Chapter 147 Snow Leopard (V)
After the snow, the sky cleared up and Ram slowly walked out of the nest.
With the careful care of her baby, her injured right front paw has basically healed.
Although running and jumping are still a little difficult, there is no big problem with normal walking.
Ram slowly came to the edge of the rock and tried to jump to the high cliff.
She had been walking with her injured leg for too long, and her body had developed a conditioned reflex so she dared not move too much.
In the first two attempts, we didn’t reach the height enough and rolled down the snow slope before we even touched the cliff.
The third time, Ram gathered strength in his hind legs and mustered up the courage to leap forward.
Finally, the front paws successfully touched the edge of the cliff!
Ram's right paw touched the rock and he was afraid of the pain, so he lifted it up reflexively.
As a result, his body staggered and rolled down the snow slope, turning into a frosted snow leopard.
Fortunately, the snow was thick enough in winter, and Ram was fed well by his baby for about a month, and he gained a lot of weight.
The fat on the big cat's body has a certain shock-absorbing effect, so it will not get hurt even if it rolls down the snow slope continuously.
"meow..."
After three failed attempts, Ram was obviously a little frustrated, and his voice was weak and listless.
Now I can’t even jump up to the high cliffs, how can I catch mountain goats for my children?
As the winter gets colder, hunting becomes more difficult.
The baby would not be able to survive relying solely on his ability to catch plateau rabbits and marmots.
The only highland rabbit meat that Baobao could catch was too little and too dry to provide Baobao with enough fat to survive the winter.
Erza is growing up and must catch the blue sheep!
Ram climbed up again, stared at the cliff above with his animal eyes, and mustered up the courage to rush over.
When she got close to the bottom of the cliff, she leaped up, grabbed the edge of the rock wall firmly with her front paws, and used inertia of her hind legs to rush up.
"meow!"
Success!
Ram completed his first climb after recovering from injury and excitedly turned two circles to celebrate his victory.
Although we have conquered this small slope, we are still a long way from regaining our full strength.
As long as she practices diligently, she will be able to gallop across this alpine glacier again in a few days!
Ram was immersed in the joy of recovering his fighting power, and he jumped around the small snow slope with his paws spread out.
Sometimes it plays hide-and-seek by chasing its tail, and sometimes it buries itself completely in the snow, leaving only its long tail hanging around.
In the distance, Yu Yiyun, who was running home with a piece of meat in her mouth, saw this scene and was deeply touched by her mother playing alone.
Even though she has become a mother and is responsible for taking care of cubs, Ram herself is only a young leopard over 4 years old and is still in a curious stage of exploring the world.
If she didn't need to raise the cubs, she could just stay like this every day, playing and frolicking everywhere, being a happy, carefree little leopard.
No matter what kind of creature it is, the word "mother" should not become a shackle for females.
Even after becoming mothers, they still have the right to be coquettish and cute.
"meow~"
Ram transformed into a leopard-shaped cat-worm, pushing open the snow in the form of a cricket pupa, raising his neck high, and revealing his cat-like head from the thick snow.
The fluffy white snow stuck to her ears, head, and nose, like a white hat given to her by nature.
The young leopard was having so much fun that he gradually forgot the original purpose of jumping up and made happy clipping sounds.
"meow~"
"Meow!" Mommy, the baby is back!
The sound traveled several dozen meters before a response came from the other side.
The baby son came running back with food in his mouth.
When Ram saw her cubs running around for food day and night, her motherly mission overcame her playful nature and she couldn't help feeling sorry for her baby.
"Meow...meow?!" Thank you for your hard work. When mommy recovers from her injuries, I will catch a...mountain goat for you?!
Ram looked down and found that what his son had brought back was a large piece of mountain goat meat.
Unlike a few days ago, the remains of the mountain goat had been frozen in the wild for a long time and had become hard.
Ram could tell from the smell that the ibex had not been dead for long.
"meow?" Baby, where did you get the blue sheep?
In the cold winter, the mountains are covered with snow, making it even harder to find the traces of mountain goats.
If any blue sheep died accidentally, they would have been eaten by scavengers or other snow leopards, and their cubs would never have had a chance to pick up the grazing sheep.
So here comes the question.
