Chapter 27: ◎Prairie Model Working Leopard (27)◎
Although it is not good news, it is better to let a few of them fight among themselves than to keep staring at their territory.
Shi Qiao analyzed the current situation and felt that in the future, they should pay close attention to the trends in the territory next door, otherwise it would be troublesome in the dry season.
Leopards have a large territory, ranging from north to south. Even if they follow the migration of herbivores, they still cannot do without moving to this area. It is very important for them that their neighbors keep their peace.
They were harassed here and there every day with good intentions. If they don't get annoyed to death, it is a waste of time.
Those old fritters were proficient in escaping skills. They were not a scumbag like a cheetah, but they were still quite troublesome. Shi Qiao habitually thought about something, and her head was rubbed by a male leopard.
The other person looked calm as if to comfort her not to take those leopards to heart.
When Shi Qiao met Klein's calm golden eyes, she automatically calmed down. She no longer worried about the trouble that didn't come, and took the opportunity to rub back a few times.
After sending the message, the cheetah consciously refused to leave.
He hasn't hunted yet today, and it will be dinner time soon. He is too lazy to go around catching prey by himself.
Shi Qiao saw the other party's intention to make a living. The hunting activities during this period were too intensive, which gave Cudi a taste of the sweetness. Especially since this guy likes to eat fresh food, this hunting frequency is perfect for him.
The days when there is prey to eat every day allow leopards to accumulate fat. If they want to harvest, they must pay, and the price is to run many miles every day to find prey.
There were more and more herbivores migrating north, so it was easier to find prey. They happened to be hungry, so Shi Qiao cheered up and led the way to catch the prey.
During this time, she had taken over the banner of the main hunter from Klein. She had gone from being a follower behind the boss to a follower who could take charge of her own business, and she also gained the right to choose the menu.
The prey they want to catch today are these gazelles coming from the south.
The rainy and dry seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres are exactly the opposite. Animals on the grassland follow this pattern and move from north to south and south to north every year. They rely on plants and weather to judge when to go and when to stay. This group of gazelles set off early following the wildebeest herd, gnawing on the remaining young leaves and grass as they walked.
These antelopes are smaller than impalas and have naturally bulging eyes that, as the name suggests, always look like they are glaring.
Gazelles are less numerous than impalas, and their populations are not densely distributed. They are not as large as the Impala family, and there are only six or seven gazelles in this group.
The three lurked on the road they must pass, each occupying a direction, quietly waiting for the opportunity to encircle them.
When he first took over the main position, Little Leopard was often unsure of when was the most appropriate time to make a surprise attack. Either advance or delay. If they are too impatient, the prey will show up before it reaches the best spot and let the opponent escape. If they are too impatient, they will only see the prey's exhaust.
Now Shi Qiao has become very good at it.
Leopards are famous for hiding themselves. As long as they hide in the dark, it is difficult for other animals to find each other.
Shi Qiao called this skill "believing in one's own invisibility". When she first started learning ambush, she always felt that she would be discovered. Later, she simply brainwashed herself and firmly believed that she could become invisible in front of prey. Coupled with the top tips taught by the boss, she slowly understood it.
When the group of gazelles comes near the bushes, the leopards, who are holding their breath and hiding their figures, will jump up, look at their targets, and pounce on each other.
After finding the best time, hunting will become twice the result with half the effort. Sometimes she can bite off the prey's neck directly without chasing. Sometimes she still needs to chase, such as when facing this group of agile gazelles.
The little leopard pounced on the opponent but was dodged to avoid the fatal blow. The gazelle is much more agile than the impala, and its movements are also very alert. It will jump at the sight of bushes.
Seeing that the little leopard missed, Cudi the cheetah surrounded it from the front, and Klein attacked from the side.
Shi Qiao caught up from behind, jumped up, and pounced on the gazelle's back again. This time the adult male gazelle, frightened from three directions, was finally thrown to the ground by her. Once a herbivore falls in front of a beast, it is difficult to stand up again.
The little leopard lowered her head and bit the prey's neck quickly and accurately.
Cudi cheered and came over to cook with joy.
