lion heart

Chapter 10 One Party Hero

The nine-month-old king cheetah, Black Nose, raised its tail high, blatantly marking its territory, and it is also the territory of the one-year-old lion cub, Bai Xue.

The jackal couple huddled up in the cave all day long, just waiting for the little jackal's foot to heal, and went away to rebuild their home.

The evaporation rate of Lake Natron is very high, and the depth of the lake rarely exceeds two meters.The lake water is rich in mineral salts and is corrosive, making it the most inhospitable place for animals in eastern Africa and one of the most hostile environments on earth.The harsh environmental conditions make large carnivores afraid to set foot here, making it the safest ideal home for small carnivores like jackals.

Here, there are three kinds of jackals living at the same time: the black-backed jackal, the side-striped jackal and the golden-backed jackal.The jackal family of three belonged to the most vulnerable golden-backed jackals.Jackals came to live in this harsh environment to avoid the attacks of large carnivores lions, leopards, cheetahs, and African wild dogs, and to guard against sneak attacks by hyenas, pythons, and eagles.

Although jackals are the smallest of several major carnivores on the African savannah, they can still live well.With resourcefulness, the jackal can often outwit other competitors and get a sumptuous meal.

The territory marked by the king cheetah with its black nose and tail curled up spans most of the territories of the three species of jackals, and these territories are the land on which the jackals live.

Blacknose can finally live like a real cheetah and hunt like his mother.Blacknose was on a charred tree stump, eyeing a rabbit hole 90 meters away.I saw a fat and big hare lying motionless in the shallow pit beside the hole with its round eyes open.Under the cover of light yellow weeds, Black Nose moved closer to the hare cautiously step by step.There were still 30 meters away, and the black nose jumped out.This action of Hei Nai was like lighting a pack of explosives beside the hare.The hare suddenly jumped up to a height of more than one meter, and ran away at a speed of seventy kilometers per hour, constantly changing directions while running.

The cheetah is the fastest animal in the world, with a speed of up to 120 kilometers per hour.Although Black Nose is still underage, he has no problem catching up with rabbits.What is exasperating is that after the hare ran forward for more than 100 meters, it suddenly got into a thick bush.Black Nose was caught off guard and lost his target, and the hare took the opportunity to escape.After a while, when Black Nose looked forward blankly, the hare turned around quietly, and ran back along the same road triumphantly.

Bai Xue was confused by Black Nose's swift whirlwind pursuit, so she had no choice but to lie obediently on the spot, looking like a white salt pile.Dazed by the victory, the hare actually hopped and jumped three meters away from the "salt pile".Bai Xue jumped up and bit off the hare's spine in one bite.This is the first time Snow White has caught a hare.

"Woo--", Bai Xue happily invited Hei Nai to have a meal.

Black Nose accepted Snow White's prey again.This time was different from the past, Hei Nai felt very uncomfortable.Black Nose was both frustrated and complained, as if Snow White had snatched its prey.It picked up the two rabbit legs given to it by Baixue, and reluctantly found a hidden weed bush. It wanted to imitate its mother and eat gracefully.

For several days, a pair of side-striped jackal couples who have been watching Black Nose not far or near, imitating hyenas, issued a strange cry of "Ahaha——Ahaha".Black Nose dropped the rabbit's leg in a panic, and quickly jumped onto a crooked-necked tree nearby.

The side-striped jackal couple immediately grabbed the rabbit's hind legs and disappeared into the grass.The side-striped jackals were greeted by a pack of jackals, including black-backed jackals, side-striped jackals, and golden-backed jackals.The jackals have united and took turns monitoring every move of the king cheetah Heibi and the lion Baixue.The jackals are determined to use their ingenuity to drive the lion Bai Xue and the cheetah Black Nose out of the swamp area of ​​Lake Natron where they live.

The swamp area of ​​Lake Natron is the home of the jackals. The jackals do not allow the existence of lions and cheetahs, let alone the domineering lions and cheetahs that delineate the boundary of smell, which will directly threaten to the habitat of their offspring.In order to multiply and prosper the family, the jackals will drive away Black Nose and Bai Xue at all costs.

Black Nose didn't take it seriously.Black Nose is nine months old. Since three months old, he has been traveling the world alone, and he is not afraid of the harassment of jackals.What's important is that Black Nose has a partner named Snowy the Lion with him - the Lake Natron swamp is their common territory.

In the hot East Africa, lions are used to hunting after dusk or before dawn, sleeping for eighteen hours a day.When Black Nose found Bai Xue, Bai Xue was having a warm dream.

Dad Brownmane was yawning, and young Snowy climbed up on his face, trying to stop his yawn, and Dad almost suffocated.Dad raised his hand, but didn't drop it, just patted it lightly with the other paw.

On the side, mother Jinwei watched them peacefully, wagging her tail...

It turned out that Black Nose was beating Snow White's back with his claws, urging him to catch the waterfowl.

Before leaving Baixue, Baixue's mother, Jin Weijian, taught Baixue the unique skill of catching water chickens in the swamp.A lion living by catching water chickens seems to be detrimental to the image of the king of beasts.But at that time, Baixue was only seven or eight months old, and her front teeth hadn't grown yet.What's more, Baixue is still a white lion who can't hide himself from lurking and hunting.

In any case, for Bai Xue, being able to live alone is more important than anything else.

Baixue and Heibi came to the mouth of a small stream, and 80 meters away from them, a group of water chickens screamed "Jiwei, Jiwei" and flew into the sky.Bai Xue kept a close eye on the direction where they took off, and walked towards a clump of deep weeds 20 meters away from that direction, where nests of small water chickens were chirping, waiting to be fed.Bai Xue signaled Black Nose to wait in the tall weeds three meters away from the water chicken coop, and retreated to the distant reeds.

After a while, the female water chickens called "Jiwei, Jiwei" not far away, and the little water chickens responded with "Jiji". Feed the caught worms to the baby chickens.

The female water chicken never expected that a light yellow shadow fell down.

Black Nose accurately caught a water chicken mother and a piece of water chicken nest.Bai Xue, who was hiding in the reeds in the distance, also took the opportunity to catch a panicked female water chicken.

"Aha-ah-ah-haha", in the grass not far away, the barking of hyenas hunting sounded again, Black Nose ran away in a hurry, and hid in the reeds where Baixue was.

A pack of jackals, black-backed, golden-backed, and side-striped, preyed on all the hens and chicks caught by the black-nose.

Among the reeds, Black Nose snatched Baixue's only female water chicken from Baixue's mouth, and went to find a place to eat gracefully.

Bai Xue felt slightly unhappy.

(End of this chapter)