Chapter 96: Giant Coyote
Although Chu Ye couldn't figure out why the lion would stay in this place. But he felt that he didn't need to think so much, he just needed to stay with this pride of lions.
In fact, the male lion Jike saw that there was a big waterhole in this place, which could temporarily allow the lions to live here. So, it planned to live in this place.
Originally, it was not very important for the lions to live in that place, as long as there was water and food there.
In this way, Chu Ye and the others temporarily lived in this place.
Living in this place is not that easy. Although there is a large puddle in this place, animals don't often come here to drink water.
The animals on the grassland are all very special. They all have strong abilities to resist hunger and thirst. Generally, adult animals will have no problem if they don't eat or drink for a month. Therefore, animals will only come to the water hole to drink water when they feel very hungry or thirsty.
Because herbivores also know that drinking water from a puddle is dangerous. They know that there are often terrible carnivores lurking near waterholes, and they often take the opportunity to catch herbivores when they drink water.
Although there is a large puddle in this place, the male lions Jike, Lisa, and Aisha have lived here for two days and have not seen any animals come here to drink water.
The male lion Jike originally thought that as long as they camped here, they would be able to catch prey soon.
Because the male lion Jike also knew that there must be some herbivores living beside this large water hole, and they should come to this place to drink water every once in a while.
But what the lion Jike didn't expect was that there was a lot of water in this big puddle. But no animals were attracted, only some small rodents would come to the water hole to drink water at night.
The male lion Jike and two lionesses walked to this place from their territory and walked for several days. Although a sub-adult buffalo was hunted in the territory before, the entire lion group had a feast.
However, if lions want to move, they will consume a lot of energy. Previously, the buffalo that the entire pride ate could only allow the lions to walk from their territory to this large waterhole.
Now the entire lion pride feels very hungry again. Not only the male lion Jike and the two lionesses felt hungry, but the eight little lions were also howling with hunger.
But no matter what, life on the prairie is so cruel. Without food, all carnivores are in danger of starving to death. Especially for young lion cubs, if they don't have food for more than ten days, their lives will be in danger.
Chu Ye also hasn't had food for a week, and he feels like his stomach is growling every day.
'No, I can't expect the two lionesses to hunt any food. I'd better be self-reliant and look for food myself! '
Chu Ye originally thought that as long as he followed this group of lions, he would definitely have food to eat. Especially if Jike has decided to set up camp in this place, it does not mean that there is prey to be caught in this place.
But things were not as Chu Ye thought. When the Jike lion group set up camp in this place. There are no large herbivores in this place. Only some small rodents appear at night.
However, for a group of large carnivores like the Jike lion group, they will not hunt rodents that can only fit in their teeth. They need to hunt some large herbivores to support the life of the entire lion group.
The male lion Jike and two lionesses have been camping next to this large waterhole for a week, but they have not encountered any large herbivores. Needless to say, they can hunt successfully. First of all, they have not seen any large herbivores coming to this place to drink water.
Chu Ye was already very hungry. He no longer wanted to wait for the male lion Jike and the two lionesses to hunt. He wanted to hunt by himself and feed himself.
So Chu Ye sneaked out to look for prey one morning. Of course, it doesn't look like he sneaked out secretly. Because the male lion Jike and the two lionesses finally decided to go hunting this morning. They could no longer wait by this big waterhole.
Although the male lion Jike and the two lionesses went out to hunt, Chu Ye did not expect them to hunt any prey. He decided to hunt by himself and support himself.
In fact, Chu Ye has always lived like this. He never intended to let the male lion Jike and two lionesses feed him. He always wanted to live an independent life.
'How can I, a particularly powerful little lion, still be unable to hunt prey? I'm sure I can hunt some big game. '
Chu Ye thought as he started walking towards the grass in the distance. He felt that there must be prey he wanted to hunt in these grasses.
So, Chu Ye boldly walked towards a bush in the distance, he knew it. If you don't enter the tiger's den, you won't get the tiger's cubs. Only in the distant grass can you encounter some large prey.
Things seemed to be going really smoothly. When Chu Ye walked forward for about a hundred meters, he suddenly saw what seemed to be a large animal standing on a mound in front of him.
This animal has yellow stripes on its body. It looks similar to the color of a hyena, but there are still some differences.
Due to the distance, Chu Ye couldn't see clearly how big this animal was. However, the color on its body can be clearly seen from more than a hundred meters away, which shows that this animal is relatively large.
'This must be a hyena. I can defeat the hyena now, so why not hunt a hyena and eat it! '
Chu Ye mistook the prey in the distance for a hyena. Although Chu Ye doesn't like eating hyena meat, since food is scarce during this dry season, he certainly won't care about eating hyenas or other herbivores.
Whether it is hyenas or other herbivores, they can eat prey as long as they are edible. During the dry season, no carnivore is picky.
As for fresh meat, even rotten food may become food for carnivores. Because any animal in a hungry state will certainly not choose food.
Chu Ye now began to run towards this hyena-like animal. He decided to kill this prey, whether it was a hyena or another animal.
Chu Ye originally thought this prey was a hyena. It felt that if this animal was a hyena, of course he would not have to be afraid. There was only one hyena, and he could easily take down this hyena.
But when Chu Ye was about to run to this animal, it couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. Because this animal is not a hyena, it is an animal that it has almost never seen.
