Chapter 152 Snow Leopard (X)
Feifei and Yuanyuan often smelled Ram's scent from Yu Yiyun and were not unfamiliar with this female leopard.
If we go back three months, the two leopard cubs would even take the initiative to pounce on the beautiful aunt and cling to her.
Now, they are half a year old and no longer three-month-old cubs. They have accumulated some experience in life and know that snow leopards have a strong sense of territory.
Although cheetahs, distant relatives in Africa, like to adopt orphaned cubs, snow leopards live far from each other and have scarce living resources, so mother leopards will not adopt unrelated cubs either.
During the most restless breeding season, female snow leopards may attack unfamiliar cubs.
When Feifei and Yuanyuan heard Ram's unfriendly voice, they were so scared that they huddled together, opened their tender sapphire eyes wide, and blingblingly shot cute light waves at the piglet.
“Chirp.”
"Meow."
Poor, weak, but able to eat.
After all, it was the leopard cub that she had raised with great effort. How could Yu Yiyun resist when she heard the cub's cry?
He immediately bit off a large piece of salmon, left the rest for Ram, and ran over to feed the cub.
"meow?"
Ram blinked his animal eyes, stared at the receding figure of Zhumi, and was briefly puzzled for half a minute.
After seeing the baby's skillful feeding movements, Ram suddenly understood.
Look at him tearing the fish into small pieces and feeding them to the leopard cub gently, just like how he fed his baby when he was little.
I am Zhumi’s mother, so Zhumi is their mother!
Snow leopards like to live alone. When they grow up, they leave their mothers and it is difficult to see them again.
Therefore, most snow leopards only have the simple concept of "mother and child" and cannot understand such a complex kinship relationship as "grandfather and grandchild".
Ram stared at the leopard cubs for a while, and miraculously got the complicated knowledge point of "I'm a grandmother". He picked up the fish that he had only eaten a bite of, and slowly walked over.
"meow~"
Dear grandson, come to grandma~
The two leopard cubs were a little scared at first and huddled timidly behind the pig.
Because Ram had a familiar smell and showed no aggression, the two of them calmed down temporarily and tentatively approached the beautiful female leopard whom they had "never met and never missed".
"meow~"
When it comes to feeding the cubs, Mother Ram is more skilled than Yiyun.
After feeding the fish, she picked up Feifei, who had a more playful personality, and called Yuanyuan to follow her, and returned to the place where she had hidden the ibex.
"Chirp!" Sheep!
"Meow~" Grandma can catch sheep, she is better than mommy~
As always, the two of them were the ones who believed in "whoever has the sheep is their mother". They quickly left the pig behind and surrounded Ram, begging for food.
Yu Yiyun: Then I leave? !
The snow leopard cub is just half a year old and its teeth are in the development stage.
When Ram caught a sheep, he buried it in the snow slope out of habit.
After just a short delay, the ibex had already frozen solid, and the leopard cub's milk teeth were unable to shake it at all.
Ram tore open the sheepskin, bit off a large piece of meat for his son to suck, and asked him to carry it to the side to eat. Then he divided the ram meat into small portions and fed them to Feifei and Yuanyuan in turn.
While feeding, Ram vaguely recalled that he also had three cubs by his side in the past.
At first, the cubs scrambled for milk, and Ram took turns feeding the three cubs, just like she does now.
Later, three cubs became two, and then one, and Ram never felt the joy of being surrounded by children again.
As it happened, the two cubs she lost were a male leopard and a female leopard.
As Ram was feeding, his thinking began to deviate.
It was as if I had returned to last spring, with the two lost cubs back by my side.
"Meow?" Mommy?
"Meow!" Mommy!
After eating the meat, Yu Yiyun returned to Ram and found her licking the fur of the two cubs with great affection, her whole body radiating maternal love.
Piglet called out several times, but his mommy totally ignored him, fully demonstrating what "greater-generation affection" means.
"Meow meow!"
Yu Yiyun broke down and screamed!
A month ago, Ram was willing to take care of Yuanyuan and Feifei, and Yu Yiyun was absolutely happy to see it.
But it’s not possible now, the world has changed.
Lily, the leopard cub's parent, is working hard to reunite with her baby.
Although she has not yet reached the wildness standard, Yu Yiyun is willing to believe that Lily will definitely complete the assessment and return to her child as soon as possible.
