Chapter 77 sad salon rabbit

The Namib Desert starts from the northwest of South Africa in the south, ends in the southwest of Angola in the north, and runs through the west of Namibia. Although it is now a barren land, it had a humid climate, abundant rainfall and lush vegetation more than 2,000 years ago. It is an ancient African civilization. one of the birthplaces ofThe rich cultural deposits in the desert attract archaeologists from many countries in the world to investigate here every year. Hansen, a history professor from the University of California, is one of them. In early August 2004, Hansen and his young assistant Martin transferred to South Africa and went deep into the hinterland of the Namib Desert to investigate prehistoric cliff paintings in Africa.But because of a sudden sandstorm, they lost their way, and met several people named explorers who were actually poachers unexpectedly, which deduced a tragic story between man and Sharon Rabbit.The following are the investigation notes written by Hansen based on his personal experience...

On the morning of August 5, 2004, my assistant Martin, Zulu guide Farnham and I rode camels into the Namib Desert. Check the materials, these things are enough for us to persist in the desert for more than half a month.The season we came happened to be the hottest time in the desert. If it was at noon, if the bare skin touched the sand within two minutes, a big blister would form. There are very few wild plants in the desert, and there are even fewer wild animals. After walking for two days, we only saw a few lizards, spiders and foxes.Farnham told us sadly that in the 1970s, there were many wild animals in the Namib Desert near the bushes and oases, but due to environmental degradation and indiscriminate hunting, almost all of them are now extinct.I am a little sad, and I think that is not the case with human beings. How human beings ruin nature, how nature will retaliate against human beings. The ruins of ancient civilizations lost in the desolate Namib Desert are a clear proof.

One night we pitched our tent and camped under a huge sand cliff.Suddenly, a small black spot appeared not far from us, and then passed by in a flash.The sharp-eyed Farnham jumped up and exclaimed in surprise: "Sharon Rabbit!" He quickly chased after the words.Ten minutes later, he happily ran back holding a rabbit with an injured right leg.It is estimated that the rabbit was separated from its companion due to injury. The appearance of this simple-minded rabbit is not much different from the hares I have seen before. Its coat is gray and brown, soft and thick, but Farnham said it is very rare.While administering medicine to the injured rabbit, Farnham told me that it was called Sharon rabbit, a unique species of rabbit in the deserts of South Africa. There used to be a large number of tens of thousands.Because there is little rain in the desert and the distribution of rain is extremely uneven, whenever it rains, a leading adult Sharon rabbit will go out to search for water sources without eating or drinking, and will rush back to the nest day and night to inform others Sharon rabbits, and then take them to the water source, because these water sources may evaporate quickly in the hot and dry weather of the desert.After reaching its destination, the lead adult Sharon rabbit often dies from exhaustion.However, when humans have mastered this characteristic of Sharon rabbits, they often create fake water sources to lure Sharon rabbits.When a large number of Sharon rabbits rush to the so-called water source and find that there is no water, they often die of thirst and fatigue, so that people can easily take the dead Sharon rabbits home, peel off their precious fur and sell them money.It is said that a coat made entirely of Sharon rabbit fur can sell for eight thousand dollars.Slowly, due to human greed, there are fewer and fewer Sharon rabbits, and they are almost extinct in the Namib Desert, and even in the entire African continent.

Both Martin and I were moved by this story, but we didn't believe it was true. I didn't believe that Sharon Rabbit, whose appearance was inconspicuous, could have such a sincere and kind soul. I thought what Farnham told was just a sustenance A beautiful but unreal tale of human moral will. On the afternoon of the sixth day in the desert, we were lucky to find several accumulations of prehistoric culture.But just as my assistant Martin and I were carrying out archaeological work nervously, the Sharon Rabbit in Farnham’s arms suddenly struggled and neighed uncomfortably. Farnham looked at the rabbit and then at the gradually dimming sky, feeling very worried. In other words, Sharon Rabbit has the instinct to predict the weather, and there may be a sandstorm coming.

