Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Chapter 816 - 812 Oasis

Thunder Strike?

The audience was flabbergasted.

Bi Fang explained in layman's terms,

"The first field test conducted in the Western Sahara showed that when sand grains are blown and rub against each other, they generate an electric field."

"When this happens, the smaller dust particles usually absorb electrons from the larger ones, thereby becoming negatively charged themselves."

"As a result, dust particles are more easily blown into the higher atmosphere, while the positively charged sand grains tend to stay closer to the ground. This separation of charges creates an electric field that electrifies the dust trapped in the sand, causing it to flow more into the atmosphere, resulting in larger storms."

"This sphere not only has lightning that strikes downward, but also lightning that strikes upwards."

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[Sheesh, that's dangerously fascinating.]

[Knowledge level up!]

[How come I've never heard of this before?]

"It's right that you haven't heard of it, because such events are rare. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being struck dead by lightning inside a sandstorm."

[Too hellish for me.]

[Never heard of it either.]

[Anyway, let's celebrate, another day racing against death!]

[Master Fang has rockets behind him, right?]

[Death is like the wind, always at my side, but it can never catch up to me.]

Having survived the sandstorm crisis, Bi Fang continued on his way with Alpha, but this time, he chose not to control the reins and let them dangle freely.

There are many ways to get water in the desert, but with camels, there's no need to pick the complicated and slower ones.

"I've said before that following animals is undoubtedly a way to find water sources and even food. However, this definitely does not include bringing a dog and hoping it can find water for you."

"Virtually all animals have their own fixed living territories, even migratory birds do, despite their annual migrations. The routes are set."

"They know where there is abundant water and grass, where there are no predators, and where they can safely rest. They almost never change, which is why Professor Étienne came to me from far away to ask for help in altering the migration route of the White-fronted Geese. If not altered, urbanization would force them into extinction along their migration routes."

"Have you figured out the reason?"

"Most animals know the locations of water sources, not because they are extraordinarily gifted or have antennas on their heads pointing to water sources."

Bi Fang placed his hands on his temples, pointing his index fingers out and rotating them around in a comedic gesture that amused the audience.

[Because they live there, they know it, right?]

"That's correct. An animal's territory is like our house, and a water source is the house's tap water supply. As the owner of the house, you naturally know where the taps are."

"Animals get thirsty. Knowing to follow them to the tap is all you need, but if you bring a dog into unfamiliar territory, finding the tap relies purely on luck."

"Almost no animal inherently has the ability to directly locate water sources, which is why they usually don't stray far from their own territories."

"If the tap in the house breaks and there is no plumber in nature, animals can only move house, but moving is not that simple and often comes with a very painful cost. Those who have seen the African Savanna's wildlife migration will understand clearly."

[Wildebeest!]

[The widowmaker, African Buffalo!]

[Truly shocking, every time they cross the river and then get bitten by crocodiles, ending up as dinner, or luckily slip through with the main group.]

[Humans might spend a lifetime's savings and effort to move house, animals don't have it easy either (Dog's head).]

[Almost all, I bet Old Fang is about to mention an exception, I guess it's Alpha.]

"Smart."

Bi Fang laughed and patted Alpha's neck.

"When humans are in the desert, the biggest difficulty they face is finding water. Without water, you could perish in a few hours from dehydration. But camels in the desert don't face this issue; they can always find an oasis and drink water, making them one of the few animals that can actively seek out water sources."

"This is thanks to their unusually structured nostrils. The nostrils of a camel are slanted and can open and close at will to prevent dust from entering. Inside are structures like valves, covered with olfactory cells. They can search for food, and in the arid desert, they can sense moisture from water sources that have no smell from far away."

"Such nostrils allow camels to sniff out water sources more than twenty kilometers away, greatly increasing their chances of survival when crossing the desert compared to a human carrying a large pack of bottled water."

"So, if you really get lost in the desert, an experienced person would not feed the camel water; instead, after a few days, they would release the reins, allowing it to move freely, and it will find water on its own."