If Lily comes back and finds that Ram is addicted to raising cubs and treats Feifei and Yuanyuan as her own cubs, the two female leopards with particularly strong maternal instincts will definitely fight for custody.
From Yu Yiyun's perspective, both of them are excellent and brave queens, and she doesn't want either of them to be hurt again.
So, Zhumi had to find ways to divert Ram's attention.
Easier said than done, this is not an easy task.
Yu Yiyun has experienced how strong Ram's maternal instinct is.
Once she identifies Feifei and Yuanyuan, she will definitely risk her life to protect them.
While Ram's feelings for the leopard cub were not that deep, Yu Yiyun decided to take action. When Ram was sleeping, the cat sneaked up to him and prepared to steal the leopard cub away quietly.
It is often said that 'cats are very alert when they sleep', but this argument is disproven in tigers and lions.
Recalling Pig’s two previous fathers, Tommy and Tiger, each slept more soundly than the other and snored loudly.
Yu Yiyun originally thought that as the top hunter in the alpine areas and with no natural enemies, the snow leopard must be a very deep sleeper.
Adult snow leopards do have no natural enemies, but mother leopards with cubs must always be on guard against enemy animals or snow mountain collapses. They must be extremely vigilant when sleeping and will wake up at the slightest movement.
As soon as Zhumi picked up Yuanyuan, Ram immediately opened his animal eyes and stared at him without blinking.
"meow?" Baby, where are you taking my baby?
"……Meow."
Yu Yiyun put Yuanyuan down awkwardly and pretended to lick her fur.
The plan to steal the cub failed, so Yu Yiyun launched plan two: abduction!
He caught a lively plateau rabbit and chased it all over the mountain to seduce the playful Feifei.
Feifei heard the noise and saw the lively rabbit, which really attracted her attention. She chased the rabbit and ran away from Ram.
Yu Yiyun was in mixed feelings.
I was glad that the plan was successful, but at the same time I was worried that Feifei would be easily abducted and deceived by the bad beast. What if?
Feifei chased the rabbit and just ran away from Ram's sight.
Ram, who was lying there resting, immediately became alert, followed the faint smell to locate the direction where Feifei disappeared, and caught the rebellious boy who was chasing the rabbit.
"Meow." Naughty boy, you can't leave grandma from now on.
Yu Yiyun felt relieved and then died completely.
Good news: No need to worry about Feifei being abducted by bad beasts.
Bad news: Ram’s maternal instinct is too strong and there is no way she can take the cub back!
“Meow.”
The pig curled up its paws, seemingly having lost all its strength and power, and lay down dejectedly, pretending to be dead.
After lying down for two minutes, Ram came over and gently helped his baby son tidy up his hair.
Let him sleep on his soft belly like he did when he was a child.
Yu Yiyun felt Ram’s tenderness, closed her eyes in a daze, and slowly fell asleep... Wait!
A light bulb went off in Zhumi's head, and he suddenly stood up.
Because Ram's maternal instinct is too strong and she protects her baby very well, I can't take the cub away from Ram.
Thinking about it another way, you can take advantage of Ram's maternal instinct and lead her away from the cubs.
Genius, discharged!
Zhumi quickly came up with a plan in his mind and decided to test it first.
He got up and ran away with his paws spread out.
Ram propped himself up, looked at his eldest son who was running away, then looked at his young grandchildren, seeming a little hesitant.
Two minutes later, piglet's cry for help was heard in the distance.
Ram reacted immediately, following the sound and running quickly towards Zhumi.
"Meow!" Mommy!
"Meow!" Smack, here I come!
When the pig saw his mother rushing towards him from afar, he ran over excitedly.
He has entered sub-adulthood and is a size larger than Ram, so he cannot snuggle into his mother's arms and act coquettishly.
Yu Yiyun nuzzled Ram's neck, trying to raise the corners of her lips to pretend a wicked smile, and had a 'sinister' idea quietly brewing...
As dawn fell, Ram ended a whole night of hunting and patrolling, dragged his tired body back to the nest, and was just about to go to sleep with Feifei and Yuanyuan.
“Meow!”
Just as I closed my eyes, I heard Piglet’s cry for help from afar.
Ram immediately walked out of the cave and concentrated on determining the source of the sound.
“Meow!”
