Chapter 58 Kruger Lion (V)
Strictly speaking, a group of stray lions cannot be called a "lion group".
Sub-adult male lions who were cruelly expelled from their original families, or old, injured adult male lions, have no ability to compete for territory, and can only gather in the cracks between large lion groups to survive.
Even if stray male lions live in the same area, they will not cooperate in hunting like female lions.
They only regard the activity area as a temporary place to stay similar to a hotel. On weekdays, they still live their own lives, like stray cats.
Therefore, Yu Yiyun counted the wandering lion group as the 'half' of the 'six and a half'.
Old father Tommy was once a sub-adult lion.
Before becoming the leader lion of the Lower West Coast lion group, he also experienced long years of wandering, so he naturally knew the activity range and appearance times of the wandering lion groups.
Tommy ate the expired zebra legs that his two sons brought back cleanly, and his injury healed quickly.
Although the furry ball's tail cannot regenerate, its physical strength has been greatly restored and it can basically maintain its own survival.
After regaining basic mobility, Tommy hung his head dejectedly, planning to go alone to the activity area of the stray lion group so as not to cause trouble for the two cubs.
I had only walked a few meters when I heard rustling noises behind me.
When he turned around, he found the little white lion following him closely.
Tommy was so moved that the lion cried: Woo woo woo, my dear cub, you must miss leaving your daddy, right?
Chouchou was a little confused. She didn't understand why her brother, who was eating and drinking well at his new mommy's house, was following his useless daddy?
——He doesn’t even have a fur ball!!!
But once the lion brothers establish a bond, it will become stronger and stronger.
When one of them takes action, the other will follow suit, becoming the most reliable backing for the ally.
After being away from the family for half a month, Chou Chou and the white lion have been dependent on each other and are inseparable.
As soon as the pig made a movement, Chouchou immediately jumped over and followed.
The little male lion, who is a few months old, has not grown a mane yet, has round ears, and jumps when he runs, just like a little rabbit.
When tourists saw this scene from a distance, they thought the big cat was moving with its two little rabbits.
Old father Tommy turned around and looked at his two bunny sons, feeling mixed emotions.
Looking back, even though Tommy did his best to fulfill his duties and protect the entire lion pride.
But to a lion pride, a defeated lion will be of no value.
The female lions of the Lower West Coast lion group found that he had lost to the foreign male lion. Except for the lion queen who had the highest status, she took the initiative to approach the foreign male lion and show goodwill to him because of their old friendship, giving the injured Tommy the opportunity to escape.
The other lionesses did not show any reluctance.
While Tommy was recovering from his injury, he felt empty, lonely, cold, and the pain and hunger all combined to overdraw his body.
Vultures, which always sense death in advance, hover above his head, quietly waiting for the former lion king's life to come to an end before he becomes dinner for scavengers.
Tommy thought countless times that he would never be able to stand up again.
Until he met his son again and got food from him.
At this moment, Tommy, who had regained his spirits, looked at the two good cubs behind him and secretly decided to regain his strength.
——We must take back the lost territory and let our sons have a complete childhood!
Who says that male lions are scumbags and can’t take care of cubs?
I, Tommy, will break this curse starting today!
The more Tommy thought about it, the more excited he became. His steps became more determined, and he was moved to tears.
Little did she know that in Yu Yiyun's eyes, her old father was just a cat-shaped land version of Boss Crow, responsible for leading her to find the legendary territory of the stray lion group.
Dian Guang is gentle and considerate. Zhu Mi, who has been a mama's boy for two lifetimes, does not intend to put himself in a difficult position and suffer with his biological father.
After all, he has no fur balls and is severely lacking in emotional value.
Affected by the grassland climate, the activity range of a lion group is mainly determined by the range of prey within the territory.
During the dry season, all prey gathers by the river. Lions do not need to travel long distances to hunt, so the area of their territory is naturally reduced.
The safe zone where lion groups keep a distance from each other becomes the main base for wandering male lions.
Yu Yiyun followed his old father, bypassing the territory of the lion group on the north bank, and along the river section that still had plenty of water even at the end of the dry season, to the unowned area between the lion group on the north bank and the lion group on the upper east bank.
Yu Yiyun had been a prairie pig for half a month, daring only to hang out in places where there were few animals. This was the first time he had approached the bustling upper reaches of a river.
October is the month with the most water shortage in the Greater Kruger Region. The dry season is about to end, and the Schrodinger's rainy season has not really arrived yet.
