The Evolutionary Path of the Lion

Chapter 4 Crisis Under the Cover of Night

The grassland under the cover of night is not quiet.

On the contrary, it is fraught with crises.

Of course, this applies to herbivores.

As the kings of the grasslands, lion prides can overcome crises simply by remaining closely united.

screams;

Sobbing;

The sound of impact;

And the faint vibrations from the heavy stomping of limbs on the ground.

All of this foreshadows an unsettling night.

"Other predators have also come out to move around."

Chen Fei lay quietly to one side, his ears twitching occasionally as he listened carefully to the sounds coming from the grassland.

"That brief, tender, and crisp sound, like a bird's call, must have come from a cheetah."

"The unpleasant howls that seem to be a group taunting attack must be the work of a nearby pack of hyenas."

In addition to lion prides and hyenas, the carnivores on the grasslands include leopards, cheetahs, and packs of wild dogs.

The lion pride's day has just ended.

For other predators, the day has just begun.

"Meow..."

After eating and drinking his fill, Big Head started getting itchy again.

He played with the other lion cubs for a while, but perhaps feeling it wasn't enough, he came over again to provoke Chen Fei.

After a series of bangs, silence fell.

Big Head got a beating and crawled to Ser's side, crying and begging for comfort.

Chen Fei's gaze remained fixed on the lion king in the pride.

After resting for an hour, the Lion King got up as soon as the sun set, feeling refreshed.

It growled at the grassland below the slope for a while, and then began its daily routine patrol.

Lately, the Lion King has been making special inspections.

Previously, patrols were usually conducted every two or three days, but recently they have been conducted once a day.

Chen Fei gradually sensed an approaching crisis from the unusual frequency of patrols.

Besides hyena packs, the only threats to the lion king's life are their fellow rivals—wandering adult male lions.

Lion cubs typically reach adulthood in 2 to 3 years. Generally, male lion cubs are brutally driven out of the pride by the lion king around the age of 2.

Let them live or die on their own.

In order to survive, these lion cubs, who are about to reach adulthood, often form gangs and roam the edges of the territories of various prides, while secretly observing the situation of other prides.

Once the lion king in the pride shows signs of old age or injury, leading to a decline in his dominance, the lions will swarm him, killing or driving him away.

To seize control of the pride of lionesses;

To occupy their territory;

From then on, he lived a happy life with his wife, children, and a warm bed.

This stable life of having enough to eat and wear usually only lasts for a few years.

Until younger challengers emerged.

This is the destiny and cycle of a grown male lion.

Chen Fei's concern was that his pride only had one lion king.

Although he is still in his prime, he has a high chance of winning in a one-on-one situation, but if he faces multiple opponents, he is very likely to be killed or flee without a fight.

Once the victorious nomadic male lion successfully invades the pride, the first thing it does is kill all the cubs in the pride, forcing the lionesses to enter estrus again.

Then they mate with them and produce their own offspring.

After all, no normal male wants to raise someone else's child.

After letting out a low growl, the lion king silently left the pride.

Chen Fei's gaze followed it until it completely disappeared.

He stood up uneasily, paced back and forth near the lion pride's habitat, and finally climbed up the crooked tree at the top of the slope.

Only by standing tall can you see far.

Chen Fei noticed that every time the Lion King walked a certain distance, it would stop and paw at the ground with its front paws, then do a little dog-like peeing, and finally cover the urine with soil and weeds.

This will help the scent last longer.

Roaring, urinating, and patrolling the territory on foot are among the lion king's daily routines.

Chen Fei's pride of lions is located in the middle of the river.

The location is neither particularly good nor bad.

Because the downstream area has more abundant aquatic plants, more herbivores stay there, but the competition is more intense, and there are also more lion prides.

As for the upstream area, it often experiences a drought season for half the year.

Less rainfall has resulted in even fewer lions remaining upstream.

Their main adversary is not the threat of invasion from other prides, but rather the struggle against drought and food scarcity.

A full patrol of the territory requires walking twenty or thirty miles, including several dangerous areas that either border other lion prides or are close to hyena dens.

These are all things the Lion King needs to be wary of.

Chen Fei stood in the tree for more than an hour until it was completely dark before reluctantly climbing down.

Finally, he chose a spot near Sel to lie down and prepare to sleep and rest.

In the early hours of the morning, a sudden, deep roar woke him from his dream.

After Chen Fei got up, he found that almost all the adult lionesses were gathered in front of the slope, in an extremely vigilant state.

A tense and desolate atmosphere filled the air.

Chen Fei was startled and, like the other lionesses, stood on the slope and gazed into the distance.

The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the view was not very wide.

Lions have similar vision to humans, only able to see a few miles away.

Their hearing is slightly better than that of humans.

They often rely on their sense of smell to hunt.

A lion's sense of smell can detect the scent of other animals up to 2 kilometers away, and this distance can be even greater if it is downwind.

Chen Fei was only one and a half years old and had not yet reached adulthood; his sense of smell was not fully developed.

He kept sniffing forward, and could faintly smell a trace of brutality and blood in the air.

"Could it be that the Lion King was ambushed by a pack of hyenas?"

"Or perhaps it was an invading pride of stray lions?"

Dangerous thoughts kept flashing through Chen Fei's mind.

He licked his lips and found his throat was a little dry.

"Meow..."

Chen Fei quickly took precautions and woke up the sleeping lion cubs behind him one by one.

Big Head, still half-asleep, was slapped twice by Chen Fei and let out a tender, threatening growl.

Chen Fei followed up with two more slaps.

The threatening voices disappeared, and Big Head nimbly got up.

The tense atmosphere that permeated the lion pride quickly affected them.

Even a lion cub is a natural hunter.

They are very sensitive to smells.

Big Head stopped barking and simply followed Chen Fei with a rather dependent air.

Chen Fei followed behind Sair.

If the Lion King is defeated and the wandering lions invade, then the only one who can protect him is their mother, Sel.

Other lionesses will also fight desperately to protect their cubs, but they won't pay the price with their lives.

As the sky grew brighter, the roars coming from afar became increasingly intense.

"It must be a roaming lion invading, but we don't know their strength or how many there are."

Many thoughts flashed through Chen Fei's mind in an instant.

Regardless, the fate of the lion pride is now inextricably linked to that of the lion king.

We must help it.

Otherwise, after the lion king's defeat, the young lion cubs would likely face dire consequences.