area51novel Chapter 856 852: The Old Breeder's Experience Talk
Chapter 856 852: The Old Breeder's Experience Talk
Lion prides have their own hierarchical structures.
A typical lion pride generally consists of 1 to 6 adult male lions, 3 to 12 adult female lions, and several cubs.
Most lion prides have about 15 lions, though there are also large prides comprising 30 lions, and small prides with only a few lions are not uncommon, depending on the abundance of prey in their habitat.
There are even alliances like the Bad Boys Alliance, consisting of 6 male lions.
The freedom of association is greater than that of wolf packs.
Because of the lions' highly social nature, their hostility is not as strong towards familiar faces they frequently encounter.
If they are regularly fed, over time, they will even consider humans as part of the pride, as long as no one purposely provokes them by challenging the leader of the pride; even rough play is tolerated.
On the other hand, cheetahs also have a special social structure.
"Wait, are cheetahs sociable? I've never heard of that before."
"As a child, I watched Animal World; aside from mother cheetahs with cubs, it seemed they all lived solitary lives."
"I'm shocked to learn that cheetahs are sociable; it astounds my mom for a whole year."
Upon hearing Bi Fang talk about the sociability of cheetahs, many viewers felt puzzled.
In everyone's mind, wolf packs and lion prides are sociable, but since when are cheetahs?
The only memory is of cheetahs sprinting with prey across the savannah, never seen surrounding prey like wolf packs, right?
"Some do, but unlike the wolf packs and lion prides you've seen, cheetahs have a more loose-knit social structure," Bi Fang reaffirmed his statement.
"In cheetahs, females usually live alone, showing no territorial behavior, but the social and territorial behaviors of males vary greatly."
"They form permanent groups of 2 to 4 individuals, and typically, cheetah hunting teammates are siblings. However, if there is a profit to be made, the group may also include unrelated members who accept strange cheetahs joining, especially in self-defense, to jointly drive away other predators."
"Not only that, when unfamiliar cheetahs meet, they will size each other up, and only if they don't like each other will fighting occur."
"What are you looking at?"
"What about it?"
"Seriously, does this really exist?"
"Moreover, cheetahs have few records of killing their own kind, almost no cheetah kills another of its kind, which is very rare among large felines."
Compared to lion prides, where males often kill the cubs left by other males, cheetahs' behavior is almost angelic.
They do not simply kill each other to defend territory or protect food, nor do they fight violently to compete for mating rights.
"It's so tender; I'm crying."
"When will cheetahs ever be free?"
"Next life, remember to be born into a family with a white scale; not just cheetahs, but lions and tigers can be kept too (Dog's head)."
"Ultimately, it's because cheetahs have high hunting efficiency but are not very strong, they know that getting injured would greatly reduce their hunting success rate."
"There's a saying about cheetahs, 'If it fails to hunt three times, it will perish,' not sure if you have heard of it."
"What does that mean?"
"Never heard of it."
"I think I've heard it was five times?"
"Holy, is it literally what I am thinking?"
"Yes, that's the literal meaning, meaning if a cheetah fails to catch prey three times, its life comes to an end."
Upon hearing this, many viewers were suddenly in an uproar.
Why would failing three times mean death?
"Although this saying is a bit absolute, the real situation isn't much better, as while speed provides cheetahs a significant advantage, it also poses a great safety risk."
"A cheetah in full sprint can reach speeds of 112 km/h, but most of the time, the speed they use in hunting is around 64 km/h; even so, cheetahs cannot run for long periods."
"They are fast but have very poor stamina; exercising builds up a great deal of heat inside their bodies; if they can't expel it promptly, they could be in danger. Therefore, cheetahs often have to stop and rest after a chase."
"In some documentaries, we often see hyenas stealing prey that cheetahs had worked hard to catch, without any resistance from the cheetahs; the reason behind this is because the cheetahs need to rest."
"Cheetahs, after completing a hunt, even if they have caught their prey, will not start eating immediately but choose to rest first because at that point, the cheetahs are too tired to eat."
"Hyenas within the same habitat often seize this opportunity to snatch the cheetah's prey, and the cheetah can only watch helplessly as its meal is taken away."
[Damn, why are there always hyenas around in Africa?]
[They are so strong yet still like to steal from others, that's not honorable!]
[This is nature, bro, who talks about honor with you? The ones who survive are the real bosses.]
"Therefore, scholars studying cheetahs discovered that if a cheetah fails in three consecutive hunts, it might never have the energy to complete another hunt, putting its life in critical danger."
The energy stored in the body is limited, most of which is in the form of fat, but the cheetah's need for speed prevents it from relying on fat for significant energy storage.
Three hunts are the limit before a cheetah completely depletes its energy, and if it cannot eat after these attempts, eventual death awaits.
"Cheetahs have a hunting success rate of 58%, theoretically, they indeed need only two hunts to succeed once."
"But reality is harsh, cheetahs face pressure from other competitors, savanna lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, brown hyenas, etc., are all eyeing them, with a 10% chance of being robbed."
"The survival of cheetahs is entirely through narrow gaps, so cooperative hunting is a wise strategy for them."
On the African Savanna, to carve out a niche for themselves, they need to be either strong enough or cooperate with others, and over the lengthy course of life, cheetahs have gradually developed the habit of hunting cooperatively.
When they go out to
[So awesome, the conservation centers are full of hidden masters]
[And Master Fang, really knows everything. You're just twenty-six, and this guy must be over fifty]
[Indeed, I can still watch twenty more years of live streams (laugh)]
On the third morning, after his second feeding session, Bi Fang finally felt that he could start making some physical contact with Harley.