Snow Leopard Elegy

Chapter 19 Opening the Leopard Cage (1)
The Mystery of a Red Cliff Sheep

Ordinary Ya sheep are gray-brown, but the hair of Gaoligong Mountain Ya sheep is dark brown and reddish. In winter, the hair color is bright red and bright. Running and jumping on the snow-covered mountains, they look like burning flames.The Hongya sheep has a gentle temperament and a peculiar coat color. It is a unique breed in the world, so it is extremely precious.It is a pity that the number of Hongya sheep is too small, only a small group of solitary, living in the narrow Nahu River Valley.The local mountain people also know that Hongya sheep are world-class rare animals, and they never harm them; ewes give birth to two litters a year, and each litter gives birth to two or three lambs, and their fecundity is considered high among bovids; , the number of Hongya sheep just cannot develop.According to the guide I invited—Tibetan hunter Qiangba, he told me that his grandfather had counted carefully when he was young. There were 66 Hongya sheep in this group. I counted them with a telescope at the Animal Observation Station a few days ago. Less, also 66.

More than half a century has passed, and the number of Hongya sheep has not increased. This is a tragic mystery.

After tracking for more than half a month, I finally found the crux of the reason why the Hongya sheep could not develop.The culprits are two greedy snow leopards.

This is a leopard couple. The male leopard is about 1.5 meters long and the female leopard is about 1.3 meters long. The tail of the leopard decorated with beautiful markings is almost as long as the body.The body color of the male leopard is gray-brown, the face of the leopard is covered with yellow-brown and black stripes, and the silver-white leopard whiskers are shining, making it look majestic; the body color of the female leopard is silver-gray, and the two copper bells and big eyes are as blue as a pot. The water of the river has sharp edges and corners, vigorous and beautiful.

The den of the pair of snow leopards is near the snow line of Gaoligong Mountain, and the straight-line distance from the Nahu River Valley is only three li.On average, they come down to hunt once every five days.I don't know if it's because they have developed a partial eclipse habit, or because the meat of Hongya sheep is particularly delicious. These two snow leopards are very picky eaters, and they only catch Hongya sheep.Once I saw with my own eyes that when they were about to go down to the Nahu River Valley, they encountered a wild boar with a tall mane. The wild boar was injured on one front foot, limped, and walked very slowly. Well, catching this wild boar is like catching a turtle in a urn, and it's two against one, it's like fat falling from the sky.However, these two snow leopards were not interested in the wild boar that came to their door. The male leopard just lazily roared at the unsuspecting wild boar that was getting closer and closer. The snow leopard continued to go its own way as if nothing had happened.

I have witnessed the scene of snow leopards catching sheep several times through the telescope. It was really a bloody slaughter.When the leading gray-bearded old sheep smelled the smell of the snow leopard, it raised its front hooves and tapped on the rocks hurriedly - warning the flock of approaching danger, the sheep followed the leading gray-bearded sheep and ran away in despair.Every sheep knew that this was a life-and-death race, and they tried their best to run faster. The sheep's hooves splashed, and the smoke and dust billowed on the hillside, like the tide breaking a bank.The snow leopard followed closely behind the sheep.Although Greybeard, the head sheep, is very experienced in detecting the enemy's situation in time, calling the police in time, and choosing the escape route just right, climbing around the mountain and taking the steep mountain path that can take advantage of the jumping of the cliff sheep, but after running for a while, there will always be A frail old sheep or a thin lamb ran more and more slowly, fell out of the group, was thrown to the ground brutally by the snow leopard, and its neck was bitten off.They dragged the dead sheep back to the snow line, and after a full meal, they dragged the remaining lamb to the snow slope, dug a snow pit and buried it, just like humans put food in the refrigerator to keep fresh. Come out and eat.

Five days later, a sheep was eaten with only a few bones left, so the same tragedy will repeat itself again.This pair of hateful snow leopards acted as if the group of red cliff sheep were their domestic animals, as if they had some patent rights, and they could catch them whenever they wanted to eat.

