Chapter 856: Experience of the Old Breeder

Lion prides have their own hierarchical structure.

A typical lion pride generally consists of 1 to 6 adult male lions, 3 to 12 adult female lions, and several cubs.

The size of most lion prides is around 15 lions, although there are also large prides of 30 lions, and smaller prides of several lions are not uncommon, depending on the abundance of prey in the habitat.

There is even a Lion League such as the Bad Boys League, which is composed of 6 male lions.

The free combination situation is even better than that of wolves.

It is precisely because of the high social nature of lions that they are not so hostile to familiar faces that they often come into contact with.

If they are fed regularly, over time, they will treat humans as part of the pride. As long as they do not deliberately provoke them or challenge the leader of the pride, it will be fine even if they are fighting.

In contrast, cheetahs also have a special social structure.

[Wait, do cheetahs live in groups? Why have I never heard of it? 】

[When I was a kid, I watched Animal World, not counting the cheetah cubs, they all lived alone.]

[Cheetahs actually live in groups, which shocked my mother for a whole year]

Many viewers were confused when Bifang talked about the gregarious nature of cheetahs.

In everyone's mind, wolves and lions live in groups, but when did cheetahs also live in groups?

The only memory I have is of cheetahs and their prey running wildly on the prairie. I have never seen an encirclement like a pack of wolves?

"Yes, but unlike the wolves and lions you see, the social nature of cheetahs is relatively loose."

Bi Fang confirmed his statement again.

"In cheetahs, females generally live solitary lives and have non-territorial behavior, but the social and territorial behavior of males is highly variable."

"They will form a permanent team of 2-4, and generally cheetah hunting team members are mostly brothers. However, if it is profitable, there will also be members who are not related by blood in the team, and strange cheetahs will be accepted to join, especially in self-defense. together to drive away other predators.”

"Not only that, even if a stranger cheetah meets a cheetah, they will look at each other, and they will only fight if they can't stand each other."

【What are you looking at? 】

[What do you think of you? 】

[Hey guys, does this really exist? 】

"And cheetahs rarely have records of killing their own kind. Basically no cheetah will kill its own kind, which is very rare among big cats."

Compared to the pride of lions, which readily kills cubs left behind by other males, the cheetah's move is simply angelic.

They do not kill each other simply to defend their territory or protect food. Even courtship does not rely on violent fighting to compete for mating rights.

[It’s so warm and oily, I cried to death]

【When will the cheetah be free】

[In the next life, remember to be reincarnated into the home of a person wearing a white cat head. Not only can you raise cheetahs, but you can also raise lions and tigers (dog heads)]

"In the final analysis, it's because cheetahs are efficient at hunting, but they are not very strong. They know that injuries will greatly reduce their hunting success rate."

"About cheetahs, there has always been a saying in the public that 'if you fail to hunt three times, you will die.' I don't know if you have heard of it."

【what does it mean? 】

【Have not heard. 】

[The version I heard seems to be five times? 】

[Holy crap, is this what I understand literally? 】

"Yes, that's the literal meaning. It means that if the cheetah fails to catch prey three times, its life will come to an end."

Hearing this, many viewers were in an uproar.

Why is it that if you fail three times, you will die?

"Although this statement is a bit absolute, the reality is not much better, because while speed brings an absolute advantage to the cheetah, it also creates huge safety risks."

"Cheetahs can sprint at a speed of 112km/h, but most of the time, the speed they use when hunting is usually around 64km/h. Even so, cheetahs cannot run for long periods of time."

"Although they are fast, their endurance is very poor. Exercise will accumulate a lot of heat in their bodies. Once they cannot be discharged in time, their lives will be in danger. Therefore, cheetahs often have to stop and rest after a chase."

"In some documentaries, we often see hyenas robbing cheetahs of the prey they have worked so hard to capture, and the cheetahs show no signs of resistance. The reason behind this is because the cheetahs need to rest."

"After a cheetah has finished hunting, even if it catches the prey, it will not eat immediately. Instead, it will choose to rest for a while. This is because at that time, the cheetah is too tired to eat."

"Hyenas in the same habitat will often seize this opportunity and snatch away the cheetah's prey, while the cheetah can only stare and watch the prey being snatched away."

[Damn it, why is the second African brother everywhere?]

[Obviously he is so strong, but in the end he likes to steal other people’s things, without respecting martial ethics! 】

[This is natural, brother, who can tell you about martial ethics? The one who survives is the boss. 】

"So scholars who study cheetahs have discovered that if a cheetah fails to hunt three times in a row, it may no longer have the strength to complete the next hunt, and its life becomes precarious."

