Chapter 44: The Wolves of the Horse (Thirteen)
After the beginning of spring, large-scale seasonal animal migration occurs in the vast Yellowstone National Park.
This directly led to the local outbreak of "wolf scabies" to quickly spread.
Considering the significant rise in spring temperatures, experts have declared:
Even if newly infected wolves show symptoms of hair loss, most gray wolves will not die.
In addition, seasonal epidemics can screen out the old, weak, sick and disabled in the wolf pack, effectively controlling the gray wolf population.
Due to various reasons, the relevant agencies did not take any measures.
The wolves were left to suffer from infectious diseases and die in pain.
In some wolf packs infected with lupus, the number of members dropped by more than 30% in just two months.
In most of the infected wolf packs, newborn pups were almost wiped out. Even one-year-old pups died from the disease.
In the wolf lovers' exchange forum, everyone sorted out the list of surviving gray wolves with heavy hearts and was surprised to find that -
In the northern forest wetland areas where the infection is more serious, 80% of the members of the Lecce wolf pack are infected with mange.
Of the three litters of puppies born in the spring, only one survived to the summer.
The number of wolves killed by scabies in the neighboring Theresa wolf pack and the former Adam wolf pack is:
zero.
After repeated confirmation by the photographer and forest ranger, accurate data was obtained.
Of the newborn cubs from the two wolf packs, only one died due to natural causes, and the rest all grew up safely.
Even in years without disease infection, this survival rate is nothing short of miraculous!
At first, animal experts put forward a hypothesis: perhaps the wolves had been infected with wolf mange in the past and had antibodies in their bodies, so they were immune.
Later, after looking through the information, I found that both Theresa's wolf pack and the Pre-Adam wolf pack lived in relatively fixed and closed areas, and had little contact with other wolf packs.
This was the first time that the two wolf packs had encountered such a catastrophic "man-made disaster" since their establishment.
Supporters of the two wolf packs were optimistic and believed that their own wolf packs must have been lucky and strong and did not lose to the mere scabies.
Obviously, the reasons they gave didn't make sense.
Apart from anything else, the former Adam wolf pack has a nine-year-old named Christine who was seriously injured last year and has not yet recovered her mobility.
If she gets infected, she will most likely not be able to rely on her physical fitness to get through it.
Not to mention, both wolf packs have vulnerable newborn pups.
Curious people read through a lot of information and gradually pieced together the answer from the images sent back by countless photographers, tourists' photos, and eyewitness descriptions.
During the most severe period of the wolf mange outbreak, members of the two wolf packs, perhaps because of unbearable itching, trekked more than 60 kilometers to the natural hot springs near the geyser to frequently wash their bodies.
The hot spring water is rich in sulfur and has a bactericidal effect.
Long-term soaking in natural hot springs containing sulfide can form alkali sulfide on the skin surface, which has an improving effect on damaged skin.
This group of gray wolves is smarter than you can imagine. After soaking in the natural hot springs, they will stay near the geysers filled with hot water.
High-temperature steam not only kills scabies mites, but also maximizes the effectiveness of hot spring water.
Animal researchers conducted simulation experiments and found that this method can indeed treat wolf mange.
Unfortunately, most gray wolves do not have the habit of taking hot spring baths and hate getting their fur wet in cold weather.
So far, only those two wolf packs have been lucky enough to find effective measures.
Netizens traced the source and finally found out that it was a die-hard supporter of Adam's wolf pack who posted a ten-thousand-word "Yellowstone Travel Notes" and photos, claiming that he had seen black wolf cubs soaking in hot springs at the beginning of winter.
'At first, I thought the poor little wolf had accidentally fallen into the hot spring and tried to help.'
"I soon discovered that Jin Tong really enjoyed soaking in the hot springs and would stay in the water even on snowy days."
"I think that because of the influence of the golden pupils, the wolves went to the hot springs and luckily avoided this pandemic."
As soon as this statement was made, the netizens who had originally expressed disdain for the remarks such as "Wolf King's Heroic Spirit" and "Revenge Script" rushed to the post "The End of Wolf King Adam" and scrolled to the 52nd floor to give him a big thumbs up.
