"Mom, over there..." The little cub whispered. Er Niu glanced down at it, then looked at the cat head by the wall, tilting and staring at it with a head slanted to one side.
Jinya followed the gaze and let out a "gurgle" sound. With two leaps, she went over and caught Little Brain Tiger by the skin of its neck, dragging it over.
Little Brain Tiger knew Jinya; this long-haired aunt often came to visit mom.
In the past, mom wouldn’t allow it and its sister to run around, but later discovered that the animals here were amazing, so when she went out to find food, she would leave them to play around in this area.
The Little Brain Tiger being carried over had its four big paws obediently tucked in front and showed no fear, instead, it looked unabashedly at the little snow leopard cub.
"Hey, are you faded?"
As soon as it was put down, Little Brain Tiger pounced on the snow leopard cub. Its body, noticeably a size bigger than the snow leopard cub’s, was sturdy, but the sound it made was very cute.
"My sister’s color is lighter than yours, but not as light as you." It was a chatterbox, circling around Er Niu. It reached out a paw to nudge the snow leopard cub, "Come out, why are you hiding under mom’s belly? Let’s play a game of looking for my sister, ok?"
The cub, from birth to now, hadn’t interacted with other animal cubs, it only picked up a whiff of its older siblings’ presence, but they were already over a year old, very cautious when around it.
The introverted little snow leopard cub meeting the extroverted Little Brain Tiger was like the meeting of an introvert and extrovert; one side was resisting fiercely, the other was enthusiastically inviting.
Er Niu was an extroverted leopard and accepted Little Brain Tiger’s enthusiasm well, but the cub didn’t. When Little Brain Tiger grabbed its ear to pull it out, the cub bit its mother Mao Mao’s fur, eyes brimming with tears.
But, ultimately, it didn’t have the size and strength, and after getting some fur in its mouth, it was dragged out of the safe haven by Little Brain Tiger.
Little Brain Tiger wasn’t really that forceful; after pulling the cub out, it let go and started bouncing around it.
"Come on, come on, they’re all busy talking, let’s go play, little guys. Let me tell you, I also saw a little black and white bear over there; it’s so small but fierce. My sister is planning to scare it, let’s go too."
Upon hearing straightforward Little Brain Tiger expose Hu Ximei’s plan, both Jinya and Leopard Sister let out a low laugh.
These cubs were born in Jiamu Gully around June and July, they’re like their own kids.
Leopard Sister and the others were quite stern with other adult animals, but towards cubs born within Jiamu Gully, it felt like a warm breeze in spring.
That’s why Jiamu Gully being the first choice of maternity ward at the zoo made complete sense.
Tiger mother is an experienced tiger, previously roamed in Old Northern Gully, her past cubs are independent now, but this year’s litter only has two. She chose the cave next to Huaqiu Valley as her nursery, the same cave the Huanan Tiger foster mother used to raise cubs.
Several tigers have temporary stayed there before, the environment is fantastic, especially suited for large cats to raise cubs.
The natural enrichment facilities installed by the previous Huanan Tiger research project team weren’t removed, they’ve perfectly merged into the surrounding environment, becoming an adventure playground for little tiger cubs and other animal young.
Hu Ximei is a bold, careful, calm, and super excellent cub.
She encountered a giant panda mother and cub while exploring the northern slope of Huaqiu Valley.
The panda cub was born around late June and early July, it had just begun to crawl really.
But the feng shui of Jiamu Gully is good for raising animals, a three-month-old panda cub could compete in fitness with four to five-month-old captive panda cubs.
This cub was fully not yet four months old, but when fierce, its sounds were like a cow’s, particularly loud.
Its loudness was different from the previous three whistle spirits, it already had a thick tone, if you only listened to the sound and overlooked the appearance, one would think it had to be a panda cub at least half a year old.
Hu Ximei got a fright from its cry while exploring, slipped and fell down the slope, ending up with a dirty face and a sore butt after being poked by branches.
She went back to her mother for comfort, only to be loudly laughed at by her silly brother for a long time. Ximei bared her teeth in anger, cast a cold glance at her foolish brother, turned her face away, and sulked all afternoon.
This morning, right after waking up, she began to prepare to challenge that black and white marbled bear.
Ximei quietly approached Mama Panda’s den, Mama Panda paused from eating bamboo, her ears twitched, head slightly raised to sniff the pheromones in the air, then got up and walked a safe distance from the den, maintaining a bystander’s demeanor.
Watching Mama Panda leave, Ximei waited a while longer before flattening her body to crawl through the bushes. Sneakily approaching the den entrance and peering in, she saw the black and white marbled bear, who could mimic a cow’s cry, sprawled out fast asleep.
Just as Ximei was getting ready to pounce, a tiger cub’s roar rang out.
"Sister, sister, I’m here, wait for me!"
The wind was blowing heavily, Ximei’s foot slipped, and she rolled head over heels into the den, crashing into the body of the black and white marbled bear.
The panda cub woke with a start, opening its eyes to stare intently at Ximei’s face, still buried in its belly.
Ximei pulled her face out tearfully, locking eyes with the panda cub. She bared her small sharp teeth wanting to threaten it, but the panda cub’s next act left her speechless in shock.
The black and white marbled bear actually sniffed its own belly, after quite a while, sullenly said, "Nothing, didn’t find anything edible!"