Forest protection starts with picking up a lynx girl

Chapter 518: The cub who broke free from his shackles gradually showed his genetic advantages
A month passed in the blink of an eye.

As November approaches, the temperature on Jiamugou Mountain drops day by day.

Short-haired big cats don’t like to go out at night. They will only move around in the morning when the sun comes out. If they are hungry, they will go out to find something to eat. If they are not hungry, lying on various platforms to bask in the sun is the happiest thing for them.

The cub's health was much better than they had expected. After weighing him, drawing blood and doing basic tests, Chen Ying announced that he could undergo surgery.

The surgical plan has been improved two or three times and there is no room for improvement. The rest will be left to the surgeon to improvise.

While the surgery was being prepared, the post-operative care team also held a meeting to conduct paper rehearsals for various possible situations, in an effort to be prepared and not panic.

The cub was sent away on November 11th. When it left, it gave all the dried meat it had hidden to Ximei.

Ximei didn't know what the cub was going to do, but she was a smart cub and might have understood something from the irritable mood and serious expressions of the animals in the first aid station.

"When will you come back? My mother said that she would take us to live somewhere else soon. It's too cold in the mountains. If you come back early, come with us."

The cub lay down obediently with its long tail hanging behind it.

"I don't know. Mom said that if everything goes well, I can grow up well."

Ximei looked at the kid seriously for a while and said, "Come with me. I'll give you something."

Ximei jumped off the wooden platform with the cubs and walked around to the tree northeast of the first aid station's animal house, which was the little ones' favorite place to explore.

Ximei dug with her front paws for a while and dug out a milk tooth the size of a grain of rice from the soil.

If it weren't for its scent on it, it would be really difficult to find this fallen deciduous tooth in this place where stones and soil are mixed together.

"Take it with you. It has my scent on it. You can use it to find me when the time comes."

The kid had never received any special gifts from other friends before, so he was happy but also a little confused.

How can I bring such a small tooth back and how can I preserve it so that it won’t fall off?
The cub was also a smart guy. He didn't mind being covered in mud. He licked the little milk tooth into his mouth, then ran with it to find the two-legged beast.

Its mother has told it many times that when in doubt, it should seek help from the two-legged beasts!

Not only my mother, but also my two aunts and uncles and brothers said so.

Chen Ying was packing up to take the cub to the shelter at the foot of the mountain when the cub pulled down her pants and stuffed her palm with garbage mixed with dirt, leaves, and saliva...

After Xiaozai's explanation, he found Ximei's baby teeth from the pile of garbage.

There was naturally no way to drill a hole for such a small thing for the cub to wear, so he thought about it and found a men's necklace from his room. The pendant at the bottom was a hollow cylinder, which was just big enough for the little tiger's milk teeth to fit into.

I also found a jewelry braid, replaced the necklace, and tied it around the cub's neck.

The cylinder has a hollow pattern. If you smell it carefully, you should be able to smell the scent of the baby teeth.

But for humans, apart from being able to see, they can't smell anything.

The cub wearing the tiger tooth necklace ran back to his younger sister contentedly and let her sniff the necklace around his neck.

"Awoo, take it with you, and you'll be able to find me when the time comes."

Before dawn the next day, Chen Ying put the cub into a cage, and four forest rangers took turns carrying it out.

The transfer vehicle is already waiting on the roadside and will set off as soon as the cub arrives.

Erniu stood on the balcony on the third floor and looked out, but she couldn't see where the little guy had gone because of the heavy shadows of the trees.

It was not until the sun rose that Erniu went downstairs and found Chen Ying.

"I'm going back to the mountain first. I'll wait for you to bring it back to me."

Chen Ying half squatted down and hugged Erniu's neck.

"Don't worry, I will bring you a healthy baby."

This separation will last at least three months.

This year's cold wave is said to be the worst in decades. There is already snow on the top of the mountain. Erniu will not be able to come down the mountain until March or April next year.

During this period, perhaps only Jin Ya, who is not afraid of the cold and snow, can visit it.

After hanging out with Erniu for more than ten minutes, Chen Ying got up and left.

Jin Ya and Sister Bao guarded Erniu on the left and right, and only when Chen Ying's back could no longer be seen did the three of them turn around and run up the mountain.

On the fourth day after the cub left, Jiamugou welcomed a rare heavy snowfall.

The snow fell for three whole days. The snowflakes were so dense that people could not open their eyes. The entire forest was shrouded in white fog.

When the snow finally stopped, the entire Jiamugou area was covered with thick snow, and the woodland near the first aid station was covered with more than ten centimeters of snow.