The prophet, the knife!
.
Yu Yiyun and the sick wolves stayed near the hot spring for a full ten days.
Only after confirming that all wolves had recovered from their symptoms and had no signs of recurrence did they return to the main group.
The disease has been plaguing the wolf pack for more than a month, and now it is April. The weather is warmer and there is no sign of a further outbreak of scabies.
The newborn wolf cubs from Theresa and the eldest princess's family can finally meet their family members safely!
The wolf pack was relatively severely affected by scabies, which resulted in Theresa not only not getting adequate nutrition during her 'confinement' period, but also having to worry about the sick wolves at home.
As a result, she was unable to concentrate on taking care of her babies, and one of the three cubs unfortunately died.
If the wolf pack had encountered such a bad fate in previous years, the three newborn babies would definitely not have survived because they were so fragile and delicate.
Theresa was extremely grateful that she now had reliable allies.
Queen: There are benefits to raising a puppy!
Love to raise, raise more~
The main fighting force of the Zhixie wolf pack was unable to participate in hunting due to childbirth, isolation and other reasons.
The wolf pack, which had always relied on its allies for free meals, had finally stood up and taken on the main hunting work.
Although four wolves in the wolf pack were affected at this point, White Hair and Mitten, the main hunting forces, were still there.
Especially white hair.
He also had no concept of 'scabies' and could not understand why the black-haired wolf cub would take his members to an area far away from the territory.
White Hair has a straight-male mindset and only one thought in his mind: his partner and baby need food, so he must hunt at all costs!
To this end, he led the wolf pack, and every day he was either hunting or on the way to hunt.
The deer, sheep, and cattle nearby all complained:
Brother Wolf, when you’re full, don’t come out to scare the animals!
Thanks to White Hair's hard hunting, not only did the eldest princess have enough milk to feed the five cubs, Theresa also got adequate nutrition, and the remaining two cubs grew safely and healthily to the eighth week.
Even the sick wolf benefited from it.
After taking a hot spring bath, we have meat to eat every day. It's just like a vacation.
When the cubs grow to the eighth week, they can leave the cave and meet their family members.
The eldest princess and Theresa had a tacit understanding and chose to bring the baby out on the same day.
Theresa's third litter was smaller in number, but the competition was relatively less. The two little ones got more milk and grew up to be very cute with round heads.
The cub looks like Theresa, but with its intelligent eyes, you can tell at a glance that it takes after the Husky husband.
Brainless excitedly ran around his younger brothers and sisters, trying to prove the purity of his Husky's bloodline!
The eldest princess, who was promoted to a mother, put all her energy into taking care of the cubs.
Fortunately, her reward was considerable, and the five cubs successfully grew to the stage where they could eat meat.
Especially the white-haired female wolf, whose body size is obviously larger than her brothers and sisters in the same litter, so it can be predicted that she is the "boss" among the cubs.
Mackenzie wolf pups are extremely energetic and, apart from eating and sleeping, spend all their time playing games and exploring the world.
Soon, the seven cubs became new members of the Paw Patrol and played happily with the sub-adult wolf cubs who had just turned one year old.
At first, Little White, who had already gained leadership status among the cubs, and Little Gray, who was next door, tried to challenge Black Ball for the captaincy.
In their eyes, the captain seemed to have no advantages except for being a little fat.
The black-haired ball likes to fool around and play games.
Of all the big wolves, he is the only one who won't give food to his cubs.
Other sub-adult wolves will share some as long as the cubs make a gesture of affection.
Only Captain Paw Patrol has a heart of stone!
The cubs rolled around in a circle in front of him, pouted and whimpering, but the black fur ball wouldn't give him a single bite of meat!
"Woof!" Too much!
"Hungry!" Hungry!
Faced with the crying puppy begging for food, Yu Yiyun felt helpless and aggrieved.
Under the cubs' expectant gazes, Yu Yiyun silently gave up struggling after failing to regurgitate for the umpteenth time:
Okay, I admit it.
I am a useless wolf with congenital defects.
[The dog is crying.jpg]
Although he was unable to provide food to the cubs, Yu Yiyun was able to sit firmly on the captain's throne, which meant he must have some unique skills.
