Chapter 43: The Wolves of the Horse (XII)
As young social animals, they also have a natural advantage.
When a female wolf gives birth to cubs, she does not expel the previous litter of cubs like a tigress would do.
While the family members are taking care of the newborn cubs, they are still loving the sub-adult wolf cubs.
Therefore, Yu Yiyun can stay with the Princess and the Queen and witness the entire process of the puppy's birth~!
Previously, Queen Theresa had successfully bred two litters of cubs and knew how to take care of herself and her newborns.
Female wolves usually enter the estrus period in late winter, which lasts about a month.
The best time for bonding is 9-14 days after the start of the breeding season.
Only at this time would Theresa take the initiative to get close to the prince who was born into the wrong family.
no way.
You chose the dog yourself, what else can you do?
Mackenzie wolves are monogamous and usually do not change mates unless their partner dies.
Teresa risked giving birth to another litter of little huskies by allowing her partner to kiss and lick her.
The advantage of the younger wolf can only be reflected at times like this.
During the breeding season, the husky husband seems to never run out of energy. He becomes a typical licking dog and accompanies the queen. He does shameless things whenever he gets the chance, and does not shy away from the underage wolf cubs at home.
Compared to the 'old couple' next door, the newlyweds, the eldest princess and White Wolf, seemed much more reserved.
Baimao attached great importance to the first breeding season. He found a quiet dead woods, drove away all the troublesome animals around, and invited his partner to enjoy the world of two wolves.
The princess had already recognized the white wolf's ability, and took the initiative to run over and rub his nose, sending the message that she was ready.
Not long after, the eldest princess, who became a mother for the first time, began to look for a suitable vagina for childbirth.
Gray wolves usually do not live in caves. Even in the hottest summer and the coldest winter, they still use the sky as a cover and the ground as a mat (except for a certain black hair ball).
Only when giving birth to a baby, the mother wolf will look for a cradle that can protect the fragile cub from wind and rain in advance.
Caves suitable for wolf cubs are mostly caves, tree holes, or nests of other animals.
There are no mountains or rivers near the forest wetland, so of course there are no caves.
Because the soil is moist and soft, the vegetation is short and cannot nourish the towering trees with twisted roots, making it difficult to find large tree holes that can accommodate female wolves to give birth.
The princess searched for two or three days but couldn't find a suitable vagina for giving birth.
Yu Yiyun mobilized a team of dogs to search everywhere, but also found nothing.
Even Boss Crow, who never failed, failed to find the target this time.
The Crow hovered in the sky and could see the ground horizontally.
The upright nest is in its blind spot.
“Ahhhhh!”
Yu Yijun raised his dog-like face and instructed Boss Crow to try harder.
The most hardworking crow in the world was so angry that he swooped down and pecked the hair off Marshmallow's butt.
Marshmallow stuck his butt out resignedly, not even making a sound, as he had gotten used to it.
In the end, it was Gloves, who had grown up in the territory of the Zhiheng wolf pack and was familiar with the internal environment, that remembered the cave used by the original wolf pack.
In order to protect the newborn wolf cubs, the cave must be hidden in a secluded place.
The gloves led everyone around in twists and turns, through frozen puddles, and through thick snow, and finally in an inconspicuous corner, they found a hidden stone cave half buried underground.
There are traces of digging around the cave, which does not seem to be naturally formed.
It should have been built by the previous wolf pack specifically for their cubs.
The nest for giving birth to cubs can be used repeatedly as long as there is no collapse or other danger.
The princess went in and tried it out, and was quite satisfied with the den. The entire wolf pack immediately went out to find hay and feathers to decorate the cave.
In the last month of the cold winter, the eldest princess, whose belly was gradually bulging, stopped hunting and wandered around the cave every day, quietly waiting for the opportunity.
All members of the family know: the wolf pack is about to welcome fresh blood.
Not only do the wolf pack raise the cubs together, they also take care of the female wolf during the delivery period and provide her with adequate nutrition.
From the late stages of pregnancy to two months before the birth of her cubs, the mother wolf is completely dependent on the nutrition provided by her family.
Only when the food provided by the wolf pack is sufficient will the mother wolf have more milk to feed her babies.
After the princess moved into the lair, the wolves became more motivated to hunt, especially the white wolf and the black ball.
During the period of waiting for the birth of their partner, even if they had just had a full meal yesterday, none of the members were hungry. Bai Mao still aggressively looked for prey and sent the meat to the vicinity of the cave, fearing that the eldest princess and the baby in her belly would suffer the slightest grievance.
