Chapter 1057 - 76: Pikas

Actually, Chen Wen knew what the golden eagle had discovered; he had already figured it out—it was pikas.

Pikas are primarily distributed on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and surrounding areas in Hua Country.

But in the whole of Asia, pikas are actually spread across most parts of Mongolia and Russia, and they also distribute along the coniferous forest belt.

These little creatures, cold-resistant but heat-sensitive, good at digging, living in groups in grassland and semi-desert areas, and active all day long, are indeed an indispensable part of the ecosystem.

Chen Wen knew before he came that there were quite a few pikas here in Russia.

However, he initially didn’t list pikas as a primary food source.

To him, hunting a few to acquire entries was good enough.

But looking at what the golden eagle saw, the number of pikas there seemed frightfully high—no, it scared even the eagle.

Unlike the pikas on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the grassland is in lesser quantity and the ecosystem is fragile, having too many pikas can easily lead to a region’s pastures being eaten clean, so their population there is not that large.

But here near Lake Baikal, while you can’t say food is outrageously abundant, for pikas at least, it couldn’t be better—it’s like they’ve stumbled into a granary.

Eating well and in a suitable environment, even though there are predators, pikas rely on their strong reproduction ability and thrive here.

Generally speaking, pikas form small groups based on family units and then multiple families come together to form a larger clan.

In a place where food is ample, pika populations can be incredibly frightening!

Chen Wen felt that the group of pikas the golden eagle saw must have over a hundred individuals.

Yet, he didn’t know the exact situation right now, and after packing up supplies with Hua Yun, Chen Wen brought a sled and Hua Yun took a bow and arrow. The two began to follow the golden eagle towards the place where the pikas lived.

...

In the forest.

On the originally flat ground, there were now pockmarked holes.

From one of these holes, a head resembling that of a hamster emerged.

But this head was much larger than a hamster’s, it was a pika.

Once its head popped out, it immediately surveyed its surroundings.

Upon confirming the area was safe, the pika sent a signal to those behind it, leisurely crawling out of the hole, followed by about five or six more pikas.

This was a pika family, two adults and their litter of pups.

A pika can give birth to five to ten pups at a time, with a relatively high survival rate, so this family was quite a happy and harmonious pika family.

Once they left the cave.

The pika father climbed onto a nearby rock.

On the rock was a batch of pasture they had gathered, and near the pika was using its excellent perception ability to check if this batch of pasture had dehydrated.

Pikas have a rather peculiar trait, which is drying grass.

They do not hibernate during winter; thus, to cope with the long and food-scarce winter, pikas will collect pasture during summer and autumn to dry it, much like humans drying rice grains. After drying, they store this pasture.

To get through winter.

Under the rock, the pika pups looked on ignorantly at the father’s actions. Although their brains weren’t very developed, the father’s actions were deeply imprinted in their minds.

Once they survive independently and establish their own families, this memory and gene inheritance will lead them to repeat this action, storing pasture.

This wasn’t the only pika family drying pasture.

As Chen Wen and Hua Yun walked into the forest, they were stunned by the heaps of pasture laid out on rocks.

"This is... pikas drying pasture?"

Chen Wen immediately recognized the handiwork of the pikas.

He looked around the forest, on the rocks, fallen trees, and even some flat dry earth, there were signs of grass being dried by pikas.

And as Chen Wen and Hua Yun arrived, the pika family that had just come out sensed the threat and quickly retreated back into their nest.

"So many!"

After listening to Chen Wen explain the characteristics of pikas, Hua Yun couldn’t help but exclaim, "How many pikas exactly are hiding in this place?"

Chen Wen shook his head slightly.

Hard to say.

But definitely not fewer than a hundred!

"I’ll go take a look around."

Chen Wen said, and then he and Hua Yun split up.

Facing pikas that posed no possible threat to the two of them, separating was undoubtedly the best choice.

Hua Yun nodded; she also planned to explore the pika habitat.

Without any hesitation, the two entered the pika’s territory.

Chen Wen walked around the edge of the pika domain.

Pikas are active all day, and in autumn, especially as winter approaches, their activity rate is high.

Some pikas ventured out of their holes to check their pastures as Chen Wen moved around.

Since these little creatures didn’t consider Chen Wen a threat, he cooperatively refrained from hunting.

He simply walked slowly, observing the scene.

He felt that this area might not have had humans set foot in before, as the pikas weren’t afraid of people.

On Hua Yun’s side.

She was somewhat charmed by the appearance of these pikas; each looked like a larger version of a hamster, clever and cute.

However, Hua Yun wasn’t holding back for that reason.

She initially planned to shoot two pikas twenty meters away with her bow, but was stopped by the approaching Chen Wen.

Hua Yun looked at Chen Wen with some surprise.

Chen Wen said, "Hunting one or two doesn’t make much of a difference, and would make these pikas wary of us. You see, right now, they’re not very afraid of us, which is our opportunity!"

Upon hearing this, Hua Yun was moved: "Are you planning to capture them all at once?"

"Capturing them all at once isn’t feasible with just the two of us, and merely finding their holes and trying to drive them out is the problem."

Chen Wen shook his head, denying the suggestion.

He said slowly, "A small pika family can dig five or six holes, and they’re interconnected. Even if we spent several hours a day, we wouldn’t catch many pikas."

Upon hearing this, Hua Yun frowned: "Then what do you mean..."

Chen Wen didn’t respond verbally but instead looked at the golden eagle, which was watching the pikas intently.

Hua Yun followed Chen Wen’s gaze but still looked somewhat confused.

A golden eagle?

What does this have to do with the golden eagle?

But suddenly, Hua Yun seemed to recall something.

She remembered Chen Wen’s mountain challenge where the golden eagle continuously hunted pikas in the early stages to satisfy its own food needs, even having surplus!

As for the pikas on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, they certainly weren’t as naïve as these pikas here.

The pikas over there could detect abnormal situations from nearly a hundred meters away and evade them.

The difficulty of hunting them wasn’t on the same level as these here!

"What you mean is..."

Hua Yun pondered for a moment, then said, "To choose this area as the golden eagle’s hunting ground, letting it hunt?"

Snap!

Chen Wen snapped his fingers, startling a nearby pika that was peeking out at them.

It quickly retreated, but after realizing Chen Wen posed no threat, it peeked out again, looking a bit puzzled at Chen Wen.

Chen Wen looked at this group of pikas with their clueless expressions and said, "This is a group of pikas with little defense instinct, and this place isn’t far from our camp. It would only take the golden eagle a few hours to fly here. Let’s make this a hunting ground, and allow these raptors to come and hunt here occasionally to meet their food needs."

Upon hearing this, the golden eagle immediately perked up.

This decision was very much to its liking!