Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

Above the desert, the towel beneath the felt hat danced with the wind.

Bi Fang subconsciously opened his mouth, trying to feel a hint of coolness, but the wind that blew was like a blistering flame, which did nothing more than fill his throat, scorch his tongue, and emit a wisp of blue smoke.

After more than a week of traveling, as Bi Fang ventured further, the nearby sand dunes grew taller and the rocks became rarer.

Burkina Faso had already turned into a background image behind him. His current location had reached the depths of Mali. Looking around, everywhere there were towering golden hills that formed an endless sea of golden waves, quite splendid under the sunlight and flickered with infinite brilliance, like a golden ocean.

"Now it's not just food, even water resources are starting to become scarce."

The drone's camera turned to the side of the camel, where two rattlesnakes without heads hung, along with the only remaining watermelon and some doum palm fruits, and finally, a pot of water in Bi Fang's backpack.

These were all the resources left for the lone man and camel.

[Master Fang is wrong, there's actually another half ton of reserve supplies]

[Can't you just be human?]

[What did Alpha do wrong to deserve this treatment from you?]

Alpha.

That was the name Bi Fang gave to this male camel.

There was no special meaning, it was just more convenient to call out, and these past few days the camel seemed to understand its name and began to respond to it.

Moreover, their relationship progressed further; in the evenings, he no longer tied the camel three meters away but kept it directly by his side.

On the surface, Alpha had become indistinguishable from an ordinary domestic camel, but Bi Fang still refrained from overly intimate actions like standing behind it for extended periods or feeding it from close proximity.

Nature's creatures were varied and peculiar, and Nature had granted a clever relationship between animals; some were amiable towards Humans, others saw Humans as natural disasters, and some animals hadn't seen Humans for a thousand years, yet could harbor natural affections.

The sun was fierce, and as noon arrived, Bi Fang patted Alpha's neck and found a place to rest to avoid the hottest part of the day.

Leaning in the shade, Alpha kicked at the sand with its hoofs and chose a comfortable position to kneel down on its own.

Bi Fang took some fruits and a rattlesnake from it, sliced the pre-smoked snake meat with a dagger, and stuffed it into his mouth to replenish his strength.

It had to be said, Alpha's arrival had brought significant assistance to Bi Fang.

Throughout the journey, Bi Fang had saved a great deal of energy and time, no longer needing to frequently interrupt the trip for water and food.

Normally, walking from Burkina Faso to the heartland of Mali, which was already off the planned route, would be extremely difficult without twenty days of travel, and during that time he would need to hunt, find water sources, and food. But with the help of the camel, this time could be reduced to less than a decade, more than doubling his speed.

Today catch two rattlesnakes, tomorrow grab a handful of scorpions, the day after maybe encounter a small lizard or a jerboa.

The only regret was that jerboas are an endangered species and could not be eaten, so Bi Fang gave it a warning thump on the head to let this big-eared mouse know about human cruelty before letting it go.

These animals were all small, not enough to fill one's stomach, but on the journey, being able to casually catch such creatures was indeed very convenient, indirectly speeding up the entire crossing process.

"Taming and domestication are not the same, and taming and domesticating animals is a third kind altogether."

"Taming" refers to subduing individual animals, that is, making them harmless to humans. It is usually used to imply a kind of friendly relationship that ultimately achieves the idea of being "able to be with humans without the desire to kill them" for certain species.

"A species may be more or less suitable for domestication, but ultimately, it is an individual process."

Domestication, however, means that humans have changed a species to make it easier to coexist with humans. The members of this species are now different from any wild species they came from; their instincts have been altered so that, for them, being friendly towards humans and interacting with humans becomes more natural.

Jared Diamond discusses in "Guns, Germs, and Steel" what makes a species domesticable or not, including specific cases with horses and zebras.

He notes that humans have completely domesticated 14 large animal species: sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, horses, Arabian camels, Bactrian camels, llamas and alpacas, donkeys, reindeer, water buffaloes, yaks, Bali cattle, and mithan. Many of these species are related. And he claims that for a species to be domesticated, it must have certain characteristics.

It must be an omnivore or herbivore, able to grow rapidly, breed well in captivity, have the right temperament – some animals are very antagonistic or even outright hostile to humans, such as zebras which are irritable and often bite – and then be accepting of confinement, and finally, have a social structure, or hierarchy, that allows them to accept a subordinate role.

