Chapter 15: ◎Prairie Model Working Leopard (15)◎
Her fainting startled both the male leopard and the humans.
In the night vision lens, the little leopard tilted its head and closed its eyes, which made the photographer's heart skip a beat.
"Thea accidentally hit her head when she was on the warthog just now. We haven't seen any skin injuries on her so far, and her body is still heaving."
The human drove closer and muttered, thinking about using a flashlight to illuminate it and see more clearly.
However, when he got closer to the two leopards, a certain large leopard stood up and looked at the visitor. The latter's back was arched and his eyes were sharp. He was obviously anxious and uneasy.
He gave a low warning sound to the humans, telling them to be wise and not to come any closer.
Leopards are powerful and sensitive creatures that are easily angered. Andrew has been in the industry for so many years and can approach lions and cheetahs casually, but he still has a sense of awe for leopards and can only give up his past ideas and continue to keep a safe distance.
Fortunately, Shi Qiao woke up within a few minutes of fainting, and she was stunned as soon as she opened her eyes.
She has never seen the big guy with such an ugly face.
The other party was licking her face over and over again. When he saw the little leopard shaking her head, he relaxed his frown and went over to nudge the little one lying on the ground with his head.
Shi Qiao weakly waved her paws and let her lie down for a while, her head still buzzing.
Seeing that she was so weak, a certain male leopard became even more anxious and was about to pick her up. Shi Qiao was picked up directly, and regardless of the pain in the back of her neck, she rushed forward and bit the warthog that she had finally caught.
The first prey in her life couldn't just be thrown here carelessly and be picked up by other animals.
Shi Qiao dragged the warthog toward their habitat. The weight of the prey was even heavier than her.
It's just a slight dizziness, but she is the most stubborn leopard!
Seeing that the little leopard was still so energetic, Klein put aside half of his anxiety. Klein walked over and picked up the precious warthog for the other party. He walked forward and leaned down towards the little leopard, gesturing for the other party to climb onto his back.
Shi Qiao wanted to say that it was okay for her to walk back, but seeing the male leopard's insistence, she climbed up obediently in order not to worry him.
Klein held the prey in his mouth and carried a small leopard on his back. Just like when he first picked up the leopard cub, a leopard carried everything.
Shi Qiao remembered that before they migrated to the north, she would lie on the boss's back like this. At that time, she felt that his back was wide enough for her to roll on. Now that she is getting bigger and bigger, the size difference is not as exaggerated as when she was a child, but she still feels safe.
The other party walked steadily step by step, his spine was straight, and she couldn't feel any bumps. Shi Qiao was no longer dizzy, and she didn't feel like vomiting that much anymore.
Shi Qiao thought to herself that Klein was really a reliable leopard. If he hadn't been by her side, she wouldn't have had the courage to challenge the prey so early. She decided to start working for the big boss from this warthog.
From now on, all the prey caught by the little followers will be eaten by the big boss!
Back on the zelkova tree, Shi Qiao fed the warthog into the other person's mouth, eating it in big gulps without being polite to her.
The male leopard took the prey away from her. This was the first precious prey caught by the little leopard. It is of commemorative significance. The fruits of her labor should be enjoyed by herself.
Shi Qiao knew that with the boss's personality, he would definitely not eat the warthog, so the little leopard deliberately drooped its ears, showing a pitiful look.
"Why don't you eat my prey? Does Klein think the warthog is too small?"
? ? ?
As soon as he saw the little leopard drooping her head in despair, a certain male leopard's heart skipped a beat. As expected, the other male leopard started whining the next second, as if she would keep crying if he didn't eat.
The little leopard turned around and jumped up to a higher tree branch. It covered its eyes with its front paws and growled at the leopard below. "If you don't eat it, what's the point of hunting? I don't want to hunt anymore."
That was a lie.
Hunting is so much fun.
That sense of accomplishment cannot be offset even if she is injured. If every time the boss can eat the prey caught by her own claws, she can be ready to go to work 24 hours a day.
Klein had no choice but to open his mouth and take a bite of the warthog: "Come down, I'll eat it."
Shi Qiao immediately moved her paw away, but she still looked sad. Seeing that the other person actually took the food into his mouth, she walked down to the other person in a good-natured manner, learned the previous process of the other person feeding her, and passionately tore open the warthog's skin and flesh.
