The death or abandonment of the mother wolf.
Among wild wolves, some cubs die because they are deliberately abandoned by their parents. Moreover, this litter of wolf cubs in front of us does not seem to have a father to take care of them. Born in winter and only cared for by their mother, the probability of them being abandoned is very high.
The old wolf was not surprised by this, but its heart was heavy. It shifted its body and looked at the small slope, hoping that a strange wolf would appear to dispel the most hopeless possibility.
But as the snowflakes grew thicker, the howling of wolves grew fainter under the cover of night.
The old wolf could wait no longer. It already had an answer in its heart. Its deep, glowing eyes, filled with a hint of pity in the night, gazed deeply at the small slope before resolutely getting up.
The abandoned wolf cubs were beyond the control of their ever-precarious parents. The parents knew their own limitations and the impending fate of the cubs; they were powerless to resist and could hardly change anything.
As the wind and snow fell, the old wolf walked to the spot where he had buried the deer leg.
"Awooo..." The weak howl reached my ears through the wind and snow, and the old wolf paused in its action of lowering its head to bite the deer's leg.
"Bang!" The deer leg, thrown back into the snowdrift, was hastily buried by wolf claws.
Under the cover of night, a thin, old wolf walked toward a cave entrance. Standing at the entrance, a strong, metallic smell of wolf wafted over.
The snow above the dark entrance was thick, some of it having fallen into the cave. Several clumps of grayish-white fur were scattered at the entrance inside, carrying the scent of an unfamiliar she-wolf, probably shed fur when she entered or left the cave.
There was still no trace of the male wolf near or inside the cave. Clearly, the old wolf's earlier guess was correct: this was a wolf family that had lost its male wolf, and now they had also lost their female wolf.
In the cold winter, when it is not suitable for raising cubs, and without the support and help of the male wolf, the female wolf is obviously powerless. It is common for her to abandon her cubs to survive on her own, or for her to die in the wind and snow when she goes out. The old wolf is not surprised.
The cave must have been dug by the mother wolf. To prevent wild animals like lynx from stealing its home, the entrance was rather narrow. However, the old wolf's thin body was no less robust than that of the mother wolf it had never met before, and it entered the cave with no difficulty.
The old wolf peered inside. On the dim cave walls, the mother wolf's claw marks were faintly visible, with obvious and dense marks on both sides, all representing the mother wolf's efforts and hard work.
If not forced to, this mother wolf would probably not have been willing to abandon her cubs.
The howling wind and snow were kept out, and the temperature rose higher and higher as they went deeper into the narrow tunnel. A long-lost warmth spread through their bodies. The temperature inside the cave was much warmer, which was good news for the old wolf who was sleeping outdoors. For the night, it had a place to shelter from the wind. Of course, it wouldn't spend the night there. What if the mother wolf came back? It didn't want to be stuck in the cave.
The wolf pups in the den seemed to sense the arrival of a creature. Their weak howls stopped for a moment, then resumed their urgent howls. It seemed they thought their mother wolf had returned.
The wolf traversed the deep tunnels, which grew wider and deeper until it reached the interior of the cave, where it was much more spacious and no longer needed to crouch down.
The strong scent of wolves filled the entire cave. At the very back of the cave, a thick layer of dry wild grass covered the ground. On the grass nest were four wolf cubs, their mouths agape, bellies flat, howling anxiously and expectantly, trying to find familiar bodies. Clearly, they had been starving for more than a day and a night.
Wild wolves typically mate in March, carry their young for two months, and give birth in May. These four wolf pups were clearly born recently, probably less than a month old, and their eyesight is still failing, making them extremely rare late-born cubs.
The wolf cubs weren't exactly cute, but the old wolf's eyes showed a gentleness. The three black-furred and one gray-furred wolf cubs on the grass nest had their ears stubbornly erect, and their bodies huddled together, trembling slightly.
Tender lives always seem fragile and vulnerable. The old wolf had no ill intentions towards these four cubs. Not to mention, the great treasure it had unearthed today—a red deer that had frozen to death in the snow—was still mostly uneaten. Wolves don't eat cubs unless they are extremely hungry. Moreover, the old wolf had come to these little guys with good intentions from the beginning, and it would never do anything to harm them.
Amidst their weak howls, the wolf pups realized that the wolf before them was not their mother. They shivered and huddled together, clearly uneasy about the unfamiliar scent.
Looking at the young wolf cub, the mother wolf suddenly remembered her mother and brothers and sisters. She stretched out her front paw and touched the gray wolf cub's head. The wolf cub seemed to be frightened and trembled violently. Then it opened its small mouth and whimpered. But having been hungry for a long time, it obviously had no strength to resist, and even its howl was weak.
The little gray wolf's shrunken belly swelled and bulged with each weak howl. After letting out a feeble howl, it resignedly nestled its little head against the old wolf's paw and stopped struggling.
The old wolf, in a good mood, gently rubbed each of the cubs' heads. The little ones still had the strength to struggle, clearly showing great vitality. Seemingly knowing that the old wolf meant no harm, the cubs stopped howling and huddled together obediently, letting the old wolf stroke them.
Seeing the little wolf's bright white milk teeth, the old wolf's eyes flickered, and an idea formed in his mind.
It nuzzled the little gray wolf's head again, then stroked each of the other black wolf cubs one by one, before turning and leaving the den. The old wolf's departure caused the cubs to howl again; the loss of their own scent made them uneasy once more.
In the wind and snow, the old wolf, carrying a deer leg, went back into the cave. Soon, the wolf cubs, realizing the old wolf had returned, quieted down again.
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