Chapter 11: ◎Prairie Model Working Leopard (11)◎
She originally thought that after being trained by Klein to become a strong leopard, she could walk sideways on the grassland like him. This idea disappeared immediately after seeing the muscular lion.
It was the first time Shi Qiao looked at a lion so close, and she was secretly stunned.
According to human standards, a lion at this level is definitely a burly and strong man, the kind who can punch a weakling.
As the male lion approached, Shi Qiao also smelled the aura of aggression that had made Klein look wary just now. The lion, which was heavier than the leopard, had an even stronger sense of oppression against the underage leopard.
Shi Qiao consciously held her breath and did not dare to move rashly. Her neck was not released.
Klein maintained this posture as if he was always ready for the next move.
After living with each other for this period of time, Shi Qiao could clearly sense the emotional changes of the male leopard. Unlike the usual hunting of cheetahs and bullying of other animals, a male lion leader in his prime suddenly broke into their stronghold. This undoubtedly triggered the first level of combat readiness.
Within a hundred meters, there are three kinds of creatures: humans, leopards, and lions. No one except the lion dares to act rashly.
In the lens that can be shot at night, the lion's eyes are like flashlights, slowly exploring the beech forest in the darkness.
Fortunately, Shi Qiao and the others were located much higher than the ground, so Klein did not act recklessly. He used the leopard's ability to hide and blend himself and the little leopard into the tree beneath him.
Before setting foot here, Sunny knew that a leopard was living in this area, and he also smelled the leopard's territory mark, but he did not put the leopard on the list of people to be wary of.
It has annexed two small lions, has more fighting experience than those young male lions, and is not afraid of the invaders who come to seize the throne, let alone a mere leopard.
The pacing lion walked for a long time without seeing any other beasts. Now that he had relaxed his vigilance, he only glanced at the humans not far away. He didn't notice the two leopards on the tree and passed directly by the beech tree.
After the lion Sunny walked away, Andrew also breathed a sigh of relief for the two leopards in the tree.
Although the lion cannot reach such a high tree branch, the hardware is superior. Once a confrontation situation occurs, it is still not optimistic for the leopard, which weighs less than the top predator. Especially if it has not eaten for several days, its physical strength will be reduced than normal.
There have been cases in the past where a leopard easily defeated a lion in a downwind game, but the victory was against a slightly smaller female lion. In other cases, either the male lion was afraid of being injured and was unwilling to fight with a real sword, or it was a 30-70 fight.
If you really want to calculate it, the winning rate of a leopard in a fight is not high, but the probability of being killed by a lion alone is also very low.
A truly perfect cat on the grassland, it is more flexible and agile than a lion. A leopard with combat experience cannot be suppressed by a lion.
The moment Shi Qiao saw the lion, her heart was in her throat. She stared at the opponent's every move without blinking, and at the same time, she quickly analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of both sides in her mind.
To be fair, with Klein's strength, he would not necessarily lose in a fight with the Lion, but she also really didn't want to see him get hurt.
Any injury to the beast that affects its movement and hunting is a fatal blow. If possible, try not to confront the lion head-on. When there are no interests involved, it is better not to disturb each other than to suffer both sides.
The ideal is very fulfilling, but the reality is that the other party's invasion of the territory itself involves a struggle for interests.
When Sunny divides this territory into the territory of the lions, their competitors will have more than one lion, and behind it is an entire pride of lions. The food shortage crisis in the dry season will become more and more serious, and they will face the risk of being attacked from both sides at any time.
It is better for animals like lions that live in groups than solitary beasts. At least they can scare people when hunting and fighting.
It was impossible for the lion leader to voluntarily give up the land with the lake, so the little leopard tried to think optimistically.
At worst, they can try to live in harmony with the lions. If that doesn't work, they can hide away. If they can't afford to offend them, they can hide.
The appearance of the male lion delayed the hunting trip. After the lion disappeared completely, Klein released his grip on the little leopard and went in the opposite direction to find food.
Shi Qiao watched the opponent jump off the branch without hesitation, and could only climb to a higher branch to wait for the opponent to return victoriously. At the same time, she silently prayed that Klein would never encounter a lion.
She doesn't know if tonight's hunting activity did not go well or if there was some trouble. Usually, at this time, the boss would have taken the prey back home, but today there was no movement.
This is the first time they have been separated for such a long time since being picked up by the other party, and it was also after seeing the lion.
