Evolution from the crocodile

After driving away the leopard, Lu Chen was not in a hurry to go out to hunt, but instead walked around the valley.

In the surrounding jungle, birds chirped constantly.

The climate in the valley is warm and various subtropical plants grow luxuriantly. This is a natural feeding ground for many birds. Previously, they did not dare to inhabit it because of the presence of snakes.

Even some brave ones are mostly eaten by snakes.

Nowadays, as snakes become increasingly rare in the valley, more and more birds are nesting and settling in the nearby jungle.

Sparrows, blackbirds, ring-necked pearlspots, white wagtails, brown-backed shrike, magpies... Lu Chen easily identified more than a dozen common birds.

Lu Chen basically didn't pay much attention to these guys, mainly because they provided too few energy points.

Many small individual birds only weigh a few ounces and can provide at most a few tenths of energy points, which is not enough to fill the gaps between their teeth. If he wanted to rely on them to fill his stomach, with Lu Chen's current size, he would have to eat at least nearly a hundred of them in one meal.

He doesn't have the patience at all... If he has the energy, he might as well go wandering outside the mountains a few more times and hunt a wild boar to get everything.

In fact, not only birds, but also the fish in the small lake were rarely caught by Lu Chen now, leaving them all to the crocodile boss as food for the winter.

Soon, Lu Chen saw the figures of three little guys.

They are all hiding in the grass at the moment, tens of meters apart from each other, almost blending into the surrounding environment. The traces are difficult to detect without scent detection.

There were a few small fish scattered in the open area not far in front of me.

This is... setting a trap to catch birds.

In fact, the little guys were very concerned about many of Lu Chen's usual actions, and would even deliberately imitate them.

The most obvious thing is to set traps for hunting, and they have completely learned the essence of it.

The three crocodiles now not only pile stones in shallow waters to catch fish, but also know how to draw inferences from one example and put the small fish and shrimp they caught in the open area on the shore, and then hide in the grass next to them, waiting for birds to come close and prey.

These days, many silly birds keep falling into traps, which provide them with a steady stream of food.

Lu Chen sometimes wondered in his heart whether the little ones' brains had undergone some kind of mutation and become smarter because they stayed with him for a long time.

Their ability to learn and imitate is a bit ridiculous, and even Lu Chen was a little surprised.

In his opinion, ordinary crocodiles are large beasts with well-developed limbs and simple brains. Their brains are no more than the size of walnut kernels, and they definitely do not have such a high IQ.

What he didn't know was that although crocodiles have small brains, they have also evolved a complex cerebral cortex. Their brains are the largest and most perfect among reptiles. They are very similar to the brain structure of birds and have very strong information processing capabilities.

Some scientists even believe that the intelligence of crocodiles is comparable to that of house mice (an adult mouse can understand human speech, and its IQ can reach up to the level of an 8-year-old child).

Therefore, crocodiles are not only excellent in memory, but also very smart and good at imitating and learning.

In previous lives, scientists have discovered that several species of crocodiles have learned behaviors such as tool use.

For example, they will use sticks and branches to attract nesting birds to hunt. They even use scraps of leftover meat to set traps to attract fish.

The reason why these little guys behaved so evilly was not entirely because of Lu Chen's teachings, but because the crocodile's own genes were so excellent. There were other reasons, but he didn't know it yet.

Lu Chen did not disturb the hunting of several crocodiles, but continued to look for a suitable place.

Finally, he stopped in front of a stone wall.

This stone wall is more than three meters high and made of light brown sandstone.

The uppermost end extends outward, and a wall-hanging pine as thick as a bowl grows between the gaps. The twisted tree trunks are tilted heavily to form an umbrella-like structure that resembles a pergola.

Coupled with the splayed pine branches and leaves, it makes people feel like a dragon rising into the sky.

After Lu Chen looked carefully, he found a few hard and angular stones.

Then, he stood on three legs to support his body, raised one front leg, grabbed the stone with his wide and thick toe claws, and rubbed it slowly on the sandstone.

Lu Chen's toe claw strength now exceeds 150 kilograms, which is equivalent to three times the arm strength of an average adult human.

Under such strong pressure, a clear mark was easily left on the surface of the sandstone.

rustle……

As the sandstone powder continued to fall off, it soon turned into a twisted groove line.

Seeing the new behavior of the third crocodile, the three crocodiles gave up hunting and came closer to observe. There was confusion in the beast's pupils, and he had no idea what the other party was doing.

After watching for a while, they quickly lost interest and turned around and walked away.

Lu Chen stayed alone in front of the stone wall and continued to carve with the stone. When you get tired, switch to the other forelimb. If this scene were seen by humans, they would definitely scream Damn it.

In half an hour, the outline of a thick and wild crocodile took shape.

That's right, Lu Chen is trying to create rock paintings!

This was the result of his thinking all night last night.

Your life should not only be about killing and exercising, you must find something to divert your attention.

The last thing Lu Chen thought of was painting, which was one of the few hobbies he had in his previous life.

Painting can kill time. Once absorbed in it, people will not feel that time flies by, and it can also calm their impetuous mood.

Especially watching the blank screen gradually fill up will give you a full sense of accomplishment.

However, Lu Chen had no other tools at hand, so he could only carve on the rocks according to local conditions. The content I create is naturally related to things around me.

Lu Chen planned to carve a huge rock painting on the stone wall in front of him, recording himself, the crocodile boss, the others, a group of macaques, and even the animals he had hunted.

This kind of behavior is somewhat unprofessional, but it is the best way for him to spend his leisure time.

Lu Chen didn't stop painting until he felt hungry, and followed the mountain stream out of the valley.

I was lucky this time, and soon I found an adult spotted water mouse deer drinking water by the river, with several cubs following beside it. With almost no effort, Lu Chen swallowed them all.

After filling his stomach, he returned again, only to see Little Crocodile Girl appearing in front of him.

Chirp, chirp...

Seeing it open its mouth and spit out a wet bird, Lu Chen was confused for a moment.

The little guy on the ground must have just hatched two days ago and is only as big as a child's fist. His body was covered in wet fluff and pockmarked.

Based on Lu Chen's accumulated experience of digging out bird's nests countless times when he was a child, he couldn't figure out what kind of bird it belonged to.

Crocodile Laosi used a trap to catch a baby bird. How is it possible? Probably got it from somewhere else.

Although it can climb trees, it cannot climb up slender branches to dig out bird's nests. This baby bird probably fell from the nest accidentally and was picked up by Little Crocodile Girl.

What do you mean by just throwing it in front of him and using it as food?

This baby bird was no bigger than a human fist, but it was the little guy's wish. Lu Chen naturally wouldn't refuse and opened his mouth to go ahead and swallow it.