The branches of the trees were weighed down by the snow. Occasionally, a few larger birds flew by, shaking off a cloud of snow mist. The rustling sounds added a touch of vitality to the silent snowfield.

Due to heavy snow, the mountains were blocked and the range of activities of Brother and Sister Leopard was greatly reduced. Except for necessary mountain patrol tasks, they almost never go out.

Sister Bao would occasionally stand high on the wooden frame, looking at the white mountains in the distance, with a hint of worry for Erniu in her eyes.

Brother Leopard often lies on the platform outside the animal house, dozing with his eyes closed, and his whole body exudes a lazy feeling.

The two tiger cubs, Fatty and Little Sister, did not run out to play in the snow as usual. They knew that such weather was not suitable for going out, so they stayed beside their mother obediently, occasionally playing in the cave, but soon quieted down and snuggled together to keep warm.

However, Ximei would always climb up to the platform outside the cave and look around, as if expecting her little friend to suddenly appear and give her a surprise.

As a plateau lynx with strong resistance to cold, Huihui has been living very comfortably during this period. It has occupied the territory that used to belong to Brother Lynx.

A large part of this territory overlaps with Aunt Erniu's territory. Although the two big cats usually act independently, Huihui came to the snow mountain to accompany Aunt Erniu. When hunting, they often help each other.

The old lynx cave was spacious and secluded, big enough to accommodate two big cats. When Jin Ya came to stay for a few days, she didn't have to worry about where to stay. She could just squeeze in with Hui Hui, which was warm and safe.

At first, Jin Ya lived with Er Niu. After the two of them had been huddled together for two nights, Jin Ya was determined not to sleep with him anymore. Er Niu had a bad habit - she would kick her legs unconsciously in her sleep, and her strength was quite strong. During those two nights, Jin Ya was woken up several times by Er Niu's shadowless kicks in the middle of the night, and she almost rolled out of the cave. Since then, Jin Ya never dared to sleep with Er Niu again.

In comparison, although Huihui would occasionally turn over and snore, at least he would not perform "martial arts" in his sleep. Jin Ya felt more at ease huddled together with him.

In addition to the alpine rock area, the territory that Chen Ying chose for Erniu also had a small alpine meadow, which was located a little below the scree beach where the Tibetan macaque cubs were released before, at an altitude of about 3,500 meters.

In winter, Tibetan macaques have migrated to areas with an altitude of 2,000 meters to spend the winter, and only plateau ungulates are still active on the meadows.

This year's heavy snow lasted for a long time and the amount of snow was huge, so many old, weak, sick and disabled animals were frozen to death. Erniu and Huihui were not picky about what they ate. As long as it saved energy and was non-toxic and not rotten, they would eat it.

Besides, there are plenty of pikas in that rocky area, and the hole-digging skills of Erniu and the two lynxes have been honed in Heyuan. The pikas that were once disdained by the scumbag snow leopard, the king of the snow mountains, have become the favorite delicacy of Erniu, Jinya and Huihui.

Basically, after this winter, the number of pikas and plateau rabbits, which were so large that they were about to become an epidemic, will be reduced by about one third.

Of course, it’s not just the three of them trying to eat such a large number of animals. There’s also the mother snow leopard who was taking care of the cubs and her children who will be independent after the winter.

The female snow leopard occupied another part of the scumbag snow leopard's huge territory, and only a small part of it overlapped with Erniu's territory. In this way, neither of them was able to occupy all of the scumbag snow leopard's territory, occupying probably a little more than half, and the rest was divided up by other snow leopards.

Last year, there were five young snow leopards in this area, four males and one female. In another year or two, a war for mates will break out.

On December 12, the cub's surgery was completed.

The operation went very smoothly, and the cub's cooperation made the results better than expected.

The next step is a 15-day observation period. If there are no problems, the cub will be transferred from the observation room to a special animal house for individual care. In February or March of the following year, the cub can return to the mountains to live with its mother.

But this does not mean that it can go back to the Heyuan wilderness immediately. It still has to live under Chen Ying's care until it reaches adulthood, and only after it is confirmed that there are no problems can it go home with its mother.

The cub will not be transferred to the animal house at the management station until mid-January to continue recuperating, so Chen Ying returned to the mountain early.

He can rest assured knowing that Xiao Song and Meng Meng are in the care team left at the center.

I rushed back for Jiaojiao. I don’t know if it’s because I’m too old or because I’m not feeling well, but this pregnancy has a great impact on Jiaojiao.

Qin Nanny and two assistants from the Panda Team monitored Jiaojiao 24 hours a day and discovered that Jiaojiao had been screaming loudly while eating in recent days, and her expression seemed to be in pain.

