The Strongest Lion

Chapter 96 The Giant Coyote

Chapter Ninety-Six: The Giant Hyena

Although Chu Ye couldn't understand why the lion would stay in this place, he felt he didn't need to think about it too much; he just needed to stay with the pride.

Actually, the lion Jike saw a large waterhole in this place, which he thought would be a temporary place for the pride of lions to live. So, he decided to stay there.

For lions, the location of their living environment is not particularly important, as long as there is water and food available.

And so, Chu Ye and his companions settled down in this place for the time being.

Living in this place isn't easy either. Although there's a large puddle, animals don't often come here to drink.

Animals on the grasslands are quite special; they possess a remarkable ability to resist hunger and thirst. Most adult animals can go a month without food or water without much problem. Therefore, animals only come to waterholes to drink when they feel extremely hungry or thirsty.

Herbivores know that drinking at waterholes is dangerous. They know that dangerous predators often lurk near waterholes and will seize the opportunity to catch the herbivores while they are drinking.

Although there was a large puddle in this place, the lions Jik, Lisa, and Aisha lived here for two days and did not see any animals come here to drink water.

The lion Jike had always thought that if they set up camp in this place, they would be able to catch prey very quickly.

Because the lion Jike also knew that there must be some herbivores living by this large waterhole, and they would probably come here to drink water every now and then.

To the lion Jike's surprise, although the large puddle had plenty of water, it didn't attract any animals. Only some small rodents would come to the puddle to drink at night.

The male lion, Jik, and two lionesses had walked from their territory to this place, a journey that had taken them several days. They had previously hunted a sub-adult buffalo in their territory, providing the entire pride with a hearty meal.

However, lions expend a lot of energy to move around. Previously, the energy produced from the single buffalo that the entire pride ate was only enough to get the lions from their territory to the edge of this large waterhole.

Now the entire pride is feeling extremely hungry again. Not only are the male lion Jike and the two lionesses feeling hungry, but the eight lion cubs are also howling with hunger.

However, life on the savanna is cruel; without food, all carnivores face the risk of starvation. This is especially true for young lion cubs, whose lives are in danger if they go without food for ten days or so.

Chu Ye hadn't eaten for a week, and his stomach was growling every day.

"No, I can't expect the two lionesses to hunt anything. I'll have to rely on myself and find food myself!"

Chu Ye had initially thought that as long as he followed the lion pride, he would definitely have food to eat. Especially since Jike had decided to set up camp in this place, it meant that there was prey to hunt here.

But things didn't go as Chu Ye expected. After the Jike lion pride set up camp in this area, no large herbivores appeared. Only some small rodents would appear at night.

However, for a large carnivore pride like the Jike lions, they would not hunt rodents that are merely food for their teeth. They need to hunt large herbivores to sustain the entire pride.

The male lion Jike and two lionesses had been camped by this large waterhole for a week, but they hadn't encountered any large herbivores. Forget about their chances of a successful hunt; firstly, they hadn't seen any large herbivores come to drink at this spot.

Chu Ye was extremely hungry. He didn't want to wait for the male lion Jike and the two lionesses to hunt anymore. He wanted to hunt for himself and feed himself.

So, one morning, Chu Ye secretly slipped out to hunt. Of course, it didn't seem like he was sneaking out. Because that morning, the male lion Jike and the two lionesses finally decided to go hunting; they couldn't just wait around by the big puddle anymore.

Although the male lion Jike and the two lionesses went out hunting, Chu Ye didn't expect them to catch anything. He decided to hunt for himself and support himself.

In fact, Chu Ye has always lived like this. He never intended for the male lion Jike and the two lionesses to support him; he always wanted to live an independent life.

"How could I, a particularly powerful little lion, fail to hunt prey? I'm sure I can catch some large animals."

As Chu Ye pondered this, he began to walk towards the distant bushes. He had a feeling that there must be prey he wanted to hunt hidden among them.

So Chu Ye boldly walked towards a patch of grass in the distance, knowing that nothing ventured, nothing gained. Only by venturing into the distant grass could he possibly encounter some large prey.

Things seemed to be going very smoothly. After walking about a hundred meters forward, Chu Ye suddenly saw what looked like a large animal standing on a mound in front of him.

This animal has yellow stripes. It looks similar to the color of a hyena, but there are still some differences.

Because of the distance, Chu Ye couldn't clearly see the size of the animal. However, from over a hundred meters away, he could clearly see its colors, indicating that the animal was quite large.

"This must be a hyena. I can defeat hyenas now, so why don't I hunt one down and eat it!"

Chu Ye mistook the prey in the distance for a hyena. Although Chu Ye didn't like eating hyena meat, in this dry season when food was scarce, he certainly wouldn't care whether it was a hyena or some other herbivore.

Whether it's hyenas or other herbivores, they'll eat any prey they can get their hands on. During the dry season, no carnivore is picky about food.

As for fresh meat, even rotten food can become food for carnivores. Because any animal in a state of hunger will naturally eat anything it can find.

Chu Ye immediately began running towards the hyena-like animal, determined to kill its prey, whether it was a hyena or some other animal.

Chu Ye had initially mistook this prey for a hyena. He felt that if the animal was a hyena, he wouldn't be afraid. With only one hyena, he could easily take it down.

