Chapter 172:
After the arrival of winter, the whole grassland has completely changed.
The original green grass was all covered with white snow and ice. Looking over, except for some exposed rock formations, the surrounding area was white.
Such a vast expanse of whiteness, just looking at it, makes people feel a biting cold, and can't help but want to shiver.
Tibetan foxes do not have the habit of hibernating. Since winter entered, Chen Xing, the Tibetan fox family, spend most of the day huddled in the depths of the cave. The whole family hugs together for warmth and rest to reduce energy consumption. They only hunt when they need to hunt. time to go out.
Compared with the hot summer, Chen Xing dislikes such cold winter even more. Although he and his younger siblings are covered with thick fur, they can still resist the general cold, but the impact of low temperature But it's not just that.
Just the environment outside the cave, when you first see it, you may think that the scenery is very beautiful, especially pure white and clean, but after watching it for a long time, you will soon feel tired.
Such a white piece, if he sees it for a long time, Chen Xing is worried that his eyes will go wrong!
Compared with the white world this winter, Chen Xing still thinks the green and vibrant summer is more interesting.
Moreover, the cold weather in winter also reduced other creatures' trajectories.
Although the big-headed pikas in Tibetan fox recipes also do not need to hibernate or migrate, in such weather, the probability of emergence is far less than in summer.
The probability of the pikas showing up became smaller, and the probability that Chen Xing and the other three younger siblings could successfully capture each other also became much smaller.
That is to say, the parents of Tibetan Fox are rich in experience. As long as they spend more time, they can basically meet the food needs of the whole family. In addition to the food that was stored before, the whole family will not be able to survive in this cold winter. Be hungry.
In this cold weather, animals need to consume more calories to convert into calories, of course, food is the top priority.
Now that winter has entered, even the two stinky younger brothers who are usually the most naughty and playful, are now quietly huddled in the cave with their family members all day long, and they are not very happy to be active except to eat. Tired and grown a little fat.
Chen Xing opened his mouth and yawned. He tried his best to get his head under the thick fur of Father Tibetan Fox's belly.
There was nothing to do in the cave, and Chen Xing fell asleep again under the belly of Father Tibetan Fox after a while, breathing long, and his belly heaving rhythmically.
In addition to Chen Xing, the other two adult Tibetan foxes and three small Tibetan foxes in the cave are also the same. Apart from requiring one of the parents to stay awake and take turns to be vigilant, the other Tibetan foxes also use a long sleep to pass the time. Time, which can also reduce the loss of energy and heat inside the body, and maximize the use of energy as much as possible.
Chen Xing slept directly for another three hours, and was finally woken up by Tibetan Fox's mother in the afternoon.
The other three younger brothers and sisters also opened their sleepy eyes one after another, but none of them refuted the mother Tibetan fox's intention.
Leaving the Tibetan fox father to watch the house in the cave to prevent it from being accidentally invaded by other creatures, the Tibetan fox mother, the big parent, took the four children behind him out of the cave and prepared to go out hunting together.
The four children will be able to live away from home in three or four months, and now not only have thick hair growing on their bodies, but their body shapes are also very different from when they were young.
Even though the audience in the live broadcast room was extremely reluctant, the shadow of Tibetan Fox's parents can still be seen on Chen Xing's face today. The hair on his chin is extraordinarily strong, and it looks like he has a generous face and eyes. The proportion of the face is also getting smaller and smaller, and some squinting eyes are not as obvious as when they were young.
Give the four underage Tibetan foxes a few more months to grow up, and they will be basically the same as today's Tibetan fox parents, and can completely correspond to the long-running expression packs.
Of course, for the viewers in the live broadcast room, as long as they watch it for a long time, these generous faces are actually not as ugly as the first sight, but they still feel very cute, with a very strong contrast. sense.
After leaving the cave, the Tibetan fox mother and the four children behind her rushed to the meadow where their family of six usually hunted.
The hunting area was not far from the door, so the five Tibetan foxes arrived at their destination in no time.
Next, without much need for the Tibetan fox mother, the four underage Tibetan foxes behind them found a small area to start their next hunting activities.
The Tibetan fox mother watched for a while, and while preparing to hunt, she kept an eye on the situation of the children beside her.
Although the Tibetan fox couple's territory usually does not have many natural enemies, and the neighbors generally do not deliberately provoke their family, but the children are not yet fully grown, and they still have to pay attention to safety at all times.
And now in this icy world, who knows if there will be other hungry creatures staring at the little Tibetan fox?
Chen Xing stepped on the soft snow with his limbs, and he had a headache listening to the subtle sound of stepping on the snow.
This is not a good thing when hunting in winter. I won't talk about the frozen feet. The sound of stepping on the snow alone is not as quiet as stepping on the soil directly in the summer.
