Chapter 169 Arctic Fox (Part 9)
The wind was light, the clouds were high, and the sun was shining brightly. Yu Yiyun saw that the cubs that gathered around her were full of energy, and each one was more excited than the Husky.
Zhu Wang simply used his unparalleled talent for raising cubs to play and fight with the cubs, preparing them for future hunting and survival.
Arctic foxes belong to the canine family, and are definitely better than cats in terms of coordination and domestication capabilities.
Foxes that often live together will more or less develop the ability to work as a team.
The cubs are only three or four weeks old and haven’t been weaned yet, so they are not yet at the stage where they can formally hunt.
Yu Yiyun had no intention of playing games with complicated rules with them. She just caught a few lively lemmings and used them as early education toys for the fox cubs.
Considering that the fox cubs’ teeth had not yet grown fully, Yu Yiyun specially picked a few small-nosed lemmings to play with them.
Yu Yiyun never expected that even a small-nosed lemming could still fool around with the mice whose combat power was only 0.5, and turned the latter half of the sentence "the dog trying to catch the mouse" around with his strength:
wishful thinking!
Yu Yiyun's direct siblings were the last born in this batch.
Because the fox dad and mom have such a strong reproductive ability, there are 17 cubs in one litter!
Yu Dehua, who was 17 years old, took great pains and shamelessly sent the cubs to eight families, and finally kept 9 cubs to be raised by their parents.
Unfortunately, not long after birth, two of the cubs had poor resistance or congenital developmental defects.
Even with enough food every day, they still died silently.
Fortunately, the remaining seven fox cubs grew up healthily. They were black and plump, and each one was more lively than the other. They were eager to try to destroy the house before they were even a month old.
Yu Yiyun dug out a lemming that was hiding in a pit and trying to pretend to be dead, and put it in front of them.
"Ying!" Catch it!
Rat was surrounded by foxes. How could he have seen such a scene before?
He kicked his legs and died on the spot.
The fox cubs, which are not even one month old, are completely dependent on breast milk and have not yet learned the universal formula of "lemmings = food".
They surrounded the lemmings curiously, head to head, chattering incessantly.
"Bingying?" What is it?
"Oh!" It has eyes, a tail, and ears. It's a little fox~
"Hmm? Hmm!" What the hell is a little fox? It doesn't have long hair!
"Ohh~" I understand, it's a bald fox!
“…”
Stupid dog, you know nothing!
I watched the stupid foxes surrounding the lemmings, shouting and yelling.
Yu Yiyun couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he showed his claws and slapped the lemming twice.
The lemmings that were pretending to be dead were frightened and started to flutter around on the spot, running around like headless flies.
When the fox cubs watching saw the lemmings move, they were frightened and scattered, making way for the lemmings.
Surrounded by natural enemies, the lemming panicked and had no choice but to run for its life. It bumped its head into a fox cub while escaping.
"Ah!" The fox cub jumped three feet high in fright, threw himself into Yu Yiyun's arms and cried for comfort.
Yu Yijun was so angry that her face turned black, and she had no intention of comforting him.
He flipped over the fox cub, caught the lemming that almost escaped, and loudly ordered the seven little ones of the new generation of mini Paw Patrol.
"Bing!" Stupid dog!
"Boo, boo, boo!" If we don't catch this mouse today, no one can go home to drink milk!
The mini Paw Patrol couldn't understand a word. They hummed and burrowed into their brother's arms, complaining pitifully, "Lemmings are so scary. They scared the baby."
Yu Yiyun was so furious that she overturned the fox cub again and walked towards her nephew and niece angrily.
Brothers and sisters from the previous litter married off early, and nieces and nephews are generally 1-2 weeks older than their new brothers and sisters.
The two fastest growing litters are already one month old.
Yu Yiyun caught another lemming and placed it in front of his four-week-old nephew and niece.
This litter is Xiao 6’s cubs.
Although the name "Xiao 6" was randomly chosen by Yu Yiyun based on the size of the baby, Xiao 6 is truly 6, as she gave birth to a total of 6 cubs in her first litter.
Six cubs are not too many for an Arctic fox. In addition, Xiao Liu had meat every meal during pregnancy, so the cubs were able to absorb more nutrition while staying in the mother's body.
Except for the smallest cub, the other five cubs are slightly larger than the cubs born at the same time.