Thanks to him, in the late winter when food should have been the most scarce, the black-haired ball ate two meals a day, and the whole wolf became visibly fatter.
It happened that during this period, a novice photographer who had just arrived heard that there was a pregnant female wolf in the area, so he took a picture of the roundest black fur ball with the belly.
When the photo was posted on a forum, a high-rise building was built, and the comments were all "hahahahahaha" in various languages.
How can a male wolf carrying cubs not be considered a miracle in the history of evolution?
In just a few days, without the dog's knowledge, the photo of the 'pregnant male wolf cub' unexpectedly went viral.
It also spread to the Eastern country on the other side of the world, and was all over the screen at the same time as "Kokoxili Egg Yolk Pie Wolf".
Netizens who are good at making memes have commented that the damage is not great but extremely insulting.
【xswl, who told me that black makes you look thinner? 】
[If you don’t understand, just ask, do foreigners like to dye pigs black? ]
[God dyed the pig black, hahaha! It subverted my cool impression of North American gray wolves. Baby, you are a black Samoyed~]
[Samoyed: Puppy-chan's fur is just a little longer! He's not that fat! ]
[Hello, piggy, would you like to meet a piggy? You two piggies will definitely become good friends~]
[Sisters upstairs, is Zhumi the tabby orange cat from Qinling? Although they are different breeds, they are both fat in the same way hahahaha]
The black fur ball, whose species had been tampered with again, excitedly circled around the snow, leaving behind several rows of plum blossom paw prints, looking forward to the birth of a cute little puppy.
In mid-March, Yellowstone Park is about to usher in spring, and a new member of the Point Wolf Pack is also born at this time.
In the first month after birth, wolf cubs are classified as special protected waste. They are completely unable to leave the cave and their mothers, and all food must be provided by family members.
The wolf pack next door has successfully raised three litters of cubs and is already familiar with the meal delivery process. It is mainly Queya and Wang Fu who take turns to provide food to Theresa.
This is the first time the wolf pack welcomes a new life since its establishment.
Every family member was very excited and scrambled to serve food to the eldest princess.
The three cubs, who had just turned 11 months old and had been begging for food from the big wolf's mouth not long ago, raised their paws and volunteered to sign up.
"Woof-o-oh-oh!"
“Oh my!”
Marshmallow and White Collar howled twice, but were immediately pushed away by the black fur ball.
“Ahhhhh!”
Me! Let me go!
Yu Yijun jumped up and down and howled very loudly!
You know, every time the meal is delivered, the female wolf will eat and defecate a few meters away from the den.
Taking this opportunity, the meal delivery wolf can go into the den and rub the puppy~
"Ah, ah, ah!" Yu Yijun continued to bark, trying hard to win a chance to rub the little puppy!
Unfortunately, no matter how enthusiastic Yu Yijun was, the task of delivering meals was still not assigned to him.
Because the companions discovered that the black hair ball...
It is a wolf that does not chew the cud.
Most gray wolves are naturally programmed to store food in their stomachs for transport.
When necessary, spit it out and give it to the cubs or injured companions.
Yu Yiyun opened her mouth wide and tried several times, but nothing came out.
My stomach seems to be saying: Whatever I eat belongs to me!
Want to grab food? No way!
Yu Yiyun tried hard to dry heave, but not only did she fail to vomit, she also made herself hungry.
Christine came over and rubbed the black fur ball soothingly, trying to comfort her son who had a 'congenital defect'.
The other wolves gathered around, chattering and muttering: How can there be a wolf that can't chew the cud? How stupid!
Yu Yiyun shed useless tears, spread out her paws and lay in the snow, suddenly losing her dream.
Since he can't ruminate, he can't act as a food delivery wolf and can't rub the newborn puppies.
“Oh…”
The black fur ball rolled on the ground, humming softly, and it was hard to tell whether it was a grievance or a coquettish act.
Seeing how pitiful he looked, Baimao, who finally won the qualification of "food delivery wolf", howled twice and took him up.
Unlike tiger cubs, wolf cubs are curious and do not reject or fear family members.
Black Hair Ball is a sensible uncle. There shouldn't be any problem if he meets the baby in advance...
etc!
There is a big problem!!!
Baimao soon regretted his decision.
He brought the black ball to the cave, whistled to call the eldest princess out, and the black ball immediately went in to suck the little puppy.
