where your attention to the Ostrich (manual grinning teeth).
Today let's introduce the world's most stupid and cute bird – the African treasure 'Big Panda' – the Crane with a Pig Head: It's hard to have both brains and cuteness, so it's better to have brains, but it's better to have cuteness!
If you ask about which bird on Earth looks least like a real bird, it must be the Crane with a Pig Head. This bird is huge, with a huge beak and a peculiar body proportions, and it has recently become a focus on the Internet.
Recently, in the flower and bird garden in Shiramatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, a Crane with a Pig Head was exhibited. When people fed it, they stood motionless, and when staff members left it, it even shook its head, as if refusing. Even if staff members fed it fish to its mouth, it constantly shook its huge head, as if very arrogant and didn't want to eat. It's like a little brat!
Largest head, but seems not very smart
If you want to award an animal for Guinness World Records, this stupid and cute bird species can also occupy one slot. Crane with a Pig Head is the largest-headed bird in the world, and this huge head has a very interesting and cute face, and its huge beak adds a certain humorous feeling to this face.
Crane with a Pig Head is huge, with an average height of 1.2 meters, and sometimes even 1.5 meters. Its huge body is combined with a huge head, which is incompatible with ordinary birds. As for why it's called Crane with a Pig Head, it's because of its huge beak like a whale's head, which 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 ancient Egyptian paintings, but except for the paintings, people know little about this bird. This situation continued until the 19th century when British ornithologist John Gould officially discovered this bird.
It's undeniable that Crane with a Pig Head is very low-key. It is only distributed in the middle part of Africa, and the number is very small. It is almost impossible to find its tracks unless you look for it carefully. This is why it has been hidden for several centuries of biologists and zoologists searching for it.
And British ornithologist John Gould discovered it for the first time in 1851, and exclaimed, 'This is the most amazing bird I've observed in recent years!'
Although this bird looks a little silly now, but it is actually a top predator in the local ecosystem. Except for crocodiles, there is no natural enemy. Sometimes it is reported that it preys on juvenile crocodiles, which shows that this bird is not a useless bird with no wings or claws.
During hunting, Crane with a Pig Head is patient and has flexible skills. They can stand motionless in water up to waist-deep for several hours, waiting for the prey to appear. As soon as the prey appears, it will quickly fly out and pounce.
At this time, its huge body and sharp beak with great momentum will grab the prey in the water, and even crush and pierce the prey in an instant. However, it seems a little silly when hunting because it's afraid of water entering its eyes, so it will close its eyes instinctively. Because of this, it often accidentally grabs wood and branches, making it look very funny.
Although hunting sometimes has a little deviation, its patience can ensure that it can hunt something every time, and few animals can escape from its mouth. Crane with a Pig Head's main prey is the African lungfish, but its menu also includes various fish, amphibians, snakes, turtles, mice, and even smaller birds.
Suddenly became popular
This species suddenly became popular in 2009, which was a chance photo. A photographer accidentally discovered a Crane with a Pig Head while rushing in San Diego, California.
When the photographer thought the Crane with a Pig Head would hunt and kill the Mandarin Duck, this stupid bird carefully picked up the duck and put it aside, then continued to rush. The Mandarin Duck stood there for a long time before realizing it was still alive.
This photo triggered a huge reaction on the Internet. Internet users couldn't help but comment: 'How silly these birds look!' If it were me, I would have been scared to death.
From this moment on, this bird entered the eyes of the world. Crane with a Pig Head in zoos around the world also gained popularity.
Although Crane with a Pig Head looks silly in the zoo, it's not its original appearance. The photo taken by the American photographer also has some accidental reasons. Wild Crane with a Pig Head doesn't look so silly, it becomes so in the artificial environment, this is because the artificial breeding Crane with a Pig Head has some behavioral abnormalities. This big guy seems to be deliberately pretending to be silly and cute, which is partly due to plenty of food.
Their different appearance in the wild
In the wild, Crane with a Pig Head cannot hunt enough food, and even when raising chicks, it will only pour all its energy on the first chick to hatch, and other chicks born will become unfortunate children because they don't care about them. But this doesn't completely blame Crane with a Pig Head, usually a clutch of three chicks, but at the end of the day, there is usually only one chick that survives. Moreover, the reason for food makes it difficult to raise multiple chicks at the same time.
However, leaving aside this point, Crane with a Pig Head is a very conscientious parent. It doesn't only pamper and feed the chicks, but it also takes the chicks to live together until the chicks mature and can live independently after three years.
Leaving aside these, Crane with a Pig Head's survival rate is still high. Crane with a Pig Head with good environment can live to 35 years old, which is a high age for birds.
And because it became popular, this bird was increasingly coveted by poachers, and in recent years, its population has been shrinking, becoming a national treasure in some African countries. In some African countries, Crane with a Pig Head is like our giant panda, often used as a diplomatic envoy to give to friendly countries.
Fortunately, thanks to this, the endangered bird was rescued from the increasingly serious environment in Africa. This is why the beginning of this article, the experience of the American photographer.
Summary
Now many species are facing the danger of habitats shrinking and disappearing, and their survival is being tested. All this is almost attributable to humans. How to protect these wild animals is something we need to do now.
