Having quenched its thirst, the feeling of hunger surpassed the need for water and beca the most pressing demand for the body.
The sturdy ostrich jumped across the rocks, constantly moving toward the entrance of the underground river, its black feathers vibrating with each move.
Observing the familiar route of the ostrich, it was clear this was not its first visit.
Harley, who had been hungry for over a day, was eager to leap into action, its genes instilling a natural instinct for hunting.
As it shuffled its paws and its shoulder muscles rippled like flowing water, Bi Fang restrained the restless cheetah and shook his head while whispering to the audience, "Don't ambush an animal when it's about to drink; it's not a good opportunity."
"Thirst can weaken an animal's nerves, but once it knows it's about to drink, its brain briefly becos excited, and it stays highly alert to its surroundings. Attacking then would likely result in failure as it's constantly vigilant."
"Look at the ostrich's head; it's constantly looking around, observing its environnt."
Bi Fang held Harley's head with one hand, while his other hand reached out from between the rocks, pointing towards the ostrich.
The drone followed his pointing finger, and the audience could indeed see that as the ostrich approached the hole, it slowed down considerably and looked around more frequently, clearly on high alert.
"An ostrich's eyes are larger than its brain, possessing the largest eyeballs among terrestrial creatures. While it might seem unrelated, this possibly gives the ostrich excellent vision, allowing it to see clearly up to 3-5 kiloters away, so one must be cautious."
"We'll wait for it to finish drinking and co out; that's our best chance. Animals tend to relax after drinking, their nerves beco more lax, making it an ideal mont to catch them off guard."
"Of course, we could also trap it inside the cave, follow it in and grab it, but it's too dark inside, and we haven't thoroughly explored whether there are other exits or potential dangers, so it's best not to risk it and just wait here for it to co out."
[Ostrich: I'm screwed!]
[Drink up the last al beautifully]
[Drink, drink fiercely]
Thus, Bi Fang and Harley, faced with the ostrich so close at hand, chose to hold back.
Watching the massive ostrich slowly enter the cave.
As the prey disappeared from sight, Cheetah Harley grew impatient, grabbing Bi Fang's sleeve with its paw and gently biting.
Bi Fang pulled his hand back, ignoring it.
He was sure that if he had let Harley go, given its limited skills from growing up in a conservation center, it would likely have returned empty-handed.
"Cheetahs are carnivorous animals that primarily hunt dium-sized ungulates, including Thomson's gazelles, Grant's gazelles, and impalas, though ostriches are also frequently targeted by cheetahs."
"Although cheetahs are fast, they can only run for short distances, so cheetahs try to stealthily and gradually approach their prey."
"Closing in to a distance of 10 to 30 ters from the prey and then capturing it."
"Because cheetah's teeth are rather short, sotis they cannot kill their food by biting; instead, they often clamp down on the prey's neck with their jaws like pliers, suffocating it to death."
"Often it takes five to ten minutes for larger prey to die."
"We'll move closer, so Harley can strike more easily, increasing its chances."
[Ah, is Old Fang going to let Harley do it alone?]
[Is it reliable?]
[Just one man and a cheetah, but sohow we feel more confident in the cheetah hunting than the man (eating waterlon)]
"Let's try it."
He had only been hungry for a day, so his physical status was still okay, therefore Bi Fang did not have a must-win ntality towards this ostrich, he decided to let Harley try it on its own to see what its hunting talents were like.
For a cheetah, it was even easier.
Wild animals do not have three als a day, whether they get at or not largely depends on luck.
Most carnivorous animals can go a week without eating and be fine, only needing to hunt daily when they have young cubs, otherwise, they typically hunt once every two days.
It had only been a little over a day, not even two days.
Not catching anything wouldn't be a problem.
Harley's diet, compared to its wild counterparts, was absolutely luxurious, with even a good amount of fat on its physique, making it feel quite chubby.
Complaining now was rely because it had never experienced hard tis before.
After spending more ti surviving in the wild, this fellow would understand what cruel nature was.
Bi Fang moved forward with Harley for a few ters, arriving closer to the entrance of the cave.
