Chapter 29 South China Tiger (Twenty-nine)
Nian Gao was the only surviving male tiger among the first litter of tiger cubs. Strictly speaking, he was the legitimate eldest son of the Tiger King.
Yu Yiyun: Damn! My position as crown prince is no longer secure!
The little white tiger was born on the second day of the Chinese New Year, and it was snowing that day.
The newborn tiger baby is soft and tender, and its fur is as white as snow, so it was given the name "Nian Gao".
Everyone kept calling it that and couldn't change it, so it later became the popular name for rice cake.
Thinking of this, Yu Yiyun felt much more balanced.
The name 'Yunxiao' sounds much more majestic than the glutinous rice cake!
Listen to the names of the Siberian tiger kings, One-Eyed, Baishan, Wandashan No. 1, how famous are they?
If the Qinling Tiger King was called Nian Gao, he would lose a lot in momentum.
Therefore, the cat who will inherit the title of Tiger King must be me~!
Little Yunyun, who had no idea of her own strength, proudly raised her head and raised her cat tail high~
Nian Gao: ...Where did this stupid cat come from?
Fortunately, the male tiger had just been released from the wild and had not yet developed a sense of territory, so he did not regard the underage tiger cub as an enemy.
Nian Gao stared at his younger brother for a while, making sure that he had no intention of fighting.
So he relaxed his guard, squatted on the ground and cleaned his claws slowly.
After just two licks, Nian Gao suddenly put on a mask of pain, grinning as if he was scalded, and hung his tiger claws in the air.
"Oh?" Yu Yijun heard the noise and moved over curiously.
It was discovered that Nian Gao's flesh pad had been bitten by Chang Sheng, and the blood that oozed out had dyed Maomao red.
For wild tigers, being bitten or scratched is commonplace.
As long as there are no injuries to vital parts, most tigers can heal themselves.
Some tigers are ferocious in temperament but average in strength, and their names happen to be "Changsheng". They spend 366 days recuperating from their injuries, but they are still full of energy and run wild everywhere.
However, injuries to the paw pads are rather special.
The paw pads of cats are more than just good for rubbing.
The meat pads are responsible for heat dissipation, running, anti-slip cushioning, territory marking and other tasks.
After being injured, the impact on hunting is secondary.
The meat pads are stepped on the ground every day and are easily exposed to animal feces and plant toxins on the ground.
If the wound becomes infected and is not treated in time, it may even endanger the tiger's life.
Yu Yiyun realized the seriousness of the matter, leaned over and pulled over the pad of meat that Nian Gao was licking.
Rice Cake: “Ouch?”
Little brother, don’t you have claws yourself?
The little fat tiger, who had no sense of boundaries, grabbed his brother's paw and turned it over and over to examine it carefully.
Make sure the pad is only lightly scratched by the teeth and not bitten through. It will probably heal in two or three days.
Yu Yiyun howled and told Nian Gao to wait there obediently while she went deep into the jungle to look for herbs to stop the bleeding and disinfect.
Nian Gao was stunned by the roar, and stood there stupidly. His eyes were as clear as a college student, as if he didn't expect that tigers in the wild could be so ferocious.
It’s bad enough that adult tigers come all the way to fight with me, but underage tigers also dare to roar at me.
Don’t we have any dignity when we keep tigers in cages? !
Nian Gao was stunned for a few seconds, then he actually folded his paws and lay there.
——He lay down because his paws hurt, not because he was afraid of that fat pig!
Nian Gao put his hands in his pockets, trying hard to maintain his last bit of stubbornness.
Yu Yiyun often treated the wounds of Mulan, Zhen'an, Kangkang and Shanjun, and was very familiar with the distribution of medicinal herbs in Qinling Mountains.
If Tiger could work, he would definitely be able to be a doctor, at least a chief physician.
About twenty minutes later, Fat Tiger came back in a hurry with a mouthful of green plants in his mouth, scaring Nian Gao so much that he shrank back.
Sometimes, the tigers will eat a few grasses. When they are in the zoo, staff will feed them grass regularly.
Tigers, like cats, eat grass mainly to utilize plant fiber and promote digestion.
Cats are unable to absorb most nutrients from plants, so they can lick the hair into their stomachs to help maintain a healthy stomach.
In his short three years of life, Nian Gao had never seen anyone eating grass in such big mouthfuls.
Moreover, the grass in the younger brother's mouth was the grass that he didn't usually eat.
