Chapter 1 South China Tiger (I)

The Qinling Mountains, the backbone of the country, have hundreds of thousands of hectares of nature reserves.

After an absence of half a century, the South China tiger, unique to my country, has returned to the jungle where it had ruled for millions of years.

.

"Good news: 'Kang Kang', one of the first batch of South China tigers successfully reintroduced into the wild, gave birth to the first wild cub of this century!"

Since the last time humans discovered traces of wild South China tigers in the 1980s, there has been no evidence of South China tigers surviving in the wild in the world.

In 2012, it was officially declared extinct in the wild.

The genes of the South China tigers kept in captivity in zoos are weakening with each generation due to inbreeding, not hunting for a long time, small activity range and other reasons.

In order to prevent the South China tiger from becoming extinct, the rewilding team has worked hard for three generations to develop a "Return the Tigers to the Mountains" plan to gradually return the more than 200 South China tigers in captivity in zoos to the mountains where they belong.

Today, the "Return of Tigers to the Mountains" program has been implemented for exactly three years, and 19 of the first batch of released South China tigers have adapted to the natural environment of the reserve.

Among them, a 4-year-old adult female tiger named "Kang Kang" gave birth to a pure wild South China tiger this summer!

Pure wild Chinese tiger!!!

The rewilding team was so happy, they were happier than if they had won the lottery!

However, only 100 days had passed since the celebration announcement was sent out.

"Doctor, is Kang Kang's injury serious?" Professor Yu Yijun, the chief director of the rewilding team, rushed to the veterinarian in a hurry, his tone full of worry.

The doctor sighed and shook his head. "The bones of its hind legs were broken by a trap. Even if the operation goes well, it will take at least half a year to recover its previous mobility."

For wild tigers, injuries to the hind legs are the most fatal.

This means that it cannot run, let alone chase prey or defend its territory.

It is common for tigers released into the mountains to return to rescue stations or zoos due to injuries or inability to adapt to the environment.

But Kang Kang's situation is special.

It also has a tiger cub that is just three months old.

"Damn poachers!" Team member Qin An hammered the wall hard.

His colleague Shen Yu comforted him, "We analyzed the trap on Kang Kang's leg and found that it was for small and medium-sized animals. Currently, no one dares to poach South China tigers in the reserve."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Yiyun asked coldly, "Even if poachers don't target South China tigers, will they let them go if they catch one?"

"This..." Everyone was speechless.

"Tiger fangs, tiger bones, tiger penis, tiger skin... the skin and bones of a South China tiger can be sold for hundreds of thousands or even millions on the black market." Yu Yiyun's dark eyes were filled with great anger.

If we don’t punish poachers, will we just watch the South China tiger become extinct for the second time? !

The friends around were trembling with fear, but no one dared to persuade Yu Yiyun to calm down.

Yu Yiyun took over the banner of protecting the South China tiger from her mentor very early on and was in charge of the "Return of the Tigers" program for a full ten years.

Except for eating and sleeping, he usually spends all his time on work, for fear that if something happens to Hu Zi, no one will notice.

Ever since Kang Kang became pregnant, Yu Yiyun has been worried about him and Xiaohu and has not had a full night's sleep.

People often joke: Professor Yu loves Xiaohu so much, what’s the difference between him and his own child?

Unfortunately, tigers are very alert and difficult to capture on camera.

Kang Kang has a very strong maternal instinct and is a level 10 player of hide-and-seek, so she hides the tiger cub very well.

Yu Yiyun has been worried for so long, but has never seen her own 'biological tiger'.

Shen Yu: "Professor Yu, you haven't slept for two days, why don't you take a break?"

"It's more than just two days. Professor Yu hasn't slept much this month. How can his body take it?" Qin An also looked at Yu Yijun worriedly.

"I'm not sleepy. The cub has lost its mother and is in a very dangerous situation. We need to search for her as soon as possible..."

Yu Yiyun was halfway through her words when her eyes suddenly went dark and her body involuntarily fell backwards.

"Professor Yu——!"

"Hurry, call an ambulance!"

[The first task: to expand the wild population of South China tigers by 500%.]

Before completely losing consciousness, Yu Yiyun heard a strange sound.

Task?

Population?

Expand by 500%?

What a joke!

It took the rewilding team three generations to successfully rewild only 19 of them.

There are no tigers suitable for wilding in today's zoos.

To expand by 500%, it is impossible unless the Tiger God descends.

I don’t know how much time had passed, but my body’s senses began to recover little by little, and my hearing and smell suddenly became several times more sensitive.

Half asleep and half awake, Yu Yiyun heard the chattering of Qin An and Shen Yu coming from far away.