Where did you get the ibex meat, my dear?
“Meow!”
Yu Yiyun put the ibex in front of her mother and happily invited: Mommy, come and eat quickly, and after eating, let’s play the snow cave game together~!
"Meow."
Ram's injuries have healed and he will be able to recover his hunting ability soon. There is no reason to refuse the baby's feeding at this critical moment.
She moved closer and sniffed the ibex. She vaguely smelled the familiar smell of saliva, but she couldn't remember where she had encountered it.
Who cares.
Let’s eat first.
The male leopard from the next mountain: Woo woo woo, so love will disappear, right?
.
As the New Year approaches, residents from several nearby villages go to the town to attend the big market every ten days.
They led the cattle and sheep, sat on tricycles, and took their raised chickens and ducks and picked mushrooms and cordyceps to the market to sell them for money, and then bought some rice, flour, grain and oil.
The markets in the towns and villages are very lively. Before the New Year arrives, some people have already taken out the sausages and cured meats that are essential for the New Year’s Eve dinner.
With the increasingly developed transportation in recent years, even in small Tibetan towns on the edge of the motherland, you can buy specialties from other provinces.
Several farmers in the village got together to go to the market, sold their chickens and ducks, and then strolled around together.
As I was walking around, I saw a stall full of Northeastern style.
In addition to vermicelli and Northeastern sauerkraut, there are also several handicrafts on display at the stall.
"Look, this tiger-head hat is so festive!"
"Is that white thing next to it a snow leopard hat?"
The stall owner saw that they were interested and was about to explain, "That thing is a white tiger."
The children who came out to the market with their parents happily put on their hats.
"Am, do I look like a little snow leopard?"
"Like, like, you look exactly like the snow leopard!" Seeing how adorable the doll was, Am (the mother) happily bought the snow leopard hat, then took the doll's hand and left.
The stall owner took the money, looked at their backs, and murmured softly:
"Snow leopard is snow leopard, we should adapt to local conditions."
The stall owner, who was particularly business-minded, quickly convinced himself and shouted, "Everyone, come and have a look. What a cute snow leopard hat! Buy one for your baby at home!"
"Snow leopard? I don't think it looks like one."
"If they say it's a snow leopard, then it's a snow leopard."
"Emu, I want Leopard!"
“…”
In the evening, when farmers returned home from the market, they found that almost every child was wearing a white leopard hat.
"Oh, that little leopard is really adorable to the kid."
"Isn't it? My daughter insisted on buying a hat and said she wanted to wear it to play with the little leopard."
"Speaking of which, how many days has it been since Little Leopard came to the village?"
"Counting the days, it's been about seven or eight days. It's never been this long before. Could something have happened?"
"It snowed every day last week. Don't let the little leopard get frozen!"
As the farmers were chatting, they suddenly felt something was wrong and were afraid that the little leopard might have encountered an accident.
However, after the blizzard, the mountain road was buried completely in snow.
If you step into it, half of your body will be buried in the snow, so there is no way to go into the mountains to look for Leopard.
That night, several villagers hung chickens, ducks, beef and mutton outside their yards to feed the little snow leopard that had been hungry for seven or eight days.
The next day, the meat hanging outside was still frozen solid without any change.
The farmers were anxious and quickly asked local animal protection organizations for help in rescuing the little snow leopard.
The Himalayas are rugged and face thick snow, making animal protection organizations powerless.
The best they can do is send drones equipped with thermal sensing systems to patrol the mountains, trying to find any traces of the little snow leopard.
After searching for several days, we found several snow leopards on nearby hills.
After careful comparison, cat experts found that none of them were the "little leopards" mentioned by the villagers.
Everyone was extremely disappointed and worried that something had really happened to the little leopard.
However, when the staff compared the snow leopards they photographed with the recorded snow leopards, they made a surprising discovery!
"Ram? Is that female leopard Ram?"
"Yes! Judging from her size, age, and the markings on her body, she is definitely Ram!"
"Oh my God, Ram is still alive!"
"It's incredible, she looks so much healthier."
People dug up information about the last time Ram was seen a few months ago.
Ram in the photo was in a very bad condition, with scars all over, skin and bones, and so weak that he couldn't even beat the Tibetan fox.
