Chapter 110: South China Leopard
In the eyes of humans, pigs are synonymous with stupidity. However, this does not apply to wild boars. Wild boars are agile and ferocious, running quickly, highly vigilant, and their bristles serve as both a warm "coat" and an alarm system to alert companions. Once they encounter danger, they immediately raise their heads, suddenly let out a "huff" sound, and all their bristles stand on end.
If a cat encounters a group of wild boars, it does not dare to launch an attack recklessly, because the long tusks of the wild boar are difficult to deal with. So it can only howl and intimidate from a distance. When the wild boars flee in groups, they will closely pursue and hunt, searching for individuals that fall behind during the long-distance chase.
The little squirrel seemed to be in a panic, but it didn't reach the point of the wild boar's rampage. Teacher Liu narrowed his eyes and shot a sharp gaze over, only to find that on a broad-leaved tree, a fierce beast was half-reclining.
"Leopard? It's quite scary, bigger than what I saw before." said Teacher Liu.
"Leopard? Where?" Everyone looked at him. Teacher Liu pointed to a tree, and from the gap between the leaves, you could catch a glimpse of a leopard. Nobody saw the whole body of the leopard clearly, but they roughly made out an outline, which seemed not small.
"Is this the Cloud Cat Professor Wen told you about?" asked Miao Huo.
The professor and his disciples were excited, looking at the cat as if it was a treasure.
"Teacher, it seems like Huánán cat this afternoon?" Xǔ Hào said.
Professor Wen nodded: "Not bad! It should be a South China leopard. I didn't expect that Yun Kai Dashi would also have a South China leopard. But thinking carefully, it's actually a reasonable phenomenon. Yun Kai Dashi is originally a mountain range in South China, but its reputation is not big, so it's easy to be ignored by people, which has created this treasure land with almost no human disturbance, and that's why so many rare creatures appear."
Professor Wen only now formally paid attention to the Yun Kai mountain range, preparing for this return trip, and planned to include the Yun Kai mountain range in a protected area. Moreover, his work focus was also prepared to shift to this magnificent Yun Kai mountain range. He wanted to establish an observation base here, constantly observing the rare species inside.
"South China leopard? Oh! I said why it doesn't look like the clouded leopards we saw before." Mr. Liu said, the previous clouded leopard was half the size of this one. The clouded leopard is about the size of a dog, and there's no comparison with this South China leopard in front of us. Just by looking at this leopard, you can tell it's not to be trifled with, absolutely ferocious."
Although the cloud leopard is also formidable, even the lion of the Miao Huo may be defeated and flee, but it's not enough to scare a group of wild boars like this.
"Liu Yang suddenly said, 'How come it looks a bit like an African cat?'"
"Hmm! The Southern Chinese cat's total length, including tail, is generally less than one meter, with a lighter color and smaller spots."
"And round, looks like an African cat, but more agile and sturdy than an African leopard." said Xu Hao.
Everyone just hid to one side, watching the development of the situation. Just now, Teacher Liu's gaze was also noticed by Hua Nan Mao, and it seemed that he also understood that the people on this side were not easy to mess with, and they generally didn't provoke humans, so after just a glance, he shifted his attention to the wild boar.
"The South China tiger is also a first-class protected animal in the country, although it's not as rare as the South China tiger, but it's also on the verge of extinction. This leopard is more widely distributed in Yunnan and Guizhou, but its distribution is scattered, each distribution area is relatively isolated, and the population size of each distribution area is not large, which has cut off the exchange between South China tigers, every breeding season, **the leopards cannot mate**, affecting reproduction and increasing the endangered degree of this rare species."
The South China tiger on the tree jumped down from above, a height of six or seven meters seemed to be nothing.
It didn't directly provoke those wild boars, but instead chased after some small pigs and old pigs, almost catching up to a little wild pig.
Those sows immediately went mad. All animals are protective of their young, and wild boars are the most typical example. It can be said that they are a generation of great "mothers" without exaggeration.
Wild boar usually start looking for a suitable location to make a "delivery room" several days before giving birth. The location of the "delivery room" is generally chosen in a hidden place, where it picks up branches and soft grass, lays out a loose and comfortable "bed" to shelter the newborn "children" from wind and rain.
Newborn cubs have their eyes open and are covered in a thick layer of fur. They are able to eat solid food at two weeks old. The female breaks trail, with the cubs following closely behind her, searching for food in the holes she digs.
When the piglets are still small, the female animal takes care of them alone. At this time, the female animal is very aggressive and even the male animal is afraid of it.
In short, a wild boar sow always takes care of her daughters with meticulous care and is very concerned about them. In this regard, humans sometimes have to admit defeat and sigh in admiration.
The wild boar suddenly turned its head and charged at the cat with all its might. Their attack was just a simple charge, but it was also the most ferocious. If hit, one would either be knocked flying or have their bones broken, and in severe cases, they could even be taken down with just one blow.
If there was only one wild boar, the South China tiger would not be so cautious. But now it seems to have offended many, and those adult wild boars actually unite together and charge at the South China tiger.
The South China tiger immediately arched its body and jumped down from the six-meter-high branch in an instant, then observed quietly.
"How can it be so powerful? It actually jumped up to such a great height in just one leap." Wen Qiu exclaimed. Just now, the place that was six or seven meters high didn't have too much of an impact when jumping down, but jumping up was different, the difficulty wasn't just doubled.
"It's nothing! They can jump at most seven or eight meters. In the jungle, tigers absolutely can't get any benefits." Professor Wen said to his junior.
A wild boar crashed directly into a large tree, and one of its long tusks was even embedded in the trunk.
A big tree swayed violently and many leaves fell down.
The onlookers' eyelids twitched, those teeth could even be inserted into a large tree trunk, and it's estimated that penetrating the human body would not be a problem. That was a large wild boar, the largest in the group, estimated to weigh over 500 catties. When it ran just now, the ground shook slightly. Everyone guessed that this wild boar should be the leader of the group.
The wild boar suddenly kicked the tree trunk with its hind legs, pulling out its long tusks. Looking at the leopard above, it let out a furious cry of "Heng! Heng!"
The South China tiger saw that it was not going to get any benefit from this situation, and did not want to get entangled with the wild boar. It jumped from one large tree to another, and soon disappeared.
"Is it over just like that?" Miao Huo said somewhat disappointedly.
The professor shook his head: "It's definitely not far away, the prey that is being stared at, how can it be so easy to relax? However, they are also highly intelligent animals and generally will not fight to the death. Look at that wild boar, it's clearly a desperate situation."
Professor Wen's guess was correct, the South China leopard did not go far. At this time, Xu Hao had already taken a photo of the leopard's shadow just now, recording the existence of the South China cat.
