88 years old
◎Isn't this the territory of their own lion pride? How could a strange lion that doesn't belong to their own lion pride appear here?◎
Ever since the last time she had practiced her hunting skills on the sub-adult, the three lionesses accepted it well whenever Qiao Jinnian brought back any prey alive.
They also seemed to feel that practice was faster and more efficient than having sub-adults watch over them.
At least the sub-adults have learned to cooperate with each other through practice, and they also know how to use the skills they have learned to successfully bring down their prey.
Although the boys are only a little over a year old, they have made some great progress recently.
This time, Dad and brother's patrol took a little too long. Qiao Jinnian had to look towards the south from time to time, standing on the high rocks to see when they would come back.
Finally, one day, Qiao Jinnian heard the lion father's low roar from afar. The sound was not particularly clear, but it was enough to show that they were already within a range of 8 kilometers.
So, Qiao Jinnian took Xingxing and Freckles and ran towards the direction where the sound came from, wanting to see her father as soon as possible.
As he ran, Qiao Jinnian roared towards his father: "Roar——"
She ran very fast, running with all her might because she missed her father very much.
Wherever they ran, the herbivores that were grazing saw the cheetah and the lion cub running over and were frightened and fled in all directions, thinking that today's hunting operation had begun.
The grassland was filled with the sounds of "hissing", "mooing", "yo-yoing" and "bleating", turning the grassland, which was just peaceful, into chaos.
Finally, from a distance, Qiao Jinnian saw two big lions with black manes appearing in the distance. They walked towards home with mighty and domineering steps, growling.
Walking in front is his lion father, and his lion brother is slightly behind.
The two huge lions approached each other and kept touching each other to express their intimacy.
Suddenly, the lion father narrowed his eyes and saw his cub running towards him. His pace paused slightly, and then he started to run faster.
The long black mane shook violently as he ran. The lion father had a calm expression, and his golden eyes were always slightly narrowed because the sunlight was too dazzling, but his pace was getting faster and faster.
When Qiao Jinnian saw her father running towards her, she also quickened her pace, and the father and daughter ran towards each other like a pair.
It was not until the father and daughter were a few meters apart that the lion father slammed on the brakes, fearing that he would accidentally hit his cub.
But Qiao Jinnian didn't need to brake, and rushed straight into his father's mane, rubbing against him vigorously: "Awoo——"
The lion father opened his mouth wide, stuck out his barbed tongue, licked her cheek, and then circled around her, as if to see if she was hurt or something.
After sniffing around and not smelling any blood or strange smell, the lion father felt relieved and stretched out his huge front paws to pat her in front.
Qiao Jinnian grabbed his front paws, and then, it was visible to the naked eye that the sharp nails in his father's paws instantly retracted, as if he was afraid of accidentally hurting the cub.
So, Qiao Jinnian grabbed his paw and patted his face. The pads on the paw were soft, and without the sharp claws, the paw became a large plush toy.
The lion father was speechless when one of his paws was grabbed by the cub. He could only stand on the ground with three paws. But the cub was not satisfied and continued to grab his paw and play with it.
All the excitement just now disappeared, and the lion father began to feel irritated. He opened his big mouth, yawned loudly, stuck out his tongue and licked the corner of his mouth, then gave his cub a very helpless expression.
Okay, Dad is almost annoyed to death by me, Qiao Jinnian quickly put his paw down and let him stand properly.
So the lion father looked up at her and motioned for her to sit on it.
Qiao Jinnian was not polite either. She said that she was growing up and would become heavier in the future. Maybe her father would not be able to bear her weight. Every day he sat down now was one day less.
After climbing onto the lion father's back, Qiao Jinnian was like a giant baby who was brought up in love. Riding on her father's back, she rushed towards her own lion group in a particularly majestic manner.
The lion brother also came forward, stretched out his head, and snuggled up to his sister on his father's back to show his closeness.
The two cheetahs followed the territorial lion and headed towards the core area.
Thinking about the past, the territory was not that big, and this patrol time was so long. Qiao Jinnian suspected that the lion father and brother had expanded the territory to the south again. She didn't know what was further south. She hadn't been there yet. If she hadn't wanted to reduce the burden on the family and help raise the children, she would definitely go on patrol with her father and brother this time.
Thinking of the heavy burden on her father and brother's shoulders, Qiao Jinnian felt that it was so hard.
Finally returning to the core area of the lion group, fourteen sub-adult lions and lionesses came to welcome the return of the two territorial male lions.
Dad and brother are back, and they also need a good rest for a few days. In general, male lions in lion groups will not go hunting, but the family is now burdened with too much, so the whole family goes out with their lion group and hunts every day.
Qiao Jinnian was like a child who was eager to show off her hunting skills to her old father. When she saw her father coming back, she couldn't wait to catch a prey alive to make her father happy.