Sure enough, less than a quarter of an hour later, it was completely dark, with strong winds and sandstorms.According to Farnham's instructions, we stayed as close to the camel as possible, with our heads on our arms, to resist the overwhelming wind and sand. We lay on the ground for more than two hours before the sandstorm stopped raging.When we got up and looked, we were immediately dumbfounded. The satellite positioning device, sleeping bags and other materials carried on the camel had been blown away by the strong wind, and the two large aluminum water tanks used to store water were also blown away by the wind and sand. The bottom of the box was broken, and all the water leaked out.Now we only have a little water left in the two spare water bags, which is estimated to be enough for the three of us to drink for two days, and it will take at least four days to return from here to the inhabited place on the edge of the desert, even if we travel day and night .

Seeing the endgame after the wind and sand in front of us, the three of us sat slumped in the bloody sunset without saying a word to each other. Farnham also seemed to be very depressed, sitting there silently stroking Sharon Rabbit's head repeatedly. .Only the rabbit didn't seem to understand our troubles at all, lying docilely in Farnham's arms. Suddenly, the sound of calling came from a distance. I looked up and found four people walking towards us leading two camels.When they approached, I saw that they were unkempt and tired, but each of them carried a shotgun on their backs, and several large bags were carried on the camels, which gave off an unpleasant smell faintly.

To my surprise, three of them had Western faces, and the leader was a big man named Nord, who claimed to be Swedish.But the strange thing is that the Sharon rabbit became manic after seeing them, and was so frightened that it went straight into Farnham's arms. Nord told me that they were explorers planning to cross the desert, but they got lost. They wandered around the desert for several days without getting out, and they ran out of food and water.Nord begged us for some dry food and water, but Martin immediately refused, saying we didn't have enough for ourselves.After Nord heard this, a fierce light flashed in his eyes, and I saw several of his companions put their hands on the shotguns in unison.I don't want to kill each other, and it's human nature to help each other in desperate situations. I asked Farnum to pour them a few bowls of water from the water bag, which Farnum reluctantly did.Nord and the four of them quickly drank the water we donated, and then Nord told me flatteringly that he hoped to walk with us and walk out of this damn desert together.I agreed.I don't think I should abandon them, although our dry food and water are about to run out.

Fortunately, our tent was not blown away by the wind and sand, and we had a spare one. We gave the spare tent to Nord.That night, Farnham told me in the tent that the strange behavior of the Sharon rabbit during the day caught his attention, because it only behaves like that when it encounters enemies.He sneaked around to Nord's camel just now, opened the bag on it, and found that it was full of animal fur, including foxes and lizards, but most of them belonged to Sharon rabbits. That Sharon rabbit must have smelled it Only the breath of the companion's death is frightening. Only then did I understand that these people were not explorers, but poachers.I'm aware of the dangers, but it's not easy to get rid of them.After the three of us discussed it, we decided to take turns to keep watch in case of accidents.

In the middle of the night, I was suddenly woken up by someone rudely shaking me. I thought it was Martin and Farnham who had sensed something and came to wake me up. But as soon as I sat up, a cold shotgun was pointed at the forehead.The moonlight in the desert was very good, and I could see very clearly, Nord was staring at me with a grinning face.To my desperation, I saw Martin and Farnham also bound and thrown on the sand. "Great archaeologists, now, your food, water, and everything is mine. Be sensible, don't try to resist, or you will end up like that Sharon rabbit!" Nord pointed out. Pointing to a piece of bloody fur held by one of his companions, he said triumphantly.I saw that the injured Sharon rabbit in Farnham had been skinned by Nord's companions with a knife. It hadn't died yet, and its naked body was curled up in a ball, twitching in pain.This bloody scene almost made me throw up.

The next day, the three of us had our hands tied behind our backs, and we stumbled and walked behind the camel for a whole day. Nord only gave us a little dry food and water. I was staring at gold stars, dizzy, hungry and thirsty Plus, I feel like I'm almost turning into a mummy in the scorching heat. Fortunately, that night, there was a sudden heavy rain, and we all rushed out of the tent, stood in the rain and opened our mouths greedily, drinking the rainwater with the smell of sand and dust.Nord and the others quickly took out various containers to hold the rainwater.In the morning after the rain, I thought there should be puddles everywhere, but I didn't expect to see a drop of water.It turns out that the surface of the desert not only has a relatively high temperature, but also has a strong infiltration capacity. When rainwater touches the surface, it is either evaporated or seeps into the ground.No wonder Sharon Rabbit has to look for water after it rains.