Now, after one month of raising them, except for the weakest one who died, the other cubs are stronger than each other and have reached the stage where they play and fight and establish order.
Even the cub that Yu Yiyun later took away and secretly gave to Xiao Liu was raised to be a chubby kid.
Yu Yiyun put the lemmings in front of them, and the last one to join Xiao Liu's family rushed the most fiercely.
She left her original family too early, and has been surrounded by strong and brave nephews and nieces since she could remember.
The naive little aunt had no idea that she was of a different generation from them and thought that they were all from the same family.
There are no mirrors in the fox world, so they can only use each other as a reference.
The little aunt looked at the tall and mighty domestic fox and naturally thought that she looked like that, and her self-confidence was overflowing.
——I am much stronger than you!
On the contrary, the nephews and nieces looked at each other and then at their companions and couldn't help but feel worried.
Fox Life is like opening a blind box, and he doesn't know whether he has opened the strong version or the little aunt version.
The foxes were afraid that among their brothers, they would be the only ones to grow up to be as small as their little aunt, so they looked at each other and shrank back.
Little aunt was fearless and bravely pounced on the lemming, stretched out her chestnut-sized fist, opened her mouth to reveal her sharp milk teeth, and bit the lemming fiercely.
She used her body, which was similar to that of a jelly orange, to pounce on the lemmings with an overwhelming force, barking like a dog.
"Ying!" Enemy, beast!
The unfortunate lemming was surrounded by a bunch of foxes and was trembling with fear. He had already thought about what to say in his last words.
'If I could do it again, I would choose Antarctica! '
'Because there are no Arctic foxes in Antarctica!!!'
As a result, it trembled in fear for five minutes, but the slightly larger foxes showed no intention of attacking it, but instead hid timidly behind it.
Only a small baby fox that smelled of milk and had not yet fully grown teeth pounced over.
The lemming was no longer afraid, and with a coquettish move, it got rid of its aunt and challenged her arrogantly.
"Squeak?" Fox, are you scraping?
"Squeak!" Bite me if you don't agree!
"Hmm?"
The little aunt blinked her big eyes.
Why did the enemy beast run away?
She stood up again, rolled over and crawled over, pinning the lemming under her again.
The lemmings’ taunting strength is maxed out, they are too lazy to even run far away, they just use their heads to butt up against their aunt.
"Squeak!" Stupid fox.
"Squeak?" What else can you do besides making me covered in milky saliva?
The little aunt went hunting twice in a row, but the enemy beasts escaped each time, and she cried loudly in grievance.
The younger foxes were so scared when they saw that Little Auntie was so powerful but still couldn't catch her prey, and they all ran back.
Yu Yiyun was so angry that he blocked their retreat and kicked them one by one.
"Bing!" Trash!
"Oh oh!" You're so big, and the only thing you can do is run away?
"Boo, boo, boo!" If I can't catch Shushu today, I'll hang you all on the mountain to be pecked by birds!
The foxes were threatened and reluctantly ran towards the lemmings to fight with their aunt.
Under the hard teaching of Teacher Yunyun, the fox cubs finally regarded lemmings as prey.
By the time the last litter of fox cubs was one month old, the cubs could barely work as a team to capture a small lemming.
They had not yet developed the habit of eating meat. After catching the lemming, they imitated Yu Yiyun and put it back, and then caught it again.
The unlucky lemming was caught and released, and his name flashed in the book of life and death. He really wanted to say hello to the whole family of Arctic foxes.
You are just so noble!
If you don't eat me, it will mess with my mentality!
Is there any animalistic taste?!
——That must not be the case.
In the later stages of training, Yu Yiyun even marked a few lemmings that were lively and suitable as "teaching aids".
After eating and drinking every day, the first thing they do is knock on the door along the marks and dig up the lemmings.
The lemmings changed several nests, but Teacher Yunyun was still unable to get rid of the annoying beasts, and she was so angry that she broke down.
“Squeak!”
"Oh~" Rat, how can you sleep at your age?
“Oh my god!” 007 is your blessing!
"Boo? Boom~" Do you know what 007 means? It means that you are caught by a fox at 0:00 in the morning and kept caught until 0:00 in the evening, 7 days a week.
"Yingying..." You can't rest until the sun sets. Rat, don't play dead...
How could the poor lemmings have ever seen such an evil capitalist?
I was so angry that I almost died on the spot. I prayed that justice would come from heaven to save the poor rat.