This position was not as good as the one before; they could not conceal the figures of a man and a cheetah, but for an ambush, the elent of surprise was all that was needed, once the ostrich ca out and changed direction, it could not directly see them.
They waited for about a quarter of an hour.
Bi Fang, with his head against the rock wall, grew alert, not because he heard sothing from the ground, but because he saw the ostrich's head appear in his line of sight.
Harley's breathing grew deeper, his eyes firmly locked onto the ostrich ahead.
Even Jerry poked his head out of the backpack, his small black eyes staring incessantly.
"Chase, pounce, tear apart, rember these? Go!"
Bi Fang whispered, not knowing if the cheetah understood human language, then abruptly slapped the cheetah's buttocks.
With this slap, the cheetah, which was already in a high position, leaped out, covering a distance of tens of ters with just two touches to the ground, arriving behind the ostrich.
At that mont, the ostrich had not yet reacted until Harley landed on its back, and upon the tactile feedback, the whole bird shivered, emitting a sound filled with fear.
The whole process was too brief, the audience in the live broadcast couldn't see clearly, just feeling that as soon as Bi Fang's words had fallen, a dark shadow shot out from beside him, and after landing made another jump, reaching the back of the ostrich, what exactly happened in between was unknown.
Perhaps only after watching the slow motion of the live broadcast later could the audience see clearly.
Only Bi Fang, with his amazing dynamic vision and superhuman nerve reflex speed, saw everything clearly, watching the cheetah pounce on the ostrich, he clenched his fists, excited inside.
Well done, ostrich at for dinner today!
But just as Bi Fang thought this, he saw the startled ostrich leap into the air in his line of sight, and following it the cheetah that had landed behind it failed to secure a grip and, brushing against the ostrich's feathers, tumbled to the ground, rolling several tis due to its own montum.
By the ti it got up again, the ostrich had already escaped more than ten ters away.
The two distances combined exceeded thirty ters, even Bi Fang could do nothing at that mont.
However, Harley, who had rolled on the ground several tis, didn't seem to think so, perhaps feeling embarrassed, he got up from the ground and continued the furious chase.
The hunting instinct engraved in its genes drove Harley to chase the fleeing ostrich recklessly.
Seeing this, Bi Fang was not annoyed, it was all within his expectations, he quickly grabbed his spear and followed.
Soon, the audience before the live broadcast, through the drone flying in the sky, saw the unusual triple action scene of the cheetah chasing the ostrich, Bi Fang chasing the cheetah, if not counting the Gambian Pouched Rat in Bi Fang's backpack.
However, it didn't take long for everyone to witness the terrifying speed between the ostrich and the cheetah.
On the vast African savannah, the ostrich had the lead, quickly outdistancing everything, closely followed by the cheetah, which was less than ten ters behind, seemingly lagging by only half a body length.
Compared to those two, Bi Fang, who was bringing up the rear, was clearly struggling and falling further behind.
In fact, the speed he was sprinting at was perhaps less than half of that of the forr two.
In just a few monts, the taillights of the two creatures in front had nearly disappeared from view.
Only the audience could keep up with the fierce competition between the two animals through the drones flying high above.
Several minutes later, Bi Fang finally saw the cheetah sitting on the ground, panting.
Clearly, this was a hunt that had yielded nothing.
[Well, that failed]
[Not surprised at all]
[So are we going hungry today too?]
[You had your chance and you blew it]
"It doesn't matter, I was ntally prepared for this, it was to be expected."
Panting, Bi Fang stood watching the silhouette of the cheetah behind the bushes, laughing heartily, showing no anger or frustration at not capturing any prey.
At his current level, even if he truly could not catch any ga, by relying on plants and beetles he could still survive, although the quality of life would decrease significantly.
Bi Fang didn't mind that, so there wasn't much of a survival crisis for him.
After nurous adventures, many events still capable of bringing a sense of crisis to Bi Fang included encountering poachers, top predators, and rare natural disasters.
Yet, food scarcity and water shortages, the most basic and common hardships, hardly bothered Bi Fang anymore.