Dabai didn't even eat, and kept comforting it, and even helped it pick the tenderest bamboo leaves. But Jiaojiao stopped after a few bites, leaning against the tree trunk and panting heavily.

They tried many ways to get close to Jiaojiao, and Xia Sen also went to help, but for some reason, Jiaojiao would not let them touch her.

There was no choice but to quickly shake Chen Ying back.

Chen Ying didn't even take a rest when he returned to the first aid station, but went straight to find Jiaojiao.

Seeing Chen Ying coming, Jiaojiao lay down along the tree trunk, looking at him with moist eyes, her belly heaving rapidly, looking uncomfortable and aggrieved.

Chen Ying hurried over to comfort it and check its physical condition.

There were no particularly obvious abnormalities on the body surface, but when its belly was touched, Jiaojiao dodged and cried out in pain.

Looking at its performance, Chen Ying made some guesses and decisively drew blood for testing. At the same time, she fed it some plant medicine that she had prepared in advance.

For wild giant pandas, chewing herbs is the only option when they are sick, so Chen Ying's first choice of medicine for her is also Chinese medicine. After all, she is also a pregnant woman, and many Western medicines cannot be taken for the time being.

Following Chen Ying's hand, the cat slowly drank 100 milliliters of bitter medicine, and then Chen Ying stuffed a spoonful of honey into its mouth to reduce the taste.

Perhaps it was because she was emotionally relaxed, or perhaps it was because the medicine was effective, but half an hour later, Jiaojiao's breathing became calmer.

"Brother Ying, the test results are out. The hematocrit is elevated, and the white blood cell count is also increased. I suspect it has gastrointestinal inflammation. Sister Song said we need to do an ultrasound."

In fact, from Jiaojiao's reaction after drinking the medicine, Chen Ying had already determined the disease it had, but for giant pandas, the leader's principle was that there must be data or imaging results to support it.

There was a mobile ultrasound machine at the emergency station, which was brought over for Jiaojiao to examine. Sure enough, the mesenteric lymph nodes were a little swollen. Under normal circumstances, it might not be a big deal, but the hormone secretion of pregnant giant pandas is unstable, which aggravated the symptoms to a certain extent.

It’s good to know what the problem is. Chen Ying didn’t think it was a serious illness. It only required daily medication and the problem would be solved in about three to five days.

A week later, Jiaojiao resumed eating normally and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"I guess it was because it overate and damaged its stomach, and the sudden drop in temperature caused it to develop gastroenteritis."

When Chen Ying submitted Jiaojiao's medical record, she chatted with Xiao Song and asked about Xiaozai's condition.

"The cub is recovering very well. I sent you the results of the most recent checkup. The weight gain is a bit fast, and we are worried that it will have growing pains due to the rapid growth. However, the current monitoring situation is good, and it has also taken the initiative to increase its activity level."

After the successful operation, the cub began to show the excellent genes inherited from his father.

Previously, due to poor health, it suffered from malnutrition and its development was slower than that of leopards of the same age. After the operation, under the careful care of humans, it successfully passed the critical period and recovered faster than everyone expected.

And after the body absorbs nutrients at a speed that can keep up with the needs of development, the entire little leopard begins a rapid compensatory development stage.

To be frank, it is no exaggeration to say that the appearance changes every day.

At this rate, it will be able to return to its mother around the Spring Festival.

Of course, it is not realistic to live on the top of the snow mountain right away, and at least a transition period is needed. It will slowly adapt from the first aid station to the top, and finally adapt to life in the area at an altitude of about 4,500 meters on the top of the mountain for half a year to a year, until it can live completely on its own, and the treatment will be truly over.

There were a lot of people on New Year's Day this year, and the first aid station couldn't accommodate so many people, so Chen Ying simply set up a few tables in the cafeteria at the care station to invite everyone to dinner.

This year has been extremely busy, but the results are very encouraging.

After performing this operation on Xiaozai, Chen Ying has basically been recognized as a leader in the younger generation of veterinary medicine. He is still lacking in diplomas, otherwise his alma mater would like him to return to school as a visiting professor.

In addition, two vocational schools that I had previously dealt with in Yunnan Province also called to discuss whether I could teach their students next year.

Professor Bai meant for Chen Ying to continue her doctoral studies. Although a diploma was not necessary, many arrangements could not be implemented without this piece of paper.

As for whether the doctor can graduate successfully, based on the surgical papers he has accumulated, any supervisor with a bit of brains would not deliberately hold him back.

Are you unhappy about being led by students? If you really want to overturn the table, there are many people willing to take over.

(End of this chapter)