Who are the guests in the frog's yard, and what should we feed them?

The holiday is over again, feeling a bit down? Calendar Girl has prepared a little gift for you: 15 from the Travel Frog China teamexclusive clover gift packs for Species Calendar fans。

Before giving out the gifts, Calendar Girl has also prepared something everyone loves--"What do my frog's neighbors like to eat"A super complete roundup that breaks the dimensional wall, with both knowledge and strategy. Let's read the article first.

From the Japanese version to the Chinese version, the neighbors who visit the "frog" yard always spark widespread discussion. As the game progresses, you need to choose different foods to entertain different small animals, and these animal friends will also repay your generosity. So, what do these friends love to eat?

First, the Japanese version:

1. Snail

As collection progresses, the first friend to visit is the snail "Meimei". Judging from the right-coiled, patterned flat spiral shell, Meimei's model may be the common Japanesethree-banded snailEuhadra peliomphala. In the game, Meimei's particularly favorite foods arerice, cheese, milk and hot spring buns, hmm... no matter how you look at it, these are not things an ordinary snail could easily find in nature.

Besides specialty snacks, Meimei also acceptswater, scallions, garlic, onion, chili, Chinese onions [jiao] and cabbage, which actually fits the diet of real snails quite well.

Three-banded snail. Image: kotobank.jp

Snails are a general term for land snails, and in their mouths there is a structure called theradula. As the name suggests, it is a tongue covered with teeth. When feeding, the radula flips out and scrapes the food into pieces to swallow,making it especially suitable for feeding on succulent plant stems and leaves, and even pungent vegetables like onion and garlic are eaten without hesitation.

However, not all snails are vegetarian like Meimei. For example, therosy wolfsnailEuglandina rosea, which has already become a worldwide invasive organism, is a carnivorous species that preys on other mollusks.

Rosy wolfsnail. Image: Dylan Parker / wikipedia

2. Bee

After collecting a few more specialties, the bee "Buzz" will come to play in the frog's yard. Ignoring the specialty items, what Buzz loves to eat isstrawberry, mango, peach, banana, chestnut, apple and water. This setup is rather subtle. Chestnut, a high-starch nut, is not on a bee's menu, and as for the remaining sweet fruits, although they may attract bees, they are not a bee's daily staple.

There are two common types of bees in Japan: the native speciesJapanese honey bee, which is the Japanese subspecies of the Eastern honey bee Apis cerana; and the introducedWestern honey beeApis mellifera。

Their diets are similar, all being pollen, nectar and the honey brewed by worker bees.The main component of nectar is sugar. It is a means by which plants attract pollinating insects. After worker bees collect nectar, they store it in a structure in the digestive tract called the honey stomach and bring it back to the hive, where enzymes convert it into honey with a higher sugar content. Most bees in the hive eathoney, while the food of the queen bee and larvae that will develop into queens isroyal jelly, which is a secretion from the mouths of worker bees specially responsible for nursing.

In the game, what best matches bee feeding habits is actually water. Indeed, all animals need to replenish water, but among the three neighbors who come to visit, only bees live in a relatively dry land environment,and will make special trips to water sources to drink. So, in reality, if you want bees to visit your yard, you just need to plant more flowers;if you want bees to settle in your artificial nest box, then there should preferably also be a clean water source nearby。

3. Stone turtle

The last one to come visiting is "Piaopiao". In the game, it is the pickiest eater. Besidesspecialty snacks and water, its favorite food istea leaves, followed byChinese onions, persimmon and chestnut。

According to real-world distribution, Piaopiao is most likely theJapanese pond turtleMauremys japonica. The Japanese pond turtle is endemic to Japan,omnivorous, and mainly lives in water and by the water. When it encounters something edible--whether animal or plant--it will try eating it. If it were really given Chinese onions, chestnuts and persimmon, it probably would not refuse, but tea leaves are harder to say. In captivity,a certain proportion of animal-based food needs to be supplementedto keep them healthy.

Japanese pond turtle. Image: Totti / wikipedia

Next is the Chinese version everyone has been playing recently:

1. Turtle

The first friend to appear is called "Kunkun". Judging from distribution and shell color, it belongs to the same family as Japan's Piaopiao but a different genus, and is theChinese pond turtleChinemys reevesii。

The Chinese pond turtle is lighter in color when young and becomes darker as it grows, sometimes approaching black, hence it is called the black turtle. It was once very common in our country, and the name "black turtle" also became a general term for freshwater turtles. However, due to habitat changes and the threat of invasive alien species,today the Chinese pond turtle is already at endangered level ⟧71⟧, and the extinction risk of its wild population is even higher than that of the giant panda., its wild population faces a higher risk of extinction than that of the giant panda.

Chinese pond turtle. Image: Σ64 / wikipedia

In the game, Kunkun loves to eatchili, onion, garlic. In reality, the Chinese pond turtle is an omnivorous freshwater turtle that basically eats anything, but theylean more carnivorous when young, loving snails, shellfish, fish and shrimp, and after reaching adulthood they eat more plants.

2. Owl

The second friend to appear, "Pangpang", although it looks like a penguin carrying luggage,it really is not a penguin, but an owl, and what it loves to eat is not cheese, chestnuts or tea leaves, butmeat。

There are more than thirty species of owls in our country. Which one exactly is Pangpang? The order Strigiformes includes two families. Judging from its face shape,the round-faced Pangpang should belong to the family Strigidae. It has no long ear tufts on its head, and combined with its body color, it can be inferred that it is most likely one of theshort-eared owlAsio flammeus、tawny owlStrix aluco orUral owlStrix uralensis.

Short-eared owl. Image: nigel / wiktionary.org

Tawny owl. Image: earth.com

The short-eared owl and tawny owl are medium-sized owls, while the Ural owl is larger. Their main foods are allinsects, small birds, and small mammals such as voles and rabbits。

Ural owl. Image: Jyrki Salmi / wikipedia

3. Squirrel

When six souvenirs have been collected, the squirrel "Tiaotiao" will appear in the frog's yard. Judging from the fur on its ears, Tiaotiao is aEurasian red squirrelSciurus vulgaris; but judging from the stripes on its back, it should also be aSiberian chipmunkEutamias sibiricus。

In the game, Tiaotiao loves to eatstrawberry, banana, apple, mango, chestnut, which basically matches the real diets of the Eurasian red squirrel and the Siberian chipmunk.

The staple foods of the Eurasian red squirrel areberries, tender shoots, insects and fungi, and in autumn and winter it especially loves pine nuts,and will actively pick pine nuts from pine cones to eat. The Eurasian red squirrel also has the habit of storing food, burying food it does not eat for the time being, and later it can still find it again relying on spatial memory.

Eurasian red squirrel. Image: Peter Trimming / wikipedia

The foods the Siberian chipmunk loves are similar to those of the Eurasian red squirrel, but they often move on the ground and eat more herbaceous plants.Although it loves pine nuts, it generally does not pick them itself, but instead looks for ones that have fallen on the ground. In addition, compared with the Eurasian red squirrel,the Siberian chipmunk loves meat more, and the proportion of small animals such as insects and earthworms in its diet is somewhat higher.

So, if you are also playingTravel Frog: China Journey, come and chat together about the frog son's Chinese neighbors--

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Among Kunkun, Pangpang and Tiaotiao, which one do you like best? What filling do you think the zongzi it eats this Dragon Boat Festival should have?

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This article is a special contribution to Species Calendar, from Species Calendar author @Desert Porcupine.

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