Snow Leopard Elegy

Chapter 5 Snow Leopard Elegy (5)
I guess the reason why it chooses such a way of life is directly related to its poor hunting skills.When we started to implement the tightened feeding standard, it was urged by hunger, and it must have worked hard to find food, trying to fill its belly with its own efforts and improve the quality of life to a higher level.Regrettably, hunting failed repeatedly, efforts failed, and self-confidence was bruised again and again.Not only that, chasing prey consumes a lot of physical energy, and the stomach is not full. This makes it even worse. Not only can it not get new supplements, it also loses a lot of calories in vain. Vigorous exercise speeds up the metabolism and makes the hunger more intense , to an unbearable level.It probably thinks so, instead of wasting energy in hunting with no hope of success, it is better to give up foraging and reduce metabolism, at least it can relieve hunger.It is the nature of animals to love leisure and hate work. Lazy people have lazy ways, and lazy animals have lazy ways.It uses this ironic method to deal with our rations.Apart from coming to our field observation station to ask for six pounds of meat all day long, it does not have any other activities. It can also increase body heat in the sun, and consumes so little. Naturally, six pounds of meat are enough to maintain its life .It's like an unemployed person who receives relief money. He has no ability to re-employ, and he has no confidence to adapt to a competitive society.Alas, our original intention of reducing the frequency and amount of feeding is to make it work hard under the urging of hunger to make a living, but the result is just the opposite. Not only did it fail to transform it into a good side, but it made it even worse. .

In my opinion, the main reason for the current embarrassing situation is that the pressure we exerted is not strong enough to force it to die and regenerate. It is like cooking rice with insufficient heat and it becomes difficult to cook. Swallow the raw rice.The way to correct it is of course to increase the pressure, so that it can't live without tightening its belt. If it wants to survive, it must sweat profusely to hunt down its prey.

"Reduce the meat even more, well, feed it three pounds of meat every day, and see if it can still get by by basking in the sun and sleeping late!" I said fiercely.

"If you reduce the food, what will happen to it if it starves? If the bow is drawn too tightly, the string will break." Qiangba said worriedly.

"No, herbivores are active in this area. To the snow leopard, living here is like living in a big food bowl. It is impossible for it to starve to death while guarding the big food bowl." I said in an affirmative tone. Said, "Add another fire, and the raw rice will be cooked."

"If the fire is too high and too strong, the rice will be burnt and burnt." Qiangba said.

"We can't let it solve the belly problem by basking in the sun and sleeping late forever. Try it and reduce the food by half. If it doesn't work, let's find another way." I said.

I am a zoologist, and I am in charge of releasing the snow demon. The decision on how to deal with the snow demon is in my hands. Although Qiangba has different opinions, he has no choice but to obey my arrangement.

Let's go ahead and start the next day, we will reduce the meat we put in from six pounds to three pounds.In order to prevent the snow demon from running wild due to dissatisfaction, we no longer let it enter the observation station, close the gate of the wooden fence, throw pitifully small pieces of meat to it through the fence, and send out disgusting expressions and voices to it. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

The snow demon's reaction was more intense than we expected. Grinning its teeth and roaring, it threw itself on the wooden fence and shook violently. If it weren't for the wooden fence, it would have torn us up and devoured us.

Of course we will not be intimidated by its arrogance, just such a little meat, do you like it or not!
Snow Demon lost his temper, his neck became hoarse, and his strength was exhausted. Seeing that we had no intention of compromise, he could only leave bitterly with three pounds of meat in his mouth.As it walked, it let out a creepy wail from the corner of its mouth, which spread far and far in the wilderness.

Since we reduced our feeding from six pounds to three pounds, the snow demons have been treating us worse and worse, treating us like enemies.It still comes to our observation station every day when the sun sets, but it no longer lies on the wooden fence to meet us like before, and it no longer wags its tail to express its kindness to us.It changed the way it asked us for food, approached the observation station quietly, and hid in the bushes on the left front. Watching the movement in the military tent.When the figure of me or Jamba appeared by the wooden fence, it let out a few low growls from the depths of its throat, like a debt collector cursing.When we threw the three-pound piece of meat over the wooden fence, it immediately jumped out of the bushes, picked up the piece of meat in one bite, turned around and ran towards the snowy mountain wasteland without stopping for a second.