The river channel downstream has turned into a mud pond and the river is on the verge of drying up.
The upper reaches are still fertile with lush grass and water, like a paradise on earth.
There are large tracts of trees growing on the shore, and in the downstream area there are sparsely branched Baobab trees, where the crowns extend for dozens of meters!
Giraffes stretched their necks to eat the tender leaves on the treetops, zebras and antelopes nibbled the grass on the ground, and herds of buffalo gathered by the river to drink water.
Yu Yiyun felt as if she had come to a five-star buffet restaurant, her saliva was watering with greed.
Even though the lions’ territory on the north shore is relatively fertile, it is rare to see herds of giraffes and buffalo during the dry season.
The piglet excitedly swung the tip of its tail. One can imagine that the lion group that can control the upper reaches of the river must have strong and unparalleled strength.
When I grow up and become a real lion, if I can own such a rich territory, I will probably smile in my dreams.
Yes, now Yu Yiyun can only dream.
Smelling the urine of the lord lion marking his territory, the kitten was so scared that his ears stood up and he dared not cross the border.
Tommy seemed not to smell it and swaggered across the marking line.
This section of the river strictly belongs to the edge of the lion territory on the upper east bank and was originally ruled by two male lion brothers.
Because they were too domineering, they often monopolized the lioness's prey, causing the lioness and her cubs to go hungry every day.
The Lion Queen got angry... and got angry several times.
Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore, so she secretly hooked up with a younger and more powerful lion alliance, and with the help of both inside and outside forces, they drove the two lions out of the territory.
During the reign of the new lion alliance, the lion group continued to expand upstream, annexing the lion groups that originally occupied upstream, and formed its current huge scale.
Because the territory is too large, the Lord Lion rarely appears on the edge of the territory except for patrolling.
When female lions encounter stray male lions hunting here, they often turn a blind eye and are too lazy to get into conflict with strange male lions over prey.
During the dry season, many homeless male lions will use this place as their habitat, hunting and drinking water openly.
As soon as Yu Yiyun’s front paws stepped in, his hind paws encountered two male lions wandering together.
They looked like brothers, in the awkward period between sub-adulthood and adulthood, with sparse manes on their heads.
The male lion on the left only has a few tufts of hair on the top of his head and his face is smooth.
The one on the right has long hair except for the top of the head, a standard Mediterranean hairstyle, which looks weird and funny.
Zhumi used his talent for naming to name the one with hair on top of his head "Sanmao" and the one without hair on top of his head "Professor".
Professor Yu: When I get ruthless, even I become a black sheep!
The stray male lions that roam here all eat from other people's bowls. There are rarely conflicts between them, and there is even little direct communication.
However, the professor and Sanmao were visibly shocked to see the strange male lion with two kittens.
"……?"
A male lion...with cubs?
I’ve lived long enough to see these domestic cats!
You know, even as the leader of a lion group, the male lion often wanders away from his family.
Some male lions will help with hunting during seasons when prey is scarce, but they are unwilling to take on the responsibility of raising cubs.
Male lions captured by human photographers occasionally playing with their little lions will be praised as "good male lions".
A male lion who is divorced and raising cubs alone is even rarer than a tiger who is divorced and raising cubs alone.
Because they were too shocked, the two sub-adult male lions stared at the white lion and Chouchou for a long time and almost forgot why they came here.
By the time I reacted, the zebra I had locked onto had already run far away.
"Ah!" The professor howled quickly to alert Sanmao next to him.
"Roar!" Sanmao finally reacted and spread his paws to pounce on the fleeing zebra.
"Meow!" Yu Yiyun stretched his neck and looked at the two of them eagerly, drooling again.
Zebra... must be delicious.
Slurp!
Obviously, zebras are the staple food of Kruger lions. Yu Yiyun worked as a prairie pig for half a month, and the closest she ever came to eating a zebra was when she sneaked into a hyena's home to steal food.
Unfortunately, the zebra leg was rotten and smelly. Yu Yiyun had no desire to eat it, so she gave it all to her old father.
Now seeing the lively zebra, Yu Yiyun was not only greedy, but also had some... inexplicable impulse.
The beast blood in his body makes him eager to try when he sees prey, and he is eager to show off his hunting skills.
Unfortunately, the piglet is only eight months old and has neither the hunting ability nor the hunting experience of the lion.
He held down his paw unwillingly and watched the professor and Sanmao's actions closely.