The memory of being forced to feed grass by humans at the zoo because it couldn't spit out the hair ball came back to attack Nian Gao again.
Nian Gao, who had not been free for a few days, rolled over and got up, subconsciously preparing to escape.
Cage-bred tigers are delicate after all. When its injured paw pad stepped on the ground, Nian Gao cried out in pain and slowed down his pace unconsciously.
Yu Yiyun rushed over at full speed and hit him hard in the stomach, flipping Nian Gao to the ground with his four paws facing up.
Nian Gao kicked his legs and lay flat on his back, seemingly having lost all strength to resist.
Yu Yijun rushed over, chewed up the herbs and poured them on his paws.
Seeing that Nian Gao was lying down and letting himself be stroked, he stuffed two pieces of grass into his mouth.
He chewed the rice cake twice and then spat it out because it tasted disgusting.
"Ouch!" This grass is poisonous!
"Ahhh!" Stop spreading rumors. Am I a bad cat who poisoned the tiger?
Xiao Yunyun, the genius doctor from the tiger world, treated Nian Gao's wound and stayed to observe it for two full days to confirm that the wound was not infected.
Zhumi ate and drank enough and rested up at his brother's territory before setting out on his journey again.
This time, Yu Yiyun changed her goal and was not in a hurry to find her parents.
Instead, they followed the faint and elusive scent and searched for the second batch of wild tigers one by one.
When the first batch of South China tigers returned to the mountains, the biggest crisis they faced was not food shortage, but the inability to adapt to the vast environment of the wild.
No matter how big a zoo is, the conditions it can provide for the tigers are ultimately limited, and there is no way to allow every tiger to have its own territory.
Before being reintroduced into the wild, most tigers are used to living with their own kind and have a serious lack of territorial awareness.
Like the sweet tiger girl named Sugar Orange, who couldn't adapt to the wildness and staggered into Mulan's territory.
Fortunately, my aunt is the most gentle big cat in Qinling Mountains.
Whenever you encounter an unreasonable tiger, it is easy to get into a fight.
Tigers, like humans, need to learn.
The survival awareness of wild tigers is mainly taught and cultivated by female tigers.
But the mother of the caged tiger is also a caged tiger. She lacks common sense in the wild and therefore cannot teach her children to be independent.
At this time, it is the turn of the Qinling overlord - Xiao Yunyun to appear!
As the only existing wild South China tiger that was born and raised here and is over one year old, Yu Yiyun takes it upon herself to take on the responsibility of guiding the "younger generation".
Hu Hu, who had just reached adulthood, was only two or three years old. In Yu Yiyun's eyes, he was no different from a bigger cat.
Yu Yiyun ran to the south and strolled to the west.
After wandering around for a few days, I encountered a total of four second-batch wild South China tigers.
His method of identifying "new tigers" mainly relies on intuition, in addition to looking at whether the nose tip is pink and judging the age.
These caged tigers, exposed to the wild for the first time, are like college students entering the workplace, exuding a clear sense of stupidity.
After meeting other tigers, Yu Yiyun discovered that Brother Nian Gao, who had a weak sense of territory, was already doing relatively well.
In order to balance the genders in the Hedong Nature Reserve, the second batch was carefully selected, and it was finally decided to release three males and two females.
Yu Yiyun discovered that female tigers, who are considered to have lower survival abilities by humans, can adapt to the wild environment more quickly.
The territory required by a female tiger is not that large. The territory required by a male tiger can accommodate 3 or 4 female tigers.
The Hedong reserve is large enough to avoid territorial disputes among female tigers.
Without cubs, female tigers will not conflict with male tigers.
The courtship season is approaching, and Changsheng and the captain, two old bachelors, are eager to see a young, beautiful and strong tigress come to their territory and build a den within their territory.
The other two male tigers are the second litter of tigers, and are about half a year younger than Nian Gao.
In the first year of rewilding, sexually mature female tigers in the Hedong Nature Reserve showed their affection to the strong and handsome tigers.
If it were any other male tiger, he would definitely be obsessed with sex and happily accept all the cubs, wishing that all the cubs in Qinling were his.
Tiger Overlord is more assertive.
The Tiger King is an absolute staunch supporter of the "monogamy" system. During each breeding season, he only chooses one female tiger to spend time with.
Although the rewilding team felt it was a pity, they did not intervene forcefully.
Although they really want the tiger king's bloodline to continue and improve the genes of the South China tiger.