'This - what kind of animal is this? Why is it different from a hyena? '
Chu Ye now saw that this animal was actually bigger than a hyena, almost as big as an adult cheetah. And it looks like its body is much stronger than that of a cheetah.
What's even stranger is that this animal has yellow stripes on its body, which is different from the hyena. However, in terms of body shape, they are still somewhat similar to hyenas. They are both animals with short hind legs and long front legs.
Chu Ye didn't know what kind of animal it was for a moment, so he began to scan the animal with his eyes.
After Chu Ye scanned it, he quickly recognized what kind of animal it was.
'Oh, it's a coyote. 'Some information about this animal immediately appeared in Chu Ye's mind.
Coyote: Body length is about 80 cm, with high shoulders and low hips; long mane hairs on the midline of the back from the head to the buttocks; brown body, but with tan stripes on the sides and limbs; tail length 30 cm, with long tail hair And fluffy.
The premolars are small and pointed, with only 2, and the molars are only 1 and degraded, making them unsuitable for strong chewing of meat. The front feet have five toes, unlike other hyenas which have four toes. timid. When attacked, it will spray a musky-smelling liquid and may fight the attacker.
In addition to eating soft carrion and bird eggs, the main food is termites. The tongue is long and well developed, and can lick and eat termites.
Come out at night to look for food. They give birth to 2-5 young in late winter, and the male and female animals nurse them together. Coyotes have a sac-like gland under the base of their tail, the secretion of which is used to mark territory. Distributed on the west coast and south of Africa.
The coyote has a head and body length of 55-80 cm, a shoulder height of 48-80 cm, a tail length of 20-30 cm, and a weight of 9-14 kg. Females are significantly larger than males.
The appearance is quite similar to that of a hyena, with high shoulders and low hips; there are long hyenas on the midline of the back from the back of the head to the buttocks, ranging in color from light yellow to almost red.
The whole body is covered with dense brown guard hairs, but there are tan stripes on the sides and limbs; the tail is 30 cm long, and the tail hair is long and fluffy. The front legs are longer than the hind legs, and the ears are large and the snout is pointed.
Their bodies are very obviously different from the more well-known spotted hyenas. The appearance of the body is more sloping, but their snouts and snouts are more sensitive and more suitable for animals that feed on insects.
Their teeth are more simplified and they have a long, flexible tongue filled with sticky saliva.
The front feet have five toes, unlike other hyenas which have four toes. The upper canine teeth are underdeveloped, but the lower jaw is powerful and can drag prey weighing 9 kilograms 100 meters.
Coyotes live in grasslands, wilderness and other areas. It is commonly found in habitats with wide views, such as gravel deserts and semi-desert grasslands with cacti, and low shrubs. Hidden in crypts during the day. Nocturnal.
The coyote is small, its teeth are highly degraded, and its body shape is far from the streamline theory. The opening angle of its mouth is almost the smallest among beasts, which greatly limits its bite area and strength.
The claws are suitable for digging in the soil, but not suitable for fighting and climbing. No matter how you compare it, coyotes are far from rivals of wild cats, cheetahs, and lions.
Unlike spotted hyenas, which live in clans, each pair of hyenas live far away from each other. They delineate the scope of their feeding territory by scent marking and bravely attacking intruders. They find their own termite mounds and even live in individual burrows. Since they are only active at night, they are extremely rare to see.
Natural enemies are snakes and leopards. Many carnivores open their mouths to display their teeth when threatening an enemy, but coyotes keep their mouths closed and instead erect their fur to enlarge their body. When attacked by an enemy, odorous fluid is released from the anus. Roost Cave (an abandoned cave where aardvarks are often found).
Night travel. Hyenas differ from other hyenas in that they do not prey on large animals, but on insects, mainly termites, as well as insect larvae and carrion. Using its long, sticky tongue, a coyote can hunt 300,000 termites every night during the summer.
And in winter, termites are much scarcer, reaching only one-fifth of what they are in summer, causing severe weight loss. Coyotes do not eat meat, but instead feed on insects, making food more accessible to coyotes than to carnivores.
The problem for the female coyote is this: In order to get enough nutrients to ensure a smooth lactation, she needs to consume nearly 250,000 termites every night, a difficult job that may require her to leave the nest. Up to 3 hours.
When the pups are small and still confined to the burrow, the female can safely leave them in search of food, but after a while, when they start to show their heads outside the burrow, that changes.
during this time. Her offspring are more likely to attract predators, and spotted hyenas rank among the most dangerous cub killers of all predators. This dangerous situation arises just when the male coyote starts to take an interest in his family.
Therefore, every night before the female leaves, the male coyote appears in the burrow, dutifully observing his surroundings while his children play with each other. If something scares them. It will drive away the uninvited guest.
In addition, the female will never leave the cave until she returns to feed the animal.
The male's vigilance is well aligned with his interests, since a pair of hyenas can manage to raise one or two cubs in a year (the average number of cubs surviving in the South African savanna is 1.5), whereas a single mother will It is difficult to feed any of the cubs without a male to help her care for the young (the average number of live animals a single mother can raise in a year is 0.3).
One male coyote increased his reproductive success fivefold by adopting a monogamous sexual relationship and protecting his young when they were most vulnerable.
In other words, it completes this process with one mate, which is at least equivalent to six females raising their young alone.