The little leopard couldn't help but think of many scenes of beasts fighting.
Even if this grassland is very big, there is no guarantee that they will meet on a narrow road just like this. Thinking of a certain male leopard's usual arrogance towards other animals, Shi Qiao was extremely worried that the other animals would get into a fight out of impulse.
The night curtain in the sky has turned from thick black ink to gray, and soon the first ray of fish belly white will be revealed.
Every time there was a slight sound in the bushes, the little leopard would prick up its ears and stretch its neck to wait, but no familiar figure was seen every time. Shi Qiao was so anxious that she circled back and forth in the tree, but she didn't dare to get off the tree and run around easily.
Before she saw the lion, she might have dared to find him. Now that there was no boss, she had to ensure her own safety first.
If the other party finally comes back, and she and the boss happen to miss it and burp outside, then the gain outweighs the loss.
Shi Qiao decided to wait another day after dawn.
She had to wait two days at most. If Klein didn't come back, she would go out to find the leopard.
Another off-road vehicle was arranged to look for the male leopard who was looking for food. Andrew took a short rest for half the night and continued to photograph the "left-behind children" in the trees after dawn.
"Nearly seven hours have passed since Klein left. We can see that the little female did not sleep or move her position. She remained awake and looked at the surrounding environment."
"Obviously, she's been waiting for Klein to come back."
The photographer's eyes were half-closed: "There was no reply from the walkie-talkie, and the other car we sent couldn't find Klein. He hasn't been gone for too long. I hope he won't encounter the worst encounter."
The little cub's worried look was very obvious, and her amber eyes were no longer as cheerful as before. Andrew couldn't bear to imagine any cruel consequences, so he used the camera to observe the surroundings of the little leopard who looked very worried.
Unfortunately, until night fell again, they only saw cheetahs passing by inadvertently.
Shi Qiao looked at the human who was holding up the walkie-talkie and saying something from time to time and finally made a move, jumped from the safe tree, and walked step by step towards the off-road vehicle.
She was too far away to hear what the humans were saying. She guessed that there would be humans following Klein. After all, the leopard hunting scene was very precious. In addition, there was the possibility of photographing a confrontation between a leopard and a lion. The photographer definitely didn't want to miss it.
Andrew looked at a certain little leopard that approached him uncharacteristically and took the walkie-talkie in surprise and forgot to reply.
The camera was tilted downward little by little by the human and she finally came to the side of the car. The female leopard sat down less than five meters away from him.
At this time, Shi Qiao couldn't care less about not wanting to be slapped in the face. She stared straight at the walkie-talkie in the other person's hand, wanting to see if she could use humans to get information about Klein.
The walkie-talkie that had not received a reply buzzed, and other colleagues tracking the male leopard sent Andrew a message.
"The male leopard was found. He was near the black locust forest 30 kilometers away. No hunting footage was taken. The prey was a dog antelope."
Shi Qiao could clearly hear the loudspeaker's voice. Knowing that nothing else happened to the other party, she finally let go of the worries that had hung over her all night.
Traveling so far away for hunting, it is easy to encounter danger when bringing prey back. The aroma of food is the biggest temptation in the dry season. Shi Qiao hopes that the other party will find a nearby tree and eat it directly, so as not to attract hyenas and lions just to bring it back.
"It seems that he doesn't intend to eat it. He wants to bring the prey back and is returning in your direction."
Andrew said "Received" and glanced at the little leopard opposite who kept looking into the distance: "He is coming back to feed his cubs. There is a little cub here who is still crying for feeding."
The human's words made the little leopard feel wrinkled.
She doesn't want any food, she just wants to watch the male leopard come back with all its beard and tail.
Sure enough, an interesting boss like Klein couldn't enjoy the food all to himself. He was still thinking about the little cub at home. Shi Qiao was extremely moved but at the same time felt that she had nothing to repay.
The desire to grow up and become an adult leopard has never been so urgent.
If she were an adult leopard now, and two leopards were hunting at the same time, the success rate would definitely be greatly increased, and they would not have to be left in the tree as a "protection object", and could advance and retreat together with each other.
The people and the leopard waited together for a while, and Andrew felt that he was very destined for this little leopard.
Especially when the other person is sitting quietly next to the car, completely non-aggressive, like a well-behaved kitten wearing leopard print clothes, which makes humans feel itchy and want to pet her and smooth her fur.
