Whenever a Harlequin Wolf felt hungry, it would initiate a group hunting request by sneezing.
Whether its request passed depended on how many sneezes it could gather.
It even evolved into a more sophisticated form—different ranks of spotted hyenas held different speaking rights when they sneezed.
If the first hyena to sneeze was the leader of the pack, then it only needed about three more sneezes for the entire pack to assemble and start hunting.
But if the first to sneeze was just an ordinary hyena, it needed the affirmation of about nine other hyenas, more than ten votes, for its hunting request to be approved.
[That's outrageous]
[Is this really Earth?]
[In Nature, nothing is too bizarre.]
[I hereby declare that the Harlequin Wolf has beco enchanted—this is a sign of impending bewitchnt!]
Animals holding elections was a blind spot within a blind spot for most audiences, an incredible fact that sparked a storm in their brains.
It's hard to imagine that animals could exhibit such high intelligence, and it was not just a simple one wolf, one vote.
Just one word—outrageous!
Bi Fang nodded, "The electoral behavior of animals is indeed quite rare in the natural world, to my knowledge, it's less than a handful."
[Hisss, a handful indicates there are other animals that do it too?]
[TMI]
[Unbelievable, animals becoming cunning seems more common abroad]
[I knew it from the start]
"Speaking in detail, African Buffaloes do it too, unlike the Harlequin Wolves' sneezing, they use the 'directional voting thod' to decide which way to go."
"Which feeding spot is closest and where the water grass is lush is crucial for a herd of African Buffaloes, which often numbers over a thousand, directly affecting their prosperity and survival."
"Therefore, an hour before the collective feeding, the adult female buffaloes in the herd start voting."
"They each stand up for a minute, staring at the direction they want to go, then lie down facing that direction. Ultimately, the direction with the most buffaloes is where everyone will head to graze."
[So, what happens if the number of buffaloes facing two directions is exactly the sa?]
[You really like to argue, don't you?]
[With that arguing talent, why not work on a construction site?]
[Buffalo: Oh no, my brain is growing]
[Brain overload]
"Hahaha, such situations are not uncommon, actually, it's simple—they just split into two groups to forage," Bi Fang explained about the tricky question from the audience, unphased. "African Buffaloes can't count; they just roughly estimate the numbers, even a 55 versus 45 situation is treated like an even split, so often you'll find votes ending up tied, and they simply split into two groups."
[Smart, but not that smart (munching popcorn)]
[Eye-opening]
[Seems so clever]
"Then there's the Elk; they use the 'stand-up voting thod.'"
Bi Fang continued with another animal example.
"Elk lie down to chew their cud after eating, but so elk eat quickly, digest quickly, and naturally get hungry faster, while others are slower. The fast eaters would want to move to another place to graze, but as they are herd animals, they must act together."
"At that ti, an elk will stand up; the hungry ones stand, and when the number of standing elk exceeds 60% of the herd, everyone will comnce a new foraging venture together."
"If the number of elk is insufficient, even if the leading elk stands up, this operation will not be approved."
[Excessive amazent, causing so impact on my worldview]
[Hearing about this is surprising and enlightening, but Old Fang's knowledge impresses more than the animals]
[Isn't this just Master Fang's usual operation?]
[If one day Old Fang suddenly livestreams announcing he has proven the unified field theory, then I might be truly surprised]
[Compared to buffalo and elk, the voting of the Harlequin Wolf seems more complex, having even redundant votes, truly brilliant]
[Now I understand what Bi Fang ant by the complex social behavior of the Harlequin Wolf, just how complex it has beco]
Bi Fang couldn't help but nod.
"If you have just encountered a Harlequin Wolf pack, you might not think they are very 'social.'"
"Compared to the dogs or Gray Wolves we are familiar with, Harlequin Wolves have much fewer body languages, especially facial expressions, and they are not as noisy as dog packs, their vocal signals are also not rich."
"However, from the research of sneeze voting, it's not that Harlequin Wolves are poor at expressing, it's just that we haven't fully cracked their communication thods yet..."
Bi Fang, with Harley crouched in the bushes, introduced the audience to the "three brothers" of this savanna in a unique subdued tone, ensuring he did not disturb the feeding animals with loud noises and also making sure the audience could hear what was being said.
The eldest brother, the Lion, the second brother, the Spotted Hyena, and the third brother, the Harlequin Wolf, all fed within this area of less than an acre.
"Many people know that Africa's second brother is the Spotted Hyena, yet few know that the Harlequin Wolf is also the third brother of the African Savanna. Because their heads look sowhat alike, many animal editorial videos introduce Harlequin Wolves as Hyenas."
"As a third brother, the Harlequin Wolves actually have greater strength in numbers than Leopards. However, perhaps due to a desire to avoid conflict, as a single ostrich leopard can't finish eating alone, the two sides have not erupted in conflicts, and Harlequin Wolves wouldn't want to suffer losses on their end."
"It's rare to see the 'three brothers' gathered together like this."
"There's a theory that in the earliest version of 'The Lion King' cartoon, Disney artists had positioned Harlequin Wolves as the villains around 'Scar,' not the Spotted Hyenas."
"The reason for changing the actor is obvious. Compared to the silent Harlequin Wolves, the Hyenas' laughing-like calls definitely have more 'drama."
"'The Lion King' for was sort of an African initiation. Though the storyline is the sa template as 'Hamlet', setting it among lions is the result of decades of research in animal behavior, based on nurous biological observations and descriptions of lions' infanticidal behaviors."
"It wouldn't be too much to call it an ecological docuntary."
"In a sense, the Harlequin Wolf dodged a slanderous misfortune but missed a chance to beco famous."
Bi Fang's tone suddenly beca quite regretful.
"It was only in the past couple of decades that people began to pay attention to the Harlequin Wolves. We suddenly realized these once widespread wolves are now endangered."
"There are only about 6,000 Harlequin Wolves left in the world, and only a minority of them are capable of breeding."
"From Algeria to South Africa, these Harlequin Wolves are trapped in nearly a hundred fragnted habitats."
"To address the real survival issues, many scholars have initiated a campaign to rena the Harlequin Wolves, aiming for a wider spread of their original na rather than the nickna of wild dog."
[Rena?]
[No, what's the point in that?]
"Of course, it's useful. 'African wild dog' isn't just our Huaxia's na for them, many places call them that. In foreign countries, it's African Wild Dog. This na makes many people think they are just African farm dogs."
"But they are wild animals, not dogs, and the level of attention should be completely different."
"Do you all rember Sir who climbed Mount Everest with a few years ago?"
"A few years ago, there was a docuntary series 'Dynasty,' consisting of five episodes with five central characters, one in each episode, including the Harlequin Wolf, and that was its first ti being a protagonist, both in fiction and in ecological docuntaries."
"Whether it's the main star Sir or the helm of the 'Dynasty' series, Mike Gunton, they insisted on using Painted Wolf rather than African Wild Dog in the series, letting the public truly understand the na and aning of this species, as well as their unique survival skills and habits."
"When we know them, recognize them, understand them, the future of Africa's top predators may beco a bit brighter."
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