Not hearing any response, the piglet cried out again, and it sounded even more miserable, as if it had been tortured by some non-beast.
Confirmed, baby is calling for help!
"meow!"
Ram couldn't stay still for a moment, responded loudly, and quickly rushed to Zhumi's side.
After running across a large snow slope and climbing over half a mountain, my son's voice was still in the distance.
Ram was already tired from running, but he still walked without hesitation, bravely leaping over the cliff and jumping to the next hill.
As soon as she landed, Ram was immediately surrounded by the scent of the male leopard, which smelled somewhat familiar.
Ram thought about it carefully and finally remembered: Oh, it was the good-tempered male leopard he met two days ago.
Leopard Dad: What about you thinking further ahead? !
Although the male leopard did not attack Erza when they met last time.
But Ram's instinct told him that it would be very dangerous for an underage leopard to encounter a male leopard in breeding season.
Without a moment's hesitation, she ran towards the male leopard following the smell and the sound, making the most ferocious roar and showing her sharp claws to attack the leopard father.
"......Ah?" The leopard father was caught off guard and was scratched on the head by the female leopard, who pounced on him and scratched him twice, causing him to roll into a ball in his arms.
He just couldn't figure it out.
This year's breeding season is about to end. The leopard father stopped looking for a mate and returned to his territory to have a good rest.
As soon as I lay down, my baby son appeared from nowhere.
After feeding the lamb for a whole winter, Leopard Dad got used to his son's sudden appearance and called out to him in a low voice, "Son, do you want to eat lamb?"
As a result, instead of answering, the son fell on him and screamed like a cat being slaughtered.
"Meow!" Help!
“Meow——!” Help——!
Leopard Dad was stunned, his innocent silver-gray eyes widened.
The beasts in the mountains are simple-minded. How could they have ever seen such a thing as a direct fraud without any pre-situation?
After howling a few times, a response came from the opposite hill.
When Leopard Dad heard his wife's voice, he was overjoyed.
After coming into contact with Ram a few days ago, Leopard Dad met two female leopards one after another, neither of whom was his type.
It seemed as if Leopard Dad suddenly saw through the world and felt it was boring, so he simply returned to his own territory and continued to live the life of a lonely old leopard.
But just when he was about to end the breeding season, the leopard in his dreams appeared again!
Leopard Dad was overjoyed and was about to pounce.
Ram rushed over first and scratched him all over the head.
No matter how good Leopard Dad's temper is, he is still a wild male leopard after all.
He got angry... and got angry for a while.
“Ouch!”
Leopard Dad was so angry that he opened his mouth and howled loudly.
The sound was heard from far away, and the snow on the cliff above was affected and fell down, burying the two leopards tightly.
According to scientists, the reason why snow leopards have thick vocal cords and cannot roar or roar is probably because they consider that roaring in high mountain areas can easily cause avalanches.
Fortunately, snow leopards have a nimble body, thick fur, and extremely quick reactions, allowing them to minimize the dangers of nature.
Leopard Dad was the first to crawl out of the snow pile. He looked up and saw that Cheap Erza had already run away.
"Meow!" It's too dangerous!
"Meow meow meow!" Leopard cat, come on, I'll find a place to sleep by myself~
Yu Yiyun held the long furry tail in his mouth, afraid of being buried in the snow, and returned to Ram's territory with his paws to implement his plan to steal the cubs.
"Ah." Leopard Dad howled weakly and unilaterally announced that he would sever ties with him for five minutes.
Seeing that the leopard in his dream did not come out for a long time, the male leopard dug a hole and crawled into the snow pile, and dug Ram out of the snow.
Zhu Mi looked from a distance.
Mommy seemed to be confused by the avalanche. The whole cat was dizzy and dazed. It was not until Dad Leopard held her in his arms and licked her several times that she came to her senses.
"Meow!" Enemy beast, let go of my son...son...where is my son?
"Huh?" Wife, think about it again, do you really not remember me?
"Huaaa!" Who gave birth to this child?
"meow?" I gave birth to my own child, is there a problem? !
Leopard dad couldn't win the argument with her, so he turned into a dark incarnation and licked the cat, making his wife drool all over.
Seeing that they were progressing smoothly, Yu Yiyun returned to Ram's nest with peace of mind, woke up Feifei and Yuanyuan who were still dreaming, and sent them back to their original nest.