Andrew switched to photo mode and took close-ups of this cute little leopard one after another, taking photos from every angle before stopping.
He can't actually meet each other, but he can take the photos back and post them online to satisfy those netizens who are keen on sucking cubs and making everyone feel itchy together.
After receiving the news from his companion that the male leopard had returned safely, Andrew switched the camera and pointed it in the north direction.
Shi Qiao stood up at the same time and ran towards the north quickly.
After seeing the big leopard, the little leopard shouted excitedly at the other party: "Klein!"
For the first time, Shi Qiao felt that it was such a joy to see the other person again. Her ears twitched as she ran in front of the other person without stopping and directly hit him.
Fortunately, the opponent dropped the prey in time, otherwise the cub would have hit the small sharp corner on the head of the antelope.
The little leopard rubbed the male leopard's head back and forth, then rubbed his head and then his back and tail. It was an unprecedented intimacy.
Klein didn't have time to accuse the other party of running down without permission before he was surrounded by enthusiasm. He closed his mouth again when he was about to open it. He turned his back on the guest and pushed the little leopard onto its butt with his head.
Shi Qiao patted her butt and stood up. She continued to run up and stick to the opponent. She circled the opponent and found the bloody trail that had been bitten on the opponent's back.
Klein lowered his head and took the little leopard to the other side, covering the wounds on his body, and called out to her.
"Go back and eat."
Following the other party back to the tree, Shi Qiao immediately went over to observe the wounds on the other party. The human did not mention what other predators the other party had encountered. These wounds should have been left before the car rushed over.
He wanted to ask the little leopard to eat quickly, but the other party forced him to answer where the wound came from.
Klein said succinctly: "There was a fight."
With the lion.
It turned out that he deliberately deviated from the direction of the lion and did not find suitable prey. Instead, he encountered a passing herd of elephants. To avoid these big guys, he had to change his route. After going around in a circle, Klein prepared to chase a group of zebras, but he almost ran into a male lion that was also hunting.
In the end, the prey was not caught, so he had to fight with the opponent first.
Sunny, who originally had to hunt by himself and couldn't feed the lioness, was very annoyed. Now he saw the leopard who didn't know the heights of the world and wanted to snatch the prey. Of course, he couldn't give in.
But it underestimated the strength of this leopard.
After several meetings, it didn't get any advantage from the opponent's claws. Instead, it was beaten back by the extremely ferocious male leopard.
There seemed to be fire burning in the opponent's eyes, and he would not leave any room for fighting.
Neither leaving room for the opponent nor leaving room for yourself, not defending at all, only attacking.
This style of fighting to the death made the lion, who cherished his life, feel that the leopard in front of him was a lunatic who was not easy to mess with!
Before he was attacked and suffered more injuries that affected his movement, Sunny retreated humiliatingly. At the same time, the zebra he was going to hunt was also disturbed.
He had to go further to continue hunting, which wasted almost a day and a night.
The life-and-death battle was brought to an end by the opponent's words. The little leopard lowered its face and licked the wounds on the opponent's body that were scratched by the lion's claws.
It wasn't the first time that a little kid had licked his wound, but this time the wound was more dense and the blood stains were very long. The lick on his back stung slightly, but it was even more obvious than before.
A certain cub seemed to be a leopard-shaped analgesic. Just by licking the wound, the pain was replaced by an itch like the wind blowing.
Klein shook his tail uncomfortably, followed by a more careful and slight licking.
"Don't fight anymore. If you see a lion, run away! Do you hear me?" Shi Qiao looked serious.
The male leopard on the side pretended not to hear and concentrated on dealing with the dog antelope.
The little leopard glanced at the silent male leopard, couldn't hold it back, and slapped her paw on his head.
Klein paused while preparing to feed and glanced at the cub.
The little one is getting more and more courageous. It seems that she is quite spoiled and he has to find a way to establish the majesty of the big leopard...
Shi Qiao watched the other party put down the torn meat and bared his canine teeth at her, thinking that the other party was rebellious and determined to fight the lion.
She thought of some leopards who were soft but not hard, so she could only use the little follower's magic weapon to win: rub hard, back and forth, and roll in front of the opponent.
Under this offensive, the male leopard finally nodded with a complicated mood.
It's quite strange.
He was still capable of fighting against the lion, but when he returned to the cub, all his fighting skills were reduced to mere decoration.
It felt unexpectedly good to have the cub caring about him, and the rebellious leopard was willing to bow his head.