Take a look at the Ram photographed by the drone. It has a round body and healthy and shiny fur.
Although it was vaguely visible that its right front paw was injured when it jumped, its condition was much better than it was a few months ago.
In addition to Ram, the conservation group was surprised to find two snow leopard cubs.
It is not uncommon to find snow leopard cubs, but what is rare is that the two snow leopard cubs, which are only four months old, have no mother.
In the cold winter, a four-month-old leopard cub lost its mother. Even if it was very tenacious in life, the probability of its survival was infinitely equal to zero.
Even with a mother leopard, the probability of two cubs spending the winter together is only about 50%.
After carefully watching the video of the snow leopard cubs, we found that they not only survived tenaciously, but were also raised to be plump and white.
The drone patrols intensified and indeed the mother of the cubs was not found.
Judging from the location, the conservation organization naturally thought of the lactating snow leopard that was sent to the rescue station by local people last month.
At that time, the lactating snow leopard had three broken legs and needed timely treatment. The veterinarian judged from her condition that the mother leopard should have a litter of three-month-old cubs.
Could it be——
How is that possible?
If the snow leopard cubs are really the cubs of that mother leopard, it means they have been away from their mother for at least one month.
The mountainous areas at five or six thousand meters are full of dangers and challenges.
Without the care of the adult leopard, even if the cub does not starve to death, it will become food for golden eagles or other snow leopards.
The conservation organization had never encountered such a situation before and immediately dispatched additional drones to conduct intensive exploration of the area around the snow leopard cubs.
In the images sent back by the second batch of drones, the "little leopard" mentioned by the villagers was finally found.
In the endless snow and ice, the little leopard was moving alone, and the scene seemed somewhat tragic.
However, when the camera zoomed out, the humans saw the snow marks left by the little leopard and couldn't help laughing.
Good job.
Even mazes are not this messy.
If he could find the mountain goat based on his sense of direction, it would only prove that the mountain goat is also a person with poor sense of direction.
Yu Yiyun struggled for a long time, but not only did he not find the mountain goat, he also lost the way he came.
"Meow!" It's so annoying!
The pig was so angry that it bit its tail and howled very loudly.
Not long after, a strong and mighty male snow leopard came running from a distance and reluctantly followed the sound to Erza.
The male leopard smelled the scent all over the mountain and couldn't help but start to doubt his cat life.
Is it that I don’t have the talent to raise cubs, or is hunting too difficult to teach?
After the male leopard allowed his son to eat two meals, the shameless pig stayed in the territory.
From then on, whenever the male leopard went out to hunt for food, the pig would follow him.
After a few times, the male leopard realized the cub's intention and decided to teach him the skills of hunting blue sheep.
The mountain goat is different from all the prey Yu Yiyun has ever encountered.
It's not that it has strong combat power or fast speed.
The biggest difference is that when Yu Yiyun hunted before, he only needed to wait for the prey to appear and then show off his gorgeous hunting skills.
If hunting fails, just wait for the next prey. There are countless opportunities to practice.
The Himalayas have a unique terrain with almost no plains, and blue sheep are distributed vertically along the ridges.
This causes the snow leopard's hunting range to expand from flat surfaces to the entire space.
In addition, ibexes have a keen sense of smell and are extremely united.
Snow leopards can never catch their prey by just sitting back and waiting.
If you want to become a hunting claw, you must first learn to find mountain goats.
Yu Yiyun originally thought that as long as he went to an area with plenty of sunshine, he would be able to find mountain goats.
The male leopard used practical actions to tell the baby that his ideas were too simple.
Blue sheep prefer alpine meadows or bare rock areas where the terrain is almost vertical, making it easy for them to escape immediately when they encounter snow leopards.
In addition to the grass slope, there is another thing that can attract blue sheep.
ore.
The food they eat is nutritionally limited, and they must obtain salt and other nutrients by licking mineral-rich rocks.
When an experienced snow leopard searches for blue sheep, it will first look for grassy slopes and minerals, and then observe whether there are any traces left by blue sheep around.
After several days of observation, Yu Yiyun summed up the method of finding mountain goats and set out with full confidence.
As a result, after searching for half a day, not only did he not find the mountain goat, but he also got himself into trouble.