The energy that the body can store is limited, and most of it is in fat. However, the cheetah's speed requirements prevent it from relying on fat to store large amounts of energy.

Three hunting times is the limit for the cheetah's energy to be completely exhausted. If it cannot be replenished by food after three times, death is what awaits it in the end.

"The cheetah's hunting success rate is 58%. In theory, it only needs to hunt twice to succeed once."

"But the reality is very skinny. The cheetah has to face the pressure of other competitors. The lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, brown hyenas, etc. on the grassland are all staring at it. The probability of being robbed is 10%."

"The survival of cheetahs is completely caught in the cracks, so cooperative hunting is a wise move for cheetahs."

In the African savannah, if you want to earn a place, you must either be strong enough or work together. Over the course of their long lives, cheetahs have gradually developed the habit of cooperative hunting.

When they go out to look for prey, if several cheetahs meet, they will form an alliance for a short time and cooperate in hunting. After the prey is captured and eaten, they will quickly separate and live alone, and will cooperate together next time if there is a chance.

This situation is called "ephemeral clustering".

Cooperative hunting is undoubtedly a wise move. It not only saves energy to capture prey, but also prevents the prey from being snatched by other competitors to a certain extent.

Therefore, it is easy to understand that cheetahs do not attack people. They do not attack people because of their habits. They are afraid of fighting and do not like to "make trouble." They often leave a friendly and harmless impression in the social interactions between people and cheetahs.

They possess the two advantages of feline subfamily and sociality at the same time, making them the most loved "cats".

Worldwide, there have been no incidents of cheetahs actively attacking humans.

In many African documentaries, you can see pictures of cheetahs coexisting peacefully with people. Some cheetahs will even take the initiative to run into sightseeing cars and have close contact with tourists.

While talking, Bifang stood up, came to the center of the cage and sat down.

Now the distance between the two sides is no longer the longest diagonal line, but the distance is directly folded in half.

This move immediately made Harley feel a little uneasy. The body that had just laid down after eating stood up again and kept turning in circles against the iron net.

"Cheetahs are very timid and will be scared away by the slightest movement."

"Because it doesn't have the size and weight advantages of predators like lions and tigers. The cheetah sacrifices a lot of the abilities that cats should have for extreme speed."

"Most cheetahs have very upright and honest personalities, so they are often bullied by other predators. In addition, the survival rate of cubs is not high, and the number of cheetahs cannot be expanded. Coupled with serious poaching, the number of cheetahs has directly decreased. The sudden decline is difficult to recover.”

"You know, at the beginning of the 20th century, there were about 100,000 cheetahs in Africa; in 1975, zoologists counted again and found that there were only about 14,000 cheetahs left; and now, the number of cheetahs has increased. That’s down by half from 40 years ago.”

"There are only about 7,000 cheetahs left in the wild."

"On the black market, cheetah cubs are sold for very expensive prices, with each one costing more than 30,000 U.S. dollars. Just imagine, when you see a young, defenseless cub playing in the grass on the grassland, you will let go. Have you passed?"

[To be honest, if I could get my hands on it, it would be 200,000, so that’s not necessarily true (face covering)]

[I feel like those wealthy people in the Middle East have a lot of them. 】

"Because cheetahs are relatives, humans have a long history of domesticating cheetahs. In 3000 BC, the Sumerians began to domesticate cheetahs."

"In ancient Egypt, cheetahs were a symbol of royal power and dignity. People domesticated cheetahs and kept them close to the Pharaoh, symbolizing the protection of the throne."

"People in ancient Egypt also believed that cheetahs could reincarnate the souls of dead pharaohs."

"It can be said that in history, those who could own a cheetah were either rich or noble. This may be one of the reasons why cheetahs are sought after by some wealthy people today - to show their identity and status."

[By the way, if you want to protect an endangered animal, can you relax the restrictions on their captivity and let them become pets of the public, so that they can be saved from the danger of extinction? 】

Bi Fang shook his head.

"This is what I said at the beginning, why the cheetah is not suitable to stay in the zoo? It is not because it is the king of speed and likes to gallop on the grassland. In fact, it is the nature of almost all animals to open their mouths and reach out when they want to eat."

"The fundamental reason is that cheetahs in captivity are extremely difficult to reproduce."

"According to ancient records, the Mughal emperor Akbar of India raised a total of about 9,000 cheetahs during his more than 40 years of reign, but only one litter of cheetah cubs was born."

The probability of breeding is one in several thousand. It can be imagined that breeding cheetahs in captivity is almost impossible.

