Snow Leopard Elegy

Chapter 6 Snow Leopard Elegy (6)
"Then tell me, it didn't chase the musk deer just now, but now it let go of the boar. What is it trying to do? Oh, do you want to say that it wants to wait a little longer, and when it arrives, it will be better than the little boar?" The easier prey a pig can grab, it will pounce on it and bite, right? Dear zoologist, can you tell me that for an animal like a snow leopard, there is an easier prey than a young boar Is it?" Qiangba looked at me with a mocking expression and asked.

"..." I was speechless, my face was hot, and I was a little ashamed.

"Let me tell you, there are indeed prey that are easier to deal with than boars. Oh, here comes a lame red gazelle, who walks a step and shakes three times, and can't even stand firmly. Just raise the leopard paw and lightly With a light slap, it can be slapped upside down. Isn't it easier to catch and kill than a young boar? Oh, and there is another wild calf that is diarrhea. It has been stretched for three days and three nights, and it is almost collapsed. Like twisting Yangko, it can be blown down with one breath, and of course it is easier to catch than a young boar."

"Okay," I said, "don't be sarcastic. Even if I made a mistake in my judgment just now, tell me, if it wasn't for hunting, why did it come all the way here?"

"..." Qiangba also had an expression of ignorance.

I am a zoologist with a master's degree, and Jamba is a soil expert who has been in the mountains and forests and dealing with wild animals for decades, but neither my book knowledge nor Jamba's practical experience can explain the abnormal behavior of the snow demon .We only know two things: first, the snow demon cannot survive on three pounds of meat a day, it can survive for eight days, and must have other sources of food; second, the animals did not travel to the mountains It must have traveled all the way from its lair near the snow-capped mountains to the Gamar Grassland to find food.But since it is looking for food on an empty stomach, why is it still indifferent when it sees a young boar that is easier to hunt?Is there a more convenient, less labor-saving and more readily available way to obtain food?Could it be that it is waiting for pieces of meat to fall from the sky?
I decided to stay at Xianhe Peak, and I must unravel the mystery of the snow demon's abnormal behavior.

Four kalpas eat to make a living

The snow demon regards snatching food from the jackals as its best way of foraging.

The bright sunshine in early winter covers the snowy mountains and grasslands, a few red-billed blue magpies are circling in the sky, and a group of golden monkeys are jumping in the bushes.

Suddenly, dozens of small red dots appeared behind the rotten mud pond in the Gamar Grassland. I looked through the binoculars, oh, it was a group of jackals, returning from hunting, and walking towards a chaotic ditch.

Jackals are also called jackals, and their fur is earthy red. The local mountain people also call them red wolves. They are medium-sized beasts that live in groups.

It could be seen that this group of jackals had hunted a wild boar somewhere, and some of the jackals had pig feet in their mouths, some had pork chops in their mouths, and some had pig heads in their mouths.This unlucky wild boar that was chopped up by jackals is very likely to be the little boar who dragged a string of water hyacinths for breakfast in the muddy pond just now, because I saw through the binoculars that the wild boar with its mouth on the jackal's mouth A pig's head, with a striking white spot between the snout, and two half-foot-long tusks rolled up on both sides of the lips.Alas, this is too bad.I don’t mean it’s a pity that the young boar lost his life. Wild boars are at the bottom of the natural food chain. If they are not careful, they will become a delicious meal for carnivores.I feel sorry for the Snow Demon, this little boar should have been its prey, but now it has taken advantage of this group of jackals for nothing.

The jackals have a habit of eating. After catching the prey, they eat most of the prey on the spot, and then bring some of the prey back to the den to feed the young jackals and the old jackals who stay in the den.

"Look, the snow demon is up!" Qiangba said, nudging me with his elbow.

I quickly moved the binoculars to the small hill, and the Snow Demon, who was still sleeping with its head covered just now, has woken up, overlooking the pack of jackals passing by under the hill, with its limbs bent and its tail raised horizontally, posing in a jumpy pose. The posture of wanting to pounce.

This guy probably suffers from pink eye disease. Seeing that the little boar that should belong to him has become a delicacy for the jackals, he is so angry that he can't wait for an avalanche to bury these jackals alive!

Animals also have jealousy. Seeing other "humans" live happily while themselves living unhappily, they feel uncomfortable.

