There is a classic line in the animation "Spirited Away" called "Don't eat too fat, or you will be killed." This is not only a metaphor for the era of consumption, but also expresses the laws of nature.
Line scenes from the animation "Spirited Away"
For example, the bird we are going to introduce today is known as the "walking oil bag". Although it is a vegetarian, it is too fat, so it is often caught and boiled for oil.
So, what kind of bird is this bird? What do people use its oil for?
Chubby " Oil Owl "
You should have seen many fat birds, but most of them are puffy. For example, the little sparrow, which is very close to humans, just looks "round". In nature, there is a bird called Oil Nightjar . It is really fat, and the meat on its body is all real.
Nightjar is a fat little bird.
Nightjar is also called Oilbird. It is the only species in the family Family. It is an endemic species in South America and is mainly distributed in the tropical rainforests of South America.
Judging from the appearance, the oil owl is relatively large, with a body length of about 41 to 48 centimeters, and its wings are also very long. The width can reach 0.91 meters when the wings are unfolded. Its feet are relatively small, its beak is strong and powerful, and there are white spots on the wings and back.
The beak of this bird is very strong.
This bird usually only goes out to look for food at night and stays in the cave during the day. However, it does not just sleep in the cave during the day, but flies deep in the cave, making a sharp cry while flying, adding a scary atmosphere to the dark cave.
When they go out to look for food at night, oilbirds will also make calls, and their calls often exceed 100 decibels. This means that when a large group of owls make sounds together, they can make people deaf. So why are these little guys so noisy?
It turns out that the oil owl is the same as the bat , which requires to rely on echolocation to avoid obstacles in front .
Comprehensive waveform (top) and spectrogram (bottom) of the echolocation signal
Therefore, they keep making sharp calls in the dark environment to help themselves find their way. However, hearing this high-pitched and terrifying cry in the rainforest at night can still make people shudder.
It is worth mentioning that although the owl looks fierce and has a very loud voice, they are not carnivorous birds, but mainly feed on plants, such as avocados and oil palm fruits are their favorite foods.
Characteristics of fruits and seeds eaten by oilbirds in the Cueva del Guáchara region
Of course, even if they are vegetarians, they still feed themselves very fat. After all, the pulp of these fruits is rich in fat. In this way, the owl not only feeds itself to be chubby, but also feeds its young birds to be round and round. It has become a "walking oil bag" in the forest and is very popular among people.
So, what do people do with them after taking them away? What is the use of these bird fats?
Because he was too fat, he was caught and cooked in oil
As we mentioned in the previous article, oil owl often live in caves in tropical rainforests. Logically speaking, there should be very few interactions with humans here, but everyone has ignored the indigenous people living in the rainforest. These people have lived here for a long time and have long noticed the oily owl, a bird with a sharp sound and a fat body, and discovered that their bodies are rich in oil.
Their bodies are rich in oils
It should be noted that due to the breeding characteristics of oilbirds, the oil content in the bodies of young birds is richer than that of adult birds. Because during the period when it cannot fly and only accepts food, the size of the young bird will continue to increase. In the absence of exercise, its size can even reach about 1.5 times that of the adult bird..
Because of this, the clever natives living in the rain forest have their eyes on the young oil owl. Whenever it is the breeding season of this bird, they will follow the shrill calls of the oil owl to find the location of their burrows.After entering the cave, use long poles to destroy the nests, so that a large number of flightless young birds will fall to the ground, and some will even die directly.
Oiled owls like to live in dark caves, and people often "enter the caves to commit murder"
Next, people will light a fire in the cave, then set up a large pot, and throw the birds into the pot for cooking. The whole scene is quite bloody, but these innocent baby birds have nowhere to escape. Even if their parents return to the cave, they can only harass humans with their shrill calls, which essentially does not have much effect.
According to the description of the indigenous people, the oil produced by is of very good quality and transparent in color. It can be stored in a container for a long time. As for the uses of these oils, there are quite a few.
For example, it can be used for lighting or cooking. Sometimes they will even directly thread the body of the oil owl and then light it with fire, using it as the "fire core" of the torch for lighting. Of course, this seems quite cruel to us, because they are living creatures after all.
The oil refined from the oil owl can be used as lamp oil
However, for the local people who are relatively poor in materials, the oil owl is like a gift from God to people, so every time they go to the cave to "strangle" the young oil owl, they will not be merciful. Fortunately, there are not many indigenous people, and the breeding ability of oil owl is relatively strong. Otherwise, these "walking oil bags" may have become endangered animals long ago.
Of course, as local people communicate more frequently with the outside world, they almost no longer use oil owl to refine oil, but have found other alternatives. Therefore, these chubby birds can finally live in the rainforest with peace of mind.
The perennial living area of the oil owl
It is worth mentioning that in fact, it is nothing new for humans to use animals to boil oil, because very early on, people discovered the use of animal fats.
What other animals will be caught for "refining oil"?
The animal fats that everyone often sees should be butter, lard and mutton oil.
Animal fat is rich in saturated fatty acids
Take lard as an example. In some areas, it is specially refined and then placed in containers for cooking or cooking noodles. Of course, many people's childhood memories should include the delicacy " lard bibimbap ". Although it doesn't sound very delicious, the taste is indeed very fascinating.
In addition to using these domestic livestock to refine oil, people have discovered from a long time ago that a large number of organisms in the ocean are also rich in oil.. Take fish as an example. The oils of most fish are stored in their livers, which are rich in palmitic acid, triglycerides and other substances. After people catch sharks and cod, they refine them through special methods to produce "cod liver oil".
Cod liver oil is often taken as a health product.
cod liver oil is often taken as a health product because it is rich in a large amount of vitamin , which is effective in preventing and treating night blindness , rickets , etc., but the taste is really hard to describe.
Not only fish in the ocean are caught for oil refining, but even mammals are not spared. Like the whale that everyone is very familiar with, its fat content is also very high, so after people captured this behemoth in ancient times, they would use its subcutaneous tissue and internal organs to refine oil, and then make oil lamps for lighting.
The brain of a whale contains a large amount of oil and fat
It is said that the oil refined from whales can burn for a long time, so this kind of oil lamp was also called "everlasting lamp" in ancient times. Later, after entering the industrial age, whale oil was used in the industrial field. For example, when people made steel, they used whale oil as a lubricant.
However, as the number of whales continues to decrease and they become protected animals, the use of whales to refine oil is also prohibited.Currently, Japan is probably the only country in the world that still uses whales to refine oil. After all, they have never stopped hunting whales. After killing a large number of whales, they will definitely make the best use of them.
Japan’s commercial whaling has continued.
It can be seen that the use of animals to refine oil is actually full of killing and very cruel. Whether it is the oil owl that was brutally persecuted before or the whale that is still in prison today, they have all been affected by the "every man is not guilty, but he is guilty ", and many times he can only admit that he is unlucky.
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