Snow Leopard Elegy

Chapter 16 Wild Cheetah (1)
Once you open the barriers of your mind
Although cheetahs belong to the cat family, they are significantly different from authentic cats in many aspects such as morphological characteristics and hunting behavior.It is tall and thin, with slender limbs, no patellas on its knees, no claw sheaths, and it cannot climb trees. It has similar characteristics to canines, so some animal taxonomists call it a heterogeneous species of cats, or are relatives of canines.

If you want to judge the best hunter of land animals, it must be the cheetah.It has extremely strong explosive power and is the undisputed champion of sprinting in the animal kingdom. It can chase its prey at a speed of up to [-] kilometers per hour. Once it catches any herbivore in the world, it cannot escape by luck.When hunting, it can adopt the tactics of ambushes and surprise attacks of feline animals. It waits for the prey to approach with concentration and breath in the dark. The prey is suffocated to death; it can also give full play to the strengths of canines. After finding the prey, they will chase after them and run for a long distance. until.

There is also a little-known characteristic of cheetahs. They live together in a small group of five or six. The number of male leopards in the group is more than the number of female leopards. The ratio is about 3:1. This kind of marriage form of one female and one male, It is unique among mammals.

According to field surveys, cheetahs are mainly produced in Africa, and are also found in India and Palestine in Asia. Unfortunately, with the population explosion in Asia, the number of cheetahs in Asia has decreased sharply in the past 30 years, and they are on the verge of extinction.

The geographical environment and climatic conditions in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province are similar to those of India. For the purpose of protecting wild animals and maintaining ecological balance, UNESCO allocated a sum of money to Kunming Yuantong Mountain Zoo and requested the establishment of a cheetah rewilding center, which will be qualified after rewilding. The cheetahs were released into the primeval forest of Xishuangbanna.

The so-called rewilding center is to find a suitable place to simulate a wild environment, so that the cheetahs that originally lived in zoo cages can gradually adapt to wild life.It can be said that the rewilding center is equivalent to a school, relay station and training base for the transformation of zoo residents into wild animals.

It is generally believed that tigers, leopards, and wolves imprisoned in zoos will immediately become predatory beasts that dominate the mountains and forests as long as the iron gates of the cages are opened to let them out.In fact, most of the ferocious beasts in the zoo were born in cages and grew up in the cages. They only have the appearance of ferocious beasts. Even the ferocious beasts captured from the wild will be alienated and deteriorated after they grow up in the zoo. Both psychologically and psychologically are far from the real wild beasts.

Wuhan Zoo once conducted an experiment in which two leopards that had lived in the zoo since childhood were released into the Shennongjia Nature Reserve without any wild treatment, except that a radio transmitter was tied around the leopard's neck for tracking and observation.As a result, three days later, when a leopard was catching an antelope on a steep hillside, it didn’t eat the mutton, which was worse than getting a mutton smell. A leopard barely survived for more than half a month, but was too hungry to eat carrion animals, got malignant dysentery, and collapsed to death due to diarrhea.

Therefore, setting up a rewilding center is a very necessary and wise move.

There is a wasteland behind Yuantongshan Zoo, where weeds are overgrown, rocks are densely covered, and a small stream runs through the center, which is a bit of a South Asian scene. Concrete walls more than three meters high have been built around it, and it has become a cheetah rewilding center.Soon, the first batch of seven cheetahs, five males and two females, were selected for rewilding training.

Before, almost everyone thought that the rewilding of cheetahs was very simple and could be done without too much effort.Originally, they were wild beasts. To be wild, literally means to restore their nature. How difficult is it?This is not the case.

