There are many subspecies of wolves, including many extinct species and undiscovered subspecies. Wolves are widely distributed. When there were only about 400 Siberian tigers left, the wolf packs on the Mongolian grasslands numbered nearly 20,000, which shows the strong survival ability and reproduction speed of wolf packs.
So, would the lives of wild wolves really be better?
With the arrival of windy days, the temperature suddenly dropped, and snow began to fall unexpectedly.
At the foot of a mountain in a primeval forest, a thin, bony old wolf was digging in the snow. A sudden heavy snowfall overnight ended the lives of many animals that hadn't had a chance to face the harsh winter, and the old wolf was one of them. Fortunately, it survived the blizzard of the previous night.
As dawn breaks, the rising sun brings a new day and new life.
After digging in the snow for a long time, the old wolf finally found hope: a frozen snow rabbit.
The old wolf didn't care why the snow hare with its deep burrow would freeze to death outside. It gleefully bared its fangs and began the ritual of eliminating this life-saving gift.
The heavy snow is cold and merciless, yet it also harbors hidden life. Those lucky enough to escape a life-or-death crisis often find nature's gifts in the deadly snow.
As the cold rabbit meat was swallowed, the old wolf felt his internal organs warm up; the food entering his stomach instantly soothed his fatigue.
Wolves should have packs, but this wasn't the case with an old wolf that was no longer very strong.
Driven by the wolf pack and facing the danger of survival alone in the wild, this was a relatively good ending for an old wolf. The old wolf had no complaints about it, as it understood the rules of the wolf pack.
In the dead of winter, having left its pack alone, it had long anticipated its fate: to die in the snowstorm or be devoured by other ferocious beasts.
When the heavy snow came last night, it thought it might freeze to death in the snowstorm. When it opened its eyes again, it felt joy, the joy of being able to survive.
After finishing a snow rabbit, the old wolf continued its journey along the raised snowdrifts, like a treasure hunter tirelessly opening each snowdrift in search of any treasure that might be inside.
As they descended along the forest belt in the mountains, the snow under their feet gradually increased and became thicker, while the trees became sparser and shorter. The old wolf knew that they were approaching the barren area of the forest, an area where there would obviously be no animals and it would be of no use for treasure hunting.
Just as it turned around, wanting to change direction, a cold wind blew across its cheek. The old wolf stopped in its tracks in confusion. It hesitated for a moment, then continued walking forward.
The crunching sound of footsteps echoed as the old wolf quickened its pace, leaving a trail of wolf footprints on the pristine snow, like blooming flowers in the winter.
"Awooo... Awooo..." As the speed increased, a faint wolf howl clearly entered the old wolf's ears.
Its eyes showed surprise and confusion. Few animals give birth in winter, and wolves usually do not give birth during this period, let alone in such a remote place.
As they drew closer, the howls of the cubs grew clearer, but the old wolf gradually stopped, hesitating to move forward.
It could hear the weakness in the cubs' howls, but it hesitated. Since there were cubs, the mother wolf should be taking care of them. It was not a wise move for it to trespass into another wolf's den. It was already struggling to survive and did not want to cause unnecessary trouble.
"Awooo..." Just as the old wolf chose to leave, a weak wolf howl came again. The cubs were in front of it, and it could hear their hungry, helpless, and panicked cries.
The wolf paused, its steps quickening slightly, and its footprints deepened in the snow. But the wolf still swished its tail, clearing away the footprints, and ran off in another direction.
As dusk fell, the snowflakes that had paused for a day returned, drifting and swirling, pure white snow, beginning to cover the earth once more.
Near the barren hillside, the old wolf appeared silently, a frozen deer leg dangling from its mouth—the greatest treasure it had found.
The cubs' howls still bothered it. Thinking that the mother wolf was probably worried about food and didn't have enough milk to feed the cubs, it returned with a portion of food.
After listening carefully for a while, the old wolf noticed that the cubs' howls were becoming increasingly weak and feeble. He knew that the mother wolf had not yet returned, and this discovery made the old wolf feel somewhat heavy-hearted.
After a day of treasure hunting, it had filled its stomach and recovered most of its strength. The old wolf was also in much better spirits. It hurriedly approached the small hill and quickly buried the deer leg in the snow. Of course, it carefully left a tuft of deer fur exposed so that the returning mother wolf would not miss this gift.
After doing all this, the old wolf trotted a few steps away from the vicinity of the hill, but it did not leave immediately. It hid nearby, waiting for the mother wolf to return before leaving.
Having eaten its fill and regained its strength, it was not afraid of encountering problems with its own kind, since escaping was not an issue.
As the twilight faded and the gray sky was about to turn dark, Old Wolf's heart sank lower and lower.
During the day, the old wolf assumed that the mother wolf was away hunting for treasure. He also considered that the mother of the wolf cubs might have been blocked by the blizzard last night and was therefore unable to return in time. But now that a day had passed, the mother wolf with cubs should have returned by now.
As for the male wolf, the older wolves did not find any markings of male wolves nearby, so they did not hold out much hope.
Night fell, and the darkness enveloped the forest. At that moment, the old wolf's heart sank completely. The unknown mother wolf had not appeared, and it had a bad feeling. The mother wolf's disappearance seemed to leave only two possibilities.
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