The leopard cub is so big now. If Klein didn't know that the other party was just pretending to show him, then he would have been pregnant with cubs for nothing in the past few months.
Feeling that he figured out what the little leopard was most afraid of, the male leopard unhappily pulled the leopard closer to him with his tail, opened his mouth, and bit the little leopard's fluffy ear, biting the two together, and grinding it with his canine teeth as if to vent his anger.
Shi Qiao let out a cry of pain and felt that her ears were bitten with teeth marks.
The little leopard frowned, covering its ears with two front paws, one on each side, and whispered: "You can eat my prey, but don't eat me."
Klein: "..."
What should he do if the cub gets bigger and gets better at handling leopards?
Especially when being stared at by the other party's big eyes that sparkle like a lake, the cold and hard heart will become warm with the lake water, and it will melt as it flows.
There is no ice or snow on the grassland, but he can feel the ice and snow melting in front of a certain little leopard.
The male leopard suppressed his desire to rub the other man's skin and lowered his head to eat the warthog with an expressionless expression.
Shi Qiao watched the boss tear off the red meat with his sharp teeth and then chewed it vigorously. The sight of these few mouthfuls made her flesh all over her body tighten, and she sighed in her heart that the boss's mouth was so good, and it made her a little bit greedy.
Just as the little leopard swallowed secretly, the other party put the warthog carcass with only the essence of the abdomen back in front of her, indicating that he had finished eating and it was her turn.
Shi Qiao wanted to persuade the other party to eat all the prey, but she didn't expect to be beaten first.
The male leopard shouted twice before her: "If you don't eat, I won't eat your prey in the future."
Shi Qiao: "..."
So hateful.
The little leopard took the food baton dejectedly, feeling deeply that the other person was choking her and could not speak. She could only eat and eat while holding her breath and wiping out the warthog.
In the end, the two leopards ate Shi Qiao's first prey together. The little leopard rubbed its belly and felt very satisfied with itself.
Klein held her down and licked her head, which hit a stone while catching the pig. He also licked the ear that had been bitten just now. The pain and fatigue in her body disappeared along with it.
In the afternoon after dinner, the wind in the dry season is no longer as hot and dry as before and even brings a touch of coolness when it blows over. This means that the dry season is about to end and the rainy season is coming.
Human beings reluctantly ended this unit with a shot of two leopards licking each other's fur in a tree.
Andrew has been photographing the leopards for most of the dry season. From the initial curiosity about the male leopard and his cubs, to now he is accustomed to the exciting and warm grassland life of one large and one small child. Being with animals can soothe the restless soul of human beings. He has also learned a lot from animals.
He even didn't want to turn off the camera.
"We will be withdrawing from the grassland in the next few days. In six months, when the next dry season comes, Thea should have grown into a sub-adult who can catch prey on her own. I hope to continue to meet them."
As the viewfinder dimmed, the off-road vehicle slowly drove away from the beech forest until it disappeared into a small dot.
The photographer returned to the city where humans gather, and what he brought back was a flood-style documentary Reuters that made wildlife lovers ecstatic.
The official seems to have taken a fancy to the popularity of a certain leopard pair and took the lead in building momentum by surfing the Internet. The photographer also followed suit and distributed his treasured photos for free. To avoid revealing too much about the final film, most of them were private photos that he took in his spare time and planned to keep for himself to enjoy.
Among them are when the three eat together, the leopard and cheetah hunting together, the small leopard watching not far away, and big and small leopards resting on each other's trees and feeding each other.
The more Andrew sorted it out, the more shocked he became that he had taken so many photos without knowing it.
Arranged according to date, it is simply a coming-of-age movie about little Thea, and most of them are accompanied by Klein.
The humans who had been keeping tabs on the film crew's accounts were dazzled by the fact that they had obtained so much material at once. They carefully studied each picture over and over again, and finally came to a unanimous conclusion.
The male leopard is really good at raising cubs.
It is obvious to the naked eye that Thea is getting cuter and cuter. She is neither fat nor thin but has muscles. She is beautiful and clean. She is well-raised at first glance.
The little leopard would avoid the camera at first, but now it has become more and more calm. It also has a camera sense and can automatically capture the photographer's angle.
The photographer himself commented under the photo——I really want to keep taking pictures next to them. As long as Thea and Klein are together, it will be difficult to share the lens with other animals.
Others also felt the same. They joined in the fun at the beginning and are now looking forward to seeing the video version of the leopard cub.