However, the main reason for the genetic decline of the South China tiger is inbreeding.
If the tigers really accept everyone who comes, and after many years everyone in the nature reserve becomes a direct brother and sister, they will have a headache.
Before the little fat tiger was born, the tiger had bred three litters of cubs with three healthy and strong tigresses.
As soon as the first two tigresses showed signs of pregnancy, the staff immediately paid special attention to them and wanted to feed the meat directly into their mouths.
After two months of continuous feeding, the tigress became completely lazy.
The prey ran past him, but he was too lazy to chase it and just opened his mouth waiting for the staff to feed him.
Later, Yu Yiyun discovered that the female tigers were overweight and there was a risk of difficult labor if they gave birth in the wild, so she had no choice but to take them back to the zoo.
The first two litters were mainly due to humans' lack of experience.
With the third litter, the problem was with the tigress.
Giving birth to cubs consumed too much of the tigress's energy, so when she had recovered, she left the cubs behind and went out hunting.
Unfortunately, the temperature was very low that day and prey was hard to find.
When the tigress returned to her den, only one of the three cubs was left, and unfortunately it died later.
Both the tigress and the rewilding team were devastated and could only pin their hopes on the next litter of tigers or Zhen'an.
Things are progressing smoothly in Zhen'an, and everyone is benefiting.
As for the tiger, he was not photographed dating a tigress during the next two breeding seasons, causing the staff to secretly diss Tiger King, saying "some cats are already incapable at the age of five."
It wasn't until the truth about Zhumi's origins came to light that everyone figured it out:
The tiger king, who firmly supports monogamy, is just waiting for the tiger in his heart.
Kang Kang, who is always on the mind of the Tiger King, is also quite competitive.
Although there was only one cub in the first litter, it was raised to be plump, lively and cute.
At this moment, the only tiger cub that survived in the wild found his "long-lost" caged brother and was reluctant to admit that they had the same father.
Brother No. 2 couldn't catch any prey and was hungry for several days.
He could neither climb trees to take bird eggs nor catch hares. With his energy running out, he actually set his hunting target on the fish in the water.
Although tigers are fond of water, they have not unlocked the fishing skills, and their success rate in catching fish is far lower than that of black bears.
Brother No. 2 couldn't catch any fish, so he just lay down by the river and drank some fish soup to satisfy his craving.
When Yu Yijun came over, his stomach was full of fish soup and he was almost poisoned by the water.
“…”
At this moment, Fat Tiger finally understood Mulan's feeling of being a cat but not being able to become a tiger.
——Are you going to drink up all the water and let the fish die of thirst?
I have never seen such a stupid kitten!!!
Yu Yijun couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he ran over, crossed the creek in a few seconds, and bit to death a goat that was drinking water face to face with the tiger on the other side of the river.
Brother No. 2 has failed in hunting dozens of times and was almost declared a failure in rewilding.
Seeing the piglet, who was one year younger than him, killing the goat so easily, a trace of fear appeared in his eyes:
Boss, if you eat it, you can't eat me anymore...
Number Two looked at Yu Yiyun from across the river, as if a domestic cat saw a wild cat, secretly wondering if he and the other were the same species.
Yu Yijun lay on the other side of the river and howled at the useless snack that was half-starved and whose eyes were beginning to become unfocused.
"Oh!" Eat, do you still want me to feed you?
"...Meow." Brother No. 2 made a soft call and wandered around the other side of the river bank for a few circles, hesitating and not daring to go into the water.
Eventually, hunger overcame fear, prompting the domestic cat to take the first step and bravely conquer the river.
After the two tigers finished eating the goat, Yu Yiyun whipped him with his tail, which made the second brother, who was about to go to bed, get up.
"Roar!" How dare you sleep when you are such a loser!
Brother No. 2’s situation is more dangerous than Nian Gao’s.
Although Nian Gao was injured, he would be able to recover after two days of rest.
He has the ability to live on his own, and as long as he gets through the adaptation period, he will be able to become a capable and independent person.
The pampered house cat behind him is different.
To survive in the wild, you must relearn how to hunt and fight.
For wild animals, unlike the poultry and livestock used for training in zoos, every meal is not easy.
If you want to rule the mountains and forests, you must first learn how to transform from a house cat into a tiger.
Yu Yiyun couldn't teach him these things, but there was a tiger who could.
Yu Yiyun took her brother No. 2 and followed the scent left by the tiger, intending to let him meet his father, whom he had never met, in order to stimulate the dormant tiger king bloodline in No. 2's body.