The lions in the distance were already accustomed to these three strange combinations. They lay quietly on the side to see if they could nibble on them again later. Anyway, those leopards often nibbled on the lions' prey.
Gazelle meat is tender and very easy to chew. After staying in the grassland for a long time, Shi Qiao had long forgotten what it means to chew carefully and eat slowly. The beasts just want to eat meat in big mouths!
Although hunting with a leopard is easy, it means that he can't have the best parts of the prey to himself. With Klein around, the dining spot in front of the belly has always belonged to the little leopard.
Cudi retreated to nibble on the hind mounds of his prey, which are fat and where leopards like to eat.
It has to be said that a certain male leopard is really a very qualified "mother". He actually raised the little cub with a bigger fart to the size it is now. Even Cudi is convinced by his self-taught cub-raising skills.
Without the existence of the little leopard, it might not be able to break into the leopard circle now.
After thinking about it, Cudi thought that he himself was very wise. Fortunately, he was able to act as a hunting partner for the little kid. Now that he is so accomplished in hunting, the cheetah also plays a major role. He can be regarded as half of the little leopard's teacher.
If Shi Qiao knew that the other party still wanted to be her teacher, she would definitely give him a few paws to see if there was a teacher who was so much weaker than his own student.
In addition to the skills she invented and created, all her knowledge was taught step by step by the boss. A certain cheetah just ran with her to practice, and his face was not too big.
They won't stop until they've eaten enough of the prey they've caught.
The three devoured all the good meat from an adult gazelle. Shi Qiao looked at the big hole in the gazelle's body that she had torn out from her own bite, and realized that she now had a bigger appetite than a cheetah, and she was no longer a cub that could fill up with just a few mouthfuls of meat.
She sighed in her heart, raising cubs is really difficult, it requires dedication and a lot of resources.
Fortunately, she lived up to his expectations, and didn't treat her like a leopard who needed to chew on her old age.
Two leopards and one cheetah wiped their mouths after eating and left. When the lions came over to take a look, they found that there was no meat at all. Some leopards have bigger appetites than lions!
The lionesses thought it was a waste of time, and only the sub-adult lions were left gnawing at the remaining red meat. No matter how small the flies were, they were still meat, so they had to eat some.
After eating a gazelle, the leopard did not go back to rest directly. Instead, it patrolled the edge of the territory that was easily approached by other similar species and re-marked the areas where the smell had faded. The little leopard's eyes and claws quickly caught the cheetah that wanted to escape.
After eating and drinking enough, does he want to pat his butt and leave?
No way, the boss hasn't rested yet, can the subordinate take a rest early?
Cudi: "..."
A certain little leopard doesn't have too much professional ethics. Do they think that everyone can have such a sense of accomplishment as a follower like her?
Shi Qiao simply didn't want to see the other person's style of patting his butt and leaving after he was full. With her ready-made little brother in hand, she threw the cheetah to the left to observe the movement while she and Klein patrolled the right side.
They were all working, and whoever had the toughest fists had the final say. The cheetah pinched his nose and walked in the opposite direction of his stronghold.
There was only a little leopard left around him. Klein led the little leopard toward the upper right side of the territory. If he hadn't agreed to Cudi's condition of exchanging labor with the other party, he would still prefer to live alone with the little leopard.
If there is one more, it will feel very noisy.
Now, walking slowly on the edge of the treeless area, with the no longer humid breeze blowing on him during the rainy season, Shi Qiao felt a long-lost sense of comfort.
It would be nice if the dry season never came and the weather could remain so neither hot nor dry nor wet, but it's a pity that she can only think about it in her dreams.
There were baboons behind them who kept calling back and forth in the trees as if they didn't understand why the two leopards who were chasing each other a few days ago were now reunited.
Shi Qiao: It has never been broken at all.
She has had a feud with the baboons since she was a child. She was annoyed when she heard their squeaking sounds. The little leopard arched its back and roared twice fiercely toward the tree behind it. Seeing the annoying green baboons, they became much quieter instantly and only dared to whisper.
Shi Qiao turned her head with satisfaction.
