Leopard's Feud

Chapter 28 Epilogue
The sun is hot.The open space outside the leopard den was covered with bloodstains.Among them, there is the blood of hyenas, leopards, and baboons.

Leopard Carla is leaving here, it cannot stay in this place where it has lost three children.It wants to go far away, away from this bloody land, away from this land full of hatred, away from the ancient baobab tree.

The baboon family also headed not for the baobab tree that had lived there for many years, but for a tall ebony tree.Jared decided to lead the entire baboon family away from the baobab tree and return to the ebony tree where they used to live.The canopy of the ebony tree, although much smaller than that of the ancient baobab, could still house an entire family of baboons.

In the open space, the little baboon Jesse and the little leopard hugged each other and groomed each other's fur, just like the baboon Jack and the leopard Kara did when they were young.

"Yo—" Kara called softly, and took the little leopard cub away with the tip of her furry tail.

Jesse sat on the ground with great reluctance, watching the leopard mother and child gradually go away.

Jack picked up his son and walked in the opposite direction.It kissed his son's injured forehead, and gave his most sincere blessings to his son, wishing him to forget all hatred and disputes.

Many years later, the ancient baobab tree is still lush and lush, and even forty people holding hands cannot enclose the trunk.

However, no one can remember the story of that year.

Natural Museum

Leopard

Latin name: Panthera pardus
Classification: Mammalia Carnivora Felidae
Leopards are graceful big cats.The well-proportioned body, spotted fur, slender waist, and high raised tail are the first impressions of leopards.

Leopards have no special requirements for the environment and have a very wide distribution range.Tropical forests and shrubby areas beside rivers are the leopard's favorite habitat.In addition, sparsely wooded grasslands with shrubs and rocky semi-desert areas are also places where they often appear.

The social organization of leopards is divided into male and female.Each female leopard lives in its own territory and resists the invasion of other female leopards.Male leopards rule over a wide territory, sometimes covering some or all of the female leopard's habitat, but they never invade the territory of other male leopards.

Climbing trees is a piece of cake for the agile leopard.Trees are very important to leopards, because leopards always leave strong paw prints on trees to delimit their territory.In addition, the shade of the trees can be used as a place for leopards to recharge during the day, and the trees are also excellent food storage.

Female leopards are pregnant every two years, and after about three months of pregnancy, they will give birth to cubs in rock holes, dense bushes, tree holes or crevices under landslides.A female leopard can give birth to 3-1 cubs per litter, usually 6 or 2.Newborn leopard cubs weigh about 3-500 grams, their eyes are not yet open, and their senses are not sensitive, so they are quite vulnerable to attack.

Leopard cubs grow quite fast. Eyes open after 10 days and weaned at 3 months.In fact, leopard cubs are the earliest carnivores that can eat meat, but female leopards will continue to breastfeed until weaning. The 3-month-old cubs have begun to learn to be independent, not only starting to go in and out with their mothers, but also participating in hunting activities more and more boldly in the field. At 6 months, a leopard cub can hunt smaller prey on its own, but it still lives with its mother until 18 months or even 2 years old.

Adult male leopards weigh about 37-90 kg, and female leopards weigh about 28-60 kg. They are large predators.Leopards have well-developed sensory organs and amazing physical strength, but their hunting methods are always the same, that is: ambush and hunting alone.It does not track its prey, but just hides and watches, waiting for the prey to come.When they lie in ambush in the trees or tall grass, the spotted fur is their best camouflage clothing.

Leopards are skilled hunters and will try their best to seize every hunting opportunity.When looking for prey, it usually moves quietly up and down its territory.It is so cautious that even its own shadow is perfectly hidden, and it tries to make the sound of its own breathing and smell disappear.If the prey is small in size, the leopard will grab it by the nape of the neck, and if the prey is stronger, the leopard will grab their throat and suffocate the prey.

Generally speaking, leopards usually only attack small mammals so as not to compete with other stronger carnivores.Wild boars, antelopes, monkeys and baboons are the prey of leopards.Baboons are strong in groups, and leopards try to avoid confrontation with groups of baboons, but leopards will attack solitary baboons.

