Become a Cheetah
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The savanna's early morning was very cool. Before the temperature rose, the Hosby lion pride surrounded the hippopotamus carcass and ate their fill again. Lions, unlike cheetahs, did not only eat fresh meat.
The carcasses of these two hippos were large enough that the lionesses would not need to hunt again for at least a week. They could spend the rest of the time sleeping.
If there was a selection for the sleeping king of the savanna, the lion would undoubtedly be it. They spent most of their day either eating or sleeping. After eating their fill, they could sleep for almost a whole day to conserve energy.
The three male lions still occupied the best parts of the female hippopotamus carcass, while the lionesses squeezed onto the other side. The prey was large enough that the male lions would not be too tyrannical in driving all the lionesses away.
Although they would occasionally still be rough, once they started eating, their tempers would improve a lot. Once lions found an opportunity, they would eat dozens of kilograms of meat, and the greed of the three male lions was evident at this moment.
The Hosby lion pride currently had no cubs, and only the injured lioness still needed to wait aside. A night had passed, and she had clearly recovered a lot. Her movements looked much easier, which made the rest of the lionesses very happy.
The core of the lion pride was the lionesses. Any lioness being injured or dying was a loss for the entire pride. They had already had a companion killed by the Oros lion pride and did not want to lose another important member.
As the temperature rose, the satiated lions began to look for shady places to rest. The male lions also left the hippopotamus carcass. The carcass was still very heavy, and they were too lazy to drag it elsewhere.
The vultures once again arrived uninvited. In just a few minutes, forty to fifty vultures gathered around the carcass, including a few marabou storks. Although they were large, they were not as fierce as the vultures and could only pick up scraps of meat when the vultures fought over the carcass.
The lions' departure gave these birds of prey a chance. The vultures almost swarmed up, like a dark curtain covering the hippopotamus carcass. Their bald necks were very convenient for reaching into the abdominal cavity of the carcass, and their sharp, hooked beaks could easily tear off the tendons and scraps of meat from the bones.
Lions needed to avoid the heat and high temperatures, but vultures did not. They could feast in the scorching sun of over fifty degrees Celsius.
The vultures' noise woke the lions. The lionesses still lay lazily, only glancing at them before ignoring them. The weather was too hot, and there was no need to waste energy on the vultures. Rather than spending time driving them away, it was better to conserve energy for the next hunt.
Nass had suffered yesterday for trying to drive away vultures and did not plan to repeat his mistake. Anyway, hunting was the lionesses' business; he only needed to eat.
The situation for Felix and Ero was somewhat different. The wound on Felix's body had been fueling his anger since last night. Although the other lions did not ask about the extra wound on his body, being injured by a leopard still infuriated the lion.
These vultures provided him with a good outlet for his anger.
The young male lion rushed aggressively towards the vultures. A vulture that had eaten too much and was half a beat slower was easily swatted down from mid-air by Felix. The vulture fell to the ground and immediately lay motionless, as if it had been beaten to death by the lion alive.
Felix thought it was dead and turned to look for the next unlucky victim. Unexpectedly, just after walking not far, the vulture on the ground suddenly flew up. Felix was shocked. Didn't he beat this thing to death?
Ero rushed up and tore the vulture down again. This time, the vulture's feigned death didn't work. Ero directly broke its neck.
Vultures smelled very bad. Unless necessary, lions would not eat them. Seeing Ero kill the vulture, Felix returned to the shade of the tree to rest, seemingly also feeling that what he had just done was a pure waste of energy. Looking at the vultures circling in the air, ready to move, Felix flicked his tail and followed his brother back to the shade of the tree.
The lionesses witnessed the actions of the young male lions. Zuva rolled over and nudged Sava with her paw.
"How is it? I was right, wasn't I? They've grown up and are definitely stronger than Nass."
Sava twitched her ears and covered her face with her paw, trying to drive away the annoying flies. "You also said we have to wait until they grow up."
Sava was already pregnant with Nass's cubs. But Zuwa still ignored Nass. Even now, Nass had no way to get close to Zuwa.
The lions' indifference emboldened the vultures. In just a moment, a large part of the hippopotamus carcass had been eaten. The hyenas watching from a distance could only be envious. Lions might tolerate vultures, but they would definitely not allow hyenas to easily approach their food, especially since the male lions of the Hosby pride were all present. Going over at this time would only result in being swatted to death by the lions.
But what neither the lions nor the hyenas expected was that a loud elephant trumpeting interrupted the vultures' meal. A large male elephant once again barged into Luo Qiao's territory. Solitary male elephants had bad tempers, and their huge bodies and tusks allowed them to fearlessly challenge the entire lion pride.
The elephant charged straight at the lion pride. The lions under the tree could still hold on at first, but when the elephant trumpeted and charged closer, all the lions had to be driven away, including the three male lions Nass, Felix, and Ero.
What was wrong with this elephant?! They had only killed two hippos and hadn't eaten any elephants!
The bull elephant continued to drive the lions far away, seemingly still dissatisfied. He walked to the hippopotamus carcass and kept pushing it with his front legs, raising dust.
Judging by his actions, he seemed to want to bury the hippopotamus carcass, but after a while, he stopped insisting, left the hippopotamus carcass to the vultures, and turned to walk towards the waterhole. Perhaps he was just in a bad mood and felt much better after venting his anger on the lions.
Looking across the entire savanna, besides elephants, there were very few who dared to vent their anger on lions.
The lions were driven away, and the hyenas hiding aside immediately rushed up to share this free feast with the vultures.
Luo Qiao heard the elephant's trumpeting. He didn't know that the elephant had done a good deed and had already driven the lions away from his home. He was busy leading the two small cheetah cubs in search of prey.
