Chapter 632: The Disappearance of the Gibbon

At this moment on the lawn, the figures of four adult green peacocks can be seen.

Two families, each with their own children, the male peacocks patrol and stroll, occasionally lifting their heads, looking left and right.

Green peacocks are more wild and cautious than blue peacocks, and also more temperamental.

Especially during the breeding season in spring, male peacocks will call loudly every day, confirming each other's territory through their calls, and attracting female peacocks to come at the same time.

During the breeding period, green peacocks are very territorial. Young male peacocks may enter the territories of other male peacocks and initiate challenges due to the need for resources such as territory or mating rights. At this time, the owner must drive them away, and a big fight is inevitable.

During the fight, the two peacocks will pace around each other like martial arts masters, flapping their wings and waiting for an opportunity to jump up, attacking with their beaks and sharp spurs on the backs of their legs, until one side admits defeat and leaves.

So the two male green peacocks each occupy different territories, and they usually do not appear in the same frame.

But peacocks are essentially social animals!

After the breeding season, when the children grow to a certain age, different peacock families will gather together again. They can carry out group defense, detect danger and warn each other, and jointly resist enemies. They will also get closer together when sleeping.

After grooming her feathers, the peacock mother jumped down from the trunk, and the little peacocks also followed her down.

Seeing the keeper throw a handful of chopped vegetable leaves onto the grass in front, they kicked their legs and rushed up to grab them, running very fast.

The peacock mother, on the other hand, walked elegantly and unhurriedly.

Seeing the healthy and vigorous growth of the little green peacock, Fang Ye also felt very good.

"Wow, the gloss of the green peacock's feathers is really amazing!"

Fan Peng admired it, as if remembering something, he took out his phone and took a couple of pictures.

Li Xing watched intently, showing joy: "Such an elegant temperament."

Seeing the two of them looking at the green peacock with affection, Fang Ye laughed and said, "Do you want me to give you a tail feather later?"

Li Xing was surprised and said, "Won't it hurt the peacock if you pluck it off? No need, no need!"

Fang Ye and Fan Peng both laughed, leaving Li Xing confused!

Fang Ye explained: "Male peacocks molt after the breeding season, both blue and green peacocks do..."

During this time, you can often pick up "big eyes" on the lawn.

Over several weeks in the summer, the peacock's tail feathers will become uneven, and many will fall off during this period.

They won't all fall off at once, they take turns falling.

By the time they have fully regrown, it will be next spring. When it's time to court, the peacock will display itself in its best state.

So some zoos sell peacock tail feathers next to the peacock pavilion, not plucked from the peacock's tail, but naturally shed, and it won't harm the peacock.

He hasn't planned to sell souvenirs for the time being, he sent two to Xinghe University, and kept the rest.

"Oh~"

Listening to Fang Ye's explanation, Li Xing laughed a little embarrassedly!

Originally, he thought this gift might be too precious and was going to decline, but thinking about it, since they molt every year, he finally accepted it.

If you miss this village, you won't have this shop.

Fang Ye asked the keeper to get the tail feathers, Fan Peng held them in his hand, looking at them fondly.

The tail feathers of the green peacock are emerald green like jade, reflecting an elegant and deep gold color in the sunlight, very beautiful!

He exclaimed: "The tail feathers of the green peacock, this can be a family heirloom! I will keep it well."

Coming out of the bird pavilion, Li Xing said, "Director Fang, thank you for your gift, shall we go? I'm going back to adjust the audio, and strive to make the two gibbons fall in love successfully as soon as possible."

"Are you in such a hurry? Have you booked your return tickets?"

"Not yet! I didn't expect to record the love song so smoothly before coming."

Fang Ye warmly invited: "Then there's no need to rush, how about soaking in a hot spring, our zoo's hot spring hotel is well received by tourists. By the way, let's talk about the story of the gibbon."

Fan Peng was surprised, what kind of zoo is this, it even has hot springs!

When chatting on WeChat, he thought Fang Ye was joking.

He quickly waved his hand to refuse: "No, no, we can talk about the story of the gibbon, but really no need for the hot spring."

Coming to the reception room, sitting on the sofa, Fang Ye took a can of rice wine out of the mini fridge and said with a smile, "I brewed this myself, give it a try!"

He poured a glass for everyone.

After taking a sip, Li Xing found the taste fresh and fragrant, with a hint of wine aroma, cool and pleasant, his mood seemed to brighten up a lot!

He praised, "Delicious!"

Fan Peng also took a sip of the rice wine and started talking.

After completing his Ph.D., he decided to research the evolutionary history of gibbon mates and chose the white-browed gibbon as his research object, a study that lasted for more than a decade.

While researching the white-browed gibbons of the Gaoligong Mountains, he found that they didn't have the white beard of the Eastern white-browed gibbons. Was this an individual variation, or a group difference?

Further research confirmed that they showed significant differentiation from the Eastern white-browed gibbons in many aspects such as morphology, genetics, teeth, etc., and they needed a new name.

After thinking for a long time, he felt that he needed to come up with a catchy name, one that would make a big splash and attract more people's attention to this species.

In the end, he chose a very cool name, the Skywalker Gibbon.

First of all, gibbons are typical arboreal animals. They live in trees all their lives. Wild gibbons do not come down from trees.

"Skywalker" well describes their behavior of living in the canopy and their agile posture of moving on trees.

It can also ride on the popularity of the legendary character Luke Skywalker from "Star Wars", attracting attention from all over the world.

In Chinese, there is also the famous saying "As Heaven keeps vigor through movement, a gentleman should constantly strive for self-perfection", which is very much in line with Taoist naturalism, and the current thoughts on wildlife and environmental protection.

On the other hand, gibbons are seen as "gentlemen" since they do not compete with the world, do not meet with people, and do not harm crops. He also hopes that this species can strive for self-improvement and survive tenaciously in nature.

Fang Ye nodded and said, "It's indeed a good name! It sounds very ambitious!"

Then, Fan Peng started to talk about some of the things he encountered during his research.

When he first started researching, he knew nothing about them, didn't know where they were, or how many there were.

In the 1990s, his teacher conducted a survey on the white-browed gibbon, estimating that there were about 50-100 groups, 200 individuals, but the survey was not very comprehensive. At that time, they used mules and horses to carry supplies for the survey, food was limited, and many remote places could not be reached.

By the time he started his research, he had conducted a comprehensive survey of places where white-browed gibbons might exist, and only found 30 groups, and 8 or 9 groups were added through interviews with locals who heard calls. Even with an optimistic estimate, there were less than two hundred.

Some places where they had been recorded before were no longer there, and only a dozen groups were found in places where 20 groups had been recorded. Many small populations had already gone extinct locally, and the population decline was very obvious.