Soon, Xiaobai and Xiaohui were impressed by Yu Yiyun's skillful rabbit catching skills and became Captain Paw Patrol's loyal supporters.
"Woof-o-oh-oh!"
When White Collar saw her brother taking out the chipmunk to tease the puppy again, she was tired of playing... No, she had gotten rid of vulgar hobbies, so she howled twice and called her brother to go hunting with Marshmallow.
Most wolf packs will not ignore sub-adult wolves just because they have new cubs.
The birth of a new cub means that the previous litter of wolves has finally reached the age to learn how to hunt!
Not only the wolf cubs' parents, but all the elders in the tribe will teach the little wolves seriously and train them to become top hunters.
February to April every year is the breeding season in Yellowstone, with hundreds of thousands of animal cubs of different species being born in the park.
A delicate companionship relationship is formed between herbivores and carnivores.
Carnivore cubs begin to practice hunting, while herbivore cubs develop skills in running, jumping, and avoiding enemy animals.
Both parties will grow together in the process of pursuit, and only the strong can survive.
If either side fails to keep up, it will be ruthlessly eliminated by nature.
Because of this companionship, predators and prey have always evolved together over the past hundreds of millions of years.
Now, it is the turn of Yu Yiyun and the wolf cubs of the same age to undergo this natural selection that determines their survival.
The older wolves all know the importance of teaching their cubs hunting skills.
It is the season with abundant food. After the large group of wolves dispersed the elk, they did not target their preferred fleshy elk, but surrounded an elk calf that was only a few months old and separated it from the herd.
Then……
The big wolves started paddling in unison and pushed the Paw Patrol to the front of the little deer.
“Woo!”
Theresa took a half step back and urged the Paw Patrol to show their real skills.
Elk is the main prey of Mackenzie wolves, and the cubs' first hunting lesson must start with this staple food.
Because of the different breeding seasons, this Canadian elk is more than half a year old and is not strictly speaking a 'cub'.
In winter, it follows the large group and migrates to warmer areas. It eats seven or eight kilograms of grass every day and its weight has reached more than 200 kilograms. Its hooves are quite aggressive.
Surrounded by wolves, the elk shouted for help to its companions while ferociously attacking the wolf cubs that were not even as tall as its legs.
Led by the black ball, the Paw Patrol can only hunt otters and beavers. Their best record was a draw with coyotes. How could they ever deal with such a huge creature?
However, the experiences of playing hide-and-seek and eagle-catching-chickens over the past six months actually came in handy.
The dogs were helpless against the elk, but they knew how to dodge the powerful beast, making the elk's attacks miss every time.
Seeing the sika deer's strength being exhausted, it became increasingly irritable and ran slower and slower. Marshmallow took the lead and jumped up, biting the sika deer's body.
The bite force of a young wolf is weaker than that of an adult wolf, so this bite did not cause much damage. Instead, it rekindled the tired deer's desire to survive and made it speed up again.
Soon, the little red deer found that there was only a black wolf in front of him, and no other enemy animals.
The elk ran over without thinking, raised its front legs high, and tried to jump over the black wolf.
At the same time, the black wolf seemed to be prepared and jumped almost at the same time. His powerful hind legs allowed him to reach an incredible height.
It accurately bit the elk's long neck in mid-air, used its weight advantage to pin it to the ground, and held on until the prey gave up struggling.
Yu Yiyun: You deer, why do you always want to jump over my head?
The dead black history began to attack me again...
The elk finally closed its eyes. Yu Yijun and the Paw Patrol completed their first real hunt and lay beside the prey, panting with exhaustion.
At this moment, they finally understood the difficulty that the big wolves faced in cooking.
“Woof woof woof…”
“Oh…”
Marshmallow and White Collar, having consumed too much energy, collapsed into a ball, stuck out their tongues and laughed to cool down, becoming two useless dogs.
The big wolves that had been standing by came over one after another. When they saw the prey surrounded by the Paw Patrol, their eyes flashed with obvious disbelief.
"Oooooooh?"
“Hoo-wah!”