The shadow of death hangs over my head, I have to be on guard against the sudden attack of the snow leopard at any time, my nerves are in a state of high tension all the time, I have to experience a terrorist escape in five days, my life is like soaking in bitter water, Can Hongya sheep be counted on to breed in large numbers?Even if the Red Cliff sheep are used to this kind of catastrophe, frequent slaughter will make it difficult for their population to develop.This is actually an uncomplicated arithmetic problem. The pair of snow leopards eat one sheep every five days on average, and more than 70 sheep a year, which is enough to completely offset the reproductive ability of ewes.

One of my scientific research topics is to make this group of precious red cliff sheep grow stronger, but I can't simply shoot and kill this pair of snow leopards. Snow leopards are also called Aiye leopards, and they are also national first-class protected animals.I thought about it for several days, and came up with a way to get the best of both worlds, which can dispel the shadow of death over the heads of the Red Cliff flock without harming the two snow leopards.

The second snow leopard was put in a cage
Jamba and I used chestnut tree stumps with a thick bowl mouth to build a solid animal cage under a crescent-shaped cliff next to the wildlife observation station.Then, we lay in ambush on the hillside where Hongya sheep often come and go in the Nahu Valley.At dusk of the next day, when the pair of snow leopards were chasing the flock ferociously as usual, I shot them with a tranquilizer gun.They ran for more than fifty meters according to inertia, and then fell headlong into the grass.

The clever red cliff sheep stopped fleeing on the opposite hillside and looked at us curiously.Qiangba and I first carried the sleepy male leopard into the cage, and then went to lift the female leopard.At this moment, Graybeard, the head sheep, took a few bold rams and ran to a place only ten meters away from us to watch the excitement.Because the local mountain people never hunt Red Cliff sheep, they are not afraid of people at all.In order to communicate with them at close range, I often pour salt water in front of the tent made of yak skin at the observation station to attract them to lick them. Come before me and let me stroke their horns.At this moment, when we carried the female leopard, which was as limp as a lump of mud, onto a stretcher and carried it to the observation station, Gray Beard, the head sheep, led the flock to follow us all the way to the animal cage behind the tent, watching us take the female leopard to the observation station. The leopard was caged and locked.

Greybeard is very smart. He seems to know that we have subdued these two snow leopards. He approached the cage cautiously and provocatively bleated at the two snow leopards locked in the cage. On the ground, foaming, snoring and panting.After some probing, Greybeard confirmed that the two snow leopards were prisoners, unable to break out of the cage to exert their power, so he turned his head and barked at the flock of sheep scattered around the tent.The sheep came together and gathered around the cage, bleating one after another.The cry was desolate and mournful, especially the ewes with short horns, their bodies trembling, their tears brimming with tears, screaming like weeping.The situation was very similar to that of the turned serfs holding a denunciation meeting to accuse the cruelty of the snow leopards.They have been persecuted by snow leopards for many years, and each sheep has its own "relative" buried in the belly of the leopard, and there is a bloody account in its heart.

At this time, the snow leopard had fully awakened, and was ridiculed by the sheep, jumping up and down in the cage, roaring and biting.I was afraid that they would be so stimulated that they would smash their heads against the stakes, so I hurriedly drove the flock out of the observation station.Although the snow leopard represents evil, and the red cliff sheep represents goodness, I am not a judge who eliminates violence and peace, and I am not here to avenge the red cliff sheep.I'm a zoologist, I'm conducting a scientific experiment, and it's my responsibility to keep the snow leopards safe.

The sheep bleated excitedly and went back to the Nahu Valley.They sing the triumphant song of victory and welcome a new life of peace and tranquility.When Graybeard passed by me, he stuck out his tongue and licked my shoes, and bleated twice softly. I knew that he was expressing his deep gratitude to me on behalf of the Red Cliff Sheep.For a long time after that, whenever they saw me, they would bleat softly at me like singing praises.I subdued the demonic snow leopards for them, and they regarded me as a great savior.

The Nahu River Valley has always been the sphere of influence of snow leopards, and no other carnivore dares to touch it.After the snow leopard was imprisoned by me, the only natural enemy of the red cliff sheep no longer existed.The bright sunshine belongs to them, the green grassland belongs to them, and the clear river water belongs to them.Their fecundity has been greatly improved. In summer, the ewes gave birth to a total of 80.00 lambs, and the survival rate reached [-]%.In the past, when the snow leopards were around, the survival rate of the lambs was less than [-]%.