Maybe the fox family had gone too far, maybe the Rat God really existed, and its prayers actually worked.
In midsummer, more and more fox footprints appear within the Arctic Circle.
That day, Yu Yiyun came out of her nest as usual and felt that the sun was hotter than usual.
He braved the scorching sun, walked on the completely melted ponds and land covered with green grass, and ran along the marked and familiar route to the place where wedge-tailed gulls were caught.
At the beginning of summer, wedge-tailed gulls begin laying eggs in large numbers.
Their nests are usually built next to ponds or lakes and are easier to steal than snow geese, which like to lay eggs on cliffs.
While the snow geese have not yet hatched, Yu Yiyun, who is good at destroying eggs with her sharp claws, got up early and helped the wedge-tailed gulls to "grow good families" and eliminated a batch of eggs with low hatching rates in advance.
By the way, you can also follow the river to visit the polar bears who spend the summer by the river.
The river connects to the ocean, which contains not only dogfish but also various marine fish.
Although the output is not large, it is enough to feed the mother and cub polar bears.
After stealing the eggs, Yu Yiyun temporarily buried those that he couldn't take back, then walked along the river, ready to say hello to his good friend the bear.
Not long after they started walking, Yu Yiyun smelled the blood of his own kind, which was extremely strong following the wind.
He frowned.
Several nearby islands are important habitats for Arctic foxes.
In spring and summer, the foxes have finished their courtship and there is no shortage of food here.
Arctic foxes, who are tasked with raising their families, rarely attack each other.
The strong smell of blood on the wind meant that more than one fox had encountered the poisonous claws.
Arctic foxes are good at building nests and are agile.
Throughout the Arctic, there are only a handful of hunters who could pose a threat to their population.
The closest Arctic wolves live on the land plains, busy hunting reindeer and musk oxen.
Could it be...
Yu Yiyun turned around and looked at the mother bear that he had led to the river.
Arctic foxes had been breeding in this area for many years and had always lived in peace. However, when the polar bears came, the fox family was massacred.
Yu Yiyun turned on detective mode, analyzed the situation carefully, and ruled out Hao Pengxiong as a suspect.
It’s not that he blindly trusts Good Friend Bear.
It’s midsummer and this is land.
When food is plentiful, Arctic foxes can run fast and have great endurance.
The polar bears died of heat before they could catch them.
Besides, Xiongxiong has so many fish to eat, there is no need to expand his diet.
Since it wasn’t a polar bear, and it’s unlikely that an Arctic wolf would commit the crime, who else could it be?
Yu Yiyun followed the smell of blood and approached the crime scene cautiously.
Animals do not have such a strong curiosity. When they smelled the strong smell of blood, all the foxes nearby retreated and dared not approach.
Scavenger birds circled and descended, picking up a piece of meat that had been torn into pieces.
Yu Yiyun recognized that it was an Arctic fox cub that was about the same size as her own cub.
In nature, the law of the jungle is unshakable.
Even though he knew this, Yu Yijun still felt a little upset when he saw the miserable end of his fellow human beings.
He sniffed the air and determined when the unfortunate fox family was killed, trying to reconstruct the tragedy that had occurred.
Judging from the smell of blood, the fox family has been dead for most of the day.
It is now the hottest time of the year in the Arctic, and the discarded corpses are not frozen solid, but are gradually rotting.
Yu Yiyun endured the depression and came to the remains. He saw two large pools of blood and several small pools of blood on the ground, all scattered around the nest.
Generally speaking, even young cubs understand the cruelty of nature and have a certain sense of avoidance.
When the parents are attacked by enemy beasts, the clever cubs will definitely hide in the nest and dare not come out.
Judging from the current signs, several holes in the fox den have traces of being dug.
It seems that the beast that attacked the fox, after biting the big fox to death, went into the den and dragged out all the little foxes.
Yu Yiyun calmly reconstructed the scene and ruled out the suspicion of wolves and bears.
They were too big to fit into the fox's den.
Yu Yiyun moved his nose and carefully distinguished the smell.
Strangely, there was no smell other than fox.
He gently pulled at the half-eaten fox and through the bite marks on the wound, he recognized that it was also a small canine.
The only small canid species that can survive in the Arctic is the fox.
Could it be that there was a conflict between two Arctic Fox families, and the victorious family wiped out the entire family of the loser?
That's not likely.