Qin An: "Kang Kang is such a good mother. She hid the cub so well that it took hundreds of drones a whole day to find the cub."

Shen Yu: "Don't go any further, Xiaohu will smell like a human."

"Ah? I thought I could take advantage of this opportunity." Qin An muttered in disappointment, "Can I tie it here? Do you want to process it for the cub?"

Tiger cub?

Tiger cub found!

Yu Yiyun was half awake from her dream and excitedly wanted to call them to ask about the tiger cub's condition.

“Ouch!”

From the deep cave, a childish cry was heard.

"???"

Who is crying?

It can't be me!

Yu Yiyun came to his senses instantly and howled again in disbelief.

“Ouch!”

It's confirmed that this adorable 'ow', which is more coquettish than a domestic cat, came from my mouth.

[doubt tiger life.jpg]

Yu Yijun stared blankly with his eyes wide open, trying to stand up, but found that the action of "supporting the body with the hind legs" was a bit difficult for him who had been walking upright for many years.

He stood there for only three seconds before his body staggered and fell forward.

Before landing, Yu Yiyun subconsciously supported herself with both hands.

The palm of my hand rubbed against the rough ground, but there was no pain. Instead, it felt soft and rebounded like pudding.

Yu Yiyun turned over and wiped his hands subconsciously, and felt... hair?

The dense and soft fur is warm and you can tell it's a little cutie as soon as you touch it~

Wait, what cutie?

I was touching my own hand!

Yu Yiyun rolled over and got up. Miraculously, his eyes adapted to the darkness and he could vaguely see the outline of the interior of the cave.

The cave is very deep and there are no traces of human carving inside.

Yu Yiyun moved her nose and smelled a strong odor of wild beast.

This smell was much stronger than the one he had experienced when facing the tiger up close before, but it made him feel at ease from the bottom of his heart.

As if to say, 'Don't be afraid, Mom will be back soon.'

There was a drizzle outside the cave.

It is the rainy season recently and the Qinling Nature Reserve has had heavy rain for several consecutive days. Only today did the rain show a trend of decreasing.

Yu Yiyun was still in a daze and couldn't figure out the situation.

Or in other words, I have figured it out, but it is difficult to accept it for the time being.

Yu Yijun shook his furry head, propped himself up, and staggered out of the cave.

The fatigue that had accumulated over several days disappeared, replaced by an intense feeling of hunger, which stimulated the foraging instinct in his bones and blood.

I’m hungry, I want to eat!

The two people who were wandering outside the cave heard Xiaohu calling and ran away in a hurry.

Before leaving, he did not forget to set up the camera to capture the first wild tiger of this century.

Through the lens, many people opened their eyes wide in anticipation and saw at the same time——

A chubby tiger cub came out with a grunt.

He has a round head, round ears, clear and innocent eyes, and is so cute that people forget that he is a ferocious and powerful beast.

What tiger?

It’s obviously a big cat!

Everyone shouted "I want to raise one".

The tiger cub opened his clear eyes wide and looked around curiously.

When he noticed the camera, he actually walked straight towards it.

Qin An and Shen Yu, who were hiding far away, were sweating at the same time.

Animals in the wild often destroy the cameras or use them as toys.

Although this little tiger is only three and a half months old, its body size is already the same as that of an adult dog, its claws are twice as big as a dog's, and it has sharp teeth.

If he deliberately destroyed the camera, the lens worth six figures would definitely be killed by him.

Fortunately, Hu Hu did not attack the camera. It seemed that he was just curious about the camera because he saw it for the first time.

He squatted in front of the camera with his chubby face very close.

The audience could almost smell the milk on Xiaohu, as if he was about to crawl into their arms in the next second.

They were so cute that they lost their minds and wanted to climb up the Qinling Mountains at night with colorful sacks to steal the cubs.

The tiger cub's biological mother, Kang Kang, is a famous "big and beautiful tiger" in the tiger world.

Xiaohu has completely inherited the advantages of his mother. His color scheme is like a tiger skin cake, his round face is bordered by a circle of velvet white, and the tiger stripes on his forehead are very beautiful.

When tigers give birth, there are usually 2 to 4 cubs in a litter, half of which are males and half are females.

Because Kang Kang was the first born, and because of the wild environment, this cub became a rare only-child tiger. He enjoyed all the love from his mother and was well fed.

Even after being hungry for three whole days, it still looks plump and its size is comparable to that of a four or five-month-old tiger cub of the same species.

The audience in the live broadcast room felt so sad when they heard that Xiaohu had temporarily lost his mother and had been hungry for three days. They thought they would see a skinny little thing.

