Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness-Chapter 716 713 Whirlwind Formation

Reindeer, old friends.

Each of these big guys had antlers, and there were many of them, gathered together en masse at this moment, looking quite spectacular.

On the snowy ground, Bi Fang and six dogs were buried in the snow, their seven pairs of big eyes rolling around, as if envisioning hundreds of huge roasts with bones sticking out running across the endless snowy plains.

Goudan softly called out and scratched at Bi Fang's clothes with his paws, seemingly urging him to hurry up.

Bi Fang was not overly excited, tapped Goudan's head, and stroked his chin in contemplation, "Without cover, it's a bit troublesome."

No sooner had he spoken than the drone soared high into the air, revealing a bird's-eye view of the terrain within hundreds of meters – all uniformly snowy plains, exceptionally flat, with no suitable cover to conceal their figures.

In such terrain, forget approaching at twenty meters—even at fifty meters, they could easily be spotted.

However, as always, solutions are created by people. Bi Fang stealthily spread out the musk ox skin and sprayed dry snow on top of it. Although occasionally a bit of black hair might still show, on the surface, it already blended in with the environment, not striking enough to attract the reindeer's attention.

Bi Fang lifted a corner of the musk ox skin, crawled inside, and slowly approached the reindeer herd, covered by the skin.

The musk ox skin was truly useful, serving as a sleeping mat by night and a hiding spot by day.

"Although this isn't the first time we've encountered reindeer, I still have to say that this time might be different from the previous two encounters."

Crawling forward in the snow was quite demanding on his strength and was also very cold due to the close friction with the snow. After a while, Bi Fang stopped to catch his breath and temporarily replenish his status.

Herbivorous animals being preyed upon by carnivores is an event that can be said to be happening all the time. Usually, when herbivores encounter predators, they choose to run away quickly.

But for some herbivores, running away is not the only option, just like the musk oxen Bi Fang met in the Arctic.

"Reindeer are herd animals. They typically form 'family groups' of six to thirteen members, with several such 'family groups' comprising a large herd, usually numbering in the hundreds. With such numbers, under the right conditions, they can form a unique formation to fend off enemies."

A formation?

This word, which carried an air of ancient military strategy, left the online friends looking at each other in disbelief.

The deer know this trick?

But Bi Fang nodded, confirming the audience's speculation.

"The reindeer's formation is called the Whirlwind Formation, named for its resemblance to a whirlwind, yet this formation is not complicated. It simply involves the entire reindeer herd rotating around a common center. After all, they are only animals, mostly driven by instinct, but this can be formidable for predators in Nature. Once the formation is activated, not to mention wolves, even tigers are powerless."

"When carnivores hunt herd animals, they generally only attack some of the weaker individuals, but in the reindeer whirlwind, the weaker members of the herd are in the center of the formation, making it impossible for predators to lock onto an ideal prey."

"According to the order from inside to outside, the speed of the reindeer's Whirlwind Formation increases gradually, with the reindeer on the outer edges moving the fastest, and those located in the outer region of the whirlwind are almost all the strongest in the herd!"

As large ungulates, a strong reindeer can weigh over 200 kilograms, with some particularly robust individuals even exceeding 300 kilograms.

Moreover, adult reindeer all grow complex branching antlers, which contribute to the reindeer's formidable offensive capabilities.

"Once the reindeer formation was initiated, the reindeer on the perimeter would start running at high speed. If a predator recklessly rushed into the formation at that moment, it would be repeatedly rammed and trampled by consecutive strong reindeer and was very likely to be pierced by their antlers, rendering most predators powerless," Bi Fang explained.

After resting, Bi Fang draped the musk ox skin over his head and continued to creep forward.

However, the fundamental reason humans displayed behaviors distinctly different from other creatures lay in their knack for thinking. Soon, someone had pointed out a loophole in this formation.

[If it's like a whirlwind, it shouldn't be easy to move, right? So, when it gets tired and lacks strength, won't it just be waiting to be slaughtered?]

[Yeah, once it's exhausted, it's done for]

Reading the comments, Bi Fang stopped again, blinked, and chuckled, "You're absolutely right. Hence, when humans arrived, the reindeer went extinct."

The audience was stunned.

[So this thing is useless against humans, huh?]

[As expected of us]

"Humans are actually quite isolated from Nature. Hmm, this isn't easy to explain clearly, but simply put, during the evolutionary process, we humans didn't co-evolve with many other creatures. Therefore, most of the defense methods evolved by other animals are ineffective against us."

"Reindeer are naturally good at running, and the low temperatures of their habitat aid in body heat dissipation. That's why the reindeer Whirlwind Formation can last a long time. Predators in Nature don't possess the logical reasoning abilities of humans. They can only judge based on the immediate situation and are unlikely to wait for an extended period," he continued.

"On the other hand, when a large group of reindeer runs together, it causes a lot of flying debris, and creates significant vibrations and noise. Clearly, this is a considerable deterrence to predators, and they usually choose to leave in the face of the reindeer whirlwind."

Regrettably, these two tactics amounted to nothing against humans.

At their wits' end, the essence of the reindeer whirlwind was too transparent, and humans simply weren't frightened by it.

For humans, formidable formations like the Reindeer Whirlwind, especially in ancient times when they had learned to use tools for long-distance attacks, were utterly ineffective.

"The reindeer formation is impressive in scale but quite rigid. It's just a headlong rush in one direction and isn't as threatening as the musk oxen's group defense, which is genuinely dangerous."

The musk oxen's formation strategy involved enclosing the vulnerable in the center, with the stronger musk oxen confronting the predators, counterattacking, and launching fierce assaults—an agile and tricky defense.

The reindeer that could only run in circles posed certain danger, but with adequate preparation, they were hardly a concern.

"In the past, catching reindeer would occur on frozen rivers or hilly terrain, unfavorable for them to deploy their formation. In face of danger, they had no choice but to scatter. Now it's different; we are on the open ice plains, so we need to be cautious," Bi Fang elucidated.

As he said this, Bi Fang had gotten considerably close to the reindeer, gripping his spear, ready to strike

At an opportune moment, Qi, his energy at its peak, suddenly leapt out.

The reindeer were startled awake.

Just as Bi Fang had mentioned, all reindeer instinctively formed a circle. With layer upon layer, the strongest bucks on the outside began running rapidly around the edge. They tightly spiraled around the center 'eye' of the formation, their hooves thundering against the ground.

Like the galaxies rotating around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, they were also akin to the hurricanes swirling over the oceans.

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