But as Chu Ye was about to reach the animal, it couldn't help but gasp. This animal wasn't a hyena; it was one it had almost never seen before.

"What...what kind of animal is this? It doesn't look like a hyena."

The animal Chu Ye was seeing was even larger than a hyena, almost the size of an adult cheetah. And it appeared to be much stronger than a cheetah.

What's even stranger is that this animal has yellow stripes, which is quite different from a hyena. However, in terms of body shape, it is somewhat similar to a hyena, both being animals with short hind legs and long forelegs.

Chu Ye didn't know what kind of animal it was, so he began to scan it with his eyes.

After scanning it, Chu Ye quickly recognized what kind of animal it was.

"Oh, it's a hyena." Information about this animal immediately came to Chu Ye's mind.

Hyena: Body length about 80 cm, high shoulders and low hips; long mane along the midline of the back from the head to the hips; brown all over, but with brown stripes on the sides and limbs; tail 30 cm long, with long and bushy hair.

The premolars are small and sharp, numbering only two, while the molar is only one and is vestigial, unsuitable for powerful chewing of meat. The forefeet have five toes, unlike other hyenas which have four. They are timid. When attacked, they will spray a musky liquid and may fight back against their attacker.

Besides feeding on soft carrion and bird eggs, its main food is termites. It has a long, well-developed tongue, which it uses to lick up termites.

They forage at night. They give birth to 2-5 cubs in late winter, with both parents nursing them. The ahyena has a sac-like gland under its tail, whose secretions are used for marking territory. They are distributed along the west coast and south of Africa.

土狼头体长55-80厘米，肩高48-80厘米，尾长20-30厘米，体重9-14千克，雌性个体明显大于雄性。

It resembles a hyena in appearance, with high shoulders and low hips; long mane runs along the midline of its back from the head to the hips, ranging in color from light yellow to almost red.

Its entire body is covered with dense brown guard hairs, but its sides and limbs have brownish stripes; its tail is 30 centimeters long, with long and bushy hairs. Its forelegs are longer than its hind legs, and it has large ears and a pointed snout.

Their bodies are quite different from those of the more well-known spotted hyena. Their bodies are more slanted, but their snouts are more sensitive, making them more suitable for insect-eating animals like themselves.

Their teeth are more simplified, and they have a long, flexible tongue covered in sticky saliva.

Unlike other hyenas that have four toes, it has five toes on its front feet. Its upper canines are underdeveloped, but its lower jaw is powerful enough to drag a 9-kilogram prey for 100 meters.

Coyotes inhabit grasslands and open fields. They are commonly found in habitats with wide-open views, such as gravelly deserts and semi-desert grasslands with cacti, and low shrublands. They hide in burrows during the day and are active at night.

The hyena is not large, its teeth are highly degenerate, and its body shape is far from streamlined. The angle at which its mouth opens is among the smallest of all wild beasts, which greatly limits its bite area and power.

Their claws are well-suited for digging, but not so much for fighting or climbing. From any perspective, the hyena is far inferior to a wildcat, cheetah, or lion.

Unlike spotted hyenas, which live in clans, aardwolves live relatively far apart in pairs. They mark their foraging territories by scent marking and bravely attacking intruders. They search for termite mounds themselves and even live in separate burrows. Because they are only active at night, they are extremely difficult to spot.

Natural predators include the rat snake and the leopard. Many carnivores open their mouths to display their teeth when threatening an enemy, but the aardvark keeps its mouth closed and doesn't show its teeth; instead, it raises its fur to make its body appear larger. When attacked, it releases a foul-smelling liquid from its anus. Its habitat is burrows (often found in abandoned burrows of aardvarks).

Nocturnal. Unlike other hyenas, hyenas do not prey on large animals, but rather on insects, primarily termites, as well as insect larvae and carrion. Using its long, sticky tongue, a single hyena can devour up to 30 termites each night during the summer.

In winter, termites are much scarcer, reaching only one-fifth of their summer abundance, leading to significant weight loss. Coyotes do not eat meat, but rather feed on insects, making it easier for them to obtain food than carnivores.

The problem faced by female hyenas is that in order to obtain enough nutrients to ensure the smooth progress of lactation, she needs to consume nearly 25 termites every night. This arduous task may require her to leave the nest for up to 3 hours.

When the young are small and still confined to the burrow, the females can safely leave them to find food. But after a while, when they begin to peek out of the burrow, the situation changes.

During this period, her offspring are more likely to attract predators, and among all predators, spotted hyenas are the most dangerous cub killers. This dangerous situation arises precisely when the male ahyena begins to show interest in its family.

Therefore, every night before the females leave, the male coyote appears in the den, faithfully observing the surroundings while his pups play. If anything frightens them, he will chase away the uninvited guest.

Furthermore, it will never leave the cave before the female returns to nurse the animals.

The male's vigilance is closely aligned with his interests, as a pair of hyenas can manage to raise one or two cubs a year (the average number of cubs surviving on the South African savanna is 1.5), while a single mother can hardly raise any cubs without the help of a male to care for them (the average number of cubs a single mother can raise in a year is 0.3).

By adopting a monogamous sexual relationship and protecting their cubs when they are most vulnerable, a male hyena increases its reproductive success rate fivefold.

In other words, it completes this process with one mate, which is at least equivalent to six females raising their offspring alone.