In just half a year, the group of Hongya sheep has grown from 66 to more than 100.I am very happy that the experiment went so smoothly.

The prestige of the head sheep with three gray beards is reduced
Slowly, I noticed a worrying change in the behavior of the Red Cliff sheep.The first is that the leadership authority of the gray beard is rapidly declining.Gray Beard Yakou is about ten years old, which is not considered young for Hongya sheep, and can be classified as middle-aged and elderly; Gray Beard's body is not particularly strong, and its horns are not wider and harder than other big rams. The reason why it is embraced as the head sheep by all the sheep is that it is particularly sensitive in vision, smell and hearing. It is the first to discover almost every snow leopard attack, and it is the first to knock on rocks with its hooves to warn the sheep; it also has many With rich escape experience and familiarity with the terrain and paths, he would never lead the flock to a cliff where there is no way to escape or choose the wrong escape route to be intercepted by snow leopards.Because of these two advantages, Graybeard enjoys a high prestige among the flock. Wherever it goes, the flock follows. No one will disobey its command.

But since the snow leopard was locked up by me, Greybeard's command gradually failed. Sometimes it ran to the river to drink water, while some sheep still stayed on the hillside to play; Play on the river beach until dark before returning to the group.The most out-of-the-ordinary performance was the five-year-old ram, Big White Horn.The fellow was tall and strong, with the sinews on his legs sticking out like burls, and the horns on his head were distinctively creamy white.It seems to be particularly fond of quarreling with Gray Beard. Gray Beard grazes in the pasture, but it wants to go into the woods to eat bark. Gray Beard leads the flock to spend the night in a cave, and it wants to climb to the saddle on the edge of the cliff. Go to sleep on the boulder.

Once, when the sheep came to a three-way intersection, Gray Beard stood at the intersection and performed the duties of the head sheep like a traffic policeman, letting the sheep turn left in an orderly manner and come to my tent to lick the salt water.Suddenly, the big white horn stabbed out from the team, squeezed into the place where Gray Beard was standing, and used its beautiful horns to intimidate the two ewes and several lambs to turn right, run away from the flock, and head towards the opposite hilltop. alfalfa field.It was an open challenge to authority, a blatant rebellion.Gray Beard was trembling with anger, shaking his horns, and bleating at Big White Horn in a vulgar voice, probably trying to teach Big White Horn a lesson in order to restore his seriously damaged prestige.The big white horn doesn't follow this at all, and also shows off the two broad and thick white horns on the top of the head, twisting its neck to compare with the gray beard.Greybeard looked at the big white horn that was taller and stronger than himself, probably knowing that he was no match, he bleated sadly, and retreated to the flock.Big White Horn triumphantly wrapped up two ewes and several lambs, had a good time in the alfalfa field, and returned to the group after three days.

Alas, the snow leopard, the natural enemy, is gone, and the sheep no longer need timely alarm and rich escape experience. The two advantages of the head sheep, Gray Beard, to rule and control the sheep have lost their effect, and it is no wonder that there will be centrifugal tendencies.

Things got worse when the lambs born in the summer grew up.They have never experienced the ferocity and power of snow leopards, never experienced the dangerous situation of being attacked by snow leopards and being cornered by snow leopards, and naturally they have never experienced the outstanding reaction ability and superb escape art of Gray Beard. Put the gray beard in the eyes, rebellious, go its own way, often leave the group without saying hello.

In the end, there were only seven or eight old sheep who were still faithfully following the head sheep, Graybeard.The Red Cliff flock has truly become a mess of loose sand.

The second most notable change is that the character of the Red Cliff Sheep has become more and more rough.In the past, they were as gentle as angels. I have observed them for so long, and I have never found any serious fight between them.They always graze quietly, bask in the sun quietly, and live in harmony in groups.What moved me especially was that when they finally escaped from the snow leopards and the danger was lifted, all members of the group would gather together, you sniffed my cheek, I rubbed your neck, and bleat softly to comfort each other , celebrating each other's escape from death, that scene, as close as brothers and sisters.I have dealt with many types of rams, and they are usually docile, but once there is a conflict between the food and the mate, the rams will fight with each other with their horns, and the head is badly beaten, and one of the rams is injured And escape, this is the end.And even when the Red Cliff sheep are in estrus and courtship, the rams compete for the same ewe, they just show off the horns on the top of their heads, show off their well-developed muscles, and engage in a civilized contest. to retreat.Among other kinds of cliff sheep, you can often see one-eyed sheep and one-horned sheep, which are masterpieces produced by frequent fights.But in the Hongya sheep flock, I never found a disabled sheep full of scars.

