I have a wildlife zoo-Chapter 454 Clumsy and Cute Relatives

Teammate said, "Right, it really is quite cute, this little chubby face."

Shi Xi observed curiously, "No wonder it's called a hog-nosed snake, look at its nose, it's just like a pig's snout, looks so silly and endearing."

At that moment, the hog-nosed snake also retracted its head, hiding its little chubby face in its coiled-up body, upon which Lü Ye began to stroke its body with her finger.

While playing with the hog-nosed snake using her finger and laughing, she explained, "The hog-nosed snake's turned-up upper lip allows it to, much like a pig, use its nose to root around in the soil, digging for buried toads and such.

This type of different organism evolving similar structures is what biologists call convergent evolution."

"How about it, isn't this silly and adorable snake something you want to touch?"

Shi Xi was really tempted!

Not for the sake of filming the program, but because she wanted to touch it herself.

However, her longstanding fear of snakes still made her a bit worried, as she asked uncertainly, "It won't bite, will it? Is it venomous?"

Lü Ye chuckled at the question, "The hog-nosed snake is very docile; even when you feed it, it might miss its mark even with the food right in front of it, bumbling about for a while, 'Eh, where's the food? Where's the food?' Let alone biting anyone.

It does have a bit of mild venom, which can only paralyze small prey like toads, and its fangs are rear-fanged, located close to the throat, so they are basically harmless to humans.

The hog-nosed snake is not good at fighting and is quite timid by nature.

When it feels threatened, it will coil up, lift its head but not all the way up, and angrily puff up its cheeks while hissing, trying to look like an eye-of-the-snake, as if to say 'leave or I'll bite,' and if the intimidation fails, it pretends to be dead by flipping onto its back. You could say it's the Oscar-winning actor of the snake world!"

"It's that timid?"

After hearing the introduction, Shi Xi felt that the hog-nosed snake was a bit like the red panda!

When a red panda feels threatened, it will stand up and raise its hands to scare off enemies, but it doesn't scare humans at all; instead, we find it amusing and cute.

Though the red panda seems harmless, its sharp claws and teeth have a strong potential for harm, while the hog-nosed snake is truly a weak chicken, a zero in combat.

No, not even a zero, saying it's a zero is overestimating it.

After thinking it over, Shi Xi felt that being afraid of such a weak snake would be too embarrassing, so she agreed, "Alright, then I'll touch it!"

Lü Ye then took the hog-nosed snake out of the display case and placed it on her own hand.

It was because they feared overreactive visitors would initially agree to touch the snake, just to recoil the moment they did, flinging the snake away and startling it terribly, as well as alarming the other visitors.

So, when letting visitors touch the animals, the animal keepers would first hold them, let the visitors pet them a bit to get used to it, and then hand them over to the visitors.

Shi Xi tried lightly touching it with her finger!

The hog-nosed snake, as an exhibit animal that had seen the world, cooperated with her strokes very docilely, continuously flicking its tongue.

Shi Xi expressed her surprise, "Huh?"

It wasn't as she had imagined: not slimy, cold, or limp, but with a fine texture, smooth and compliant but not slippery, slightly cool to the touch, like caressing delicate and lustrous jade.

Teammate asked curiously, "How is it?"

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Shi Xi answered with a delighted smile, "The feel is quite nice! Want to give it a try?"

"Hey, that's not bad at all!"

Shi Xi scratched the hog-nosed snake's chin again with her finger, and the snake took the cue to crawl forward, slowly winding up onto her palm, flicking its tongue, then dangling from her wrist, observing its surroundings in a suspended pose.

For some reason, Shi Xi felt there was something gentle and polite about this hog-nosed snake.

Picking up the snake, she laughed and said, "I think I really like snakes now!"

Lü Ye smiled and replied, "Is that so?"

Shi Xi remembered, "Speaking of our reward being to touch the snake, does this count as having touched it?"

Lü Ye took the hog-nosed snake and put it back into the display case.

"That was just an appetizer, to get you used to them. It seems like you're quite comfortable now. Come on, let's move on to your real reward."

As Shi Xi followed Lü Ye, she felt much more relaxed than when she first came in; she no longer dared to glance at the exhibit cases on the side, afraid of being scared.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed the exhibit cases on both sides were very well arranged: some were lush with moss and ferns, dense green leaves, and even flowers; others had sand at the bottom and were adorned with cacti.

Just looking at the settings of the exhibit cases allowed her to guess the animal's living environment.

There were many super good-looking snakes in the display cases, as well as lizards and chameleons, which amazed her.

Lü Ye considerately slowed his pace, noticing their interest in the exhibit cases, and provided some enthusiastic explanations.

In one display case that seemed like a rainforest environment, there was a thick, twisted tree root with moss growing on it, the heart of the tillandsia gathered droplets of water, and on the bluish-gray stones next to it lay a brightly colored blue frog.

Its feet and limbs were a dark blue, like rubber rain boots, while its sides and back were a pale blue with white, mixed with dark blue spots. On the sides of its petite head were two unusually large black eyes, and its chin pulsed rapidly.

Shi Xi asked, "Is that a poison dart frog?"

She had seen them in documentaries when she was younger, remembering them as a highly poisonous animal, with indigenous people using their toxins on their arrows for hunting.

It was unexpected to see one with her own eyes in the zoo today. Despite its small size, she couldn't help but feel a sense of fear and did not dare underestimate it.

Lü Ye said, "This is a blue poison dart frog. Wild poison dart frogs accumulate toxins in their bodies by eating insects, but those raised in captivity are non-toxic."

Then pointing to the frog's feet, he said, "Look at the third toe on its hind foot, twitching; this is a sign of excitement—they've spotted fruit flies."

Upon hearing this, Shi Xi observed the poison dart frog's hind feet and saw indeed one slender toe trembling continuously, like a telegraph machine tapping incessantly.

A small poison dart frog was given such a spacious exhibit case, creating a beautifully arranged environment, displaying such fascinating behavior.

Her fear of poison dart frogs diminished slightly, while her interest grew.

In another exhibit case, several perches formed a crisscross pattern with green leaves as a backdrop, and below was a rather broad space covered with fallen leaves.

A green snake lay coiled on a branch, motionless as if asleep. Explore stories on novelbuddy

Its entire body was a lush green with a hint of yellow, like freshly picked tender tea leaves. Its diamond-shaped scales stacked neatly over its body, appeared delicate and beautiful.

Shi Xi's eyes widened: "Wow, what kind of snake is this? It's so pretty!"