So, Qiao Jinnian put on his cloak and set out again. Today's target was a huge antelope, as big as a wildebeest, with long horns on its head.
Cloak now relies on helping her attract prey, and he can get a leg and a piece of meat every day, which is enough for his whole family to eat.
So, he worked very hard to lure the huge antelope over. Now he is an expert at this job and can lure the antelope over smoothly.
Soon, Qiao Jinnian used the old method to catch the big antelope, and then waited for the antelope to pull and struggle with the rope.
"Mee--" The antelope had no idea what was happening. Why couldn't it run anymore? Why was there a rope under its feet?
At this time, Qiao Jinnian sat behind a big tree and waited quietly for a while. When the big antelope had used up all the energy, she pulled the rope and led the antelope back home to train Ya Chengnian to hunt.
That way, she can show off in front of her father.
Unexpectedly, when she turned around, she saw the lion father running over at some point and appearing silently behind a big tree. He squatted on the ground with his hind paws, squinting his eyes, looking at the struggling antelope, with an expression that seemed a little thoughtful.
"Awooo--" Qiao Jinnian pointed at the big antelope and told her father that this was the prey she caught.
The lion father turned around, lowered his head and licked her head, then continued to look at the antelope.
Because the man and the lion did not make any sound and were hiding behind the big tree, and Cloak completed his mission and ran back to find his wife and children, so the antelope that was struggling alone looked like it had been bitten by a snake and was going crazy on the spot.
If a human appeared at this time and saw the rope on the antelope's foot, he would definitely know that there was a human here. Then, if another lion appeared, even if it saw the rope on the antelope's foot, it would not realize that this was prey caught by humans.
Because lions have never seen this kind of hunting method before.
So, when a skinny old lion suddenly appeared on the grassland, Qiao Jinnian's mouth opened so wide that a fist could almost fit in...
No, didn't our lion father just come back from patrol? Isn't this our pride's territory? How could a strange lion who doesn't belong to our pride appear here?
Qiao Jinnian: "..."
Looking at the lion father beside him, Qiao Jinnian really wanted to ask his father what was going on.
Obviously Ryan also saw the old lion who wanted to steal Qiao Jinnian's prey.
At first, Ryan's face looked a little bad, but he did not immediately step forward to drive them away.
Following his father's gaze, Qiao Jinnian saw that the old lion must have been hungry for many days, and its ribs were clearly visible.
So, Qiao Jinnian also fell silent.
Generally, this old lion should be the old lion king who was expelled from the lion group because he is too old to complete hunting alone, unless there is a young male lion willing to share some food with him, or he is lucky enough to find some carrion to eat.
The lion didn't know if he hadn't smelled Ryan's scent and had mistakenly entered his own lion group. He happened to see an antelope torturing itself, so he felt that his opportunity had come.
Neither the father nor the daughter made a move. They just watched silently as the old lion tried hard to pounce and bite.
Forget it. Qiao Jinnian looked at the old lion and saw that he had become so thin. He was probably extremely hungry. He didn't even consider whose lion group this was. He was just driven by hunger and walked into this territory in a daze.
Although this was the prey she caught with the rope, she would not mind if the old lion could kill the prey alone. At worst, she could just find another prey.
Even the territorial lion, who was also his father, did not care about the old lion trespassing into his territory without permission.
There is a sense of mutual sympathy among male lions, because every lion will grow old one day. If this was a lion in its prime, Ryan would have bitten it by now.
The old lion is completely uncompetitive. Just look at him, he even lacks the strength to bite the antelope.
But the old lion was obviously unwilling to give up. Both father and daughter could see that the old lion must have been a lion king when he was young, because they could see that he was very skilled, but he just didn't have the energy to support himself due to long-term malnutrition.
But this old lion king is very persevering, and it can be seen that he is unwilling to linger on. Even if he has failed many times, he still persists. He not only avoids the attacks of the long horns on the antelope's head, but also attacks the antelope's neck.
But his teeth were a little loose and his bite force was not very good. He bit the antelope's neck several times, but the male antelope struggled free with brute force.
The old lion king was finally tired. There was a hint of haziness in his turbid golden lion eyes. He lay on the ground, gasping for breath, but his eyes were always fixed on the antelope.
Qiao Jinnian thought he had given up completely, but it turned out that he hadn't. Instead, he just took a short rest and stood up again.
He was too thin, and due to malnutrition, his legs and feet were not flexible, and he even walked with a shaky hand.
But the next second, he aimed at the antelope's delicious neck again, pounced, and bit the antelope with his mouth again, hanging himself on the antelope's neck.
But his weight was obviously not enough, only half the weight of a young lion, but the antelope was also completely tired.
With a "bang" sound,
The antelope finally fell to the ground, blood spurting out of its neck.
The old lion king was also dragged down by the fall, and was in a daze, not moving for a long time...
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