This aligns with a popular theory of the moment, that we domesticate animals by playing a role in their natural hierarchy. In other words, animals let us take on an existing role that their own kind would normally assume.

For example, a dog's owner is seen as a member of the pack, much like the alpha of a wolf pack.

Some believe that many of the animals we have domesticated evolved into a prolonged juvenile state, in which they respond to us as juveniles, whereas in their species, the adult animals would also respond.

Zebras, though similar to horses, are nearly impossible to tame.

As early as when the Boers settled in South Africa, they attempted to tame zebras, but the results were not satisfactory.

These animals would panic under any additional back pressure, and to tame them, one would need generation after generation of domesticated zebras before a more docile variant could emerge, much like wheat, which might take hundreds or even more years.

Horses seem to have a different genetic pathway that led to their domestication.

They found themselves living in the northern latitudes where, other than humans, predatory threats were much less.

Due to the Ice Age and subsequent human migration to North America, they were on the brink of extinction due to over-hunting by ancestral Indians, so their refuges shifted to the northern latitudes of Asia. Here, horses were first preserved as a food resource and then domesticated for human use.

Horses established a connection with the very species that nearly drove them to extinction.

"Today, the situation is just the opposite, as the global horse population exceeds 60 million while the zebra count is less than 800,000."

"Nature is so wonderful."

After hearing Bi Fang's account of the differences between zebras and horses, many in the audience had a great deal of thoughts.

"Awesome."

"Survival of those who comply, demise of those who defy, right?"

"Wondrous Nature."

"When can we domesticate tigers, so we can pet big cats?"

"Bro, want to pet a Northeast Tiger? They are powerful."

Bi Fang chewed on the flaky snake meat, tough and leathery like an old belt, difficult to chew, and swallowing a smoky throat as if he had ingested a piece of bristly skin.

"As for the notion of taming sharks, snakes, and various lizards, it's even less likely. The reality is that most species on Earth are not tamable, and even those that are somewhat tamed cannot live close to humans without displaying behaviors that endanger both the animals and their human hosts."

"Many people like to keep exotic creatures, and I'm not against it, but the premise is to take good care of them. Don't let them escape or release them into the environment, causing an invasive species issue. Even if you really end up disliking them, the best way would be to deal with them yourself."

[Word has it, the number of animals Master Fang cares for might keep growing]

[To be honest, last time it was six dogs, and now it's a camel, I think Old Fang has the potential to open a zoo]

[Looking forward to the day the wilderness zoo opens its doors]

[Why doesn't Old Fang take Goudan and the others to the club for a walk, let them run around and have fun, it would be so joyful]

"I'll consider it," Bi Fang said with a smile, not refusing the fans' request outright.

At four o'clock, as the sun began to tilt westward, the sunlight in the air was no longer as fiercely burning as at midday, and Bi Fang stood up, pulling on Alpha's reins to continue on their way.

"There are many stories passed down about this desert. It's said that once a caravan passed through the Sahara Desert and ultimately fell victim to lack of water in this desert, despite the fact that there was a well just a hundred meters away. Perhaps they died from their own hearts of despair."

"Water resources are indeed a primary concern in desert survival. If you have water, you should ration it properly."

"That depends on whether you can access the essential water resources while also avoiding exposure to the intense sun, in order to keep dehydration to a minimum. A slight imbalance is permissible. For every two liters lost, at least one and a half liters should be replenished, a ratio of 4:3."

"After sweating, it's important to hydrate promptly to keep damage to a minimum and avoid wasting precious water resources."

"Being low on body fluids does not reduce the amount you sweat, as sweating is one of the body's mechanisms for cooling down, not for expelling water. Drinking too much at once, more than the body needs, can be immediately excreted, serving no benefit and could even lead to water poisoning."

[Water poisoning, not naming names]

[Hahaha]

[That's kind of interesting]

"If you're planning a trip through the desert and are impeded by a vehicle breakdown, you should have already identified the known oases, karez wells, or water holes along your route in your plan."

"Karez wells might be deep and require buckets and ropes to draw up water. Water holes at the bottom of dry riverbeds are often seasonal, usually covered with slabs of stone or branches by those who came before. You can discover them based on this fact."