Although the sound of stepping on the snow is not loud, it is probably quite obvious to the pika who live underground.
It's no wonder that Chen Xing's hunting efficiency has been greatly reduced these days, it is because the external environment alone has caused a lot of impact.
However, since this influence already exists, Chen Xing himself has no way to solve it for the time being, so it is useless to think too much.
In winter, pikas don't like to show up very much, after all, there are no flowers and plants on the ground for them to fill their stomachs.
At the beginning, Chen Xing, who suddenly learned that pikas do not hibernate in winter, was also very puzzled about their food sources. stable food source.
However, the grass was completely withered, and there was only snow and ice on the ground, so there was no way to provide reliable food for the pikas.
Until one time, Chen Xing discovered a seemingly disgusting thing while hunting.
The food of pikas in winter is very likely to be **** from other animals!
It is not uncommon in the animal world to do this, not to mention the dung beetles, which are also known as dung beetles as the saying goes. Even humans can choose to use the excrement of certain creatures as medicine.
However, Chen Xing still felt that this was a bit disgusting. If it wasn't for the pika, there was no other food to eat, and the internal organs could be removed when eating, otherwise Chen Xing might have been hungry all day.
Pikas don't like to come out in winter, reducing the risk of being hunted by predators, so Chen Xing had to follow the Tibetan fox parents to learn an important method of using smell to find targets.
Pikas have been hiding in underground burrows. It is not easy to observe carefully with their eyes. After all, they cannot see through, but the smell does not disappear suddenly because the pikas hide in the burrows.
Tibetan foxes have a keen sense of smell. Even through a layer of ice, snow and soil, as long as they are more careful and their noses are sharper, they can smell the smell of the pikas in the underground caves.
After determining the location of the pika, the Tibetan foxes can find the location and hit it with a single blow, directly pierce the snow and the upper layer of soil with their forelimbs and even the snout, and quickly grab the target in the underground cave.
Chen Xing felt that this method was similar to the hunting method of the arctic fox, but the arctic fox would jump, sometimes even jumping very high and then plunging into the snow. But not so.
After learning such a method from Tibetan Fox's parents, Chen Xing could occasionally successfully catch the target in this icy world.
As for the other three younger brothers and sisters, I am afraid they are not as good as Chen Xing, the eldest brother!
Only experienced Tibetan fox parents and mothers are familiar with the way, and there are not many targets who can escape from their hands.
Chen Xing walked on the squeaking snow, burying his head and sniffing the smell on the ground with his nose, trying to distinguish whether there was any smell from pika.
Although this method is very effective, for today's Chen Xing, it is already very difficult to find the prey and locate the target's position.
Tibetan foxes have a keen sense of smell, but pikas are not bad at concealment, so they may not be able to find a pika for a while.
At this time, Chen Xing still needs very strong patience to carefully search the underground world. If he is a little impatient, he is likely to miss the target.
The other three younger siblings were also searching carefully like Chen Xing at this time, but it was still difficult to find their target after seeing it for a while.
Among so many Tibetan foxes present, only the Tibetan fox mother was placed with great hope.
The Tibetan fox mother's thoughts are actually the same. The reason why she brings four children out to hunt together is not that they really need each fox to come back with their prey, but to exercise their hunting ability, so as to prevent them from first hunting. After two years of independence, in the winter snow can't even get a stutter.
The children are not yet adults, and these few months are just to give them the opportunity to quickly practice their skills and carry out actual combat.
As for the burden of feeding the whole family, in fact, it is still on the Tibetan fox couple.
The Tibetan fox mother is also carefully examining the land around her with her nose, and she is determined not to let go of any hidden targets.
Even an experienced Tibetan fox mother, it took more than ten minutes this time to finally discover the smell coming from the target.
The Tibetan fox mother stopped immediately and did not dare to do other actions, so as not to be found by the underground pika and choose to escape. The passage below is likely to be very complicated. If the pika escapes in advance, then the Tibetan fox mother will follow. The chances of being able to hunt each other successfully will only become very small.
This is the first prey I found today, and the Tibetan fox mother is not willing to be escaped by the other party just because of a little mistake.
The Tibetan fox mother stood on the spot, and carefully used her nose to determine the specific location of the target. Then she charged up, quickly plunged her forelegs into the snow and the upper layer of soil, and bit it with her mouth.
Feeling the living creature struggling in her mouth, Mother Tibetan Fox immediately knew that she had succeeded!
She quickly bit her mouth, completely killed the pika in her mouth, and stopped struggling. Mother Tibetan Fox breathed a sigh of relief.
This dead prey can no longer escape and is destined to become food for their family.