Naturally, water monkeys did not exist because no one had ever caught a water monkey, and no one had ever found a water monkey's corpse. Therefore, there was no way to prove that water monkeys really existed. Otherwise, why couldn't they even find a corpse?
Later generations of scientists believed that the water monkeys were likely to be aquatic plants at the bottom of the water or some kind of animal that lived in the water. Because of the psychological effects of fear, people did not see clearly and then created this strange species for no reason. In fact, the water monkey species did not exist at all. It could be considered a man-made creation.
Although water monkeys were man-made, it was certainly not completely groundless. They were definitely aquatic animals or plants, such as otters, water snakes, and aquatic plants. An otter's body was more like a monkey's. Once a water snake entangled a swimmer in the water, it could easily drag the swimmer to the bottom of the water. Aquatic plants were even more obvious. A huge aquatic plant could swallow a person whole. It would not be difficult for it to entangle a person's feet.
Ang Lee looked at the pool in front of him. First, he eliminated the aquatic plants because at least there was no aquatic plant on the surface of the water. There might be aquatic plants at the bottom of the water, but at least aquatic plants at this depth would not entangle a person's legs.
Therefore, only water snakes and otters were left. Both of these animals had the ability to drag people into the water and could be the culprit.
"Xi 'er's wife, do you have otters here?"
Ang Lee asked.
"Otter, never heard of it."
Da Xi 'er said.
Ang Lee casually broke a branch and drew on the flat ground. He used the soil to draw a lifelike otter.
"Do you see it clearly? We call this animal an otter where we come from. Do you have it here? "
Ang Lee pointed at the otter he drew and said.
Da Xi 'er carefully observed for a moment and said, "Isn't this a mouse? The mice where you come from are called otters? "
Looking at the puzzled Da Xi 'er, Ang Lee did not know what to say. After all, otters really looked like mice. Ang Lee had only drawn a floor plan. At first glance, it did look like a mouse. It was no wonder that Da Xi' er was so puzzled.
"Xi 'er's wife, don't worry. I'll draw a few more pictures."
Ang Lee drew the otter again. He drew the otter's favorite movements and expressions in its daily activities.
"Xi 'er's wife, this otter is very different from a mouse. A mouse is so small! This otter is about the same size as the big yellow dog in your village. It might be slightly smaller, but its weight is about the same. It's definitely bigger than a cat. Have you seen it on the mountain? "
Ang Lee asked.
Although the otter looked more like a mouse, it was much bigger than a mouse. Its body was comparable to a medium-sized fierce dog. It was also good in water. Its body was more than half a meter long and its tail was almost half a meter long. Its body was long and flat. Its head was wide and slightly flat. Its muzzle was short and round. Its eyes were slightly bulging and round. Its ears were small and round. Its nostrils and ear canals were small and round. It was waterproof and could be closed when it was diving. The fur on the otter's body was long and dense. Its back was brown and shiny. Its belly was lighter and grayish-brown. The base of the fur was grayish-white and the fur was brown. The mouth part of the otter's skull was thick and short. Its forehead was longer. Its brain was wide and flat. Its brain was flat and pear-shaped. Its interorbital region was very narrow. Most of the seams on the adult otter's skull had healed. Only the seams on the nasal bone were more obvious.
The otter's living habits were also very special. It rested in its cave during the day and came out at night. Except for mating, it usually lived alone. In order to find more food, it often moved from one river to another or from upstream to downstream. The otter was skilled in water. It was good at swimming and diving. Its soft body and thick tail could reduce the resistance of movement in the water. When it swam, its forelimbs were close to its body and it used its hind limbs and tail to push the water. At the same time, it also acted as a rudder, making its body undulate like an eel. Its swimming speed was very fast, and it could swim more than 50 meters per minute. Moreover, it was very flexible in its ascent and turn. It moved forward and backward, left and right in the water, and rolled freely. It also liked to swim in circles, rolling up the sand and small fish in the water. In an emergency, it would even jump on the water surface like a dolphin. It could swim underwater for up to four or five minutes. The distance it could travel was quite far.