In the early morning of that day, the staff spent a lot of effort to put seven cheetahs into small iron cages for stringing cages, pull them to the back of the park with a tricycle, and put them into the rewilding center through a latticed iron gate.This piece of wasteland enclosed as a rewilding center covers an area of ​​about one square kilometer. If measured by the standard of wild cheetahs, the space is pitifully small. According to field survey data, an average cheetah must have a territory of ten square kilometers to be able to survive. To ensure their survival is guaranteed, the living space in the rewilding center is only one seventieth of the living space they should have.But compared to the [-]-square-meter cage they lived in, the wild center is much wider, not to mention that there is no barbed wire to block it, and it is a relatively free space.In my imagination, as soon as they step into the gate of the rewilding center, their eyes will brighten up, flashing with joy, jumping around on the grass, enjoying the wide space and free air.However, completely beyond my expectation, none of the seven cheetahs showed the excitement of returning to the mountains and forests. On the contrary, all of them were frightened and restless, daring to move, huddled together, their eyes full of doubts , don't know what to do.

Being so fearful and wary of unfamiliar environments is completely out of character for cheetahs.Because wild cheetahs rarely have natural enemies that can harm them in the jungle, they are brave and dare to take risks. Especially when several cheetahs form a group, their courage is doubled. After hunting in one place for a period of time, they will expand their territory and migrate to new places. where to find more prey.During the hunting process, no matter where the prey flees, the cheetah will never give up chasing it, and will never give up chasing the prey because it has fled into an unfamiliar territory.For beasts, the unfamiliar environment will only cause mild uneasiness at most, and this uneasiness will soon be replaced by strong curiosity and the urge to explore.Only weak herbivores will tremble with fear and be at a loss when they are placed in an unfamiliar environment.Strangeness, from another perspective, means freshness and excitement, which means new destiny, new struggle, new creation, new development and new pioneering.

We yelled loudly at the cheetahs through the lattice iron gate, hoping to drive them away from the gate and drive them into the wide grassland and rocky beach.You're not a timid flock, what are you doing standing there all the time?

Under our continuous driving, a cheetah nicknamed Ma Xiong with star-like spots on its face walked forward cautiously for about thirty steps, and then stopped.A female cheetah with a particularly bright black ring on its tail, named Broken Soul Tail, swung its tail and began to trot, but it just ran to a position parallel to Ma Xiong, as if there was a wall blocking it in front of it. An emergency brake was applied.The other cheetahs also made the same mistake. When they got to the position parallel to Ma Xiong, they pulled back and turned back as if hitting a wall.I looked from outside the iron gate. The place where the cheetahs dare not cross the thunder pond is the center of a flat lawn. There are no obstacles, no barriers, and no boundaries. There is no reason to stop!
"They are used to being in cages, so they can only run so far." Master Zhong, who was in charge of feeding the group of cheetahs, muttered next to me.

As expected of an expert in dealing with animals all day long, Master Zhong pointed out the crux of the problem.I visually observed that the place where the cheetahs were stagnant was about 30 meters away from the iron gate, and the cage where they lived was 30 meters long and 30 meters wide.These seven cheetahs were all born and raised in that rectangular cage. The biggest space for them to move around in the cage is to run from the east end of the cage to the west end of the cage. The distance is [-] meters, exceeding If you exceed this limit, you will hit your head on the barbed wire.I guess, there may have been one or two cheetahs among them who were unwilling to be restrained, eager to break through the fence and gallop freely in the open world, but every time they were hit by the hard barbed wire and were beaten to death by the breeder. Rough scolding.After countless failures, they naturally come to the conclusion that the barbed wire is unbreakable, and all efforts to get outside the barbed wire are futile.Over time, they formed a conditioned reflex, as long as they ran forward [-] meters, they would stop immediately as if hitting a wall.

For the souls who have been imprisoned for a long time, the tangible barbed wire has been dismantled, but the invisible barbed wire still stands.

The sun came out, illuminating the mountains, illuminating the water, illuminating the meadows and rocky beaches.The colorful coat colors of the seven cheetahs glistened in the sun, making them extremely gorgeous.The spring breeze is rippling, the grass leaves rustle, a pair of turtledoves fly high from the grass, and a piebald snake swims to the clear and clear stream.Faced with the beauty and charm of nature, the seven cheetahs not only did not appreciate it, but instead hid in panic as if danger was approaching.They hate the bright sun, and they don't like their bodies being illuminated by the sun. They push each other, and they all want to hide behind other cheetahs.That scene was like a group of mice living in the dark underground suddenly exposed to broad daylight.