As a result, the little fat tiger was seen shaking his head lively in front of the camera lens, opening his mouth wide to show his sharp teeth.

[Help, help, help! Are South China tiger cubs so cute? ! ! ]

[@Wusong, Hu Hu is so cute, how could you have the heart to do that? ]

[Okay~ Mommy knows that my dear baby doesn’t have cavities~]

The tiger cub counted his teeth and closed his mouth silently.

He shook his left ear and then his right ear towards the camera glass.

Then the two ears disappeared at the same time, and popped out again with a "whoosh".

It was like the first time he felt the existence of animal ears. He had a lot of fun playing with them, and they were so cute that everyone was blushing.

[Baby, you are a delicious tiger cake~]

[Nine out of ten orange cats are fat, hahaha! I've said it so many times, I don't recommend dyeing pigs this color (dog head)]

[Woo woo woo, the little piglet looks so well taken care of by its mother. What will it do without a mother in the future? ]

Yu Yiyun looked at the camera lens, checked her ears, teeth, and chocolate pads, and then opened her mouth wide...

Never mind. No need to confirm the call.

I am the king of the jungle. Where is the dignity of the beasts?

Lost the tiger!

That’s right, Yu Yijun has accepted the fact that he has become a South China tiger cub.

My biggest concern in the world is the tiger cubs born in the wild.

Adult tigers are the king of beasts, but the survival rate of their cubs is less than 1/4.

Tiger cubs in the wild often do not live to be one year old, which makes Yu Yiyun extremely worried.

Now that I have become a little tiger, I have nothing to worry about.

No, there are.

I’m hungry, ah ah ah!

The little fat tiger, who had not eaten for three days and whose mother would not be coming home in the short term, stared at his plum-shaped paws miserably, thinking about how to feed himself with his hands... no, four paws.

"Hehe~"

There was a fluttering sound behind me, and something made two inopportune noises.

The tiger cub trembled his ears, looked over with shining eyes, and saw a -

The free-range chicken, with its legs tied by ropes and tangledly tied to a rock, flapped its wings and pooped randomly in its own territory.

“Cluck, cluck, cluck!”

He was very arrogant and didn't take the future king of the jungle seriously at all.

Yu Yiyun: ...A tiger in Qinling Mountains is bullied by a chicken?

The two people who were hiding far away saw the tiger cub and the chicken staring at each other, and their hearts were in their throats.

"I've said long ago that we should do something about the cub. It's only three and a half months old. The five-month-old tigers in the zoo were chased around by chickens."

"Who picked the chicken? It's so strong, isn't it deliberately trying to bully our Fat Tiger?"

Wild South China tigers mainly eat even-toed ungulates and rarely eat poultry.

Poultry meat is scarce and troublesome, and tigers are not good at plucking feathers.

It’s not because of fear!

If they really fought face to face, it would be easy for the king of beasts to catch a chicken...

“Ooooooooooo!”

The tiger cub pounced forward confidently, but was pecked on the head by the flying chicken.

It hurts!

I almost forgot that in order to train the little tiger's hunting ability, the rewilding team fed it free-range chickens that can fly.

Xiaohu, who suffered a severe blow from reality, took a few steps back and dared not underestimate the enemy again.

Lying dormant quietly, waiting for the second hunting opportunity.

No one thinks highly of him.

Tiger cubs have not yet been weaned, and even if they are well-nourished, they do not have the ability to hunt on their own.

Qin An and Shen Yu both held their foreheads and took out their communicators to contact the headquarters.

It turned out that it was not possible to leave the tiger cub in the wild, and it had to be brought back to the rescue station.

In the absence of the person in charge, the entire rewilding team had originally placed their hopes on the little tiger to create a miracle.

Once such a young tiger cub adapts to life in captivity, it will be difficult for it to return to the mountains.

Humans can allow tiger cubs to grow up safely, but they will inevitably eliminate their wildness.

If the cub is able to survive on its own, perhaps you can wait until the mother recovers and teach him hunting and survival skills.

After all, he is the first wild South China tiger of this century.

Born in the mountains, not in the cage.

We should stand on top of the clouds and look down upon the world, rather than being confined to a small space.

Even though the staff were helpless, they had to accept the fact that the first pure wild South China tiger could not survive in the wild.

The communicator was just connected, and Qin An hadn't spoken yet, but he glanced at the screen out of the corner of his eye.

The tiger cub, who was ridiculed as "a waste of national first-class protection", lay dormant for a few minutes with full concentration, then jumped up and took a leap of faith.

Before the chicken flies up, bite its wings accurately.