It was not until the eldest princess finished her meal, solved her physiological problems, and was ready to go back to the cave that the black-haired ball reluctantly came out with a happy and satisfied expression on her face.
As a result, in the end, Baimao, as the father, didn't even have the chance to get into the hole to see the puppy.
On the way back, the wolf cub's tail swung like a propeller, looking like he had no regrets in his life.
The puppy is so cute~!
After being a wolf for half a year, Yu Yiyun finally nurtured a newborn wolf cub and was so happy that she was bubbling with joy.
This litter of wolf cubs was born yesterday at midnight. They drank their mother’s colostrum in the morning and are now filled with a pleasant milky scent.
When Yu Yiyun entered the cave, the first thing he saw was the four cubs lying on the soft hay.
The afterbirth and umbilical cord have been cleaned by the mother, the wet fur has been warmed and dried, and they are huddled together in a ball and sleeping soundly.
They hadn't opened their eyes yet and couldn't stand the glaring light, so it was rather dark inside the cave.
Yu Yiyun moved carefully and looked at the four little guys in the dim light.
Newborn wolf pups are no bigger than a human hand, and their ears don't stand up. They step on the milk unconsciously when they sleep, and wriggle around like a puppy, making "weep" sounds from their mouths.
Yu Yiyun lowered his head and touched the puppies crawling on the ground with the tip of his nose, then buried his head under their bellies to check each one.
Each of them has a round belly, and it seems that the princess has fed them well.
Yu Yiyun used her claws to count them. There were two wolf cubs with darker fur, close to the eldest princess's black fur, and two were gray-haired.
Except for the youngest one with gray hair, the rest are all little boys.
As for the White Wolf's genes...
It’s confirmed that the white hair is only responsible for the base color, and the dyeing work should be left to the mother!
No wonder the white hair gene is difficult to pass on in nature.
Yu Yiyun was just thinking this when she suddenly heard a faint whimpering sound.
He quickly followed the sound and searched carefully, and found a pure white cub hiding under the grass mat, in the low-lying part of the cave.
Yu Yiyun exclaimed: Ahhhh~ Such cute glutinous rice dumplings!!!
My sister dyed the fifth one and ran out of ink~
White Wolf, you are so lucky to have a wolf cub that inherits your fur color!
For some reason, Nuomituan did not lie with the other wolf cubs.
Yu Yiyun quickly pulled him out and put him back on the straw mat. He found that Glutinous Rice Ball's belly was flatter than that of the other wolf cubs and he couldn't help but feel worried.
You should know that wolf cubs stay completely in their caves for 1-2 months after birth, relying on their mother's milk for survival.
During this period, their unconscious fighting and quarreling will lay the foundation for the subsequent order of hierarchy.
It seems that Nuomi Tuan just drinks less milk now, but perhaps because of this milk, he will be inferior to his brothers and sisters in every way in the future and become the bottom wolf in the group.
In nature, white hair is an inferior gene. What if it turns into a low-level wolf?
Even if Yu Yiyun could try her best to take care of the puppies and prevent them from fighting too fiercely, it would not change the fact that Nuomituan would have a relatively miserable life as a wolf.
The eldest princess took great care of the cubs and quickly finished her meal and returned to the nest.
When Yu Yiyun saw her sister, she immediately stuffed the glutinous rice ball to her and barked to tell her that one of the cubs had not eaten.
The eldest princess glanced at the glutinous rice dumpling in her arms and seemed a little surprised.
She remembered that the white-haired cub was the first to be born and the first to finish drinking milk.
Xiaobai is a female wolf who looks like her father and has an exceptionally strong vitality.
Before he even learned to walk, he couldn't wait to crawl around and explore the caves.
The eldest princess could foresee that when the little guy grew up, he would become an ambitious female wolf leader.
With her spirit of exploration, she might choose to leave home and create her own empire.
As soon as the black fur ball pushed the white cub over, the little guy immediately looked for a place to drink milk and couldn't wait to suck it.
Adhering to the idea of 'treating everyone equally', the eldest princess pulled the other cubs over, wanting them to have a bite so as not to fall too far behind in the early stages of development.
Several cubs were pushed by their mother to the feeding position. They were sleeping soundly with the pacifier in their mouths, whimpering and complaining that they couldn't drink any more.
The princess had no choice but to let the cubs grow up wildly according to their own abilities.
The plan to treat everyone equally failed on the first day.
Later, Yu Yiyun followed Baimao to the cave several times.
Although the white-haired animal was not happy, he could not resist the black-haired ball blinking its golden eyes as bright as gems and calling out to him.
never mind.