[Holy moly, this sense of smell is unbeatable!]

[Still, it got caught by Master Fang (Face with Tears of Joy).]

[Still, Master Fang comes out on top.]

[But seriously, is this sense of smell even better than a dog's or a bear's? I feel like they can't find water sources by smell alone.]

"Indeed, dogs and bears can't find water by smell, but to say that a camel's sense of smell is stronger than theirs isn't necessarily true."

Bi Fang shook his head, puzzling the audience.

"Actually, camels have fewer than 800 olfactory receptor genes which might seem like a lot, but it's actually quite few among animals."

"Normal humans have more than 1000, dogs have about 1300, and even more powerful, mice have 1500."

"But whether it's humans, dogs, or mice, none can locate water sources based on smell alone, regardless of distance. Even if it's less than ten meters away, they can't know there is water in front of them solely by smell."

"The camel's ability to distinguish between scents is actually far inferior to that of dogs, bears, and mice. This is related to their living environment. In the desert, they don't need a strong ability to distinguish scents because there are not many to distinguish."

"So the fact that camels have fewer olfactory receptor genes is not a problem. On the contrary, because there are fewer scents to distinguish, these olfactory receptor genes have a stronger specialization. Their sense of smell is enhanced in certain specific aspects, and when it comes to water and other plants, it is far superior to other animals!"

"In the soil of vegetation, a chemical substance called 'geosmin' is released. This unique smell, similar to the scent of freshly turned soil, can be detected by camels from afar."

"Actually, we sometimes smell this scent too, like on rainy days, the 'earthy scent' after the rain is also geosmin, which essentially is a byproduct of bacterial metabolism."

After several days of drought in the summer, a heavy rain suddenly falls, washing over the earth. The leaves turn greener, the flowers redder, and even the air is filled with the fresh fragrance of soil.

You take a deep breath, filled with the plant's freshness and the unique smell of mud, the fragrance of nature.

But scientists will tell you that this post-rain earthy fragrance is actually organic compounds volatilized by some fungi. It's a "scent trap" created by bacteria to attract springtails to consume, aiding in the spread of actinobacteria spores.

[Ah, this, ah, this, ah this]

[I've always really liked the scent after it rains...]

[It's over, can't go back now]

[What's the big deal, we don't know how many bacteria we breathe in with every breath]

A person of mediocre talent, who focuses on just one thing year after year, can also become outstanding.

The natural world has an array of scents, yet these camels don't need them. With few natural enemies, their greatest foe is only the natural environment itself, so they only need to detect a few select scents. Even though their ability to distinguish smells might be poor, they can make do.

The reins hang beside Alpha's neck; after walking under the sun for a while, it seems to take a moment for Alpha to realize something is amiss. Tilting its head, it looks at the rope next to its neck, unsure whether to continue forward and stops in place.

Bi Fang didn't ask it to stop. With a gentle squeeze of Alpha's belly with his legs, he signaled it to keep moving.

[Can you really find it? Is there water in the desert?]

[Of course, there are oases]

[Do oases really exist? I feel like they are just creations from TV dramas or novels. Maybe they do exist, but only a sparse few, right?]

"You are mistaken about that, the Sahara Desert is indeed the largest desert, but not the driest or the most monotonous."

"The so-called desert is more like a treeless land surface; the 9 million square kilometers of desert, almost the size of Huaxia, might seem like an unending expanse of yellow-orange, but the geological structures are actually quite complex."

"For example, Egypt's four major oases, if you look closely at the terrain, you'll find that they actually lie on the same fault zone. Such topography is inherently guiding and most crucially provides a water source."

"I was telling you about the cause of the Sahara's formation just a few days ago; I wonder if you still remember."

"The desertification of the Sahara was very late, and it wasn't until before the agricultural era that the Nile Valley became uninhabitable due to the accumulation of huge layers of gravel, which were even up to 100 meters thick during the glacial period."

"Hence, humans gradually migrated from the grassland areas before desertification, and where there are humans, there naturally must be rivers."