"This is because cheetahs, like desert cats, fishing cats, and snow leopards, have poor adaptability to the environment. They are easily affected by environmental changes and do not reproduce."

"Even today, with more advanced science and technology and more advanced breeding techniques, people still cannot achieve stable breeding of cheetahs under artificial conditions."

"So in zoos around the world, lions and tigers are easy to see, but cheetahs are very rare. There are only about 10 zoos in China that have cheetahs, and there is almost no news about the birth of cheetah cubs in zoos ”

"That's why Harley must learn to hunt and return to the wild."

"Actually, the reason why humans cannot domesticate cheetahs is not because they have bad personalities, but simply because they cannot reproduce. If this problem can be solved, cheetahs can definitely become more successful domesticated animals than cats, second only to dogs. Alas, it is a pity. "

Bi Fang thought about this and sighed.

Harley on the side walked around Bifang for a long time, and saw that the other person was just sitting. Finally, he seemed to feel a little bored and lay down again.

Seeing this, Bifang smiled.

It only took him less than a day and a half to successfully close the safety distance between the two parties to less than ten meters. This is definitely news worth celebrating.

Bi Fang was confident that he would be able to pick up the big cat within three days.

Next, Bi Fang waved away a drone.

"Come on, let's not pause the live broadcast today. I will take you to meet a staff member who has worked here for more than 20 years, and let him tell you about the attitude of lions, tigers, cheetahs, and leopards towards their owners. Let’s see if the cheetah is the most loved one.”

[Good guy, practice brings true knowledge! 】

[Awesome, Fang Shen can still combine theory with practice. 】

"His name is Zach Sitz Barry. He used to work in the zoo. He was responsible for raising almost all the animals in the entire conservation center. I also met him while wandering here these two days."

Then Bi Fang found a staff member who was feeding the lions under the gaze of the audience.

This staff member looked quite old, and half of his beard was white. When he saw Bi Fang's arrival, he threw the piece of meat in his hand over the iron net and greeted him warmly.

The lion inside the iron fence took the piece of meat and began to bite it directly on the spot.

Bi Fang glanced twice and directly stated his intention.

"Oh, that's it." Barry lifted his peaked cap and laughed, "Then you have come to the right person for this question. I have raised tigers, lions, bears, leopards, raptors, and canines. Especially when I was working in the zoo, I was able to come into contact with animals not only from Africa, but also from all over the world, and there were quite a lot of them.”

"So where do we start?"

"Let's talk about tiger first."

"Well, if tigers are raised from an early age, their average level of ferocity to humans will be higher than that of lions, because they are solitary animals and generally do not have close relatives."

"But if you raise them every day, they can be well-behaved if they are hugged and kissed every day. But no one in our zoo raises them like that. They are just a bunch of babies waiting to be fed. We don't have time to look at the little ones every day."

"Only a few individuals are well-behaved, and that's a minority. Most of them don't like to talk to people. You can't be sure when it will suddenly attack you. A three-month-old tiger can already cause serious harm to people. "

"When a 4-month-old tiger cub eats meat, as long as you reach out and grab the meat, 80% of the tigers will bite you."

"Of course, there are a few individual tigers that are gentler. I used to raise a tiger named Qiqi. She was very gentle. When I put my hand in her mouth when eating, she wouldn't bite her. She would just walk away silently. I would touch her. On the soles of her feet, she would hit me with her tail a few times or turn around to scare me."

"In general, I have raised more than 10 tigers in total. Among these 10 tigers, I am sure that only 6 will not attack me."

"What about the lion?"

"Lions are safer to humans than tigers to some extent. They are social animals and you can become one of them."

"But ligers and tigers are cats after all. The intelligence of cats is far inferior to that of dogs and bears. You can't guarantee that one day they will go crazy and hit you."

"But generally speaking, lions are safer than tigers, especially female lions, which can be touched. A few male lions have very bad tempers and are more ferocious and violent than tigers. Some of them have good relationships with people and will even take the initiative to rub their heads. You then fell to the ground and let you touch him."

"You can touch some of the lions I raise with confidence. I generally don't tease male lions because they have such bad tempers."

"In the eyes of a lion, the owner who raised it from childhood to adulthood may be a standing lion."

Hearing this, the audience couldn't help but laugh.

"What about the leopard?"

"Leopard?"

Barry seemed to recall a bad memory and then shook his head, making the audience curious.

"It is almost impossible for leopards to have relatives. This kind of animal has an extremely unstable personality. Even if it is raised from a young age, it is extremely dangerous."

"They are more dangerous than ligers, that is, they are smaller and less intimidating than ligers. If a leopard had the size of a liger, it would be terrible."