Several Huskies hid in the middle of the team, whispering to each other, discussing whether the little elk was scared to death or had bad luck and fell to death.
You know, no matter what kind of animal its cubs are, the success rate of their first hunting attempt is infinitely close to 0%.
The wolves have lived in Yellowstone for so long, but even the most knowledgeable Christine has never seen a wolf get anything on its first hunt.
“Ahhhhh!”
The black fur ball understood their muttering and raised its head and barked loudly!
It's just a little red deer, who are you looking down on? !
Yu Yijun was barking halfway when she realized that the big wolves who had been whispering to each other just now were not paying any attention to her at all.
They all raised their heads and looked far to the right rear.
"Eh?"
Yu Yijun tilted his furry head and looked over curiously.
In the distance, two sub-adult wolves, almost the same age as themselves, stood side by side, skillfully encircling a young elk.
The little elk was born with long legs, which were long and agile, and could run at an astonishing speed.
The front and back hooves of the deer stepped on the ground alternately, raising high clouds of dust.
If the Paw Patrol were to chase it, I'm afraid the little red deer would really escape.
However, the two sub-adult wolves that attacked it from both sides showed no intention of giving up, and their galloping claws almost left an afterimage.
The little red deer could not find any way to escape from the siege of the two of them, and could only rely on its endurance to run madly in an attempt to consume the stamina of the little wolf.
At this moment, Yu Yijun and the allied wolves around him clearly saw that a wolf shadow flew up from behind the little elk, bit the elk's buttocks and thighs from behind, and tore them apart fiercely.
The sika deer screamed and its speed slowed down instantly.
The two wolves flanking it from both sides pounced on it at the same time and bit its throat and neck respectively.
This group of little wolves were obviously hunting old claws, and they cooperated very well.
In just twenty minutes, the little elk fell to the ground completely, flapping its legs weakly a few times, and could no longer stand up.
For the prey, failure to stand up means the end.
The three little wolves completed the hunt brilliantly and completely killed their prey. Then they raised their heads proudly and looked towards the alliance wolf pack.
The posture was as if the top student in the rocket class was looking down on the students in the ordinary class who barely passed.
The parents who had just been amazed by the outstanding performance of their own wolf cubs, when they saw "other people's children", suddenly felt that their own dogs were nothing special.
Yu Yiyun hadn't even caught her breath yet when she saw this scene, she suddenly had a feeling that "history always repeats itself in an amazing way."
——Is my first hunt destined to fail to amaze everyone? !
[Dog is wronged.jpg]
Yu Yijun was a little depressed. He rolled over and got up, not even caring about eating the prey. The dog sneaked up to the "Rocket Class" wolf cub.
The Rocket Class wolf successfully hunted down the elk and is now calling the wolf pack to share the fruits of victory.
Their parents seem to be very confident about their children.
When a wolf cub hunts alone, its parents do not follow closely beside it like in an allied pack.
At this moment, hearing the little wolf's call, the parents slowly came over.
Black Ball was really curious. He carefully distinguished the calls of the Rocket Class parents and compared them with the sounds stored in his memory bank.
Brain prompt: Target matching failed.
He originally thought that since the little wolf from Rocket Class was so powerful, he was most likely the child of one of the four tyrants of the wolf pack.
The wolf cub had heard the howls of the four tyrants, who also lived in the forest wetlands, more or less a few times, but they were totally incomparable.
He likes to fool around, and he knows all the wolf packs within a hundred kilometers nearby, but none of them can match the parents of the Rocket Class.
Yu Yiyun was just feeling puzzled when Baimao, the 'prince consort' of the wolf pack, ran over and charged straight towards the oncoming wolf pack.
Yu Yiyun: ???
Brother-in-law, what are you doing?
Black Hair Ball had come into contact with too few wolf packs, so he didn't know that some wolf packs in Yellowstone Park would follow their prey during seasonal migrations.
Among them is the Quinn Wolf Pack, a super wolf pack with nearly forty big wolves.
The Quinn wolf pack is undoubtedly the largest wolf pack in Yellowstone Park in terms of both size and combat effectiveness.
The leader of the wolf pack, Quinn, is a 7-year-old gray male wolf who is still in his prime.
