Youth Novel Series - Bird Slave

Author: Shen Shixi (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-06-01
Features: This is a highly readable and excellent animal-themed novel, as well as one that embodies profound philosophy, leaving readers pondering upon finishing it. During a field scientific investigation on the Juekar Snow Mountain in northern Yunnan, the author, an ornithologist, and his Tibetan guide, Qiangba, unexpectedly discover that a pair of snake eagles and a pair of bulbuls have built their nests in the same large blue pine tree. From an animal classification perspective, snake eagles belong to carnivorous raptors, while bulbuls are ordinary songbirds. Snake eagles are predators of various small birds, and bulbuls are listed on the snake eagle's diet. In the food chain of nature, the two are predators and prey—how could they coexist? Determined to solve this mystery, the author hid in a stone pit not far from the blue pine tree, witnessing firsthand how the snake eagle family was arrogant and bullying toward the (pitiful) bulbuls, as well as how the bulbuls family was cautious and endured in the cramped space to survive. After six months of observation and research, the author ruled out several common symbiotic relationships in nature, such as "mutualism," "commensalism," and "facultative commensalism," between the snake eagle family and the bulbul family. Instead, it turned out to be an extremely rare symbiotic relationship between a master and slaves. The special "inter-species relationship" in the animal kingdom reflects the complex "interpersonal relationships" in human society, with a powerful emotional impact. The language of the work is fluent and vivid, with a lifelike depiction of nature, making it worth reading.