"Meow meow meow!"
Blue sheep, I will definitely find you!
“…Huh?” How about we give up?
After only a few days of teaching, the male leopard was already exhausted both physically and mentally.
In winter, blue sheep tend to reduce their activity and hide in groups in safe and warm places to avoid the cold.
With his experience and ability, a male leopard can occasionally bump into a blue sheep.
Now, he has to spend a lot of time looking for prey every day, and his hunting success rate is directly reduced.
The male leopard looked at his son who was working too hard and would rather he stayed at home and depended on his parents for support.
"Meow~"
The pig rubbed against his father and comforted him confidently: Daddy, I will definitely find the ibex.
“Meow… meow!” When the time comes… why are you running away, Daddy!
Yu Yiyun was just about to make a big promise to his father, telling him, "When I learn how to hunt, I will catch mountain goats for you to eat every day."
Before he could finish his words, the male leopard's eyes suddenly became fierce and he rushed out like an arrow.
Yu Yiyun paused for a few seconds, then rushed over, found a place with a wide view, and observed carefully with wide eyes.
The male leopard was very fast. In just two minutes, it jumped down several hundred meters and rushed towards the ibex that was pushing aside the snow in search of food.
The ibex smelled the scent, sensed the murderous intent, and immediately sprinted along the cliff.
It has long limbs, widely spaced, flexible toes, and hooves that can get stuck in rock crevices, providing support and stability.
Moreover, blue sheep have special "hanging hooves" that can help them brake suddenly to prevent falling off the cliff when they jump to a lower place.
In contrast, the snow leopard's claws are broad and thick, designed for hunting, and they are not as advantageous as the blue sheep when facing vertical slopes.
The male leopard knew the consequences of falling off the cliff, but he still refused to give in and engaged in a life-and-death chase with the ibex.
In terms of peak speed, the snow leopard is faster than the blue sheep.
But when it comes to endurance, the blue sheep is definitely miles ahead of the snow leopard.
The two animals often interact with each other and know each other's strengths and weaknesses very well.
The ibex deliberately chose steep slopes that were prone to sliding, hoping to force the snow leopard to retreat.
The male leopard uses the inertia of the dive to increase the speed of pursuit and quickly shorten the distance.
Seeing its natural enemy so close, the ibex panicked and ran down the 99-degree inverted trapezoidal slope.
Although the snow leopard's large claws are non-slip, they are unable to handle such terrain.
If the male leopard does not want to fall off the cliff, he will choose to give up the chase at this time.
At other times, the male leopard might give up the hunt.
But prey was hard to come by in winter, and he also had to provide food for his son, so he couldn't miss this opportunity.
The male leopard jumped up without any hesitation, pounced into the air and bit the ibex's back.
Then it rolled down the hillside with its prey and fell several times among the uneven rocks.
It was clear that this was not the first time the snow leopard had experienced a fall from a cliff.
He adjusted the angle in the air, protected his important claws and head, curled up his body to increase the impact area, and used the snow on the surface of the mountain to reduce the impact force.
After rolling down seven or eight cliffs, the male leopard finally found an opportunity to steady his body. He let go of the mountain goat he was holding in his mouth, spread out his paws and lay beside it, gasping for breath.
Yu Yiyun stayed at a high place and did not immediately run to his father and yell for the meal to begin.
This was the first time he saw a snow leopard hunting. It was a matter of life and death, and it was extremely shocking.
Every snow leopard living on the top of a mountain must be brave enough.
If you fail to become the strongest, you will be eliminated by nature.
In previous lives, whether he turned into a South China tiger or a Magen wolf, Yu Yiyun always had enough ways to retreat.
Even if you grow slowly, even if you are not that outstanding, life always leaves you a way out.
It's different now.
There is no retreat for the snow leopard.
There is not much time left for the little snow leopard. He must quickly become stronger to fight against the cruel laws of nature.
Every leopard in the mountains is trying its best to survive.
They were running on the edge of the cliff, not knowing which would come first, the next meal or death, and they had no energy left to cover for the piglets.
"call."
The male leopard recovered his breath, endured the pain and climbed up, shook his fur as usual, and called Erza to come over quickly.
