Chapter 32: The Ordeal of the Dry Season

Chapter 32: The Trial of the Dry Season

The male lion Jike was no different. When he returned from patrolling the territory that day, he noticed Chu Ye’s strange demeanor and felt puzzled. At first, he thought it might be a cub from another pride that had wandered into their territory and even considered attacking Chu Ye. However, when he approached Chu Ye, he caught a familiar scent and decided to ignore him.

The other cubs also initially regarded Chu Ye as an odd outsider. But after some time, they recognized him as the same cub they had always known.

Chu Ye felt somewhat awkward about the changes in his physique at first, but he gradually grew accustomed to it. After all, he was a lion, not a human. Only humans cared about appearances; animals paid no mind to such things—they only needed food. Nothing captured an animal's interest more than food.

The Jike pride paid little attention to Chu Ye’s changes in size; they only sensed something unusual about him at first, but soon they stopped noticing him altogether.

The dry season dragged on, and each day was a torment for the Jike pride. They had to raise nine cubs, which was an enormous challenge. Even just surviving the dry season as three adult lions was difficult, let alone supporting a whole family.

In truth, the animal world closely mirrored human society, especially on the African savannah, which was practically a simpler replica of human communities. For any animal group, life resembled a human family: living together, offering help when someone faced hardship.

A lion pride was no different—they hunted and raised their young together, discussing and solving problems as a unit.

Chu Ye had lived with the pride for four or five months and was fully accustomed to their way of life, having integrated completely into this small society.

He was well aware of the many challenges the pride faced, foremost among them the struggle to find food. The nine cubs represented both the pride’s greatest burden and its greatest hope. If all nine survived to maturity, the pride would thrive.

Yet, the long dry season was only halfway over, and they had already lost one cub. The days ahead promised even harsher conditions.

This hardship wasn’t unique to the lions. Other animals on the savannah endured the dry season’s torment as well.

For carnivores, the dry season made hunting enough prey exceedingly difficult. The two most numerous herbivore species—the wildebeests and zebras—migrated northward to the Maasai Mara National Reserve during the dry months, leaving the Serengeti plains barren of these staple prey.

The carnivores, however, did not follow them; they remained in their territories, enduring the long dry season.

Lions were among those who stayed behind. As the largest carnivores on the African plains, they required substantial food, but without the wildebeests and zebras, survival became daunting.

Other predators faced the same plight, such as a nearby pack of wild dogs struggling to survive.

This particular pack was led by a young, robust pair named Kut and Hill, who commanded a family of over twenty wild dogs. Due to their numbers, their food requirements were even greater.

Yet, in the dry season, whether lions or wild dogs, all faced the same survival challenges.

Now, hunger gnawed not only at the lions but also at the wild dogs.

Kut’s pack had gone several days without a successful hunt. With the large herbivores gone, and smaller prey like springhares and warthogs hiding in their burrows during the night and only venturing out during the day, catching them proved difficult.

Over recent days, Kut and Hill deliberated on how to secure more prey. Each day, the pack needed to feed their dozen growing pups, who could not afford to go hungry.

If these pups went long without enough food, their growth would slow dramatically or even cease, making their transition to adulthood unlikely.

All these concerns weighed heavily on Kut’s pack. To ensure all their pups matured, they had to provide daily meals.

Although the departure of Nira’s hyena clan had opened up more hunting ground for Kut’s pack, in the dry season, a larger territory meant little if there were no prey to catch.

Experienced hunters, Kut and Hill knew that when other prey was scarce, they had to turn their sights on their neighbors—the Jike lion pride.

They were aware of the nine lion cubs, only four or five months old, weighing over ten kilograms each, vulnerable yet substantial in size.

Each cub was an irresistible temptation for the wild dogs. Catching even one would feed their entire litter.

Thus, when other prey eluded them, Kut and Hill resorted to increasingly risky tactics.

One night, under a bright moonlight that illuminated the plains even at midnight, they prepared to act.