Look at our father, then look at yourself, are you embarrassed?
Yu Yiyun quickly realized that number two was not the most embarrassed one.
On the way to find the tiger, he met his brother No. 3.
No one knew what No. 3 had been through. He walked with a limp and there was blood on his buttocks.
Yu Yijun rushed over and pinned him to the ground. After careful analysis of the tooth marks and the bite pattern, he discovered that he had been bitten by a serow.
Oh, what a promising future.
The king of the jungle is being chased and bitten by herbivores.
Yu Yiyun selectively forgot the dark history of having a muntjac step over her head, and she stepped on number three and cursed.
Number Three is one year older than Zhumi, but he has no ability to resist at all.
He was so angry after being scolded that he simply buried his head in the bushes to escape from the tiger.
"Ahhh!" Yu Yiyun had scolded enough and turned around to go to the bushes to pull out two handfuls of grass to stick on his butt.
As a result, as soon as he turned around, he saw Shen Yu's awkward but polite smile.
Yu Yiyun lowered her eyes and found that Shen Yu was holding a tranquilizer gun in his left hand and a medical kit in his right hand.
It seems that they plan to anesthetize No. 3 and take him back to the zoo to end his wilding.
"Xiao Yunyun, long time no see, do you still remember me?" Shen Yu met Fat Tiger's eyes and realized that he was within the range.
Having dealt with tigers all year round, the staff have their own set of tiger training methods to ensure that they will not die in the tiger's mouth.
However, that method is mainly aimed at caged tigers.
Yunxiao is a pure wild South China tiger that has never stayed in a cage for a second.
Even though he was only 16 months old, Shen Yu knew the fighting power of this tiger and couldn't help but feel a little afraid.
"When you were a kid, I fed you chickens, remember?" Shen Yu tried to get close to him and lower Hu Hu's vigilance.
Laughing, Yu Yiyun was totally unguarded.
When he saw his former colleague, he got so angry that he yelled at him, asking him why he came so late!
"Ah!" Why are these two tigers put on the wild list when they are in such a bad condition?
"Ahhh!" I've stopped being a human being. I still have to clean up the mess made by my former colleagues. It's so tiring!
Although Shen Yu didn't understand Yu Yiyun's complaints, he could tell that he was not aggressive, so he took a step forward boldly.
"Um..." Chen Yu pointed at number three, "I want to take your brother back, can you let me?"
"Ahhh!" Yu Yiyun protested loudly, almost speaking in human language out of anger.
It is so irresponsible to let it become wild so casually and then end it so casually!
How did I teach before?!
The reintroduction of the South China tiger into the wild is like a human child going to kindergarten for the first time.
At the beginning, some children cried and made a fuss and couldn’t do anything well.
However, parents cannot let their children stop going to school just because of this, right?
"I'm not going to do anything to you, why are you angry?" Chen Yu felt puzzled, and held up the thing in his hand to explain to Yun Xiao, "This is a tranquilizer gun, as long as you shoot him, he will fall asleep, and the wound won't hurt. This box contains iodine and medicine, apply it on the wound to avoid infection."
Chen Yu "worships the tiger god" every day, and firmly believes that Yunxiao is a very spiritual tiger who can understand what humans mean. He even opened the box to explain to him.
After listening to Shen Yu's words, Xiaohu raised his paw and pointed at his right hand.
"Medical kit?" Shen Yu raised it.
"Aoao~" Fat Tiger called out twice in a friendly manner, then pointed at his left hand and let out an angry roar.
"You mean, the medical kit is fine, but the tranquilizer gun is not?" Shen Yu stared at Xiao Hu in surprise, a little worried, "But, without the tranquilizer gun, we can't take him back."
"Ahhh!" Xiao Yunyun let out another angry roar.
Compared to humans, tigers can understand the calls of their own kind better.
Brother No. 2 has been following the "Strongest Tiger King in Qinling" for several days and has been completely bribed.
He formed a united front with his brother and shouted loudly at the humans.
Number Three couldn't figure out the situation and continued to bury his head in the bushes pretending to be dead.
Chen Yu tried hard to communicate for a long time before he finally understood, "You don't want me to take him back?"
“Ah~”
"Haha, I see." Chen Yu's eyes became gentle, "Xiao Yunyun, you really like your own kind. But he is injured now. If he stays in the wild, he will definitely be a burden to you."
