I have a wildlife zoo

"Damn, I was just looking at how close they were and even I wanted to have a sweet, romantic love affair, and now you’re telling me they’re both males?"

"It’s over, the beautiful image of swans in my mind has collapsed!"

Fang Ye coughed twice, "Ah, it’s normal, normal. Homosexual behavior is actually not unique to us humans.

In birds and mammals, homosexual behavior is quite common. Among birds, the ciconiiformes and anseriformes have the highest incidence of homosexual behavior, like swans, where one-fifth of the males will cozy up with the same sex and preen each other.

Firstly, they like to breed in colonies, with nests of different swan families not far apart at breeding sites.

The little cygnets, still without their full plumage, meet the neighbor’s kids and vie for the position of little tyrant, bumping against any who challenge them.

In battle, they ally with each other, and this comradeship born from fighting side by side may turn into a lifelong romance as they grow up.

Such romances do not involve actual mating; it’s what we call a ’Platonic love.’ If one happens to step on the other’s back, aiming to do something more physical, it will face fierce resistance, and that can break the relationship.

An old, enduring couple that has been together for a few years might have a bit more tolerance, but it still just involves stepping on the back."

"Hahaha, that killed me."

"Birds even have partners, and you don’t even have one (heavy fog)..."

"Indeed, heterosexuality is just for reproduction, while homosexuality is true love!"

"I used to raise pigeons, and two male pigeons really were just like a couple building a nest, no different from other pigeon families except for not laying eggs."

Fang Ye said, "Actually, two male swans can also reproduce! Together they are more competitive, they command larger territories, and female swans are attracted to them. The males then mate with the females to produce eggs.

Once the eggs are laid, they chase away the female swan and the two males raise the offspring. Sometimes, they even skip the step of luring the female, directly ousting other swan couples from their nests and taking over both the nest and the eggs."

"emmm, playboys tricking into marriage?"

"That’s awful, stealing someone’s kids."

"Damn, isn’t that just like cuckoos!"

"After learning all this, I suddenly don’t like swans that much anymore..."

Whether it is the first sight of the beautiful image of swans or the various literary works about swans, everybody’s impression of swans is very positive, beautiful and faithful.

It’s a bit hard to accept at once.

Some people are more composed, "I’ve seen through it all! All that symbolism of love, in the end, is just what we humans have imposed on them, swans have always been that way, and so are mandarin ducks, the scoundrels that hit and run after mating."

Fang Ye explained, "There’s nothing good or bad about it, animals act according to their instincts, only we humans have morals, so we shouldn’t judge animals by human standards of morality.

People think that swans are monogamous and never separate, and that if one dies, the other will not live alone, seeing them as a symbol of love.

Actually, swans can also ’divorce,’ but only between 5%–10%, which, compared to our human average divorce rate of 40%, is indeed very faithful and admirable.

Long-term stable partner relationships are determined by their own conditions. For some small birds with short lifespans, if they don’t live to see the next year, what’s the point of fidelity?

Only larger birds with longer lifespans form what we humans consider to be faithful, romantic ideal relationships.

Wild swans generally live for 20–30 years; a long lifespan means a long breeding period. Baby swans take six months just to learn to fly, and adult swans molt in the summer during the breeding period, so the males and females molt at different times. Having a stable long-term partner is very important to them to ensure one is always able to fly and defend during the care of the young."

"I’ve learned something new!"

After hearing all this, Hu Yan looked at the pairs of swans swimming leisurely in Waterfowl Lake and felt differently about them.

He had liked watching swans since he was a child, but it turned out he didn’t understand them at all.

Still, he found them just as beautiful as before.

Fang Ye finished talking to the netizens and called the animal keeper at Waterfowl Lake to bring some fish over.

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A curious netizen asked, "Are you going to feed the swans?"

When the animal keeper brought over the bucket filled with small crucian carp, which were still alive, swimming around inside.

Fang Ye showed the camera and said, "Not swans, we’re feeding pelicans. We give them live small crucian carp, each weighing about two taels.

"Swans’ diet mainly consists of aquatic plants, seeds, tender shoots, and small fish and shrimps. Although they eat fish, they can’t handle the big ones. Normally, we feed them lettuce leaves, carrots, chopped-up eggs and beef, as well as waterfowl pellets made from corn, barley, and fishmeal."

Carrying the bucket, he came to the lake’s edge and called out, "Dinner time!"

Merely shouting was of no use, so Fang Ye threw the small crucian carp toward the pelicans.

The little fish spun three and a half times in the air before hitting the water, where it instantly flicked its tail, attempting to dive deeper.

Am I free?

The pelican might appear clumsy on land, but it moved swiftly in the water.

It quickly turned and took a few steps, aiming at where the fish had entered the water. Its mouth opened wide as if casting a large net over the fish, and then, like a sharp sword, it suddenly plunged into the water.

Like a peerless master wielding a great sword, executing a technique that parted the water, raising a trail of droplets!

The fish got flipped into the air, water and all, right into the gaping maw of the pelican, leaving the onlookers dazzled!

The crucian carp was at the edge of its mouth, its tail still flapping stubbornly.

The pelican lifted its head and gave a slight toss, and the little fish fell into its gular pouch.

After the fish was in the gular pouch, the pouch contracted, squeezing out the excess water.

Through the pouch, you could see the shape of a fish inside, struggling and writhing.

The pelican then tossed a couple more times, adjusting the angle of the fish, before "gulp" swallowing it down its throat.

"Wow, awesome!"

"That was kind of impressive."

"Straight down the hatch!"

Fang Ye said with a laugh, "Zhuangzi once said, fish don’t fear nets but fear pelicans; now you’ve seen it, right? When pelicans catch fish, they swallow the fish with the water, then close their beaks and squeeze the water out. If they can’t finish fish and shrimp right away, their large beaks can also serve as storage."

He threw two more fish, and the nearby pelicans came swimming over, opening their large beaks and scrambling for food.

Some pelicans swam directly out of the water and waddled over towards Fang Ye.

Stopping about one or two meters in front of him, they just stood there looking at him.

"Alright, here’s one for you too!"

The pelican opened its mouth wide and unceremoniously swallowed it in one gulp!

Visitors seeing the pelicans eating fish were also surprised, taking out their phones to capture the scene.

Seeing their mouths this big, they hadn’t realized this is how they were used.

After feeding the fish, Fang Ye took the netizens on a stroll for a while.

Waving his hand, Fang Ye said, "It’s about time, that’s it for today’s livestream, everyone take care, bye~"

"Goodbye, director!"