Occasionally met it on the mountain during the day and called its name, it didn't even bother to look at us, and ran into the grass or stone ditch, unwilling to let us approach it again.

Of course we don't care about these things with it, no matter how it is an animal, it is not worth getting angry with it.Our ultimate goal is to make it a wild snow leopard that dominates the alpine snow area by itself, not to make snow leopard friends, so we don't care about its attitude towards us.My real concern is, what does it live on when we cut back on the feeding again?According to research data, an adult snow leopard needs at least five to seven pounds of fresh meat per day to survive.Although Yakou is less than two years old, the snow demon is about the same size as an adult snow leopard, and its food consumption should be basically the same as that of an adult snow leopard. In the past, we fed six pounds of meat every day, and it can minimize its activities by exposing it to the sun as much as possible. Now we only give it three pounds of meat a day. For a snow leopard with a body like a calf, this food is not even a decent snack. It is just stuffed between the teeth; If you have practiced yoga in India or bigu in China, otherwise it is absolutely impossible to live on these three pounds of meat; even if it lies in the sun every day and sleeps late, without moving or taking a step, it will be so hungry Dizzy and sweating intermittently, you can persist for three to five days at most, and then you will be so hungry that you will collapse and be unable to get up.

Fearing that it might cause problems due to hunger, I pay close attention to its movements when I feed it three pounds of meat every evening. Add food in time before it really starves to death.Eight days passed, and I was surprised to find that although its leopard’s eyes flashed green light of hunger, its body had not weakened significantly, and its movements of jumping out of the bushes to grab pieces of meat were as vigorous and fast as before. The roar was still loud and powerful, and there was no sign of starvation that I was worried about.

This at least shows that in addition to coming to our observation station every evening to receive three pounds of meat, it also gets other food supplements.

In the past eight days, Qiangba and I ran to the crescent-shaped cave near the snow line several times, but we didn’t see the snow demon lying on the ox-back-shaped rock lazily basking in the sun and sleeping, which proves from another aspect It is possible to hunt for food in the mountains and forests.

After all, it is a young life, after all, it is a plastic youth. After increasing the pressure of survival, it changes from passive waiting to active and aggressive, full of vigor and vitality.

I was very happy, and proudly said to Jamba: "Well, my method of reducing the food by half is quite effective, right? See, it has nowhere to go, so it has to go hunting by itself."

"How do you conclude that it obtains the necessary food by hunting?" Jamba asked.

"What do you rely on if you don't hunt? Do you think it will spend money to buy meat in the supermarket?" I teased.

"It's possible that it went to the forest to pick up carrion to satisfy its hunger." Jamba said, "It's almost winter, and the climate is cold, so there are always sick and dead animals. There is no funeral home for animals, and they are used to dead bodies in the wilderness, so they are easy to find."

"You put it lightly, is there any food that is so easy to find?" I said sarcastically, "I'll give you a day, and you will pick up a dead red deer for me."

"I also very much hope that the snow demon can learn to hunt and become a normal wild snow leopard that can support itself, but I don't think so. Oh, if it is really looking for and hunting food in the forest as you estimated, then what is it doing? Do you still want to come to our observation station every evening to ask for the three pounds of meat?" Qiangba said seriously, "To get these three pounds of meat, we have to look at our faces, we have to stare at us, and we have to suffer. Scolding, if it can really hunt and kill herbivores by itself, will it care about our meager pieces of meat? It should have said goodbye to us long ago."

I thought for a while and said: "Its hunting skills are not very high. Sometimes it can catch prey, but sometimes it fails. The source of food is not stable. It depends on luck. Naturally, it is not at ease, so it is reluctant to give up on us. Very solid food."

"I hope your analysis is right and my judgment is wrong." Jamba smiled generously and ended the argument.