I want to learn secretly and then surprise all the beasts!!!
Sanmao and the professor are obviously brothers. They left their native lion group together and naturally formed a lion alliance. They have a good understanding of each other.
The professor chased the zebra from the side and rear and drove it to the area where Sanmao was.
Sanmao immediately pounced over, intending to drive the zebra back into the professor's control and thereby consume the zebra's strength.
The two brothers had limited abilities, so they chose an old zebra as their prey.
Old zebras may not be as strong as young zebras, but they have extensive experience in avoiding hunters.
It easily saw through the brothers' tactics, used its long legs to leap into the air, and easily escaped the encirclement formed by the brothers.
The two male lions were too few in number to surround the prey from more directions.
Seeing the zebra trying to run away, the lion, who had already consumed a lot of his energy, was unwilling to give up and chased after it with a roar.
Cats’ endurance is always a shortcoming, and they didn’t chase for long before their running speed slowed down significantly.
Yu Yiyun discovered that the zebra ran along the river bank for a few meters and suddenly made a turn, obviously trying to avoid the lion group on the east bank and planning to break through from his side.
The old zebra quickly made a judgment that compared to the "one-way return" Upper East Coast, the "three old, weak and sick cats" would be easier to deal with.
How could the experienced old zebra have imagined that there was a living bug at the scene that was only eight months old but had hunting experience comparable to that of a top lion? !
Yu Yiyun immediately realized the zebra's intention and knew that the opportunity had come!
He meowed at his old father, then gently hooked Chouchou with his tail, signaling him to follow him.
Seeing that the zebra was several hundred meters away from them, Yu Yijun and Chou Chou rushed out almost at the same time.
Logically speaking, a lion cub that is only eight months old poses no threat at all.
When the two of them rushed towards the zebra together, the old zebra was so scared that he ran away in a panic.
It’s not that the old zebra is too cowardly, even his cubs are afraid of him.
It had lived for twenty years, and had never seen a lion that could not only run faster than it, but also last such a long distance without slacking off.
The terrifying speed of the two little lions caused the zebra to misjudge, and it slowed down a few steps, wondering whether to change direction.
Before it could think it over, Tommy, who was limping along behind the two cubs, immediately seized the opportunity and pounced on them.
Tommy suffered injuries to his hind legs and tail, but his bite force was not impaired, enough to cause serious damage to the zebra.
Sanmao and the professor followed closely behind, although they were not used to working with a strange lion.
But with the prey in front of them, they pounced on the zebra without hesitation and hung on it, forcing the zebra, which was resisting stubbornly, to slowly fall to the ground.
Once the prey falls, it is difficult to get up again.
The old zebra struggled for a few minutes, but still couldn't escape the fate of becoming a delicious meal.
After a successful hunt under the scorching sun, several lions were exhausted and panting, lying beside their prey, staring at each other.
At this moment, the two brothers were extremely conflicted.
They originally belonged to the North Shore lion group. They are only two and a half years old now, but they have been wandering for half a year.
The two lions were not old enough to be kicked out of the house, but they were kicked out for the same reason as Yu Yiyun:
The original lion group has a new leader, the two brothers have to escape overnight and get as far away as possible.
...It didn't roll too far.
Unable to support themselves, the two brothers wandered between the North Shore and the Upper East Shore, barely surviving by picking up garbage.
Until recently, they were able to hunt decent prey, but because they were not very skilled, they lived from hunger to hunger.
Because of insufficient nutrition, its mane takes time to grow and he will be laughed at when he meets a beautiful lioness.
During the previous hunt, the two brothers thought they had tried their best, but the prey escaped again.
If it weren't for the two cubs and the strange older lion, they would have starved again today.
Now, faced with the steaming prey, the two brothers didn't know how to divide it.
Although they were the first to see the prey, the main credit goes to the other side.
If in a lion group, every time they get prey, the older male lions should eat it first, and the sub-adult lions must be left until last.
If a lion cub rashly competes with a male lion for food, it may be attacked.
Tommy didn't think much of it.
During the time he was the lord lion, he never yelled at the little lions for stealing food.
As the two brothers approached, Tommy became wary, fearing that they might hurt his son in order to compete for food.
Even though Tommy is injured now, he is still a lion in his prime after all, and is more than capable of intimidating a wild boy who hasn't even grown all his hair yet.
Tommy breathed a sigh of relief when he found the two of them lying quietly beside their prey.