Arctic foxes are gentle dogs that are easy to keep in captivity or as pets and are relatively non-aggressive.
With plenty of food and each having its own territory, there is no competition among the Arctic fox family, so why do they suddenly attack each other?
Before Yu Yijun could figure it out, a faint, timid cry came from not far away.
"Hmm..."
Her voice was trembling, and she was obviously frightened.
Yu Yiyun looked in the direction of the sound and found a hidden fox hole with the entrance covered with hay and mud.
The only surviving little fox in the family hid in the hay and mud, breathing weakly and lying motionless.
Both parents were bitten to death by enemy beasts. The fox cubs did not dare to return to the den, and their bodies suffered from hypothermia due to being exposed to the outside for a long time.
The living environment in the Arctic is harsh, and a fox that is just one month old will definitely not be able to survive.
The fox cub had been hiding for a long time. When she smelled the scent of her own kind, she was tired, hungry and frightened. She mustered up the courage to call for help, risking her entire fate on this one.
Yu Yiyun approached slowly. The little fox was obviously very scared. It half of its body was hidden in the hole, ready to escape at any time.
She knew that even if she managed to escape, there was no chance of survival.
So even though she was afraid, she mustered up her courage, stood there with her fur puffed up, and let the strange fox smell her scent.
Thankfully, fate favored the brave little fox twice.
For the first time, she escaped from the ferocious enemy beast.
The second time, she met the most soft-hearted god in all of the Arctic.
Yu Yiyun licked the little fox, and seeing that she was so scared that her legs went limp and she was trembling all over, he lay down on the spot and motioned the little fox to get on his back.
The little fox didn't understand what Yu Yiyun meant, so he followed Yu Yiyun's example and lay down, exposing his deflated belly.
Seeing that the child was so hungry, Yu Yiyun nudged her with her nose, turned her over, and crawled under the fox cub's belly like a cricket pupa.
The surviving fox cub was so frightened that it thought the fox was going to bite its belly, and it let out a scream that sounded like crying.
When she came to her senses, she had already been carried on Yu Yiyun's back and was leaving this nightmarish place at an extremely fast speed.
Not long after they ran out, several foxes with brown-red fur, which were several times larger than Arctic foxes, came running over from the place filled with the smell of death.
They arrived at the territory they had just conquered and were about to move in.
The leading fox lowered its head and sniffed, then made a high-pitched call to its family members, and its sharp eyes looked in a certain direction...
At the same time, Yu Yiyun had already waded through several shallow waters carrying the surviving fox.
Except for the time when the little fox was frightened and cried out a few times at the beginning of the journey, it remained silent during the rest of the journey even though it was bumpy, for fear that the noise would attract enemy animals.
"Hmm." Fu Fu, we're almost there.
"Fu Fu" is the name Yu Yiyun unilaterally gave to the little fox.
This kid had a miserable life. When he was just one month old, his entire family was slaughtered and he had to watch his parents and brothers and sisters being bitten to death by beasts.
As the saying goes, misfortune will eventually bring good fortune. Yu Yiyun hoped that after experiencing such misfortune, the rest of her life would be filled with blessings, peace and happiness.
Fu Fu lay obediently on the back of the strange brother. He felt a little uncomfortable and let out a low groan.
Yu Yiyun took Fu Fu and crossed the line without saying a word and broke into Xiao Liu's house.
In the fox family, including the mother fox, only Xiao Liu has the most milk, which can be used to feed an orphan.
“Hiss!”
Xiao 6 was startled and pulled his legs back to make a sound to drive away.
Little No. 6 has become accustomed to the eldest brother barging into his house without saying hello.
After all, the boss of the family has never had any sense of boundaries.
But can anyone explain where he got a fox?
"Hiss!" Brother, you have already given me two foxes!
"Hiss?" If you like picking up cubs so much, why don't you feed them yourself?
“…”
Yu Yiyun lowered her head aggrievedly and looked at her bulging belly.
Unfortunately, her belly is full of fat, so she can’t give birth to babies, and of course she can’t provide milk.
The piglet, who had too many congenital defects, shamelessly and humbly told Xiao Liu about Fu Fu's miserable life story and begged Fu Fu to give him milk for one more pig.
"Oh oh." Anyway, feeding 7 cats is still milk, and feeding 8 cats is still milk.
"I'll catch some fish for you to eat~
"Oh, oh, oh!" If you don't accept her, Fu Fu will starve!