After a while of chaos, the cheetah named Ma Xiong scanned the surroundings with searching eyes, and suddenly walked towards the left side of the grilled iron gate.There is a narrow narrow lane formed between the concrete wall and a rock, which is a hidden corner, where the sun cannot shine, and it is dark and cramped.Seven cheetahs filed into the narrow lane, crowded like hell, and filled the narrow lane to the brim.The strange thing is that they seem to be very satisfied that they have finally found a safe and good place, their nervous emotions have calmed down, they huddle together with peace of mind, and they stick out their tongues to groom each other.

They are used to living in a small space. Living in iron cages for a long time, they have developed a locked-in mentality. They always feel that only the crowded living space enclosed by walls is safe.Once the territory expands and the world opens up, danger will take advantage of the opportunity, crises will arise, and the sense of security will be lost.This is a morbid sense of security created by an abnormal mind.

The world is very big, and the big world is the big stage for life activities.When we enter the open world from a closed corner, we may encounter reefs and dangerous shoals, traps and fire pits. The world is so big, there are always dirty and dirty, there are always crises and various unsatisfactory places .However, in the open world, there are more bright sunshine, vigorous competition, and the freedom and freedom to let the birds fly by leaping in the sky.

Only a broad mind can enjoy a wide space. Once a imprisoned wretched mind is placed in an open world, it is difficult to adapt at once.I have seen reports similar to this many times: A prisoner who has been in prison for decades is released after serving his sentence. After stepping out of the prison gate, he is at a loss in the face of the colorful world of freedom, and he is completely unable to adapt to the life of normal people. , Fear and doubts, strangers and estrangement, and under tremendous pressure, his spirit was on the verge of collapse. As a last resort, he asked to go back to prison again.

If the seven cheetahs were allowed to show their hands and vote freely, I believe that at this moment, they would definitely agree to go back to the narrow cage.

It seems that the first thing to do is to eliminate the invisible barbed wire in their hearts, get rid of their spiritual shackles, and create an open mind, so that they can adapt to living in the unfettered and vast world.

Of course, there is a way, and that is the food temptation method usually used by domesticated animals.The difference is that in the past, the food lure method was often used to make animals lose their wildness, grind away the edges and corners of their characters, and turn disobedient beasts into obedient domestic animals; but now the food lure method is to help these seven animals. The cheetahs open the chains of the heart, straighten the distorted mind, reshape the alienated character, and create a generation of normal, healthy, fearless and energetic real cheetahs.

In a sense, this is forging a new soul.

We don't feed them all day, hunger is life's best teacher.The next morning, we brought fresh pieces of meat to the rewilding center.The cheetahs have a very keen sense of smell, and they can smell the blood on the meat from a distance. They scrambled out of the narrow lane between the wall and the rock, jumped on the latticed iron gate, and howled at us.Master Zhong picked a piece of steak that was just the right size, and first teased the cheetahs' greedy kisses through the grilled iron gate for a while, then raised his arm and threw a piece of steak like a discus throw, the steak hit in the air Spinning, crossing the grilled iron gate, under the gaze of seven pairs of leopard eyes, it flew a full six to seventy meters away, and landed on the rocky beach in the wilderness center with a bang.

The bloody bright red steak is very eye-catching on the chalky rocks, and it is in the upper wind, and the wind brings a sweet smell of blood.The seven cheetahs salivated and ran towards the steak quickly, but they all stopped at the same time after running 30 meters.

There is no doubt that the invisible barbed wire blocked their way.