But I conclude that the snow demon is just putting on a show to vent its grievances and frighten the jackals, and will not really attack the jackals to snatch food. The reason is very simple, it even gave up catching the little boars that were brought under its eyes. , How could it be possible to offend a group of jackals with so many "people"!

But I soon discovered that I had made a mistake in my judgment.The Snow Demon leaped down from the hill, stared at a female jackal with a row of nipples hanging from its belly, and chased after it with a roar.

Jamba and I looked at each other in blank dismay, unable to believe it was true.

Jackals on Gaoligong Mountain are not easy to mess with.That's right, snow leopards belong to large beasts, jackals belong to medium-sized beasts, and a snow leopard is equivalent to five jackals in size.If you practice one-on-one, the snow leopard will undoubtedly have an absolute advantage. No matter how useless or useless a snow leopard is, it can easily defeat the strongest and fiercest jackal.But jackals are a herd animal, with as few as a dozen or as many as dozens of jackals living together.Due to their relatively thin physique, a single jackal has limited strength and it is difficult to compete with other carnivores, so it pays more attention to group cooperation.Jackals are greedy by nature and more ferocious than wolves. They are all like death squads. When they are very hungry, they will attack whatever they encounter.It was once reported that a group of jackals ate two newborn tiger cubs in front of the mother tiger.Strong and strong bears are often the targets of jackals.Generally speaking, wolves do not dare to attack such giants as tigers and bears.Although the snow leopard has the reputation of being the overlord of the high mountains and snowy regions, few snow leopards dare to provoke a pack of jackals.

The snow demon recklessly jumped into the pack of jackals.

The female jackal being chased by the snow demon held a huge pig's head in its mouth and ran away with a heavy load. Naturally, it couldn't escape quickly. After a while, the snow demon caught up with it.

Qiangba and I watched from Xianhe Peak, condescending, not too far away, and with the help of a telescope, we could clearly see everything that happened on the Gamar Grassland.The Snow Demon stuck behind the female jackal like a shadow, roaring furiously, although the leopard's claws had already reached the female jackal, as long as there was a wind under its feet and took a step forward, it would be able to slap the female jackal on the back and knock it over. But it didn't raise its claws to tear it apart, but just kept running behind the female jackal, as if it was in a track and field friendly match with the female jackal.

As far as I know, the snow leopard is a kind of taciturn animal. It usually roars frequently only when it is courting a mate or competing for territory with its own kind. Howling, this is very abnormal.I get the feeling that the snow demon is using his roar to convey a message to the female jackal: I don't want to tear you apart, as long as you drop that pig's head, I'll let you go and never hurt you!
I don't know if it's a threat or a pleading in disguise.

When the snow demon chased the female jackal, the other jackals stopped.The jackals did not flee in all directions because of the sudden appearance of a snow leopard, nor did they show any panic.When the snow demon passed by other jackals in the process of chasing them, those jackals did not dodge, but grinned at the snow demon as a threat.Several big male jackals stepped forward to reinforce the female jackal, some cast contemptuous glances at the snow demon, some yelled mockingly at the snow demon, some roared resentfully at the snow demon, and some ran in front of the snow demon Shaking back and forth, disturbing the snow demon chasing the female jackal.

There are various indications that the jackals are no strangers to the Snow Demon, as if the appearance of the Snow Demon has long been expected by them.

When the female jackal ran away, the pig's head dragged on the grass, and a pig's ear was pulled off by the grass stem and branch, and fell to the ground. The snow demon was probably very hungry, and grabbed the pig's ear like a hungry tiger, and couldn't wait to swallow it. into the mouth.

The riddle has been solved. We feed three pounds of meat every day. The reason why the Snow Demon can survive is to obtain supplementary food from the jackals in this way of half plundering and half begging.

I imagined the snow demon getting food from the jackals for the first time.That was eight days ago, the hungry Snow Demon came to the Gamar Grassland, wanting to catch red gorals or wild boars for a full meal. Unfortunately, although it found the target and tried hard to chase and bite, it failed repeatedly. In vain, a lot of effort wasted.It settles for the next best thing, hoping for luck in finding a frozen snake or a sickly dead rabbit.In the vast grassland, it is not easy to find animal carcasses that can satisfy hunger.Yes, metabolism is the law of nature. Animals are weeded out and die every day on Gaoligong Mountain, but vultures, known as funeral workers, have already spotted the ghost of death from the sky. They pecked clean, leaving only a pile of bones.Xue Yao went around the grassland, but couldn't find a single dead mouse, so hungry that she wanted to gnaw her own thigh.