This morning, after walking not far, I saw a huge rock exposed out of the sand, and there happened to be a rectangular groove in the middle of the rock, which was filled with muddy rainwater.Nord bent down, took a closer look around the rocks, and then excitedly said to his companion: "Here is the fresh excrement of the Sharon rabbit, it seems that it has gone back to report the news, and a large number of Sharon rabbits will come to drink water soon Haha, the opportunity to make a fortune is coming soon!" After finishing speaking, he ordered the three of us to lie down on the sand about tens of meters away from the rock. We covered our whole body with sand, only our eyes and nostrils were exposed. In order to prevent us from making noises and disturbing Sharon Rabbit, Nord was still on us. Mouth stuffed with rags.Several camels were cleverly hidden in the sand dunes in the distance.In order to make the Sharon Rabbit who came from a long way to die of thirst, Nord and the others filled the groove on the rock with sand, and the water was quickly absorbed by the sand.After completing these preparations, Nord also warned us not to move around, otherwise we will be shot and killed. We lay there and watched Nord and the four of them hide in the sand near the rocks with shotguns.A bloodbath of nature seemed inevitable.More than two hours later, I suddenly saw dust billowing on the sand dunes in the distance. There were about a hundred Sharon rabbits running towards the rock. The leader was a relatively large Sharon rabbit. When he was approaching the rock, The leading Sharon rabbit suddenly fell to the ground and never got up again, probably exhausted from running back and forth, while the rest of the rabbits stepped over its dead body and continued to run forward.My eyes are wet, and I finally understand that the legend about Sharon Rabbit looking for water is not a fabrication, but a fact. These kind and lovely elves are willing to sacrifice their individual lives in order to continue the survival of the group in the harsh environment. How is this? A spirit of valor and magnanimity!Thinking of human beings using their kind nature to brutally slaughter these cute little guys for greed and selfish desires, thinking of Nord and the others, for their own survival, they even avenged their kindness, not only occupying our dry food and water, but also killing us inhumanely. As a hostage, I couldn't stop mourning. Looking at the Sharon rabbits getting closer and closer to the rock, I prayed secretly, hoping that they would find the enemy and run away quickly, but they seemed to be unaware of the danger in front of them, and continued to rush forward.When they jumped up the rock quickly, I saw those Sharon rabbits suddenly became agitated, and some Sharon rabbits even hit their heads against the rocks, and they were bloody.It turned out that they didn't see the water. Excessive running had made them extremely thirsty and exhausted, and their physiological functions were disturbed due to lack of timely water supplementation. So some Sharon rabbits chose to commit suicide, and more of them lay in bed. Dying on the sand, only a dozen or so stronger Sharon rabbits were still standing there, looking at their companions who were whining all over the place, at a loss for what to do.But just as they looked around in horror, a burst of intense gunshots rang out, and those Sharon rabbits who were still able to run fell into a pool of blood one after another.I closed my eyes in pain, not wanting to witness this criminal massacre. After the massacre, Nord and the others crawled out from the hidden sand pile. However, just as they bent down triumphantly to check the fruitful "war results", several gunshots suddenly came from behind me. Nord and his Before the three companions could react, they fell to the ground one after another amidst the gunfire.I got up, looked back, and it was Farnham who had shot!It turned out that he quietly broke free from the ropes that bound his hands while no one was paying attention, and climbed to the side of our camels. There was a semi-automatic rifle that we planned to use for self-defense hidden on one of the camels.Fortunately, they have not been discovered by Nord.It was the clever Farnham who saved our lives with this rifle! Four poachers, except one was shot dead on the spot, two were seriously injured and one was slightly injured, we buried the dead and the bodies of those Sharon rabbits, and then tied several injured poachers on camels towards the edge of the desert go.Three days later, we finally walked out of the Namib Desert and arrived at a small town called Bergstein.We handed over the poachers to the police and we told no one but the police about the Sharon rabbit found in the Namib desert because we experienced first hand the horror of humans driven by greed and selfish desires and we never want to see it again Sharon Rabbit, a kind and lovely rare wild animal, is infested by humans in any form. They should have a peaceful, beautiful and quiet home for generations!