The piglet proudly puffed out his chest, as if to say: I, the cat, am so awesome~
These past few days, he had been traveling with his brother No. 2, and he already had one extra mouth to feed, so he wasn't afraid of having another.
Autumn is the season of harvest, and fat prey is everywhere.
A good hunter can fill his stomach even if he is alone with two people.
Shen Yu hesitated for a few seconds, then took out the intercom to communicate with his colleagues.
Soon, the veterinarian who was protecting from head to toe rushed over, risked his life to move forward, and first took a look at Fat Tiger's hind legs.
"Yunxiao, has your leg fully recovered?" the veterinarian asked with concern.
"Ah~" Yu Yiyun cooperated by turning around twice to show the veterinarian her recovery status.
The veterinarian nodded with satisfaction and leaned over to tend to No. 3's wound, leaving his back to the other Tigresses.
Tigers are good at attacking their prey from behind, which is a very dangerous behavior.
Number Two, who was learning how to hunt, saw an opportunity and his beast instinct was aroused. He stretched out his claws and was eager to try.
Before jumping up, Yu Yiyun tickled him.
"Ah!" Don't do stupid things, just sit still.
"Woo woo..." Number Two immediately became timid and lay down next to his brother, like a well-behaved big cat.
Shen Yu was amused at once.
"Look at the two of you. I don't know who is the older brother."
The veterinarian had excellent skills and quickly treated the wound on No. 3's butt.
Before leaving, Shen Yu hesitated whether to leave some supplies for No. 3, lest the injured tiger be unable to hunt and starve to death.
Hearing Yunxiao rushing over and shouting to expel them, the rewilding team had no choice but to leave in disappointment.
Yu Yiyun drove away the rewilding team and slapped No. 3's injured butt with his claws, causing him to scream in pain and stand up.
Fat Tiger was too lazy to talk nonsense and walked in front, and No. 2 immediately followed closely behind him.
Although number two is useless, he knows how to adapt to changing circumstances.
I am just a freeloader now, and I can't let my brother go hunting and then drag the food back with great effort.
Every time Yu Yiyun rushed to the front to hunt, No. 2 would consciously help and accumulate his own hunting experience.
After a few days, he already knew how to surround the prey in order to increase his success rate!
At this moment, a new tiger has joined the "Little Kitten Looking for Daddy" team, and No. 2 is very happy.
From now on, he is no longer the cat at the bottom of the pyramid!
Number Three was a little reluctant at first, as he was being chased and bitten by his brother Number Two, with whom he grew up, so he followed Yu Yiyun with his head down.
After two days of stopping and walking, Yu Yiyun smelled the scent of a tiger hanging on a tree trunk and immediately ran in.
"......?" Number Two and Number Three looked at each other.
Before the two adult male tigers met Yu Yiyun, they accidentally entered the territory of other male tigers and were beaten many times.
At this moment, smelling the powerful scent of an adult male tiger, they were a little hesitant.
When Yu Yiyun saw them, it was as if she saw her former self, and she even understood Shanjun’s speechlessness at that time.
No wonder Shanjun Baba never treated him well after the father and son recognized each other.
Such a useless son/brother has completely disgraced himself!
Fat Tiger had been traveling for many days and was exhausted. When he got home, he lay down on the ground and called out to the distance.
Before summoning the lord tiger, Kang Kang recognized the voice of his beloved son, ran over hurriedly, pounced on him and stuck close to his cub.
The two tigers hesitated and dared not enter the house, but when they saw their younger brother being loved by his mother, they were so envious that their eyes were about to bleed.
No wonder he dared to invade the tiger's territory so brazenly!
Wuuuu, you bully us for leaving our mother when we were young!
A few minutes later, the tiger walked at a leisurely pace, following the sound and smell to the edge of the territory.
Seeing Fat Tiger bring back two adult male tigers, the tiger had no intention of paying any attention to them.
Tiger King never drives away intruders.
Whenever an invading tiger competes with it for territory or prey, the tiger will kill it without hesitation, just as it would its own prey.
Yu Yiyun had watched the tiger grow up with her own eyes, and had spent a few days with his father, so she knew the tiger king's temper.
He cried out "Ahhhh", trying to convey the message "Daddy, these are your second and third princes."
The tiger had a blank expression on his face and was unmoved.
Even if he could understand, he probably wouldn't bother to respond.
——How could a strong tiger king give birth to such a cowardly cat?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com