At this time, a group of jackals came back from hunting and passed by this place.A group of jackals captured a Tibetan antelope, and each of them ate up their stomachs, and several jackals still had leftover pieces of meat in their mouths.The snow demon smelled the sweet smell of blood, salivating greedily, jumped out from the grass, roared and rushed into the jackal group.The jackals were unprepared, and when they suddenly saw a majestic snow leopard appearing in front of them, they were really shocked and panicked.One jackal was probably very timid, dropped a large piece of Tibetan antelope meat in its mouth and ran away in a hurry.The snow demon immediately jumped on the meat, hugged Sheng Hope tightly, chewed and swallowed, and got a lunch for nothing without any effort.The jackals had just gone through a hard hunt, they were exhausted, and because their stomachs were full, there was no need to go to war for a little leftover food, even if it was a sponsorship that was not very willing, the old jackal chief swallowed it. Feeling cowardly, he led the pack of jackals away.The snow demon picked it up cheaply, and solved the stomach problem comfortably.

One day later, when hunger strikes again, when the hunt fails but no carcasses can be found to satisfy the hunger, it encounters a pack of jackals in the Gamar Grassland again, and the pack of jackals still returns with a full load of leftover food. It repeated the same trick, jumped out from the hidden bushes, rushed into the pack of jackals with a roar, and snatched a piece of meat steak from the mouth of a dazed female jackal...

Animals also have the ability to sum up experience. After two successes, Snow Demon regards snatching food from jackals as his best way of foraging.It is not capable of catching live herbivorous animals by itself, and it is difficult to find animal carcasses that can wrap its belly. However, we can only get a pitiful three-pound piece of meat from our field observation station. The jackals ate out of their mouths.

For the Snow Demon, the current foraging method has four advantages: first, the jackal group goes out to hunt every day, and after capturing the prey, they will bring some of their prey back to the nest, which is a stable and reliable source of food; second, the jackal group travels back and forth. There are fixed routes, and it only needs to wait here on time to get the food it needs, eliminating the hard work of running around looking for prey; third, the food carried by the jackal group is fresh bloody meat that is slaughtered alive , much more delicious and nutritious than rotting animal carcasses; fourth, all the pieces of meat you get from the mouths of jackals are pieces that can be eaten immediately, and you don't need to take the risk of hunting or deal with a whole animal. The prey is so laboriously torn and slaughtered.It can be said that this way of foraging saves worry and effort, is comfortable and comfortable, and pays very little, but gets very affordable. It can be called an enjoyable way of foraging. Why not do such a pleasant thing? !

Animals act according to the pleasure principle, and are essentially willing to live a parasitic life of getting something for nothing.After that, the Snow Demon went to the Gamar Grassland on time every day to wait for the jackals to appear.

"Unexpectedly, the snow demon lived by blocking roads and robbery." Qiangba shook his head and sighed.

"The bowl-sized wound on its crotch may have been bitten by a jackal when the jackals were robbing for food," I said.

"Look quickly, there is a king jackal on the grass mound, it seems to be about to organize an attack!" Qiangba shouted.

I used the binoculars to look in the direction of Qiangba's finger, and sure enough, there was an old jackal with copper-colored hair standing on the grass mound, with its mouth facing the sky and a long howl. In an instant, all the jackals' eyes lit up and their tails were thirty The height is upturned, showing a fierce look.This copper-colored male jackal is bigger than the other jackals. There is no doubt that it is the leader of this group of jackals. If you want to name it, it is quite appropriate to call it the old chief jackal.Chieftain, the meaning of the leader; jackal chieftain, that is, the highest status in the jackal group.It is not difficult to judge that the Chief Zitong Jackal issued an order to his subordinates to prepare for a fight.

Conflict is inevitable, and who wants to give up the food they have worked so hard to catch?

