I Yuanchi of the Northern Sung once went deep into the mountains to live with the apes so as to observe their ecology. Digging a pond for flowers, letting water fowl gather there and concealing himself in dark places to observe their activities, his spirit of investigation was not so far removed from that of today's ecologists.
也曾在長沙家中鑿池植花，任水禽自然群聚，再藏身隱處，觀察其動靜遊息，與今天的生態學者從事生態調查的精神不相上下。