Considering that he was already a big leopard and his scent was easy to track, Zhumi hid the cub and walked around the hilltop for a few times to prevent Ram from following the scent.
The next day, Ram returned to his territory again and used his fish-like memory again, seeming to have completely forgotten Feifei and Yuanyuan.
She was obviously a little anxious, going in and out of the nest.
Seeing his precious son who was always as precious as a pearl, Ram breathed a sigh of relief for the first time in his life.
"Meow?" Mommy, are you licking me?
"Meow!" You actually laughed at me!
"Meow!!" Humph, I'm running away from home tomorrow! !
Ramha finished breathing and immediately realized that something was wrong.
His instinct told him that he should drive away the grown-up children and concentrate on raising new cubs.
But Ram was conflicted again.
Because of her injury, she did not teach her son how to catch mountain goats during the best learning period.
Later, after Ram recovered from his injury, the little snow leopard ran around everywhere every day, and Ram had no time to teach him.
A few months later, I had new cubs and had no chance to teach my son how to catch mountain goats.
How can a snow leopard that can't catch blue sheep survive in the mountains?
Ram made a decision, walked to the edge of the cliff, looked around, turned around and called out to his baby.
Yu Yiyun was feeling angry about her weight gain, and when she heard her mommy calling her, she came over reluctantly.
As soon as he got close, Ram jumped off the cliff and rushed towards a certain location with a clear goal.
Yu Yiyun hurriedly followed, rushed down the hillside and turned a corner, and saw several mountain goats in the distance, grazing on the newly grown grass in spring.
"meow...meow?" Ram was just about to tell Zhumi to stand still, but when he turned around, his son had already rushed out like lightning.
"Meow!" Sheep!
"Meow!" So many sheep!
It had been a long time since Piglet had seen so many wild prey. He was very excited and imitated what Leopard Dad had done before, rushing straight towards the ibex.
Perhaps because she was too excited, Yu Yiyun couldn't control herself and made a sound.
When the ibex noticed the little snow leopard pouncing on it, it immediately turned around and disappeared along the steepest mountain road.
Yu Yiyun jumped to the top of the cliff and was stunned looking at the empty valley.
The scene of the ibex eating grass just now seemed like a dream, shattered so quickly.
"Meow." Baby, you are too impatient.
Ram jumped over, comforted the lost baby, and took him to find the next batch of blue sheep.
This time, Yu Yiyun learned her lesson and waited for her mother to give a signal before quietly approaching the ibex.
As a result, the blue sheep discovered the snow leopard and disappeared without a trace again.
Yu Yijun was left standing on the edge of the cliff, looking at the mountain goats going away, feeling as aggrieved as a child weighing over 100 pounds.
"Meow." No, it's okay.
Ram comforted the boy, but his defenses were somewhat broken.
She was lucky today and encountered two blue sheep in a row.
According to the frequency of blue sheep refreshing in the alpine area, if they fail to catch them, the mother and child may go hungry today.
It would be fine at normal times, but when Ram is about to give birth to a new life, it is the time when she needs supplemental nutrition the most.
When he encountered the ibex for the third time, Ram told his cub to stand still and not move, and he rushed over to chase the ibex.
Yu Yiyun tucked his paws in, his eyes locked on his mother who had "flown" out, and seeing her chasing him relentlessly between the cliffs, he suddenly realized why he couldn't catch the sheep.
When snow leopards hunt, they only see the prey, not life or death.
But Yu Yiyun has the concept of death and injury.
When encountering cliffs, steep walls, or protruding rocks, Yu Yiyun was always afraid of falling down and being smashed to pieces, so she would slow down in advance.
Ram ignored all this and even though he fell and got bruised and swollen, he still got up and continued to chase his prey.
The blue sheep may not be as big as the African elephant, nor as aggressive as the American bison.
But its unparalleled climbing ability makes the blue sheep the most terrifying prey.
If you are not prepared for the possibility of death, you are not worthy of competing with them.
However, Yu Yiyun had too many ties and could not risk his life on a hunt.
After eating the blue sheep caught by Ram, Yu Yiyun left the nest alone while her mother was asleep.
He followed the experience passed down by his parents, looking for grassy slopes and bare rock areas to observe whether there were any footprints or excrement of blue sheep.