Quinn is able to rule such a large wolf pack not only because he is strong enough, but also because he possesses the wisdom of a leader.
He had lived on this land for seven years and was well aware of the seasonal patterns of Yellowstone and the movement trends of prey.
In autumn and winter, he and his family waited in the south for the migrating army.
In spring and summer, they follow migrating prey to the northern region.
Such seasonal migration not only ensures that the wolves have enough prey in every season, but also allows Quinn's wolf pack to successfully avoid the peak period of scabies outbreaks in the two areas.
In the communication forum for gray wolf enthusiasts, Quinn has been ranked 'No. 1 Yellowstone Wolf King' for four consecutive years.
Yu Yijun knew very little about North American gray wolves, but he recognized the wolf king opposite him at a glance.
He was quite old, his fur was gradually fading, his four canine teeth were severely worn, and the surface was slightly yellowed.
However, these flaws do not detract from his majesty.
It is estimated that the Gray Wolf still weighs about 160 pounds. It is not difficult to imagine how glorious he must have been in his peak period.
The Rocket Class's huge pack of wolves followed the wolf king with their tails between their legs, not daring to go even a step beyond the wolf king's grasp. This was enough to prove the dominance of this older male wolf over the pack.
He possesses a pair of desolate animal eyes, which were developed through countless fights and wanderings.
Quinn looked over here, but his eyes did not fall on the black fur ball.
Instead, he looked at the white-haired man running towards him from behind, the son whom he once valued the most.
Even if the gray wolf leaves its family and sees its former wolf pack and leader again, it will still instinctively obey.
Baimao lowered his ears early, ran towards Quinn, and took the initiative to greet his father whom he had not seen for half a year.
Quinn stared at the white-haired man for a short while, then looked at the wolves behind him who were on alert, and knew that his son had found a new home.
As a migratory wolf pack, the Quinn wolf pack does not need to seize territory. With the scale of a super wolf pack, wherever they go, that is their territory.
Therefore, there was no need for Quinn to come into conflict with the native wolves.
He howled to call the cubs back and slowly left the hunting range of the Alliance wolves.
Before leaving, he gently bit Baimao's ear, as if saying: Child, congratulations on starting a family.
Baimao chased for a few steps, watched his parents and brothers and sisters leave from afar, then turned back and returned to his own wolf pack.
Yu Yijun chased after Baimao, staring straight at his tail, and found that this aloof male wolf was trying hard to restrain the urge to wag his tail like a husky.
No wonder Baimao is so happy.
After the gray wolf leaves the family, although it will not turn against its original family, the opportunities for them to meet each other are very rare, and it is possible that they will not meet again in their short life.
Now, the Quinn wolf pack has migrated to the vicinity, which means that Baimao can often meet his original family in the next period of time.
“Ahhhhh~”
Yu Yijun ran up to Baimao, raised her doggy face, and asked if Bailang could take her with him when he came to visit.
As the little dog who loves to fool around the most in Yellowstone... no, loves to socialize the most, with so many friends coming nearby, Yu Yijun of course has to go and meet them.
Maybe I can recruit a few new members to expand my wolf pack~
The black fur ball made some jingling sounds as it secretly made its own plans.
"...Woo." Baimao was silent for a few seconds and responded reluctantly.
After several months of getting along, the white-haired ball finally understood the black-haired ball's dog talk.
In Baimao's opinion, the black wolf is definitely the strangest dog in the world. His head is full of strange ideas, and it takes a lot of detours to understand what he means.
Moreover, he can soak in hot springs, climb trees, and eat pine nuts, and he has mastered many skills that a gray wolf should not have.
After careful consideration, even though Baimao had some concerns about taking Blackmao along, he still agreed.
He has already taken away my baby, so he can't take away my father too, right? !
"Ah~" Yu Yiyun excitedly circled around Baimao a few times, her eyes sparkling with emotion:
My brother-in-law is so nice!
It’s worth it that I introduced my sister to you!
A stupid dog selectively forgot the dark history that "White Hair was waiting for him to introduce a partner with great anticipation, but he ended up catching a loser and making White Hair so angry that he barked loudly."
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