That's right, although Monty had brought Luo Qiao into his territory and wouldn't let him leave, he didn't overly restrict Luo Qiao from hunting.
Leopards liked to be active at night, and they slept most of the day. Monty was no exception. Luo Qiao had only greeted him in the morning before leaving with the two small cheetah cubs.
After Luo Qiao left, Monty came down from the tree, walked to the pile of dry grass that Luo Qiao had laid under the rock last night, looked at it for a while, pawed at it, and then lay down on it. Indeed, it was very comfortable.
There were many types of prey in the leopard's territory. Even in the dry season, there were still various animals for the leopard to choose from, but they were all too big for Luo Qiao. The bare ground also didn't provide any places for him to set traps. He could only keep walking.
After walking for most of the morning, he finally caught a hare. The hare wasn't big, only enough for one cheetah to eat. Luo Qiao gave most of the hare to Luo Sen and Luo Rui. The two small cheetah cubs weren't full, and Luo Qiao only ate a few scraps of meat.
"Dad, do we have to keep walking?"
Luo Sen leaned against Luo Qiao's front legs, raised his head, and let Luo Qiao lick the bloodstains off his face. While licking him, Luo Qiao said.
"Dad will find a way to catch something else, at least enough to get through today."
After walking another three to four hundred meters, Luo Qiao spotted two giraffes, one of which was a cub! Although adult giraffes were not easy to deal with, he could think of a way to handle this cub.
"Dad is going to find something."
Luo Qiao told Luo Sen and Luo Rui to keep an eye on the two giraffes while he transformed and found a few sturdy dry branches and a bundle of dry grass.
Luo Sen and Luo Rui had seen Luo Qiao braid ropes with this kind of dry grass many times. Seeing Luo Qiao's actions, they could vaguely guess what he wanted to do. Luo Qiao had caught an injured giraffe with the Parson brothers last time.
Although he didn't have those brothers to help this time, his target wasn't the adult giraffe but the cub. As long as he seized the opportunity, he still had a certain chance of success.
Calling it a rope was just twisting a few strands of dry grass together and tying knots. Luo Qiao moved quickly. The two giraffes were still eating leaves. He had already led Luo Sen and Luo Rui around to the front of the giraffes, carefully tying one end of the rope to a tree trunk and handing the other end to Luo Sen and Luo Rui to hold in their mouths after looping it around a rock.
"Remember, Dad will lure the adult giraffe away. If nothing unexpected happens, the little giraffe will run this way. When you see it coming, immediately pull the rope and trip it!"
"Okay!"
The two small cheetah cubs were very excited to be able to participate in the hunt. However, Luo Qiao instructed them not to take risks. If the situation changed, they should immediately hide in the bushes.
Sneaking back into the tall grass, Luo Qiao gripped the dry branch in his hand. One end of the branch had been sharpened on a stone. The broken splinters could definitely pierce the giraffe's skin. He also picked up a stone. Yes, he definitely had to use both hands and make sure both were strong!
The giraffe was eating leaves when suddenly something hit its body. It turned its head to look but found nothing. Was it being paranoid?
So it continued to eat.
Luo Qiao picked up another stone and continued to throw it, but he missed. The stone that landed in the bushes instead attracted the giraffe's attention. Giraffes weren't as brave as their size suggested. The mother giraffe immediately kicked the small giraffe with her front legs, signaling it to run quickly. The small giraffe hadn't understood what was happening and could only run forward following its mother's force.
Luo Qiao seized this opportunity and immediately ran out of the bushes, gripping the branch in his hand. He followed the giraffe forward, and when he got close, he aimed at the giraffe's hind leg. Stab!
The giraffe felt the pain and ran even faster. Luo Qiao was a bit dumbfounded. His purpose was to lure her away. Last time he poked a giraffe, didn't the other party chase him? But this time it seemed to have the opposite effect.
He wanted to tell the two small cheetah cubs to let go of the rope and run quickly, but unexpectedly, these two stubborn little cheetahs became even more excited when they saw both the large and small giraffes running towards them. They had tasted giraffe meat before, and their eyes shone as they looked at the approaching behemoths.
So much meat!
"Quick, hide!"
Luo Qiao's shout was still timely, but the distance was a bit far. The two small cheetah cubs' minds were full of meat, and they couldn't hear what he was shouting.
So, as the two giraffes ran over, Luo Sen and Luo Rui picked up the rope with their mouths and quickly ran to the side.
The small giraffe unexpectedly dodged, but the mother giraffe following behind was unlucky and got caught. One front leg was tripped by the rope. Unable to maintain balance, she was dragged down by her own massive weight, almost tripping herself and falling to the ground. She couldn't struggle to get up for a long time.
Luo Qiao didn't care about anything else. Gripping the dry branch, he rushed forward, pressed down on the giraffe's neck, and fiercely stabbed the sharp end into the giraffe's throat. The dry branch pierced through the giraffe's neck, and she fell to the ground, slowly ceasing to breathe.
The small giraffe had already run far away. It might be lucky enough to survive, or it might be discovered and eaten by other predators the next moment. But this was the way of life on the savanna. No animal could escape this natural rule.
If it could survive, it would firmly remember that cheetahs were also terrifying creatures, and it had to run quickly when it saw one!
"Dad!"
After the giraffe was killed, Luo Qiao called over the two small cheetah cubs. He gave each of them a paw slap. Gamma was right; children needed discipline! He had to make them remember that if they didn't listen, Dad would also spank their butts!
"Dad..."
Luo Sen and Luo Rui's watery eyes still softened the cheetah dad's heart. Spanking their butts could wait until after they were full.
At the same time, Parson and Jairo returned to the rocky mountain in Luo Qiao's territory and found that the lions of the Hosby pride had left, but Luo Qiao and the two small cheetah cubs were nowhere to be seen.
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❤️
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