Unfortunately, since Snow Leopard became a prisoner, the harmonious family atmosphere of Hongya Sheep has gone from bad to worse.They will no longer be hunted and killed by snow leopards, they will no longer have the surprise of escaping death, and they will no longer have the fear of remaining alive after a catastrophe, and of course there will be no more intimate and moving scenes of comforting and celebrating each other.The shadow of death hanging over their heads has disappeared, and the friendship of sharing life and death has also weakened.They are becoming more and more like other types of cliff sheep, no, their tempers are even worse than other types of cliff sheep.In order to compete for a small piece of fresh wild shepherd's purse, two ewes will stare at each other and roar and curse; in order to squeeze upstream to drink cleaner river water, two rams will fight to the death with horns; The half-sized sheep with tender horns bumped into me and shoved you all day long, twisted into a ball, and made a fuss.From morning to night, you can hear the noisy calls of Hongya sheep and the clattering of horns from the Nahu River Valley.

One morning about two months later, I passed by the Red Cliff sheep by the Nahu River. I was surprised to find that two rams in the flock had turned into broken-horn sheep, and three rams had turned into hornless sheep. One-eyed sheep.

After the gray bearded sheep came to me, it stopped singing softly and bleating to me. It squinted its sheep eyes, looked at me with a sad and anxious look, and hurried past with its head down.

Perhaps, Hongya sheep, like other kinds of sheep, have both a gentle side and a rough side in their nature. In the past, because they were always threatened by foreign enemies, their rough character was effectively suppressed in order to survive. Now , the alarm bell of death no longer rings, and the hidden brutality becomes dominant.

The four rams and the big white horns launched a coup
Large-scale splitting of the Redcliffe flock occurs in early winter.Snowflakes fluttered, the snow line moved down, the Nahu River Valley was frozen, the grass slopes were covered with a thick layer of snow, and food was scarce. The sheep could only eat bark to survive.In the past, the Hongya sheep flocks survived the harsh winter of Gaoligong Mountain by collectively shrinking their food. Under the leadership of the head sheep Huibeard, they went from one forest to another, and each sheep consciously ate half of the food. If you are full, limited resources are distributed evenly. Although you are not full, you are not starving to death.After one winter, every sheep lost fat and lost a whole circle of weight, but it was rare for them to die of freezing or starvation.

But this time, after the first snow fell, the ram Big White Horn, together with a black-hoofed ram and another double-jawed ram, suddenly occupied the largest elm forest at the southern end of the valley as if launching a military coup. .Big White Horn and two accomplices pouted their horns and ran along the edge of the woods, roaring to prevent other sheep from entering.

There was an old ram with a bald tail who couldn't get used to the dominance of the big white horn, so he took a chance and got into the elm forest. In the first round, the old sheep was knocked out more than a foot, his face was covered with blood, and he bleated and wailed.The big white horns were not enough, and with two beautiful white horns sticking out, they fiercely pressed towards the bald tail. The old goat struggled to stand up, and fled out of the elm forest in despair.The other sheep were shocked, and no one dared to step into the elm forest rashly.The head sheep, Gray Beard, bleat helplessly, and led the flock out of the elm forest.

Big White Horn and its accomplices defecated and pissed on the edge of the elm forest, and gnawed a tooth mark on every tree. I know that this is a sign of occupation, a bit like human beings use boundary markers to mark borders.

Dabaijiao's behavior undoubtedly had a demonstration effect. Soon, the young and strong rams followed the gourd, formed a bandit alliance in twos and threes, and divided up all the forests in the Nahu River Valley.Even Greybeard, the head sheep, failed to maintain his unselfish qualities, occupying a birch forest with four rams of his age.About half of the remaining Hongya sheep wander on the snow-covered river beaches and hillsides.Most of these unlucky sheep are ewes, lambs who have just grown up and old sheep.

(End of this chapter)