This was proven both in the Arctic and at Nemo Point.
"This is the savannah, not every hunt yields sothing, but I believe Cheetah Harley is not at all foolish. It has the hunting talent, and with more attempts, it will eventually figure it out."
After a while, Bi Fang moved forward to call Harley back, but his steps halted as his gaze passed the bushes.
The previously disappointed audience also widened their eyes.
It wasn't that Harley had caught the ostrich.
The ostrich hadn't been caught, but Harley had caught its eggs!
Several huge ostrich eggs lay in front of Harley, their clean, thick shells glistening milky white under the sun.
Harley, panting heavily, turned to look at Bi Fang and then lowered its head to lick the ostrich eggs.
Bi Fang raised an eyebrow and patted his grumbling stomach.
"Alright, it seems Harley is still a decent hunter.
"We've got eggs to eat."
...
Crack.
Dry branches were broken and tossed into the bonfire.
Inside the burning fire, an ostrich egg had a small hole knocked into it before being thrown in, and was quickly charred by the fierce flas.
The other two eggs lay intact on the sandy ground nearby.
"Many animals eat or abandon their own offspring, perhaps the ostrich deliberately led Harley to its nest, using its young as a decoy to shake off predators. This is actually a successful reproductive strategy."
In front of the fire pit, Bi Fang was explaining to the audience why Harley was able to find the ostrich eggs.
"Infanticide is quite common among animals, and we often observe this phenonon in familiars like hamsters, cats, rabbits, and fish."
"From a biological perspective, the ultimate goal of life is survival and propagation."
"We cannot live forever, but as long as we have children during our lifeti, we can pass on our unique genes."
"On the African Savannah, when an outsider male lion drives out the old male lion, the first thing it does is kill all the cubs, forcing the lionesses to interrupt their nursing period, so the females can re-enter breeding status, allowing the new male lion to propagate his own offspring and pass on his genes."
"Sotis, in order to reproduce, a lion will also eat its own offspring, especially if the cubs are weak, handicapped, or sick, significantly increasing the chances of the lioness committing infanticide."
"For the lioness, it's better to eat an ineffective cub quickly and get on with creating more viable offspring."
"On the other hand, in addition to issues with the cubs themselves, infanticide can also occur due to external factors, such as the young being contaminated with other slls."
"Many zoo incidents arise when young animals are eaten after being contaminated with human scents."
"Animals don't recognize DNA; their sense of sll is very keen."
"When they sll human odor on their young, they fail to recognize it as their own and eat them."
This rule is incredibly cruel, but in the animal kingdom, there are no emotions, only considerations of reproductive efficiency.
Thus, to a certain extent, infanticide is a successful reproductive strategy.
"Lizards, birds, snakes, and fish will eat their own eggs due to various factors, with long-tailed south lizards being the most prominent."
"When the long-tailed south lizard faces a crisis, it will imdiately eat all its eggs."
"Better to eat them yourself than have others do it. These eggs are 'at' from their own body, eating this 'at' can better prepare them for the next round of reproduction."
"No matter the animal, cannibalism ultimately serves the sa purpose — to better pass on one's genes and continue the propagation of the species."
"Abandoning their young works on the sa principle; for animals, sacrificing their young in exchange for their own survival is a beneficial trade, just like otters holding their young up to predator'\\s in a bid for sympathy when facing danger."
[I knew this, the first ti I saw this I thought soone had made it up, but it turned out to be true!]
[I was genuinely shaken by this]
[Cats to the rescue!]
"Of course, we can't rule out that it was just by chance, that the ostrich, in its panic, led the cheetah to its own nest."
Bi Fang poked the ostrich eggs in the flas with a stick, turning them over to better absorb the heat, speeding up the process.
"The shells of ostrich eggs are very thick, so we need to roast them a bit longer, and it would be even better if we had soy sauce, just pouring so sauce over the roasted eggs would be delicious."
After roasting them for around fifteen minutes and checking through the small holes he had made earlier, Bi Fang felt they were about ready.
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