This kind of insect in southern bamboo forests can now reach 60 yuan by a kilo, and it has not been artificially cultivated.

Bamboo is an important afforestation plant in southern China. When summer comes, many bamboo shoots come out of the ground. At this time, a large group of us often wander in the bamboo forest, not to dig bamboo shoots, but to find a bug on bamboo shoots. We call it bamboo weevil, and in some areas it is also called bamboo shoot worm, bamboo shoot worm and so on. After catching the bamboo elephant, remove a leg of it, put it on with a small bamboo stick, and then let it fly. When a small fan blows, it will be roasted and eaten when you are tired of playing. This is also a unique memory of our childhood. Bamboo elephant is actually an adult of bamboo insect, and it is a special food, which not only has unexpected edible value, but also has high medicinal value.

Brief introduction of bamboo elephant

1. ecological environment: bamboo elephants live in bamboo forests, and adults overwinter in the soil once a year. When new bamboo shoots grow in June and July of the following year, adults will be unearthed on the bamboo shoots to feed, mate and lay eggs. Before laying eggs, adults will bite holes in the stem tips and lay eggs in them.

2. Distribution: Mainly distributed in bamboo producing areas in southern China, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan Province, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan and other places.

3. Features: Bamboo elephant has suspended animation, phototaxis and weak flight ability. If it is frightened or shaken, it will fall to the ground and suspend its activities.

4. Harm: Bamboo elephants use bamboo shoots to supplement nutrition, which affects the growth of bamboo shoots. Its larvae eat bamboo shoots, which causes bamboo shoots to die and seriously affects bamboo shoot yield.

The value of bamboo elephant

1, edible value

Bamboo elephants are delicious. You can stir-fry peppers, stir-fry them with seasoning and bake them. Pinch off the bamboo elephant's head, sprinkle with salt, and then bake it on charcoal without naked fire.

2. Medicinal value

Bamboo elephants are caught in summer, scalded with boiling water, and then dried and stored for later use. You can soak in wine or take medicine. It is pungent, bitter, warm and non-toxic. It has the effect of expelling wind and removing dampness, and has a good curative effect on rheumatism, joint pain and other diseases.

3. Nutritional value

Bamboo elephants are not only delicious, but also contain a lot of protein and trace elements, which have a certain therapeutic effect on human body.

The price of bamboo elephants

Bamboo elephant has high edible value and medicinal value. In summer, it will appear in many food stalls in the south of China. However, with the use of pesticides and other chemicals, there are few wild bamboo elephants. At present, the price of bamboo elephants in the market is generally 60-80 yuan/kg, which is even more expensive in some game halls. And now few people go to the bamboo forest to catch wild bamboo elephants, so things are rare and expensive, and the price is relatively high.

Can bamboo elephants be farmed artificially?

Bamboo elephant is a rare and delicious food with high economic value and great development potential. Can it be cultivated artificially?

1. The first problem to be solved in cultivating bamboo elephants is the problem of oviposition larvae. The spawning period and incubation period of bamboo elephants are relatively short, but because bamboo elephants lay eggs on bamboo shoots, one bamboo shoot can only support one adult, and there are not many bamboo shoots in an acre of bamboo forest. A catty of bamboo elephant needs at least 100 adults, so the economic benefit of breeding is relatively low.

2. The larvae and adults of the bamboo elephant are food raw materials, so there is a lot of room for reproduction and utilization. However, the bamboo shoots of bamboo elephants need to be preserved for more than 20 days from insect penetration to adult, which is difficult to manage under natural conditions. Moreover, it is more difficult to manage and cultivate adults after they are buried in the ground for the winter.

3. Bamboo elephants feed on bamboo shoots, and the value of bamboo forest resources is low, but one mu of bamboo forest can't support many bamboo elephants after planting, and the labor cost and economic cost of planting bamboo forest are also relatively high, so there are not a large number of artificially cultured bamboo elephants at present.

To sum up, it was the introduction of bamboo elephants, which changed from bamboo pests to "rare" food. We didn't have as many toys as when we were children, and catching bamboo elephants to play is also a childhood memory. Bamboo elephants have suspended animation and phototaxis, so friends who want to catch them can use the light to lure them at night and catch a lot. Did you catch a bamboo elephant when you were a child? Do you think bamboo elephants are delicious?