——Thea, my destined prairie goose! Why is every picture so photogenic?
——I think you can consider enrolling other males in a class called "Daddy Klein's Cub Raising Class"
——This is the name of the documentary. It's hilarious.
——I think the documentary can be called "Thea's Growth Diary". After all, just by looking at the number of photos, you can see the photographer's preference.
——No way, humans are all visual animals, and we male mothers are also handsome and cool.
——To be honest, Thea and Klein are the most beautiful leopards I have ever seen, and they also made me feel the charm of wild animals.
——The photos taken by the photographer are also very technical. Each one is wild and beautiful. The roughness brought by the grassland and the delicate emotions between the leopards are blended together. This is the wonder of nature.
——Upstairs, your words are really good! If you can speak, speak more.
——Hey, am I the only one who wants to know the age difference between Thea and Klein? Does anyone know what I mean?
——I understand, you only care about family ties, I only dare to secretly look forward to Thea becoming an adult
——It's a pity that Thea is still young.
——She will grow up in the next dry season. I don't know if Klein will drive her away by then. Then Thea will have to start her own business, and we will never see them appear at the same time in the future.
——It's too late to have any illusions, woo woo woo, I hope they will always be together!
——Let nature take its course. The cubs will become independent sooner or later when they grow up. Even the male and female leopards, such loners, have their own territories.
——Humans always like to look at the emotions between animals from a subjective perspective, just like most documentaries like to make up stories.
——Even if the story is made up, the companionship between them is real.
——Whether they will go their separate ways will be known in the next dry season!
Unexpectedly, the discussion would lead to some minor quarrels at the end, and the turmoil on the Internet had nothing to do with the parties involved in reality.
A thin drizzle fell in the sky, and as the first rain fell, the valley was closed, and the originally dry and yellow savanna began to be slowly dyed green by the rain.
Some rainwater seems to contain magical potions that can speed up the growth of animals and plants. The grass and trees sprouted new buds and stretched their trunks. The little leopard grew up at a steady speed in the rains. The markings on its body were like roses in the desert, and it swayed with its smooth body when walking.
A writer mentioned in his book that a long time ago, humans somewhere once thought that leopards were the only animals that could emit fragrance.
The fur and markings on the leopard's body are like the Julia roses on the grassland. The fragrant fragrance on each rose can attract prey to come closer, making them indulge in it and be captured willingly.
Shi Qiao used to think this statement was quite romantic, but now she finally realized it.
These bookwriters can really fool you.
If it weren't for the fact that there was no smell on her body, other animals would run away when they saw her. She always imagined that leopards were strange beasts on the grassland.
Hunting has become much easier this season. With the experience from the last time, Shi Qiao no longer has to hide in the trees all day long like before. She can hunt openly and openly with the boss every time.
Although the road was a bit slippery and Shi Qiao walked deeper and deeper, even her clean paws were covered with mud, she couldn't help being in a good mood.
It turns out that growing up is such a happy thing for Leopard!
During the rainy season, she saw more plants than she had ever seen before. The tenacious little flower growing on the grassland, Senecio, had only been seen in grasslands and green belts before, but she never expected that it could be seen on grasslands thousands of miles away.
The tender yellow petals were swaying in the drizzle. Shi Qiao stopped and was about to lower her head to smell it. However, a large leopard next to her opened its mouth, bit off the stem, and swallowed it in one gulp.
He actually ate it directly.
Shi Qiao looked at Klein in surprise, with suspicion in her eyes. She remembered that Senecio can be used as medicine in traditional Chinese medicine. Can this thing be delicious?
The other party swallowed the bitter-tasting little flower without changing his expression, turned around, found another one, and fed it directly to the little leopard.
Shi Qiao chewed a bit, her little face suddenly wrinkled with pain, and she spat out the Senecio in her mouth: "Klein, you big bad guy!"
He deliberately ate it so deliciously just so that she could eat it without warning, which made her have a bad conscience!
The opponent ran away, leaving the little leopard behind. Of course, Shi Qiao refused to let the opponent go easily. She also bit off a small flower and chased after him, hoping to continue to make the opponent suffer.
Cheetah Cudi followed slowly, maturely shaking his head.
As the days go by, it feels more and more redundant.
If it weren't for the sake of food, which good cheetah would be willing to follow leopards all day long?
