I have a wildlife zoo

He opened the sunbeam snake's cabinet and held a mouse by the middle of its tail with tweezers, lifting it to the edge of the cabinet!

The mouse obviously panicked, kicking its feet a couple of times, and the sunbeam snake, flicking its tongue, seemed to smell something and slowly slithered over!

There is a common stereotype that snakes have poor vision and some are even blind, but this is not the case, as most members of the cobra family and the colubrid family have good eyesight.

The sunbeam snake is a nocturnal, burrowing species with relatively small eyes, which means it isn't one of the types with well-developed vision.

However, just like the quote from "League of Legends," being blind does not hinder my pursuit of the enemy, because I can smell their stench!

For snakes with poor vision, the main way to perceive their environment is through smell, using their forked tongue—commonly referred to as forked-tongue—to collect odor molecules from the air.

When the tongue retracts into the mouth, it passes through a hole in the jaw to Jacobson's Organ, which analyzes these odors to determine their source, and grasps the general surroundings, including the location and information of the prey.

Snakes like boas and pythons can also sense heat through their pit organs, much like activating Eagle Vision in "Assassin's Creed," creating a thermal imaging map in their minds, more keenly capturing environmental details in combination with their sense of smell.

The sunbeam snake meandered out, its black body shimmering with a faint rainbow luster under the light, continuously flicking its tongue forward until it almost licked the mouse's head.

What's this, delivery to the door?

Suddenly, its body sprang forward!

In a flash, it bit the mouse's head, and its body twisted like a pretzel, coiling the mouse tightly in its embrace.

A textbook chokehold!

The mouse, having been attacked, let out a feeble squeak. Its hind legs twitched, rendered completely immobile by the powerful constricting force.

After constricting for a while and sensing that its prey was dead from blood loss, the sunbeam snake opened its mouth wide and, wiggling its body, swallowed the mouse, which was larger in diameter than itself, whole, until the tail disappeared from view.

The sunbeam snake digests slowly, so one mouse should suffice for its energy needs for about a week to a week and a half.

…

"Director, the rain has stopped!"

Lan Li was sitting at her desk, looking out the window when she suddenly exclaimed with delight.

After three days, the skies had finally cleared after the rain!

Fang Ye's eyes lit up, he rose to open the window, and immediately, a fresh, moist breeze washed over him.

Gazing at the sky washed blue as if filtered, at the leisurely drifting clouds, and the bright golden rays of Sunshine shining down once more, he stretched, expelled a breath of stale air, and his mood became exceptionally cheery.

He let out a lazy sigh, "The rain has stopped."

For Linhai, it was rare to have such prolonged rain without a typhoon.

Usually, it's a downpour that ends as briskly as it begins.

The animals, cooped up in the back shed for three days, would be able to go out and have a good time tomorrow.

Recalling that there was a Eurasian eagle-owl rescued a few days ago at the zoo, Fang Ye's pleasant expression turned serious, "That's right, now that the rain has stopped, we can release the eagle-owl!"

The eagle-owl's health check was good, with no wing injuries, and it was ready to be released at any time.

Lan Li asked curiously, "Where will we release it? Should we take it back to the school?"

Fang Ye saved his work on the computer and rummaged through a drawer for a pair of protective gloves, "No need, we can release it right here in our zoo. Let's go have dinner first."

Generally speaking, raptors that have recovered over a short period should be returned to where they came from, and the best place for release is the closest safe location to the site of rescue, or the rescue site itself. However, the area near the school is urban, with many buildings, and if the bird accidentally flew into a building again...

Therefore, Fang Ye decided to release it directly in the zoo area. This place was suburban, undisturbed by humans, with plenty of birds and ample food, perfect for hunting mice or Oriental magpies from time to time.

Because the Eurasian eagle-owl is a nocturnal predator, it is safer to release it near dusk or at night. It's 5 p.m. now; even though it's still light outside, it won't be for much longer. By the time we finish dinner, it'll be 6 p.m., and by 7 p.m. it will be almost dark.

"Does that mean we'll still have a chance to see it afterward?"

Lan Li, feeling quite pleased, asked, "Right, Director, should we start a live stream?"

Fang Ye shook his head, "Forget it, just take a video or a few pictures. Do you have a towel? I remember you tucked it away somewhere after the last rescue."

Lan Li looked around and handed over a towel: "Here you go, Director."

They put the gear on the table, first went to have dinner, and then headed to the nursery.

The curtains were always drawn in the nursery window, mainly to prevent the Eurasian eagle-owl from not knowing the situation, trying to get out, flying up, and hitting the glass with its head, injuring itself.

As soon as the door was opened, the eagle-owl's head had been facing the window. Although it couldn't see the outside scenery, it seemed to sense the change in the weather.

Upon hearing the noise, it performed a 180-degree turnaround with its head, its yellow, big eyes glaring at the doorway.

"Kid, you're showing off a bit, aren't you?" Fang Ye commented.

So, never determine whether an owl is facing or turning its back on you based on the direction of its face!

The difference between the Eurasian eagle-owl now and when it arrived was mainly that it had a ring on its leg for identification in case of death or if it needed to be rescued again.

Once it saw that it was Fang Ye who had arrived, its spirits lifted considerably; it raised its body and focused its gaze firmly on him.

It asked silently: Where's the meat? The meat for today?

Fang Ye grinned slightly, "Heh, still thinking about mooching food off us every day?"

He released a soothing skill, covered the eagle-owl's head with a towel, then directly picked it up, holding onto its tarso-metatarsus.

Carrying the eagle-owl, they went out to Peafowl Lawn.

The green grass of the roadside lawn glistened with droplets of water; after the rain, it appeared lush and greener, and the water droplets on the leaves slowly gathered, bending the leaves. When they could no longer bear the weight, a droplet fell onto the grass below, making the leaves spring up with a snap.

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The chirping and chattering came from the treetops, signaling that the birds were in high spirits, happily and joyfully singing out their contentment.

Fang Ye set the eagle-owl down on an open patch of grass, took off the towel from its head, and said with a smile, "Go on!"

When releasing a bird, the correct method is to place it on the ground or hold it, letting the bird fly away on its own, rather than tossing it into the air!

Tossing it could easily lead to injury.

Hmm?

As soon as the eagle-owl was put down, it stood stiffly on the ground as if it were perched on a tree stump, looking somewhat dazed. What's the situation here?

Its neck rotated in a circle, scanning the surroundings, but when it saw Fang Ye, its head stopped moving, and its big eyes fixed firmly on him.

"Why aren't you flying?"

Fang Ye was rather puzzled. Imprisoned for a long time, the bird should have been happy and flown away immediately now that it was returning to nature, right?

Could it be sick?

He quickly used Eye of Observation to check its health status; it was very healthy!

Lan Li was ready to take several photos, but the eagle-owl just stood there foolishly on the ground, and after waiting for quite a while, it didn't fly off, which was rather awkward.

Fang Ye scratched his head, unable to figure out what was wrong, and cast another soothing skill on the eagle-owl, picking it up and placing it on a tree trunk.

He gestured to Lan Li, "Let's go, I don't know what's up with it. Maybe it's still light out, and it will fly away when it gets dark tonight."