The otter's hearing, sight, and smell were very sensitive. In the water, it could automatically close the valves of its nostrils and ears to prevent water from entering. When it swam close to the surface of the water, it was used to exposing its head, back, and tail. Therefore, it was often mistaken for a water monster by people. Perhaps this was why many people mistook the otter for a water monkey!
Sometimes, the otter would lie on its back with its legs tucked in, floating on the surface of the water and drifting with the waves. The otter loved to play. It often stood up by treading water, exposing its head and neck to the surface of the water to look into the distance. It also climbed up and down the slope of the river embankment, slid and rolled on the ice and snow, etc. These behaviors made its reaction sharper and made its hunting skills more refined. However, the otter was not good at walking on land. It mainly used its belly to crawl forward, slide, roll, and intermittently jump. It also wandered on thin ice or shallow snow. When it encountered an enemy, it immediately dived into the ice cave or under the snow to escape. When it saw a light, it did not stop for a moment like other nocturnal beasts. Instead, it fled while looking back, showing a strange appearance. This made it easy for hunters to kill it. The hunter's bullet was very fast. Looking back was just asking for death.
Otters often lived in caves, but generally, there was no fixed cave. When the mother was feeding the young, she chose to live in the crevices of the embankment or under the roots of trees. She dug her own nest or used the old nests of foxes, badgers, and hares to repair it. The cave generally had two entrances. The entrance to the cave was usually below the water surface, and the other entrance was above the ground. It was an air cave for air circulation. The depth of the cave was different. The main cave where the otter lived was wide and often covered with a little hay and branches. If the river flooded the cave after rain, the otter would move to the dense bushes on the ground.
Otters ate a lot of food, mainly fish. They often dragged the fish they caught above the water surface to eat. They also caught small birds, small animals, frogs, shrimps, crabs, and crustaceans. Sometimes, they also ate some plant food. They liked to dive into the water from the shore or the river cliff to chase after schools of fish. However, the most common hunting method was ambush, especially during the winter. They often hid in the ice cave and waited for fish to swim over before suddenly rushing out to hunt for food. When they found water birds swimming slowly above the water surface, they would also approach from below the water surface and bite their prey before slowly eating it.
Like humans, otters did not have a specific breeding season. They could mate and reproduce throughout the year. This was obviously different from many animals. Otters became adults when they were three years old and had a lifespan of about 20 years.
Daxi 'er shook her head and said with certainty, "No, we definitely don't have an animal called otter here. Absolutely not."
Ang Lee nodded. Although the environment of the pool here was not bad, the water quality was too clear. There were too few aquatic plants in it, and the nutrients were not enough. There were not many fish, let alone a glutton like otter. It was very difficult for otters to live in such a pool. The fact that there were no otters here was within Ang Lee's expectations.
"Since there are no otters, are there any snakes in the mountains? The bigger kind? "
Ang Lee continued to ask.
Daxi 'er nodded and said, "Of course there are snakes in the mountains. Moreover, there is a very big python, the kind that is very, very big. It is about as long as this tree."
Ang Lee looked sideways and saw that the small tree next to him was four meters long. A four-meter-long snake was big enough. A snake that could reach this length definitely had the strength to pull people into the water. Moreover, the snake's skin was soft and had the same effect as a human's palm. Once someone broke free and escaped, they would think that they were caught by human hands. Naturally, they would think of water ghosts, which were water monkeys. However, they did not know that it was the soft body of a snake that caught them, not the arms of a water monkey.
"Daxi 'er, if my guess is right, the legendary water monkey in your village is a huge snake like this. Yes, it is a huge snake. There is no mistake."
Ang Lee said with certainty.
"The water monkey is a huge snake? But they said that the water monkey's head is bigger than an ox's head. How big is the snake's head? "
Daxi 'er said.
Ang Lee said, "They were scared, so what they saw might be an illusion. It was an illusion! They didn't really see a water monkey as big as an ox's head. As long as you don't see it with your own eyes, don't believe it. "
Daxi 'er looked thoughtful. After a pause, she said, "Young Master, you didn't see it with your own eyes. Why are you so sure that the water monkey in the pool is a huge snake?"
Ang Lee was speechless. This was indeed just Ang Lee's guess. Whether it was a huge snake or not, no one could say for sure. Maybe Ang Lee was right, but maybe he was wrong.