On the afternoon of the day I had a dispute with Jamba, the Snow Demon came to the observation station and demanded three pounds of meat.I clearly saw that a piece of leopard hair as big as a bowl had been plucked from its crotch, revealing gray skin with blood oozing out. There is no doubt that it was bitten in a fight with other beasts.I was very excited, and immediately pulled Qiangba to show him: "Look, it has a wound on its crotch, well, it must have been accidentally bitten while fighting with prey. Anyway, this can always prove that it is working hard to hunt Food for it to fill its belly."

Before Qiangba had time to take a closer look, the Snow Demon had already jumped up and down behind the bushes with the piece of meat in its mouth.

"I didn't see clearly," Qiangba said regretfully, "How about this, we will climb to Xianhe Peak tomorrow morning with binoculars and wait there, so we can figure out what's going on?"

I really want to witness the scene of the snow demon catching prey with my own eyes. Even once, it can prove that the series of rewilding measures I have taken are correct and effective. I can take a few photos of the snow demon hunting. The local police station that gave me this task has an explanation.During this period of time, I ran to the snow line at the foot of the mountain almost every day, trying to track the snow demon, but it already had a grudge against us. When it saw our shadow and smelled our scent from a distance, it would turn its head to hide or run.Hide-and-seek, also known as hide-and-seek, is a game that all cats are good at, of course we can't play it; it has four legs, we only have two legs, and we can't catch up with it, so we wasted several days and still failed wish.

Qiangba is worthy of being a local hunter. This idea is a good one. Xianhe Peak is a beautiful small rocky mountain. It is located near the snow line. It is about 50 meters high. The natural watchtower with good angles can monitor the mountains and grasslands within a radius of tens of miles. As long as the snow monsters go hunting, they will never escape our sight.

The sky was pale, and Qiangba and I set off for Xianhe Peak.There is no road, the hillside is steep, and there are several places where you have to climb up with your hands and feet like a gecko.When the sun rose, I finally reached the top of the mountain.

We were lucky and just happened to have a good weather without fog.Climbing high and looking far away, you can have a panoramic view of most of the Gamar grassland, and you can also see the gullies near the snow line clearly.The orange-red sunlight spreads over the white snow slopes and the green fir forests, and a group of red-billed blue magpies with bright feathers hovers in the low sky.

After waiting for more than an hour, we finally found the Snow Demon. It trotted unhurriedly and came out of a rocky ditch on the left side of the snow line. Judging from the route, it was going to the Gamar Grassland below the mountain.

I tracked it closely with binoculars.

It really went down the hillside to the Gamar Grassland, squatting on a small hill, looking around, as if waiting for something.

"My judgment is right. Hunger forced it to learn how to earn a living. See, it is waiting for the prey to appear." I boasted to Jamba.

"Thankfully, if this is the case, our mission will be considered complete," Jampa said.

Morning is the most frequent time for all kinds of nocturnal diurnal animals to go out, and it is also the best time for large carnivores to hunt.About ten minutes later, some small black spots appeared in the eastern corner of the grassland, gradually moving towards the location of the snow demon.After a while, the small black dots gradually enlarged, oh, it was a group of musk deer, staring with sleepy eyes, walking lazily, gnawing on the green and yellowing grass while walking.Horse musk deer is a kind of deer species unique to Gaoligong Mountain. It has gray-black fur and delicate meat. It is a favorite delicacy of snow leopards. Both male and female have no horns on their heads, so there is no risk in catching them. It ranks first in the diet of snow leopards.This guy has a lot of food, and he encounters delicacies as soon as he goes hunting. I am secretly happy for the snow demon.

This group of musk deer was only two or 300 meters away from the snow demon. Under normal circumstances, the snow demon should quietly hide before the musk deer found him, and quietly approached the target under the cover of wild grass and bushes.But the Snow Demon was still squatting on the uncovered hill, with its head stretched out, watching the musk deer that was approaching, as motionless as a clay sculpture or wood carving.This is too calm!Horse musk deer is alert by nature, has a keen sense of smell, and believes in the philosophy of life that he would rather escape a thousand times than neglect half a time, and will turn around and flee if there is any trouble.If you don't hide now, you will regret it later before it's too late.What I can't figure out is that the snow demon is still doing nothing, neither hiding nor having the urge to attack.