"They have extremely violent and neurotic personalities, and they are very hostile to people."

"You can search in India. Leopards often sneak into villages to attack livestock and humans. This thing behaves very erratically. I have raised several leopards for more than a year, and they will not let me get too close. They are very It’s easy to attack people. If you make a move that threatens the leopard, its fur will explode immediately.”

"At first I thought I had done something wrong, so I consulted several breeders. They told me that the leopard's character is just like this, very unstable."

"Maybe it's the nervousness caused by being bullied by ligers, tigers and hyenas all the time. No one looks like a good person."

"In the eyes of a leopard, there are no friends, only enemies and food."

"After raising a tiger or a lion, I can kiss him on the cheek. But it's absolutely impossible for a leopard. I won't kiss him on the cheek anyway."

"Even if it is raised from a young age, it is basically useless. Unless the teeth are extracted and neutered, it may be better. Don't even think about raising it normally."

[Good guy, are leopards so ferocious? 】

[Neurotic, this description makes me a little scared]

[No wonder I haven't seen rich people in the Middle East raising leopards, it seems they are afraid too, hahaha]

"What about bears?"

"Hmm" Barry pondered for a moment, "As for bears, they are very intelligent."

"The black bears and brown bears I raise can open the faucet to drink water by themselves, and they can drag the feeding trough to the feeding place. When eating, I can feed a few smarter bears with my hands, and they know not to bite my hands."

"In short, it's not a question of whether they are friendly or not, but they are very intelligent and can accurately distinguish between keepers and other personnel."

"But there is one thing, that is, bears have basically no vision, they are blind, but they have a very strong sense of smell and hearing, especially the sense of smell, which can smell whether it is its keeper."

"And everyone should pay attention to one thing, never put your hand into the cage to feed the bear in the zoo, no, it should be said All animals are not good. "

"Many stupid bears can't tell whether it's your hand or food, and they might just chew your hand."

"If you raise a bear from a young age, a bear is definitely better than a tiger, because bears are highly intelligent. I personally feel that it's about the same as raising a lioness from a young age."

"But bears are particularly irritable and aggressive during estrus."

"In general, if a bear is raised from a young age, it can theoretically be raised to be relatively well-behaved, after all, the bear family and the dog family are closely related."

"If you have to say which one is more docile, I personally feel that brown bears are slightly better than black bears, only a little bit."

"And bears are extremely intelligent and often steal food from people, so bears are a very threatening creature to people, so don't touch bears just because they are fat."

"What about the last cheetah?"

Bifang finally asked about the cheetah, which was also the ultimate purpose of this topic.

"Ha, cheetahs, compared with the above, are completely elves."

Barry laughed.

"I feel they are similar to cats. They have ambitions, but not much. If they are comparable, they are not as ambitious as dogs. They are probably similar to domesticated wolves."

"Wolves are very sensitive and delicate animals. In the past, there was a fat wolf that was rejected by the wolf pack and became depressed and his tail was bald."

"I played with it every day to get better. Finally, I reshuffled the pack and mixed the wolves together again."

"If wolves are raised from childhood, their intimacy is similar to that of dogs, but their obedience is far lower than that of dogs. After all, dogs have been domesticated, while wolves have not been domesticated."

"If they are not raised from childhood, wolves are very afraid of people and are also aggressive. They will get better after a long time of raising, so I think cheetahs and wolves are similar."

"In the eyes of wolves, the person who raised it from childhood is a real treasure. The old wolf stood upright, the two guys are like ants on a rope. "

"Generally speaking, wolves and cheetahs are the safest and most friendly of these beasts, but it does not mean that there is no danger. Golden retrievers can bite people seriously, let alone wolves?"

"Don't think that beasts are safe. I can tell you clearly that it takes less than 10 seconds for tigers and lions to kill a person."

"Bears kill people more slowly, and they may even eat people alive bit by bit."

"These beasts are inherently dangerous. Don't be fooled by their cute appearance. Well, that's about all I know. It would be difficult for me to distinguish them based on the structure of the animals. I just have some experience."

After Barry finished speaking, he pushed the cart full of meat away.

He still had to go to the next place to feed.

[Just some experience]

[This experience is too rich]

[Too awesome, the protection center is full of hidden bosses]

[It has to be Fang Shen, he really knows everything, you are only 26, this uncle is over 50]

[Indeed, I can still watch live broadcasts for at least 20 years (laughs)]

On the morning of the third day, after Bifang had fed for the second time, he finally felt that he should be able to have some physical contact with Harley.