Yangtze River Headwaters Volunteering Day 9 长江源志愿工作第9天

This is a series of journals recording my days in the Yangtze River Headwaters volunteering project. I will try to update every day but there might be delays in the days I work in the wild without the internet. I’m also trying to write bilingual if time allows. Like it? Follow my Instagram (@anar.chica.yichenguo) for updates!
这是我参与长江源志愿工作的一系列记录。我争取每日更新，但在野外工作没有网络的那些日子会有延迟。在时间允许的情况下，也会尽量使用中英双语。喜欢的话，关注我的Ins账号(@anar.chica.yichenguo)获取更新吧！

The sense of ritual is intriguing. I’ve always believed it’s nurtured. However, now that I’m at Bende Lake, this perspective is somewhat shaking. For example, the great crested grebes have to build their nests on the water and mate after the nests are ready. Mating at other places, for example on land, is ‘wild’ and it doesn’t count. If one of the black-necked crane couple stays at home, when the other one comes back, they have to chirp to the sky several times. When they take turns to brood the procedure is the same. But how did these habits evolute? Or, in other words, what’s the meaning of this all in evolution? If not in the genes, then they’re nurtured after birth. I’ve heard a kind of bird that passes on songs within their own groups.  Each group has its own distinctive songs. People always think animals do not have culture and everything is instinct. But this is not really true. But whether the sense of ritual has the possibility to be congenital remains to be investigated.
仪式感是个神奇的东西。我一直认为人类的仪式感都是后天培养出来的，可到了班德湖，这个观念却有些动摇。比如，凤头鸊鷉一定要在水上筑巢，筑好巢后在巢里交配才行，在其他地方比如岸上都是野的不算数。黑颈鹤夫妇的一方在家留守，另一方回家时，两鹤必仰天长鸣数次。孵蛋换班前也是一样的流程。可是这些习性是怎么进化来的呢？或者说，这在进化上的意义是什么？如果不在基因里，便是后天的培养和传承。我听说过有一种鸟儿可以传唱自己族群的歌曲，每个群落的歌曲都各不相同。人们总是认为动物没有文化，一切行为源自本能，这其实是不对的。不过仪式感到底是否有先天的可能，还有待考究。

Finally, I love bar-headed goose. 
最后，我爱斑头雁。