It is certain that when the snow demon snatches food from the jackal group again and again, the anger of the old Zitong jackal chief will grow day by day.Occasionally, once or twice, you come to take advantage of it, and you can barely tolerate it.Nature follows the law of the jungle where the weak prey on the strong. Snow leopards are large beasts, and jackals are medium-sized beasts. It is quite normal for snow leopards to bully the small and rob the jackals of their food like trail-shearing bandits.But every day like this, I have to come to the jackals for free, and treat the jackals like fools, slaves, bullies, free restaurants, and transportation captains. This is too much, it is intolerable.Besides, they have to be blocked and robbed every day, which makes the jackal panic and resent the jackal. If things go on like this, will the jackal still live in peace?What worries the Zitong old jackal chief even more is that in the middle of winter when food is scarce, the jackals may go out for a day without getting anything. There will be no extra food for this cheeky snow leopard to plunder on the way home. With nothing to keep as road money, the starved snow leopard could use its brains to attack the weakly defended jackal cubs.It is a normal reaction for the copper old jackal chieftain, who is responsible for protecting the safety of the jackal group, to take decisive measures to prevent problems before they happen.

The snow demon was still chasing after the female jackal, and the chief brass jackal surrounded the snow demon with a few big male jackals.The jackals attacked from the side and the back, a one-eared male jackal slammed its head into the crotch of the snow demon's rear, and a stump-tailed male jackal pounced on the snow demon's rear and opened its mouth to bite the leopard's tail.

After all, the Snow Demon is a snow leopard known as the overlord of the mountains, born with fangs and sharp claws, and will not be caught by jackals like weak herbivores.The one-eared jackal bumped into its rear crotch, and it raised its front paws to fight back. The one-eared jackal rolled on the ground and fled away; Jumped to the ground and squeaked out.

I found that although the snow demon showed its leopard claws and fangs to resist the jackal's attack, it could only defend passively, and had no intention of taking the opportunity to counterattack while passively defending to become active defense.When the one-eared male jackal bumped into its hind crotch and was slapped and rolled on the ground, it only needed to stretch out another leopard claw to grab the bold one-eared male jackal, but it did not do so, and lost its defense in vain. It is a good time to attack; when the stumped jackal pounces on its ass, it can wrap its tail around the jackal's waist, then turn around and bite, not to mention biting off the backbone of the stumped jackal, at least It can also bite the stumped male jackal's soul out of its body, but it didn't bite down seriously, and lost the favorable opportunity to bite back in vain.My binoculars moved to the one-eared jackal whose neck was slapped by the leopard's paw, and there was no skin on the neck; the binoculars moved to the stumped jackal whose back was gnawed by the leopard's mouth, and there was no blood dripping from the back.Although the snow demon is fledgling and lacks experience in fighting and killing, it is still a large carnivorous beast, the snow leopard. The leopard's claws and teeth are not made of paper or mud. If you scratch it and bite it, you will either die or be injured. left.I guess, when the Snow Demon slapped the one-eared male jackal, he didn't stretch out his sharp claws from the claw sheath, but just hit with the soft pads of his claws; The teeth did not close together forcefully, but just made a gnawing appearance.

There is only one explanation, the snow demon does not want to have a bloody fight with the jackals, and does not want to expand the incident and intensify the conflict. It just wants to get some leftover food from the jackals, and it has no intention of becoming an enemy of the jackals.

The snow demon's weak resistance and low-quality passive defense stimulated the jackals to become more crazy and arrogant, and several jackals joined the battle, barging their teeth and claws to besiege the snow demon.

At first, relying on its own height and strength, the Snow Demon ignored the jackals and fought with the male jackals with vigor, but it underestimated these thin jackals. Although these jackals were limited in strength, they were extremely clever and brave. And they are very united and cooperate well with each other. It can't take care of the head and the tail. Just after driving away the attacking jackal on the left, it was attacked by another jackal on the right.Many jackals rushed forward one after another, jumping up and down in front of it like a revolving lantern, making it dizzy and not knowing how to deal with it.After more than a dozen rounds, not only did it not take advantage of it, but it was also bitten by the copper jackal chief severely on the leg.But the jackals were full of fighting spirit, and they were forced to bite harder.

What stunned me even more happened. After the snow demon drove away the jackals that jumped on him, he curled up and lay down on his side, turned his neck and vomited at the old brass jackal chief. The meaning of pleasing, the eyes are sad and confused, it seems to have a meaning of complaining.

Both Qiangba and I are familiar with the special posture of the snow demon. During the breeding period, when it was mischievous or mischievous, we raised the whip and yelled at it loudly. It was afraid of physical punishment, so it would curl up and lie on its side obediently. He yelled at us in a melodious and long tone, the intention was obvious, begging for our forgiveness.Every time at this time, we hang down the whip to stop scolding and forgive it for its mistakes.

Unexpectedly, the snow demon also made this begging gesture in front of the jackals.

(End of this chapter)