Just let him go.
Not long after, Yu Yiyun discovered that Xiaobai's growth rate was far ahead, and guessed that she might have misunderstood.
And then he taught her, "You must be a good dog that is united and friendly, and you must not bully your brothers and sisters."
"..." Marshmallow glanced at the bald butt and was speechless.
Newborn wolf pups open their eyes in the second week and learn to eat meat in the fifth week.
When the wolf cubs are eight weeks old, they can be brought out to meet family members.
Before that, all family members must work hard on hunting and keep the puppies healthy.
——It should be so.
However, in the life of wild animals, there are always more wind, frost, rain and snow than clear breeze and bright sun.
The snow covering the ground gradually melted, the ground turned green, and new buds sprouted from the branches.
The mallards and black-billed swans flew back to the nearby puddle, attracting the attention of the bobcat.
The birds began to build nests, and the mother beaver led her little beavers to build a dam.
Large numbers of bison, elk, and bighorn sheep returned to the forest wetlands.
Everything seems to be thriving.
When prey becomes plentiful, the two wolf packs, each with its own independent hunting abilities, prefer to hunt alone.
Now, both the Zhislan Wolf Pack and the Zhidian Wolf Pack have reached the size of medium-sized wolf packs.
Joint hunting affects efficiency and there is not enough food.
In the third week of spring, the first thing that happened was that the wolf pack showed signs of abnormality.
The most energetic No-Brain suddenly became listless.
The unhappy cat, who usually lies quietly in the corner with a calm disposition, gradually becomes agitated and irritable, barking at a high frequency.
Soon, Polka Dot also showed similar symptoms.
Yu Yiyun didn't know much about North American gray wolves and didn't understand the reason at first.
It wasn't until he looked closely at Polka Dot and noticed that the dots on her back were starting to shed hair in clumps that he vaguely guessed the culprit.
It's ridiculous.
In the last century, in order to hunt gray wolves on a large scale, the locals chose to introduce this group of hunters at the top of the food chain, a creature that they were all helpless against - scabies mites.
The gray wolf, which can drive off grizzly bears and hunt bison, is helpless against the insects that live in its fur.
Parasitic scabies mites feed and lay eggs in the wolf's hair, causing an allergic reaction that causes the wolf to feel unbearable itching.
What follows is large-scale hair removal.
Exposed to Yellowstone's extremely harsh weather all day, wolves without fur protection will quickly become emaciated or even die.
Even more ridiculous is that the local government decided to reintroduce the wolves, but was unable to control the mites, resulting in small-scale outbreaks of scabies within the wolf pack.
Migrating elk in the winter encounter wolves from other places and bring deadly pathogens back to forest wetlands.
Fortunately, Mackenzie wolves are tougher than the original Great Plains wolves.
If a strong wolf in a large wolf pack is infected and can receive care from its own kind, it may be able to survive the scabies.
However, scabies is mainly transmitted through contact between the same species.
Like No-Brain and Unhappy, they both got sick because they often played together.
Wild animals have no sense of "isolation" and when they see sick companions, they subconsciously move closer to comfort them, causing scabies to spread very quickly.
As long as one wolf is infected, the entire wolf pack will hardly be spared.
Canines are susceptible to infection by pathogens. In addition to scabies, canine distemper and parvovirus are enough to destroy a wolf pack.
By the time Yu Yiyun became aware of it, the virus had already invaded the two wolf packs, and as many as seven or eight wolves were showing symptoms of hair loss.
The Alliance wolf pack gets enough food in the winter, and the big wolves have strong immunity.
Even a few cubs that have just turned one year old will not be easily succumbed to the virus.
The problem is that both wolf packs have newborn pups.
The situation became very ratchet.
Yu Yiyun immediately made a decision to gather all the wolves showing symptoms of hair loss and strictly forbid them from contacting other family members, especially the wolves responsible for delivering meals.
At first, the wolves didn't understand the black ball's intentions.
The wolf pack had the support of Christine and White Hair. Marshmallow and Xuan, who showed symptoms of hair loss, and two foreign wolves, cooperated with the quarantine.
The situation of the wolf pack was much more complicated. Not only was there a greater number of infected wolves, but due to the absence of the queen, no wolf was willing to follow the command of an outsider wolf.
Yu Yiyun was only 11 months old. Although his body size was almost the same as that of an adult wolf, his fighting ability was still far inferior, and he was unable to forcibly command a group of brave and warlike wolves.