A few minutes later, a gust of northwest wind blew from the mountain pass, and the old horse musk deer walking at the front with two fangs protruding from the corners of its mouth fluttered its nose in the wind. A fallen tree searched northwestward with its eyes.The Snow Demon is squatting on a small hill less than 200 meters away. The background is a green fir forest, which sets off its white body very conspicuously. Let alone a musk deer with good vision, it is suffering from myopia Rabbits with symptoms can see clearly at a glance.The old horse musk whistled and issued a rapid alarm.In an instant, all the musk musk deer jumped up, turned around and rushed to the depths of the Gamar grassland, and disappeared without a trace after a while.

The delicacies vanished into thin air.

"In my opinion, it doesn't look like it came to hunt." Jamba frowned and said, "It's as peaceful as a tourist."

"Perhaps, it knows that the musk deer is agile and runs extremely fast, and also knows that he is a novice, and he will not be able to catch up with the musk deer no matter what, so that he will not lose his strength, so he wisely gave up this opportunity." I tried my best to go. Think on the bright side, and try to come up with a reasonable explanation for its weird behavior.

"Seeing that the musk deer doesn't chase after it, what kind of prey is it going to catch?"

"Maybe, it is waiting for prey that is not so agile and fast, such as wild boars, lizards, small bears, etc., so the chance of success is much greater."

It seems to be deliberately trying to prove whether my words are correct. Just after I finished saying this, a wild boar emerged from a muddy pond in the meadow.This is the Gaoligong Mountain White-nosed Wild Boar, with jet-black bristles and a striking white spot on its snout.I fine-tuned the focus of the telescope, and I could see it more clearly. It was a young boar that was not yet fully developed. It was about one and a half meters long, with short mane that only covered its neck. long tusks.The little boar obviously hasn't seen the snow demon squatting on the hill, and is busy dragging a string of water hyacinths out of the muddy pond, shaking off the mud and gravel stuck between the branches and leaves, and preparing to have breakfast with great interest Woolen cloth.

For Snow Demon, this can be regarded as a once-in-a-lifetime hunting opportunity.Wild boars have a round belly and shorter limbs. Compared with animals such as goats and red deer, wild boars run slower and have slower reactions, making them easier to catch.Experienced hunters know that it is not difficult for snow leopards to catch immature wild boars, just like humans eat tofu.The snow demon has already seen the little boar, but the little boar is still in the dark.The snow demon is in the dark, and the boar is in the light; the snow demon is in the high place, and the boar is in the low place.This is very beneficial to the Snow Demon. With such a short distance, he doesn't need to use the cover of weeds and rocks to hide himself to approach the prey quietly. He can probably catch up and knock down the little boar by just swooping down from the hill.

Snow Demon's two copper bells stared at the little boar by the muddy pond with big eyes, his blood red tongue stuck out of his mouth, and a drop of crystal saliva dripped down from the tip of his tongue, with a standard salivation.Obviously, it was unbearably hungry, and the urge to hunt and kill surged in its heart.

Then please take action as soon as possible, and the opportunity will never come again. To be a strong person in life, you should be good at seizing the opportunity.

The little boar cleaned the string of water hyacinths, and walked towards the bushes on the left while eating, probably because he felt that the open mud pond was not safe, and wanted to get into the bushes to have a quiet breakfast.

Xue Yao stood up abruptly, pacing up and down on the hill, looking restless.

"If you want to eat pork, hurry up, there is no rope to tie you, no wall of fire to block you, what are you doing?" Qiangba frowned and muttered in a low voice.

Really, there was nothing preventing the Snow Demon from hunting the young boar, but it just didn't rush down the hill, and kept pacing up and down in circles, not knowing what it was thinking.

The little boar dragged the bunch of water hyacinths, got into the bushes, and disappeared from our sight.

Snow Demon shook his head, as if trying to get rid of the unpleasant feeling from his mind, bent his knees and lay down again, resting his head on his arms, blinking his eyes and starting to sleep late.

"Maybe, it really came here for sightseeing. There are snow-capped mountains, grasslands and ponds. The scenery is very beautiful." Qiangba said.

"Stop talking nonsense, have you ever heard that animals are also interested in traveling?" I said angrily.

(End of this chapter)