The Strongest Lion

Chapter 33 Wild Dog Attack

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Wild Dogs Attack

On the beautiful yet cruel grassland, a silver moon hangs in the sky, illuminating the entire grassland.

The Koot pack held a strange ceremony right next to a thicket of bushes.

This thicket marks the territorial boundary between the wild dog pack and the lion pride.

Kurt and some young male wild dogs huddled together.

Kurt sneezed first. Then, he looked at the other male wild dogs.

After seeing Kurt sneeze, the other eight male wild dogs also sneezed.

Then, Kurt led the eight male wild dogs and twelve female wild dogs, forming an army of sixteen wild dogs under Kurt's command, and set off for the Zeke pride.

This is a kind of democratic voting ceremony held by a pack of wild dogs while they are hunting.

Wild dogs are highly social animals; they will discuss things before going hunting. They will only hunt together if everyone agrees; if many people are unwilling, they will not go hunting.

Although Kurt is the leader of the pack, it doesn't have the final say on everything. When it comes to important matters like hunting, Kurt alone has to make the decision. Only when the other male wild dogs in the pack, who have excellent hunting experience, agree can they go hunting together.

Queen Hill did not go hunting; instead, she stayed behind with some other female wild dogs to care for her dozen or so pups.

Because wild dog pups also face the possibility of being preyed upon by other predators. There are other hyena packs nearby. If they know that the wild dog pups are unattended, they will take advantage of the situation.

Hyenas and wild dogs may share some evolutionary kinship, but they are enemies when it comes to survival.

Wild dogs don't all go out hunting; some always stay behind to guard the area. Some young female wild dogs then act as caregivers, looking after not only the pups but also the old, weak, sick, or disabled ones.

Wild dogs are the only species on the savanna that cares for older members of their own kind. No other animal in the wild cares for its elderly members. In other groups, older members are typically driven out of the pack and have no chance of receiving any care.

Especially during the dry season, if there are older individuals in a population, they will either be driven out or possibly eaten.

On the entire prairie, only the wild dog population is a truly humane group. Not only do they hold democratic votes when hunting, but they also take meticulous care of the old and weak. Even sick individuals receive food.

Wild dogs may do this to make their pack more united. Only when a group is united can it unleash greater fighting power.

Wild dogs do this because they have their own survival wisdom. Therefore, when wild dogs go hunting, they will never act alone or in groups of two or three. They will usually hunt in groups of ten or more.

Hyenas, however, are quite different. Compared to packs of wild dogs, hyenas are not very united. They frequently fight each other over personal conflicts. Even among themselves, they often fight and sometimes kill each other.

Hyenas don't care for the old, weak, or sick. If you're injured within a hyena pack, you might be driven out by the queen hyena, or even killed and eaten by her.

Hyenas' cruelty may also be a form of survival wisdom. They ensure that no single individual affects the overall fighting strength.

Furthermore, the Jike pride was unaware that danger was approaching them tonight.

In the middle of the night, Lisa and Elsa went out hunting.

The male lion, Jik, did not go hunting; he was supposed to stay home to protect the nine cubs. After what happened last time, Lisa and Aisha didn't allow the male lion to go anywhere else, but only to stay home and protect the cubs.

That night, Lisa and Aisha went hunting, while the male lion Jik stayed home to take care of his cubs.

But in the middle of the night, it heard the roar of a male lion coming from the south of its territory. It knew that another wandering male lion was trying to invade their pride.

Faced with this situation, Jike resolutely went to confront the provoking lion.

Zeke sensed that his actions might expose his cubs to attacks from other predators. However, faced with the invading male lion, he had no other choice but to confront it.

Of course, Jike also sensed that the territory adjacent to his was the territory of a pack of wild dogs. This pack of wild dogs had always been relatively docile and had never dared to make a move against their pride of lions.

But shortly after Zeke left, Kurt led his army of twenty wild dogs to Zeke's territory.

However, once Kut reached Jik's territory, it dared not go any further.

It knew how powerful the male lion was, and it wanted to see if the male lion was at home looking after its cubs.

Kurt knew that, generally, male lions would go out to patrol their territory at night, while lionesses would stay at home to look after their cubs.

Of course, this applies to large lion prides with a large number of lionesses. For smaller prides like Jike's, the cubs basically have to take care of themselves.

Because Lisa and Elsa have to hunt, otherwise what will they eat and drink?

Kut first sent a male wild dog to scout out the Zeke pride's den. This male wild dog quickly learned that only nine cubs remained in the bushes under a large tree, while the lionesses and lions were all away.

This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For the Kut wild dog pack, it felt like a divinely granted chance to successfully ambush the Jik lion pride.

So Kurt led his army of wild dogs toward a thicket of bushes beneath the tree.

Because Kurt already knew that the nine lion cubs were next to a big tree in the territory of the Jik pride, and that they could catch some of the cubs if they rushed into the bushes.

Meanwhile, Chu Ye was sleeping in the bushes with the other eight lion cubs. However, Chu Ye wasn't asleep, while the other eight lion cubs were sound asleep.

Only Chu Ye sensed something was wrong about the impending danger; the other eight lion cubs were completely unaware.