Odd Containment Specialist.

Chapter 1040 The Evolution of Hyenas

"Then I'll go discuss it with them later." Qiao Xin was about to end the video call when she suddenly seemed to remember something and asked abruptly:

"By the way, Xia Shou, you were attacked by a dog when you were a child, right?"

"Yes, why bring this up all of a sudden?"

"I remember the breed of dog that attacked you, something like an African hyena, right?"

"Sister Yan, judging from the appearance, you should be considered one, right?" Xia Shou turned his head to ask Shangguan Yan, after all, the two attacks he encountered were during his childhood, one of which was when he was three years old, and he no longer had a particularly clear memory of them.

Although he thought it was probably a hyena, he thought it would be better to ask the older person involved.

"They do look quite similar, it should be," Shangguan Yan said.

Qiao Xin pondered for a moment, then asked, "This breed? Is it very intelligent?"

“How would we know! Weren’t you in Africa? Didn’t the locals tell you? I watched those clips on Animal World, and I felt that those dogs were quite intelligent. They were very tactical when they fought, and they liked to attack from behind, targeting their prey’s rear.” Xia Shou laughed.

Qiao Xin, however, was very serious, with a very earnest expression.

"No, no, no, it's not that simple. If it's just tactical coordination, then there's nothing surprising. There are plenty of animals that are smarter than them."

But recently, the hyenas on this grassland have changed somewhat; their social behavior has increased significantly, and they've become rather frightening.

"That sounds interesting, but where exactly does it manifest?"

"Hyenas are highly social groups, with groups ranging from forty to eighty members, and sometimes even exceeding one hundred. However, we recently observed a hyena group of three hundred members, which is a very abnormal group size."

The larger a group is, the more difficult it is to manage. Even humans, animals with superior intelligence, have visible limits. For example, the enfeoffment system of the Zhou Dynasty and the later Qin Dynasty's prefectures and counties were actually a way of modularizing group management in disguise.

The leaders of the module regions manage individual people, while the supreme leader achieves overall order and balance by managing large modules.

This is almost invisible in the animal kingdom, because their intelligence is not high enough to establish a legal order, and their communication ability is also greatly inferior to that of humans. Therefore, the size of their groups must have an upper limit. As the number of people continues to increase, the most direct manifestation in the end is that they cannot be managed.

Therefore, there are occasional exceptions in the animal kingdom, such as the bad boy alliance in a lion pride, but it is definitely not possible to see such a large-scale, orderly group; this is highly unusual.

Furthermore, based on observations, these dogs exhibited many incomprehensible behaviors.

For example, they might choose a slow and steady approach. These super-large packs of hyenas have already posed a terrifying threat to lions, and their tactics seem to have become more cunning. Recently, many lions were killed by hyenas.

They exhibited behavior of not attacking the lion pride for prey, and they used a very clever diversionary tactic, ultimately making the lions no match for them at all.

However, we discovered that although they steal the lions' prey, they always leave a considerable amount of uneaten food for the pride to eat, which is a behavior that has never been seen before!
Animals are simple creatures; they feed themselves first, then share with others. They don't exhibit any courtesy towards other species. But this large pack of hyenas did just that, and I wonder what their motive was.

"Is the goal sustainable plunder?" Xia Shou guessed.

Qiao Xin rolled her eyes: "Do you think I'm an idiot? Of course, a human could think of this, but they're dogs, dogs!" After saying that, Qiao Xin suddenly changed the subject: "So I remembered the dog that attacked you before. I remember that dog was also very smart, right? After you were attacked, didn't your family call the police? I heard that the city management sent out a dog-catching team, but they couldn't find it no matter how hard they searched."

Finally, after reviewing the surveillance footage, it was discovered that the dog left the city after its failed attack. It seemed to know the city's routes, walking along the sidewalks and then disappearing into a small grove of trees behind a fence next to a highway.

The dog catchers searched for several days but couldn't find it, so they had to give up. Then, many years later, you were bitten again, and everything was the same.

At the time, your parents didn't believe it. It wasn't until they showed you the security camera footage that you realized it wasn't that the city management officers weren't trying hard enough; the dog was just frighteningly clever.

"That dog is indeed quite special," Shangguan Yan murmured.

“So I think that perhaps the upper limit of hyena intelligence is actually very high, but very few dogs can fluctuate to that level. Even if one happens to be there, it cannot affect the entire population. But if suddenly... suddenly several highly intelligent individuals emerge, then it will cause earth-shattering changes!” Qiao Xin made an explosion gesture.

"Is this even possible?" Xia Shou was skeptical.

"Logically speaking, it's impossible, but in fact, nothing is impossible. Once it happens, you can only accept it. Do you think it's normal for a group of monkeys to suddenly like walking upright and hunting with wooden spears hundreds of thousands of years ago?"
Humans and dogs may be no different, but suddenly unlocking a skill changes everything; humans are no longer monkeys.

The only difference between these hyenas and humans in the past might be the difference between the first and second place... The pitiful thing about the second place is that it will be observed and suppressed by the first place.

Hiss—it's really interesting to think about; maybe we can observe the social and psychological evolutionary history of lower organisms.

Okay, okay, that's enough chatting. I need to get back to work now. I'll contact you again after I've discussed it with my colleagues and have some results.

After saying that, Qiao Xin ended the video call.

"Sister Qiao's job is quite interesting."

"Want to come along to Africa to see the animals?"

"I'd better not, I still have to go to work."

"Don't go to work anymore. With our current spending habits, we could never spend all the money I earn in our lifetime."

“That’s true,” Xia Shou agreed.

Although he was spending Shangguan Yan's money, Xia Shou gradually lost his sense of shame because Shangguan Yan's views on money gradually influenced him, making him realize that money itself does not represent anything.

Unfortunately, this truth can only be seen when one can easily acquire a large amount of money; otherwise, one will be blinded by appearances.

He had seen Shangguan Yan and a few foreigners make a few phone calls several times, and then ten million yuan would be deposited directly into their accounts. This was beyond the scope of normal financial operations.

Shangguan Yan's explanation for this was as follows—

"The only function of money is to make the vast majority of people believe that money itself has power, and those who possess the most money will do everything in their power to create the illusion that money is indeed powerful."

(End of this chapter)