The pig, who usually looked like a starving ghost and would beg for food if he didn't eat for a day, jumped to the male leopard and first licked the fur of his hard-working hunting father.
"Meow." Painful and flew away~
"Huh?" Kid, did you eat poisonous mushrooms?
"Huff, huff." Don't be so disgusting. You'll continue to be lost after eating.
Pig: ...
Humph, Steel Straight Panther!
The animal protection organization sent three waves of drones and finally figured out:
First, while Ram was recovering from her injuries, the little leopard had been providing her with food.
Second, the two cubs living on the sunny side of the mountain were raised by the little leopard with great effort, along with chickens and ducks.
When the residents of the mountain village heard the news, their love and attention for the little leopard reached new heights.
They often hang the chickens and ducks to be eaten the next day outside the yard, waiting for the little leopard to come to the village to find food.
After more than half a month, the little leopard still didn't show up, which made people worry about whether the rabbits caught by the little leopard, a cat, would be enough to feed four mouths.
Snow is flying all over the sky, the New Year is getting closer, and every household is immersed in a joyful atmosphere.
One morning after a heavy snowfall, a man who got up early came out to sweep the snow and saw the familiar traces of plum blossoms on the snow.
"Wife, Zhuzi, hurry up and get up! The little leopard came again last night!"
"Is the little leopard here? Did he eat the chicken outside? That was the fattest rooster!"
The big man looked back and saw that the plucked rooster was still hanging there, and half of a wild ginseng with a tooth mark appeared just below it.
The peasant woman came out, took a look and was happy.
"He still likes to eat wild ginseng and big rooster."
Almost everyone around heard the noise and went out to check what was going on.
After an inventory, it was found that the meat hung outside was not lost, and every family received rare plants from the mountains as gifts.
Everyone looked at each other in disbelief and asked, "Could it be that Little Leopard specially came down the mountain to wish us a happy new year?"
"This... what happened to the agreement that after the founding of the country, spirits are not allowed?"
At the same time, after wishing a happy new year to the kind-hearted little man, Yu Yiyun saw that it was still early and he was not hungry, so he followed the mountain road outside the village and climbed to a flatter place.
——He’s always been good at fooling around.
The pig ran happily for half an hour and found that the snow in front was getting thinner and thinner.
The snow in some areas had obviously been cleared by humans, revealing grass roots and moss under the snow slopes.
The little snow leopard jumped over nimbly and smelled the scent of many greedy leopards.
City cow!
City sheep!
Hiss~
Leopard, who was almost going crazy because of the cattle and sheep, ran a little further in the direction of the snow clearing, but did not find any artificially raised cattle and sheep.
It looked like this area had either just been used and was entering a recuperation period, or was being prepared for use.
Over the past few decades, large-scale grazing by grassland people has caused irreversible damage to the local environment.
After realizing their mistake, the herders began to adopt rotational grazing and divided the grassland slopes into several areas.
At the same time, they only graze in one area, allowing the other areas to cycle naturally and maintain sustainable development.
Yu Yiyun followed the scent left by the cattle and sheep and sneaked to another area.
Before I saw the cattle and sheep, I first saw a group of sheepdogs guarding nearby, at least seven of them.
The common breeds of shepherd dogs in Tibet include Border Collie, German Shepherd, and Tibetan Mastiff.
Zhumi took a quick look and saw all three types of dogs.
Two German Shepherds are guarding the flock of sheep, one on the left and one on the right, with determined eyes as if they want to join the party. No wonder this kind of dog can easily pass the examination and become a police dog.
Several Border Collies gathered together and whispered, and I don't know what they were gossiping about. Border Collies have high IQs and their own ideas, and are often teased as "dogs are dogs, and Border Collies are Border Collies."
The remaining Tibetan mastiffs were fierce dogs that were not easy to mess with. They smelled the scent of the snow leopard and barked loudly.
The little snow leopard hiding in the dark was secretly frightened when he saw the strict defensive posture.
Dogs are human beings’ good friends, but they are not Yu Yiyun’s good friends.
Poor weak and helpless underage leopard, it has a hard time dealing with just one dog, let alone so many?
“Meow!”
Just a few tiny dogs!
“Meow!”
Brave Leopard, not afraid of difficulties!
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