He also went through a wandering phase and cooperated with strange male lions in hunting.
There is no hierarchy among wandering male lions, and they usually share prey by default.
Tommy tore open the zebra's belly, bit off a large piece of meat, propped himself up and hid with the "weak" cub to the side, allowing them to eat away from the strange lion.
Zhumi and Chouchou naturally had no objections. They only had zebra meat in their eyes and their eyes turned green with excitement.
After the two lions were adopted by Dian Guang, they had meat to eat almost every day and were not treated badly by their new mother.
But the prey of the electric light is either gazelle or impala, which has more bones, less meat, and low body fat.
For growing lions, it is indeed necessary to eat meat in big mouthfuls.
Pig: I’m hungry! I want food!
The two greedy cats didn't even give the prey a chance to land. One lion held one in its mouth and spun around in circles, performing the lion swallowing two cats show.
Tommy returned to the prey, but before he had time to eat, he heard the little lion begging for food from behind him.
Tommy, who was determined to become the first single dad in the lion world, bit off another big piece of meat and put it into the mouths of the two cubs.
The professor and Sanmao, who were observing secretly, found that Tommy was only concerned with feeding the cubs, and he buried his head in eating with big mouthfuls.
They had been hungry for several days and were already starving. They couldn't wait to bury their heads in the zebra's belly and eat big mouthfuls of meat.
Only when he heard the movement of the hyena did he reluctantly pull his head out.
The second brother smelled the scent of prey and came to try his luck, but when he saw two red lions, he turned around and ran away.
Looking at the way they are protecting their food, I guess they won’t be able to pick up any trash here, so they might as well go and steal from Leopard’s home.
Leopard: (silenced)
Five lions, three big and two small, killed half a zebra and only stopped when their bellies were so full that they rolled away.
"Burp." Piglet burped because he was too full.
"Ugh!" Chouchou almost vomited.
The two brothers who fell beside the prey propped themselves up and took a look, seeming a little worried.
"Ahhh!" You two really can eat.
"Roar!" Don't overeat!
The relationship between male lions is very much like that between middle school boys.
It is easy to have conflicts and fights can start over a single disagreement.
It is also easy to build friendships. As long as you have similar interests, you will quickly become familiar with each other.
With the friendship established through a meal, the five lions, who had eaten their fill, became familiar with each other's smells.
Now, they neither need to fight for territory nor for prey, and there is no reason to fight, so the atmosphere is naturally not as tense as that of other lions.
The two brothers walked past the prey and approached Tommy, looking at the wounds of varying sizes on his body and the half-broken tail with admiration.
For a lion, wounds are medals of battle.
Realizing that the lion in front of them was a veteran of many battles and had once occupied territory, the two young lions immediately worshipped him as their big brother.
After the defeat, Tommy, whose self-esteem was repeatedly frustrated, instantly regained his spirits.
In just half an hour, Tommy's limp was gone, his tail no longer drooped, and he raised his head proudly to say:
Okay, okay, I’ll protect you two from now on!
Seeing the three male lions who are "young until death", they are preparing to swear brotherhood on the grassland.
Yu Yijun shook his fur, slowly climbed up, ran to the prey, bit off a piece of zebra meat, and greeted his stupid brother with his tail.
"Meow!" It's dark, time to go home!
"Meow!" Chouchou rolled over and got up, and also followed his brother's example to pack a large piece of meat.
The two cubs' receding backs seemed to be saying:
You three homeless lions can slowly travel the world with swords, and the two of us will go back to continue being mama's boys~
Homeless lions: "..."
[Cat crying.jpg]
Yu Yiyun and Chou Chou returned home one after another. Dian Guang had just woken up and was preparing to cook for the baby in the cool evening.
It got up sleepily and heard a familiar call. The white lion came over with a large piece of meat drained of blood and put it in its mouth.
I imitated the cat spirit Chouchou and imitated my brother again, giving the packed meat to the new mother.
"???"
The lightning was severely confusing.
Cheetahs are solitary animals.
When the cubs are about two years old, they leave their mother and are never seen again.
All the cheetah mothers on the grassland have never enjoyed the feeling of being 'supported' by their cubs, but Dian Guang enjoyed it eight hundred times faster.
Raising lion cubs is really cost-effective, I recommend it to all leopard mothers~!
"Meow!"
The piglet was calling out, urging auntie to eat quickly, otherwise it would be stale soon.