"If you're far from a known water hole, digging with all your might at the lowest point on the outer curve of a dry stream, or between sand dunes at their lowest point, may reveal water."

"Of course, in the desert, the method of tracking local wildlife for water sources is worth trying. There's a famous saying among residents of desert regions: 'Walking a pre-existing path is always wiser than forging a new one.'"

[Another strange motto added]

[I'll use this in my essay]

[I used Master Fang in my last essay, hahahaha]

[Seriously? You can use that?]

[Bravery or whatever, just force it, push it hard, a forced fit, it doesn't work unless you force it, forcing it is safe, it may be uncomfortable with it, but you have a safety net]

[Why do I feel like this is getting weirder the more I hear it]

"Humans and animals often travel the same paths, which tend to meander and extend across the land."

"If you come across such a path in the desert, one that is frequently traveled by humans or animals, you should definitely follow it."

"Don't take a straight path just to avoid those turns. On the paths frequently traveled by people or animals, there are usually fewer obstacles, and they often connect one shady spot to another, one water source to another."

"This tactic is very useful in many environments, like how I followed the wild Baizhi oxen to find a salt mine in the rainforest, though it can entail certain risks. But remember, some desert animals do not drink water, instead they obtain sufficient moisture from their food."

"You will need to have enough experience and animal identification skills."

"Always keep in mind that you must conserve as much as your strength and water as possible, making the most of your time and space. Don't exert yourself in hot weather, as sweating will lead to further loss of fluids, and you may not be guaranteed to find water. You must find a balance between losing bodily fluids and the potential for replenishment."

"Depending on the environment, you might even take full advantage of water provided by cacti and various roots, and use the extreme temperature difference between day and night in the desert to condense water vapor for drinking."

"Oh, now that you mention it, it seems like we never see cacti or anything like that around here."

"Hisss, now that you've said that, I remember too. Old Fang has been walking so long and we've never come across any cacti. I haven't seen any of the plants before."

"That's because there are hardly any cacti in the Sahara, no, I can't say there aren't any at all, just very few, given that globalization is happening, and it's quite normal for species invasions to occur."

Bi Fang scanned the vast desert surrounding them and explained.

This revelation surprised everyone, since in their minds, deserts and cacti were an inseparable pair!

"This is a common misconception among people; cacti are American plants, and they also can't survive in all deserts."

"Cacti are typical CAM plants, which means they have a crassulacean acid metabolism pathway. They're mostly succulents, to put it simply, pulpy. Their leaves have degenerated into spine-like shapes, they close their stomata during the day to reduce transpiration; their stems are thick and succulent, with well-developed parenchyma cells that store lots of water; and their epidermis has a thick, hard waxy layer for protection..."

"Their ability to tolerate hot, dry environments also stems from these features. Moreover, cacti have an extensive root system that can absorb precipitation during the rainy season and store it for use during the dry season, preventing them from drying out on the scorching sands."

"In Mexico and the southern part of Ugly Country, there is a tropical savanna climate with clear dry and wet seasons, and the wet season is short. During the wet season, cacti absorb and store a lot of water to ensure their water supply during the dry season."

"But!" Bi Fang paused, drawing everyone's attention, "they can't withstand cold. They struggle to survive below zero degrees."

"For instance, the Taklamakan sees hot, dry summers, but the winters are cold, so it doesn't provide the temperature conditions necessary for the wild survival of cacti, and therefore, cacti don't grow there."

"In the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and the entire Sahara Desert, there's a typical tropical desert climate. It's scorching all year round and experiences sparse rainfall, the water conditions are too poor to support cacti's water storage needs, plus the nighttime temperatures often drop below freezing, so there's no distribution of cacti there."

"But further south, like in Morocco, there are more cacti, even cacti forests, which are quite stunning. If you get the chance, you should go see them."

"You've blown my mind for the whole year; I always thought cacti and deserts went hand in hand, damn, turns out that's not always the case."

"Indeed, this is the first time I've heard something like this..."

"Kinda cool."

"Master Fang knows so much."

"Can I use this as a rebuttal next time someone says cacti are extremely resilient?"

"Well, not really, because they're still pretty tough (facetious)."

The chat in the live stream started blowing more rainbow farts, but at that moment, Bi Fang pulled on the reins and gently sniffed the air.

Just when everyone thought something was amiss, Bi Fang suddenly smiled.

"A sandstorm is coming."