Fortunately, on the third day of the stalemate, the queen, who had been staying in the tree hole, appeared, stood behind the black hair ball and let out a long cry.
Born as a wolf, she couldn't understand how much harm a mere scabies could cause to a wolf pack.
Theresa didn't even have the concept of 'mite'.
But she could feel that her family was becoming weaker and weaker, and that there were more and more wolves in poor condition.
If this continues, the entire wolf pack will fall into decline, unable to resist foreign wolves or protect newborn cubs.
The Queen didn't know what the black ball could do.
But at this time, she could only choose to trust her allies.
With the help of the queen, Yu Yiyun successfully isolates all the hairless wolves, but things will not get better.
Scabies mites are still present.
The lifespan of mites is as long as three months. In the wild where there are no conditions for pest control, wolves must at least survive until summer in good health.
The scorching sun in summer can punish mites.
The premise is that they can hold on until then.
Next month, the cubs should be out to meet their family members.
If they were infected, they would surely die.
After Yu Yiyun became an animal, she had never felt so powerless.
The products left over from humans' wrong decisions would be a disaster for wolves.
But he had no time to be depressed.
Fortunately, Yu Yiyun still has a strong partner.
Boss Crow surveyed everywhere and quickly determined the approximate range of activities of the prey carrying scabies mites through the infection situation of nearby wolf packs.
Deer are not the main parasites of scabies mites, so as long as they are not hunted during this period, there should be no new infections.
The problem is…
The infected wolf was in more and more pain.
Although they are strong and healthy, they will probably be able to survive.
But parasites will consume the life of the host animal, and even if they survive, they will lose a layer of skin. If they can't survive -
Yu Yiyun didn't want to see that "what if".
The kingdom that was rebuilt with great difficulty could not bear such consequences.
Late at night, Yu Yiyun heard the isolated wolves in the distant woods howling wildly and was so worried that she couldn't sleep all night.
The next morning, Yu Yiyun made a decision:
We can't just sit there and wait for death.
Regardless of whether the method works or not, at least try it!
The South China tigers that he devoted all his energy to studying and caring for did not suffer from scabies, but some individuals still suffered from infectious skin diseases.
Tigers prefer to live alone, so there is no need to worry about infection in the wild.
When zoos encounter similar situations, they often adopt the method of isolation and individual treatment.
Being in the wild, Yu Yiyun certainly did not expect the forest doctor to cure the wolves.
However, in addition to drug treatment, most skin diseases can be improved by maintaining hygiene and getting more sun exposure.
According to Yu Yiyun's common sense, humans mostly use the method of "exposure to the sun" to kill mites through high temperatures.
After careful consideration, Yu Yiyun took the restless sick wolf and trekked more than 60 kilometers to the hot spring where he had once bathed.
Spring and autumn are the peak tourist seasons in the park. When many tourists saw the group of wolves, they thought they were going out hunting and chased them with great interest all the way.
As a result, the nine wolves came all the way to the hot spring, and at the urging of a little black wolf "woof woof woof", they jumped into the constant temperature hot spring with a temperature of over 40 degrees like dumplings.
Not only that, even when they were dizzy from soaking in the water, Yu Yijun still didn't let them go and chased the wolves to a high-temperature sauna next to a geyser with rising hot steam.
The wolves were puzzled.
They knew that some thin-skinned herbivores would come here to keep warm in the winter.
Now that the cold winter is over, why would a dog wearing a wolfskin coat come to the sauna?
Helplessly, the black ball had the support of its leader, and the sickly wolves dared not disobey him, so they had to obediently repeat the process of 'boiled dumplings' and 'steamed dumplings'.
In just one week, the one who was in the most serious condition, No-Brain, recovered and started to act unhappy again.
I had been restless and unhappy for the past half month, lying lazily beside the hot spring, too lazy to pay attention to him.
Marshmallow noticed that the other wolves no longer shed their hair, and that soft fur was growing in their bald spots. He started to chase his own tail in circles, trying to see if any fur had grown back on his body.
"Oh, oh, oh..." After chasing for several rounds, he found that his butt was still bald. Marshmallow thought that the hot spring had no effect on him.
“Gah!”
The raven spread its jet-black wings and swooped down.
It skillfully pecked off a tuft of hair from Marshmallow's butt and gave it to the female raven to make a nest.
"quack!"
100% pure wolf hair. If it's not enough, I'll give you more~
“Ahhhhh!”
Yu Yiyun witnessed the whole process and rolled on the ground laughing.
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