Master Zhong threw pieces of meat at the rocky beach one after another to increase the intensity of temptation.The cheetah named Ma Xiong was probably very hungry. Standing in front of the invisible barbed wire fence 30 meters away, he let out a mournful growl, closed his eyes, and turned his heart. Bump forward.It jumped more than ten meters away without any hindrance.It didn't seem to believe that it had such abilities, so it stopped, with a surprised expression on its face, and looked back.Indeed, it has crossed psychological barriers and left artificial constraints behind.With a roar of surprise, it leaped to the rocky beach and munched on the fresh steak.

The power of leading by example is infinite, and the other six cheetahs followed Ma Xiong and jumped onto the rocky beach to enjoy delicious food.

We walked around the wall of the rewilding center again, throwing some pieces of meat in all directions and corners, so that these cheetahs can broaden their horizons, get familiar with the new living environment, and cultivate the courage to explore and be good at pioneering in the process of foraging. enterprising spirit.

Once the prison of the heart is opened, life will be truly liberated.

Soon, the seven cheetahs got used to living in the wide natural environment. They didn't bother to get into the narrow lane between the wall and the rock, and they were no longer bothered by the sound of wind and rain and the rustling of grass blades. Fear.They gallop freely on the wide grassland and rocky beach, jump to their heart's content along the stream, splashing crystal water, and when they are tired from playing, they close their eyes and lie lazily in the sun, enjoying the warmth and beauty of nature.

We deserve to live in an open world full of vigor and vitality.

[-] Forced self-reliance

After the seven cheetahs have gradually adapted to the natural environment of the rewilding center, the next thing to do is to carry out feeding reforms.

In the past, the food for these seven cheetahs was provided by the animal kitchen.For moral considerations, they have never been provided with live food, whether it is chickens, ducks, cattle or sheep, they are all slaughtered and then cut into pieces and thrown into cages.In other words, they don't even know what chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep look like.It is true that the four bodies do not work hard, and the six animals do not distinguish.

In the uninhabited virgin forest, no one will provide them with meat anymore.If they don't update their foraging concepts and change their hunting habits, they won't be able to survive even a day after entering the primeval forest.

To transform zoo residents into wild animals, the most important hurdle is to change feeding into self-sufficiency.

In order for the seven cheetahs to live in peace after being released into the virgin forest of Xishuangbanna in the future, they must learn to find, catch and tear up those poor herbivores by themselves.

In many people's erroneous imaginations, tigers, leopards, and wolves are born butchers and executioners, vicious and bloodthirsty.This is definitely a bias.The fact that carnivores hunt herbivores is an essential means of survival, and it does not follow from this that carnivores like to kill.Field observation records prove that no matter what kind of carnivore, after getting enough food, even if they meet their favorite herbivores head-on on the road, they are not interested in chasing and biting them.An animal research institute once conducted such an experiment: put pork cut into pieces, several dead mice and a live chicken together into an iron cage holding a wild wolf.On the first day, the wolf ate the pork; on the second day, the wolf swallowed several dead mice; it was not until the third day that the wolf bit off the neck of the chicken and began to eat the chicken.This at least proves that carnivores are not particularly keen on slaughter.

Survey data show that wild cheetahs mainly prey on hares, wild pheasants, ostriches, antelopes and wild boars.

We compiled a course, from easy to difficult, to cultivate their hunting skills.That is to say, four hares and three red-horned pheasants, which are relatively easy to deal with, were first released into the rewilding center.Of course, in order to prevent the pheasant from spreading its wings and escaping the enclosure, we cut off some of the hard feathers on the wings, and they can only run but not fly.

As we expected, after the hare and pheasant were released into the rewilding center, seeing so many terrifying cheetahs standing in front of them, they were frightened out of their wits, running around the world, while the cheetahs stared with curious eyes , Watching the hares and pheasants, none of the cheetahs showed the impulse and excitement of hunting, and got up to chase.

There was a red-horned pheasant flapping its incomplete wings, lost its way in a daze, and plunged into the arms of the female cheetah named Duanhunwei, but Duanhunwei didn't even realize that it was a door-to-door prey. Surprised, he took half a step back, raised his front paws, and pushed the red-horned pheasant away from his mouth.

(End of this chapter)