Fu Fu, who had escaped death, poked out his little head and called out timidly.
When Xiao Liu saw that she was thin and weak, just like herself in the past, her excess maternal instinct was aroused.
She approached Fu Fu, lowered her head to smell her, then held her in her arms, and ordered the boss to catch lemmings, snow geese, and a rabbit for her.
Yu Yiyun has something to ask of his sister. Let alone catching rabbits, even if he is asked to catch seals, pigs...
He would also bring Tutu with him to make deals with Fat Tiger in the sea.
[The dog is crying.jpg]
Yu Yiyun rushed out of Xiaoliu's nest and kept catching lemmings, snow geese, and rabbits, and finally made Xiaoliu agree to adopt Fufu.
Before Yu Yijun could breathe a sigh of relief, the smell of blood wafted in the wind from afar.
Yu Yiyun perked up, looked up, and saw his youngest sister limping back.
"Hmm?" Sister, what's wrong with you?
"Woo-ah!" Brother!
When the youngest sister saw Yu Yiyun, she instantly felt aggrieved and lay there barking like a dog.
Yu Yiyun ran over quickly and found a tooth mark on the youngest sister's hind leg.
Judging from the shape and depth of the teeth marks, the beast must have broken free just after biting the youngest sister.
The Arctic fox has thick fur and no bones were injured.
Even so, the youngest sister, whose skin was bitten through, was still in great pain, and blood continued to seep out of the wound.
Yu Yiyun cleaned the wound for the youngest sister, chewed some grass to stop the bleeding, and then began to ask which animal had attacked his sister?
You know, Yaomei is Yu Yiyun's most partial fox.
Yu Yiyun taught the youngest sister many skills that were not passed on to other foxes, for fear that she would encounter danger.
After more than half a year of training, the youngest sister's hunting skills have become perfect. Because she often practices fighting skills with her brother, whether she encounters a wolf or a bear, the youngest sister can escape with the skills taught by her brother.
She is so powerful, why did her important hind legs get injured?
“Mmmmm…”
The youngest sister feels aggrieved whenever this matter is mentioned.
Just now, the youngest sister went out hunting as usual, looking for food for her mother, four sisters and four sisters-in-law.
She successfully caught a fat rabbit and was about to take it home when a group of foxes jumped out from nowhere.
Life in the Arctic Circle is not easy, and being robbed by foxes happens from time to time.
But now is the season for raising foxes, and foxes in this area are everywhere.
They had robbed the youngest sister several times, had experienced her power, had seen the size of the family behind her, and knew that she had a cruel and extremely protective sister-in-law.
As time went by, the foxes nearby would avoid the youngest sister when they saw her hunting.
At first, when the youngest sister saw the strange foxes, she planned to retreat with the prey and leave the hunting ground to them.
But the foxes, which were larger than the Arctic foxes, had reddish fur and were more powerful, had no intention of hunting at all.
They chased the youngest sister at the fastest speed, forcing her to give up the prey in her mouth that affected her speed.
The foreign fox got its prey but still refused to give in, baring its sharp fangs and attacking the youngest sister.
The youngest sister consumed a lot of energy during the hunting and was chased for a long distance. Her fighting power was greatly weakened and she was actually caught up by a strange fox and bitten on the hind legs.
Fortunately, the youngest sister is not the same youngest sister as last year and has rich hunting experience.
She changed direction in a flash to prevent her hind legs from being bitten off. At the same time, she made two feints to disorient the pursuing fox, and then took advantage of the chaos to escape.
Until she ran back home, the youngest sister still didn't understand why the group of strange foxes were chasing her.
However, Yu Yiyun understood.
He carefully observed the bite marks on the youngest sister's hind legs and found that the distance between the canine teeth was larger than that of the Arctic fox, so it should have been left by foxes of other species.
In addition to the Arctic fox, there is only one other fox that can live in the Arctic Circle:
red fox.
The largest and most widely distributed fox in the world, it has extremely strong survival abilities.
About seven million years ago, the ancestors of Arctic foxes came to the ice sheet and chose to evolve short and thick limbs and a relatively small body.
The cold formed a barrier that separated them from the red foxes with thinner fur.
Today, as the world slows down, polar bears are not the only ones facing survival challenges.
The invisible barrier protecting the Arctic foxes disappeared, and the foreign enemy beasts were eyeing their rich territory.
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