"Meow!" The stale meat can only be eaten by Chouchou!
Dian Guang was so moved that he rubbed the two cubs one by one, took the zebra meat from the white lion's mouth, and went into his stomach with a slurp.
Chouchou squatted beside the place, holding the meat he had brought back, his eyes sparkling with anticipation.
As soon as the cheetah finished eating the meat that Yu Yiyun brought back, Chouchou immediately came over and fed his meat to Dianguang.
"...Meow." Dian Guang took the meat and rubbed it against Chouchou as well.
Yu Yiyun observed it carefully and unexpectedly saw acting skills of a movie queen's level in the cheetah.
It was obvious that Dian Guang couldn't eat anymore. In the face of Chouchou's expectant eyes, it pretended to be happy and chewed a mouthful of meat dozens of times, but was reluctant to swallow it.
The amount of food a cheetah eats is determined by its weight. Dian Guang is obviously a thin type, and his estimated weight is 35-40 kilograms at most.
The amount of food a wild animal eats is directly proportional to its body weight, ranging from approximately 5% to 10%.
Zhumi and Chouchou are growing fast. Although they are only eight months old, they already weigh over 100 kilograms.
Plus, they both eat a lot, so they can easily eat more than ten kilograms of meat in one meal.
As a slender female cheetah, Dian Guang only needs six or seven kilograms of meat per meal to survive.
Yu Yiyun packed just the right amount of meat according to Dian Guang's appetite.
Chouchou had no idea of 'how much a cheetah should eat', so he packed a large piece according to his own appetite.
If Dian Guang eats all of it, he might become the first cheetah in the entire grassland to die of overeating.
Yu Yiyun noticed Dianguang's dilemma, touched Chouchou with his tail, and invited him to play catching rabbits together.
"Meow meow meow!" Chouchou agreed immediately and followed his brother around looking for rabbit holes.
When Dian Guang noticed that the two of them had gone far away, he immediately found a shorter tree and hung the remaining zebra meat on it, secretly hoping:
Hyenas, vultures, come and grab my food.
Zebra meat is indeed a bit greasy for the cheetah's stomach.
It turns out that I am more suitable for eating lean meat.
“…Meow.”
Yu Yiyun deeply realized what it meant to bring disaster upon oneself.
He should have known that Electric's territory was far from any water source and had sparse vegetation.
If the small animals had any other choice, they would not come to this corner to build their nests.
Yu Yiyun accompanied Chou Chou from dusk till late at night, but they didn't find a single rabbit.
He called out helplessly, trying to persuade Chouchou to let the little rabbit go.
But Chouchou refused to give up and dug through every inch of sand, looking for a possible rabbit nest.
Seeing that it was already dawn, Yu Yiyun, who was about to have dark circles under her eyes from staying up late, shouted angrily.
“Ouch!”
Isn't it just a hare!
Can't I catch it for you? ! !
Zhumi walked out of the house yawning, following the route marked yesterday and returning to the activity area of the stray lion group.
It's near a water source, so you're sure to find a rabbit hive there.
Chouchou's mind was full of hares, and he ran like a rabbit, quickly attracting the attention of passing photographers.
The photographer was easily seduced by the furry creature and instantly gave up the idea of looking for "the last hope of the Ryan family". He carried the camera and ran all the way after the little lion.
As he was running, he heard the sound of running water, and he was terrified, fearing that the ignorant little lion would break into the territory of some lion group.
Soon, the little lion let out a crisp roar, and it sounded like it was calling for its mother.
In the photographer's opinion: an eight-month-old lion already knows that his father is unreliable, so it is unlikely to call for his father.
He raised his camera and looked around for the lioness.
Not long after, two lions with extremely ridiculous manes came over from the river bank.
"!!!" The photographer immediately recognized that these two were the 'last hope of the Ryan family'!
He didn't care to be shocked, because even more shocking things were yet to come.
Half a minute later, an adult male lion with a limp on his hind legs slowly appeared.
As a die-hard fan of the Ryan family, he immediately recognized the last Lion King among Ryan’s grandchildren, Tommy!
The photographer didn’t bother taking pictures, but checked the lion family files to confirm, only to find out that the two little lions he was following were actually Tommy’s surviving cubs!!!
“Oh my god…”
The photographer couldn't help but sigh.
"Fate is truly miraculous. The bloodline of the legendary Lion King, Rayne, was somehow guided to the promised land."
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