"Forget it. Let's not talk about the water monkey. It is indeed very dangerous here. Let's go downstream to catch fish! Let's go to the shallowest place, knee-deep. "
Ang Lee said.
Catching fish in the river was mainly for fun. Therefore, Ang Lee did not plan to go to the deep water area to catch fish. He just chose the shallowest place to play.
Because they did not prepare a net in advance, the only way to catch fish was to catch with their hands and poke with a sharp weapon. It was very difficult to catch fish directly in the water with one's hands. Generally, it could not be done without sufficient skills. However, it was relatively easy to poke the fish with a sharp weapon. In this aspect, Ang Lee was absolutely an expert.
There were many trees nearby. Ang Lee asked the guards to cut down some branches and sharpen one end of the branches into a weapon similar to a spear. It was very effective to use this weapon to catch fish.
"Xi 'er, how do you usually catch fish?"
Ang Lee asked.
Xi 'er said with a smile, "I don't usually catch fish. It is the boys who catch fish. We all watch from the side and are responsible for collecting the fish."
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Well, I will catch the fish. You just watch from the side. I am very good at catching fish."
When it came to catching fish, Ang Lee's level was first-class, especially when it came to using a spear-like tool to catch fish. Ang Lee caught one fish accurately and almost never made a mistake. Such amazing skills were naturally developed through years of practice. If it were not for years of practice, Ang Lee would not have such amazing skills.
Da Xi 'er did not go into the water. She stood on the shore and watched Ang Lee catch fish. It was a very comfortable feeling. It was the feeling of watching others work and directly harvesting the fish.
There were not many fish in the shallow water, and they were all small fish. Some of them ran out of the pool, and some of them ran upstream from the downstream. The biggest one was only about half a catty, and the smaller ones were less than a tael. Of course, there were also some fish seedlings that were not important at all. Fish seedlings that were about the size of tadpoles were not worth killing.
Since Ang Lee was going into the water, he naturally had to pick the biggest fish to kill. The biggest fish were also the easiest to kill. After all, a big fish meant a big target. Targets were naturally easier to attack. As for small fish seedlings that were about the size of tadpoles, it was too difficult to catch them unless a fishing net was used. It was very difficult to use a harpoon to catch fish that were too small. Those kinds of fish seedlings could only be caught with a net.
"Here."
Ang Lee shouted and directly harpooned a grass carp that was about half a catty. Although it was only half a catty, it was the biggest fish that could be seen.
"I got it, I got it. Young Master is really amazing. He just went into the water and already caught a fish that was about half a catty."
Da Xi 'er said with a look of admiration.
Ang Lee smiled faintly and said, "Miss Xi 'er, hold it well. Watch me harpoon a few more fish. Hahaha!"
When it came to harpooning fish, Ang Lee's skills were indisputable. His skills were too amazing. Each of the five or six branches in his hand could catch a fish that was about half a catty.
"Another one, and it's still half a catty."
"Xi 'er, here it is again. It's still half a catty."
"Haha! The fish here are so stupid! It's so easy to catch another one. "
Ang Lee caught several fish in a row and used up all the branches in his hand. Every time he caught a fish, he would throw it to the shore together with the branches. Now, he had caught six fish and had no more branches in his hand. Without branches, it would be too difficult for Ang Lee to catch fish with his bare hands. After all, the density of fish here was too low. It would be a little difficult to catch fish with his bare hands. If the fish were more densely packed, it would not be a problem to catch fish with his bare hands. But the density of fish here was too low and the water was not muddy enough. There were a lot of small stones in the riverbed, which made it difficult to create an environment for fishing in muddy water. Therefore, it was basically impossible to catch fish with his bare hands.
"Miss Xi 'er, the water here is too clear. It's impossible to fish in muddy water. We can only use branches to harpoon fish."
Ang Lee said.
Da Xi 'er said, "Well, I know that. Young Master, quickly go ashore! Six fish is already a lot. It's enough for us to eat tonight. "
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Miss Xi 'er, don't worry. Let me catch some fish."
Ang Lee suddenly became interested in catching fish with his bare hands in the clear water. He wanted to see if he could catch fish. Even if he couldn't, it didn't matter.
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