Bi Fang began to correct the misconceptions of his online friends.

Prosperity is hidden even amidst barrenness.

"In the early days of the Egyptian civilization, the eastern deserts, Nubia, Libya, and deserts around the Nile were not so arid, there were many rivers."

"Egypt's exchange with external civilizations, ore mining, wood, and even agriculture itself heavily relied on these rivers. The modern main stream of the Nile might be the absolute center, but it's not the only one. Even, we could say that the dry river valleys shared a position in the formation and maturation of the Egyptian civilization alongside the Mediterranean, Libya, Sinai, and Nubia."

"The god Set of the Delta in Egyptian legend and Horus, the god of the Nile Valley, fought for many years, and ultimately Horus defeated Set and drove him into the desert to become the god of the desert. This clearly reflects the hierarchy between the Delta and the desert, but let's not forget that, since the desert is mentioned alongside the Nile Delta, it shows that Egypt placed great importance on the desert."

If the so-called Sahara Desert were truly worthless, a place where birds don't even lay eggs, how could it ever have been valued?

In many local myths, one can actually trace some outlines of human development.

In regions with developed water systems, the locals would never worship a powerful fire god, and within their system, a fire god could never defeat a water god.

"Perhaps the conditions weren't as good, not as fertile, but in the hearts of Egyptians, the significance of the desert in culture was several dimensions higher than modern people perceive."

"Even if at the time it was indeed a land covered with yellow sand, there were still quite a number of oases scattered throughout the desert, supporting not an insignificant number of humans, which is why the desert occupies a considerable position in culture."

"Unfortunately, desert archaeology only began at the end of the last century. Currently, the main research has been on the dry river valleys on the eastern side of the Upper Egyptian bend, with some discoveries also on the western side, but not many."

Desert archaeology is too costly, being a work inevitably destined to have a very small return on investment.

Searching for unclear engravings on cliff faces or rocks over hundreds of kilometers of valleys, eating sand, holding a brush—it's a very difficult task to even think about.

"So, a long time ago, the Sahara Desert actually had quite a number of oases and rivers."

"To this day, many of these rivers have disappeared from the surface, but underground, unseen, they still exist, surging tirelessly, continuing to create oases."

As Bi Fang had said,

Underneath the Sahara Desert, there were quite a few Underground Rivers, and these water sources were relatively abundant, some even directly forming small rivers in the desert.

With the supply of water from Underground Rivers, the desert could support sizable oases with various types of plants, and on a larger oasis, some animals too. Coming to such an oasis, it would be hard for humans to imagine they were still in the desert.

"Kharzez Oasis is one of the more famous oases in the Sahara Desert, also formed by an Underground River. Moreover, according to surveys, many underground rivers even contain a variety of fish, allowing people to fish directly in the subterranean rivers of the Sahara."

"It's definitely one of the wonders of the Sahara Desert."

[Another day steeped in both Eastern and Western learning]

[Mythology researcher, Master Fang adds another profession]

[It's common mythology, but it still feels awesome]

A mathematician being an expert in mathematics, dealing with various specialized problems with ease, is not unusual, but if he also exhibits a certain degree of literary knowledge, even if not at the level of a professional scholar, it will still surprise and even impress people, because this is about not just the depth of expertise, but also the breadth of knowledge.

Unfortunately, things did not seem as easy as Bi Fang had thought.

Alpha, released from the restraint of reins, did not change direction, but walked in a straight line. Hours went by without change, until the evening when it seemed to finally realize that it was free to roam.

For this reason, Bi Fang even withstood the blistering noon sun, to prevent disrupting Alpha's "inspiration".

Already lacking enough water, an afternoon passed, and his lips were even cracking and peeling. He couldn't even make any significant facial expressions, or else they would crack and bleed.

The situation continued until eight or nine in the evening, when the moon had risen, and Bi Fang finally reaped the rewards.

Within his view, on the vast expanse of land, there appeared a "dark spot".