【Africa - the hometown of animal novels in my dream】

Yuan Bo
At the age of eight, I wrote my first animal novel.From then to now, I have been writing animal novels continuously for 16 years.Out of interest in zoology, I became a student at the School of Life Sciences at Fudan University and later transferred to the Chinese Department.Now, I am a Ph.D. majoring in folk literature in the Chinese Department of Fudan University.Due to my major, I spent my winter and summer vacations traveling to Yunnan, Guizhou, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and other places to investigate zoology, folk literature and anthropology.The sun, moon, stars, and blasts on the grasslands and high mountains, as well as all kinds of creatures there, have taught me many philosophies that cannot be read in books.

The experience of getting along with animals and nature is the starting point for my literary creation.These experiences not only provided me with materials for creating animal novels, but also taught me how to understand nature, which influenced my concept of literary creation.And Africa, the land of big wild animals, aroused my original creative passion.

Africa is the hometown of animal novels in my dreams.

When I was in elementary school, I lived in a wild animal breeding base surrounded by mountains for three years.The breeding base covers a huge area, consisting of several continuous hills, surrounded by primeval forests that block out the sky and the sun.The fences in the breeding base are built along the mountains and are quite spacious, leaving enough space for animals such as sika deer, ostriches, and peacocks, and to a certain extent, maintaining the living conditions of animals in the wild environment.Entering different wild animal breeding areas is like entering a different world.

The northeast corner of the breeding base is located at the foot of a flat mountain. It is an ostrich breeding area with continuous yellow sand. The ostriches separated by fences kick up billowing yellow dust.It is a breeder grandfather who is responsible for raising ostriches.He is an experienced wildlife breeder who has worked in wildlife farms and private zoos in South Africa, Tanzania and other African countries.He has raised wild buffaloes, zebras, ostriches...even an African elephant!

At that time, I liked reading popular science books the most.From the book, I know that wild sparrows can be domesticated as pets.So I thought, ostriches should also be domesticated.Under my repeated begging, the breeder grandpa started to tame a two-three-month-old baby ostrich together with me.Not long after, I rode an ostrich to a nearby mountain village elementary school under the leadership of the breeder grandfather. Wherever I went, I won admiration.At that time, not to mention how happy I was, I thought: "I should be the first child in China to ride an ostrich to school."

In the wild animal breeding base, the breeder grandpa is my best friend, and he often tells me stories about animals from the African savannah and pastures.The breeder’s grandfather said that leopards and baboons are feuds on the African grasslands. In the wilderness of Africa, baboons often compete with leopards for territory; African wild dogs are the smartest animals in the African grasslands. When the African wild dog was in the most difficult time, the grandfather of the breeder once fed it pieces of meat; when in Africa, the grandfather of the breeder once participated in the action of catching wild ostriches in order to obtain a good breed; the male African wild buffalo in the breeding season has a very temper Cranky, wild buffaloes need to be kept with great care...

The breeder grandpa once told me a story about a white lion.There are many different stories about the origin of a white lioness who often wanders around the farm.According to the breeder's grandfather, this white lioness is a very mysterious animal.After studying biological science, I understood that this condition is a genetic mutation of African lions, while white lions will face more dangers and challenges than their peers in the wild, and white lions that can survive to adulthood will inevitably suffer A lot of tempering.

Under the vast and boundless starry sky, I nestled next to the breeder's grandfather, listening to the majestic roar of the male ostrich, and imagining that distant and mysterious continent... Later, I wrote down the story based on the story told by the breeder's grandfather. There are many stories about African animals. These are the first batch of animal novels I created.

Now, I have reorganized and created several animal novels about Africa that I have written successively over the past ten years, and launched them as a whole as the "Prince of Animal Novels Yuan Bo Africa Series", including "Leopard's Feud", "Lion's Heart" and "Wild Dog Dynasty". "The Tale of the Buffalo" in four volumes.The novel "The Ostrich Family" that should have belonged to the "Africa Series" has already been published in the "Prince of Animal Fiction Yuan Bo Wilderness Series", so it will no longer be included in this series.

In this series, I am exploring a different way of writing animal novels from the "wilderness series" ("Fire Horse", "The Destruction of Wolves", "Ostrich Family", "Ape Tribe").I hope to tell young readers about the animal legends from Africa with detailed zoological facts, twists and turns, and colloquial language...

(End of this chapter)