If it weren't for the sake of food, which good cheetah would be willing to follow a leopard all day long, especially if it has to endure the double standards of some leopards, that is, it is brave, neither humble nor arrogant, flexible and adaptable.
Klein in the front allowed the little leopard to stuff Senecio into his mouth at the insistence of the little leopard.
In the end, he has to pretend to be suffering under the expectant eyes of the other party.
The little cub is becoming more and more like him to a certain extent. He eats soft things but not hard things. Seeing him gritting his canine teeth in pain, he began to reflect on whether he had picked too big a deal.
Klein licked Thea, turned his head, and barked impatiently at the dilly-dallying cheetah.
After Cudi followed up in anger, they began to officially search for today's hunting target.
The little leopard is no longer what it used to be. She has gained the right to participate in the pursuit of prey. She is no longer a cub. If you round up, she can be called a new sub-adult.
Combat power and speed are steadily improving.
Thanks to the fact that she often chased cheetahs, Shi Qiao felt that although her speed was still a little behind compared to the cheetah, she would definitely be among the best among the cheetahs.
Shi Qiao participated in the capture of a gazelle, and the main force was still Klein. She and Cudi were responsible for chasing and intercepting it from two directions.
Relying on the tacit understanding she has developed with Klein for such a long time, the little leopard can tell what the opponent is going to do next from her eyes, which is much better than the cheetah who has been training for so long and often fails to understand the leopard's tactics.
Looking at the entire leopard world, there are not many people who are as responsive and quick-witted as she is.
It all depends on the self-cultivation of the little follower.
Klein chased an adult male gazelle and ran straight toward the acacia forest. Shi Qiao understood the situation and shouted to the cheetah: "You avoid the acacias and run to the right, and I will go to the left."
Trees are an obstacle for the cheetah, which is good at running, so Cudi, who is faster, must go around to the front to block it.
Shi Qiao kept her eyes on the gazelle's movement route, mentally calculating where the gazelle would turn. At the same time, she accelerated and ran toward the predicted location, waiting for the prey to run into the ambush circle.
She estimated that the gazelle was almost certain. When the gazelle saw the cheetah coming from the right in front of it, it panicked and turned to the left.
Shi Qiao saw the right opportunity and jumped down from the tree, bit the prey's neck, and successfully closed the net.
Her bite strength is not very good, and it is difficult for her to bite the neck bone as quickly and accurately as Klein. The prey cannot be killed, and she has to rely on the boss to finish it off.
After dealing with the prey that couldn't kick its legs, Klein licked the blood from his mouth, raised his head, and gave his cub a head rub: "Thea can do it better."
Cudi: "I can hear you."
Shi Qiao moved closer: "I didn't hear clearly."
"I was wrong." Klein glanced at the little baby and knew that the other party was not very satisfied with the evaluation, so he changed his words and said, "Thea is much more capable than Cudi."
Little Leopard nodded with satisfaction, that's pretty much it!
What makes the leopard happier after hunting than catching the prey is the rainbow fart from the boss.
Although she can't compete with Klein, she can compete with Cheetah!
She has little confidence in her physical strength, but her hunting strategy is more scientific than other beasts, which at least reduces the chance of failure to a large extent.
The three had a big meal, and it started to rain again.
As the prey became more abundant, they no longer had to work hard to save food for the next meal as before. The remaining corpses are just left where they are, and other animals can come and eat the leftovers. The hyenas dare not come to grab food in front of them, and the only ones facing them are lions.
The female lions of the pride do not dare to fight directly like the male lions. They wait for the leopard to finish eating before following closely behind.
Shi Qiao heard a rustling sound in the distance and thought it was a lion coming.
Klein was still arrogant in his treatment of lions. He didn't take the five-year-old lions other than the leader of the lions, Sunny, into consideration. Most of the male lions in the pride are sub-adult, and the female lions can't beat him. Even the lions can't delay eating.
The cheetah simply knows that it can run fast. It can slip very fast within five meters and eat with its mouth full of blood.
Only Shi Qiao was more cautious about these sounds. She was afraid of underestimating the enemy, so she pricked her ears to see if the opponent would go further. After passing through this bush, they were less than five meters away from them. It would be easy to suffer losses when attacking from behind.
As soon as she turned around, there was nothing in the grass. She immediately raised her head and looked upward. Then she locked on one spot and saw with her sharp eyes the money spots moving in the middle of the tree crown.
It wasn't a lion, it was a strange leopard she had never seen before.