Yu Yiyun was lucky today and successfully found traces left by mountain goats near a grassy slope.
The little snow leopard turned on the cat radar and entered the search mode. Soon, according to the distribution of footprints, it found several blue sheep grazing.
Yu Yiyun held the tail in his mouth and used his fur and large pads of flesh to quietly approach the ibex, attempting to capture it using an ambush tactic.
Blue sheep are common herbivores, with low color vision, and are unable to distinguish snow leopards that blend into the environment.
Yu Yiyun held his breath and concentrated, successfully approaching the mountain goat within 20 meters, intending to seize the opportunity to pounce on it.
Unfortunately, in the mountainous area, there is no tall green grass, lush forests, or shrubs suitable for hiding.
Blue sheep cannot distinguish snow leopards, but can distinguish moving objects.
Using stealth tactics, there is no way to get close to the 9-meter gold hunting range.
Yu Yiyun tried to get closer, and a mountain goat happened to raise its head and made eye contact with the hunter who was so close.
“…Meow, meow.” Sheep, give me a chance.
"Mee!" The snow leopard is coming, everyone run!
The flock of sheep did not give him any chance to hunt continuously. When Yu Yiyun stopped at the edge of the cliff, the flock of sheep ran away again.
To make matters worse, a magpie spotted the snow leopard and started chirping all the way to remind the nearby sheep to leave quickly.
The magpie that comes with spring is not only a bird of good news, but also a sentinel for herbivores.
"Meow!" Magpie, you are the only one who talks too much!
Yu Yiyun screamed in despair and turned to look for the magpie's nest.
“Chirp!”
“Chirp!”
The magpie flapped its wings, flew over the snow leopard's head, and delivered a poop precisely.
The snow leopard failed to catch the sheep and was humiliated by the magpie instead. It was so angry that it jumped up and down, trying to grab the arrogant magpie with its claws.
On the opposite hillside, the photographer who was faithfully recording the entire process with a camera was happily chatting with his assistant.
"Spring is indeed a good season for photographing snow leopards. Look how cute he is."
"Wow! Cute! He jumps so high. Does he want to play with the magpie?"
"You guessed wrong. He couldn't catch sheep, so he could only catch birds." The photographer poked the snow leopard on the screen, "How can there be a snow leopard that can't catch sheep?"
“Meow!”
You can't catch the sheep!
"Meow meow!"
I’m great at catching sheep!
In order to prove his words, Yu Yiyun changed his area and started to endure hardships again.
In spring, the blue sheep's range of activities expands.
With the experience passed down by her fathers, Yu Yiyun found that "finding" the mountain goats was no longer a problem.
The bigger problem is that the blue sheep is too agile, and the ambush that cats are good at is of little use to it.
Anyone who has been a cat knows that big cats are not good at chasing.
If a snow leopard wants to catch a blue sheep, it must overcome the altitude difference and steep mountains to determine the winner as quickly as possible.
Simply put, as long as they are more resistant to falls than the mountain goats, they win.
During those years when Zhumi was practicing tree climbing, he fell many times and has become the most fall-resistant big cat in the Qinling Mountains.
However, anyone with eyes can see that falling from a tree and falling off a cliff are not the same thing.
In addition to the steeper slope, there are many other force majeure factors that cause falling off a cliff.
Even if the snow leopard's internal organs have a shock-absorbing effect, if they hit their head, legs, or break their spine, they will die.
Yu Yiyun pounced on the mountain goat, and once again stopped in front of the cliff.
He knew that if he was afraid of falling off the cliff, he would not be able to catch the blue sheep the way the snow leopard did.
But Yu Yiyun knew better that bravery and recklessness were two different things.
I don't have nine lives, and I can't afford that 'what if'.
“Meow.”
The piglet faced the valley and cried out helplessly.
Is there any way to catch the mountain goat without falling off the cliff?
"call?"
A response came from the lower valley.
Before Zhumi could figure out who the responding Leopard was, an agile figure rode the fierce gust of wind and jumped in front of Yu Yijun in a few leaps.
"Meow?" The pig blinked his eyes. It was hard to equate the agile leopard in front of him with the fat cat-like glutton in the pen that was too fat to walk and panted all day long.
"call."
Agile and strong, Lily raised her cat face, proud and elegant.
——I’m standing right in front of you. Do you think I look like I did before?
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