She no longer has to look at the faces of baboons like she did when she was a child. It's great to be an adult.
Klein also looked behind him. His dark golden eyes were full of warnings. The release of air pressure had its own intimidating power. The green baboons finally shut their mouths and ran away grabbing the branches.
He turned around and saw the admiring look of the little leopard. Even though she had been a little leopard who was good at blowing rainbow farts since she was a child, Klein was still impressed by this look.
Compared to a leopard guarding a large territory alone, life now has more joys which were unimaginable before.
The incident of picking up a cub abruptly reversed the course of a determined loner, causing him to go against his selfish self and become a man who wanted to share everything he had with the other person, and even wanted to give more than the other person needed.
However, the cub was raised too well and was always coveted by other leopards.
Klein frowned when he thought about the situation in the territory next door. He wondered if there was something wrong with the way he raised it. The little leopard was different from other females he had seen.
Sometimes she is very smart, sometimes she lacks intuition.
There is no way, he still has to take care of his own cubs. This is the trouble of happiness.
Shi Qiao didn't know what the other person was thinking. She always walked unconsciously next to Klein, as if she had a magnet and the other person was the iron.
It was rare to be quiet around, and the baboons had disappeared. She didn't need to get too close to smell the sweet scent of the boss, and the closer she got, the clearer she could smell it.
When she was a cub, she felt that the other person smelled good and felt safe, but she had never felt it smell so good.
The little leopard shrugged its nose without any trace, feeling that there was either something wrong with its own nose or something wrong with the pheromones on the big brother's body.
This smell gradually overshadowed the grass and sand she could smell, covering all the smells on the grassland, lingering around her for a long time.
An idea flashed through Shi Qiao's mind and she thought, maybe the boss has entered a mature stage.
Animals will emit their own unique scent during special periods to attract the opposite sex. In other words, there will be animal pheromones specially used for courtship.
Shi Qiao thought so and took a deep breath silently again.
But she got along with him day and night every day, and the boss was so calm, and it didn't look like he was in heat at all. When she saw the other person's face, which was the same as usual, she felt that she was overthinking it.
The little leopard shook her head, threw away the thoughts in her mind, and turned her attention to the flowers and plants next to her.
However, this idea was verified when they went back to sleep after the patrol.
As usual, Shi Qiao went up to a tree branch with the other party to prepare for a rest. As usual, Shi Qiao started the cleaning work before going to bed. She licked her own fur, mainly cleaning the places that were stained when eating, as well as the paws that she always used.
Licking fur is similar to taking a bath. The licking becomes more and more addictive. The little leopard concentrates on licking its paws. After licking its two front paws, it turns its head to lick its hind legs.
As a result, from this angle, she happened to see Klein beside her taking care of himself, but in an indescribable position.
It's not like she haven't seen him licking before, but when she was a cub, she had no distracting thoughts, and the shock she felt when she saw it now is completely different.
Shi Qiao was trying to brainwash herself, pretending not to see it, and continued to lick her hair, but it backfired. If she wanted to lick where she wanted, she had to face the other person's licking position. It happened that the other person noticed that she had stopped and stopped to look up at her.
Without the licking action to cover it up, Shi Qiao was caught off guard and saw clearly.
The little leopard's eyes widened and she turned her head sharply.
Shi Qiao awkwardly raised her numb front paws to fan herself. She thought she was seeing the quiet and hibernating version of little Klein, but she never expected that she was seeing the energetic version!
When the heat all over her body subsided, Shi Qiao used the cover of licking her fur to take another sneak peek.
The scene that made her want to run to another tree did not happen. The other party did not take care of it, but let it go and licked the surrounding fur. It looked like an ascetic type.
He raised his eyes and caught a glimpse of the little leopard pretending to lower her eyebrows and licking her hind legs smoothly. He even thought enough to come over and lick her hind legs together.
Shi Qiao quickly retracted her legs, indicating that she could rely on herself.
Only then did she think about it belatedly, which meant that her judgment during the day was correct. No wonder she found the other person to be incredibly fragrant after the rainy season.
The boss has really reached maturity.