Chapter 14 Section 4 Interrelationships between animals

Due to the complexity of animal activities, it is easier to attract people's attention.Over the long years, people have observed and recorded a large number of complex relationships among animals. The phenomenon of symbiosis among animals has been recorded as early as "Shangshu Yugong" about "birds and beasts in the same cave". "Erya·Shiniao" further stated: "birds and mice share the same cave, the bird is 鵌 [tutu], and the mouse is chevron [xixi]." It is the first time that the names of birds and mice that live together in the same cave are specifically pointed out ( Figure 12).Later, many people observed and recorded this phenomenon. Song Wan in the Qing Dynasty even drew a picture of the mousebird he saw with his own eyes.In the Tang Dynasty, people had very subtle observations on the symbiosis of marine animals.In Liu Xunxun's "Ling Biao Lu Yi", Duan Gonglu's "Bei Hu Lu" and Chen Zangqi's "Materia Medica Supplements" and other works, there are records about the symbiotic phenomenon of jellyfish and shrimp.Duan Chengshi also recorded the symbiosis of crabs and snails in "Youyang Miscellaneous Zu": "The sojourner, the shell is like a snail, a small crab, and a snail clam [gege] also, live between the shells and wait for the snails to come out. When the snail wants to mate, it enters the shell." This kind of symbiont can still be collected in coastal areas.

Between different kinds of animals, in order to survive, there is still a complex relationship of struggle.As early as 2000 years ago, the famous story of "mantis catching cicadas, and yellow magpies behind" was recorded.Zhuangzi believes that there are a series of complex relationships of mutual benefit between different types of organisms due to the relationship between food. "Zhuangzi Shanmu Chapter" says: One day when Zhuangzi came to Diaoling chestnut garden, he saw a magpie with broad wings and round eyes flying from the south and stopping in the chestnut forest.Holding a slingshot in his hand, Zhuangzi hurried to catch up, ready to shoot, when he suddenly saw a cicada. He had just arrived under the shade of a cool tree and was complacent. He didn't know that he had been discovered by a mantis hiding in the shade of the tree, and the mantis beat the cicada. And he was so complacent, he didn't know that he had been discovered by the strange magpie and became a delicacy coveted by the different magpie.Seeing the benefits, the strange magpies forget about themselves, not knowing that their own lives are also in danger.Seeing this scene, Zhuangzi said with emotion: "Things and solids accumulate together, and the two types summon each other!" He threw away the slingshot and walked back.However, the person in charge of the chestnut forest regarded him as a chestnut thief, so he spat at him.This vivid story shows that Zhuangzi has discovered the complex relationship among animals such as humans catching birds, birds eating praying mantises, and praying mantises eating cicadas.The relationship Zhuangzi sees is actually a food chain including human beings. In the food chain, living things benefit from each other.The struggle between different kinds of creatures is inevitable.

This concept of animal cannibalism is also reflected in the depiction of the bronze arm armor of the First World War unearthed from the Lijiashan Dian Culture Tombs in Jiangchuan, Yunnan.The bronze vambraces are engraved with 17 animals, which can be divided into two groups.The first group of 13 animals includes two big tigers, one of which is biting a wild boar, the other is jumping at the two deer; an ape is climbing a tree to escape; in addition, small animals such as beetles, fish, and shrimps are engraved .In the second group of pictures, there are two roosters, one is pecking a lizard, and the moths and beetles next to the lizard are obviously the lizard's food; the other chicken is bitten by a wild raccoon.In the first group of depictions, the food chain composed of tigers, wild boars and deer is reflected.In the second group of depictions, the relationship between wild raccoons eating chickens, chickens eating lizards, and lizards eating bugs (moths and beetles) is shown.

The records and understanding of food webs in the pre-Qin period had a great influence on the later ones.People have observed more food webs and the phenomenon of "calling of two types" in the biological world. "Huainanzi · Shuo Lin Xun" has a record that "螣 [teng Teng] snakes swim in the fog, but are almost as dead as 蝍 [jiji] maggots".That is to say, although Teng Snake has the ability to ride the clouds and fog, it will also be defeated by centipedes (maggots).There is also the phrase "蝍maggot Gandai", which shows that the ancients' understanding of centipede making snakes can be traced back to a longer time.In ancient my country, there may have been a kind of big centipede that could make snakes. In Song Dynasty Lu Dian's "Piya", it said: "Centipedes can make snakes. When they see big snakes, they will eat their brains." People not only know that centipedes eat snakes, but also I also know that snakes eat frogs, and frogs eat centipedes. "Guan Yinzi Sanji" said: "Maggots eat snakes, snakes eat frogs, frogs eat maggots, and eat each other." There is a similar description in "Pi Ya": "Maggots fight snakes. The old saying is that toads eat The maggot, the maggot eats the snake, and the snake eats the toad, and the three things are in harmony." Here the frog has been replaced by the toad, but it still conforms to the actual situation in nature.It can be seen that, long before the Song Dynasty, our country had a deep understanding of the mutual competition and mutual restraint of the centipede, snake, and frog in nature.

In a food web, the interrelationships between organisms are complex: an animal is often both a predator and a prey.A certain creature can feed on many kinds of creatures, and itself can be eaten by many kinds of creatures, thus forming a complex interlaced relationship.Li Shizhen analyzed the ecological characteristics of snakes in his book, not only listing a series of animals and plants that snakes eat, but also pointing out that there are a series of animals that use snakes as food.He said: "The snake comes out when the crane walks, and the snake knots when the rooster crows. Storks, cranes, eagles, cuckoos, and pheasants are all birds that eat snakes. Tigers, monkeys, muntjacs, musk deer, and ox are all beasts." The snake eaters also. The insects that snakes eat (worms, the general name of animals in ancient times) are frogs, mice, swallows, sparrows, bats, and magpies; the grasses that snakes eat are celery, eggplant, heather, dogwood, Snake chestnut, etc.” This fully shows that ancient people had a fairly clear observation and understanding of snakes and their intricate relationship with the surrounding environment, which is very valuable.