Chapter 44: Baboons versus Wild Dogs

Chapter 44: Baboons versus Wild Dogs

Chu Ye climbed up a large tree and looked out toward the distant troop of baboons.

The moment he looked, a surge of astonishment washed over him.

About a hundred meters away, a battle was unfolding.

It was a war between baboons and wild dogs.

At a single glance, Chu Ye roughly pieced together what was happening.

"Damn it, the wild dogs must have launched an attack on the baboons, trying to ambush the troop."

Chu Ye knew that across the vast savanna, wild dogs, despite their modest size, were formidable tyrants. Whether it was massive lions and leopards or smaller creatures like hyenas and baboons, all could find themselves bullied by wild dogs.

Although an adult baboon was not necessarily smaller than a wild dog, baboons were social animals with individuals of varying sizes, led by a strong alpha male commanding a large gathering of males and females.

Wild dogs dared not directly attack a full-grown male baboon, but they certainly dared to target sub-adult baboons. Of course, if a full-scale war broke out between the entire baboon troop and the wild dog pack, the young and old alike would unite to launch an assault against the enemy.

"Which pack of wild dogs is attacking the baboons?"

Even though Chu Ye could clearly see that a war was taking place between a pack of wild dogs and the baboons, he was still unsure which specific pack it was.

*Could it be Kurt's wild dog army?* Chu Ye's first instinct told him it had to be Kurt's pack. After all, the only wild dog pack living near their pride's territory was Kurt's.

However, stuck up in the tree, he could not clearly make out the distant details.

"No, I need to go and see for myself if Kurt's pack is up to no good again!"

With that thought, Chu Ye scrambled down from the tree and dove into the nearby bushes.

Chu Ye's small stature made his movement through the underbrush relatively safe, as large carnivores rarely hunted inside thick bushes.

In truth, whether he encountered a large predator or not, Chu Ye was not particularly afraid. After all, he harbored immense confidence in his current abilities. Having acquired the superpower of a honey badger, what other large beasts did he need to fear?

Thus, Chu Ye slipped down from the tree, slithered through the shrubbery, and stealthily made his way to the battlefield between the baboons and the wild dogs.

Upon arriving, he concealed himself in a nearby bush to observe the unfolding situation. He wanted to confirm whether this wild dog army was indeed led by Kurt.

A closer inspection revealed to Chu Ye that this pack was indeed commanded by Kurt.

Ever since Kurt's raid on the Jike pride—though lacking in grand spoils aside from capturing a single lion cub—the encounter seemed to have immensely bolstered their courage.

Now, Kurt was orchestrating another ambush, this time targeting the baboons.

It had to be said that adult baboons possessed formidable combat prowess and could easily defeat a single adult wild dog.

Yet battles on the African savanna were never fought in isolation. Conflict here was always a matter of one species against another, one population against a rival population.

When groups clashed, it was no longer just a contest of individual strength, but a confrontation of collective power between entire species. Naturally, warfare between packs required strategy and tactics.

Kurt's pack had been struggling to find large herbivores for days. It was currently the dry season, and herbivores were growing increasingly scarce on the savanna, having migrated to regions with abundant water and grass.

Every day, Kurt had to hustle across the landscape to secure food for the entire family. His pack included over a dozen pups, and these youngsters needed daily nourishment to grow up healthy. If they frequently went hungry, survival and proper growth were nearly impossible.

While an adult wild dog could easily go without food for extended periods, the growing pups required regular meals.

It was precisely because he could find no other prey that Kurt had set his sights on ambushing the baboons. After all, within any baboon troop, there were always sub-adults and vulnerable infants.

Earlier that morning, when the baboon leader led his family down from the trees in search of food, they walked right into the trap laid by Kurt's pack.

Kurt had planned meticulously, knowing that the baboons would descend from the trees in the morning to forage in the nearby grass.

Consequently, Kurt led his canine legion in a sudden burst from the surrounding brush, rapidly encircling a dozen baboons.

Had this dozen been composed entirely of adult baboons, Kurt would never have dared to strike. However, among these baboons, only seven or eight were adults; the rest were infants and juveniles.

This presented Kurt's army with a golden opportunity to triumph. Under his leadership, they swiftly surrounded the mixed group of baboons.

Originally, this baboon troop numbered over thirty members. However, as they descended from the trees to forage, they had dispersed. Seven or eight mother baboons were searching for food close to the giant tree with their respective offspring, while the alpha male, Lucky, led several other males to forage much further away.

During the dry season, baboons were reduced to scouring the grasslands for small animals, insects, scorpions, and underground plant tubers.

The cool morning air was the prime time for baboons to venture out and forage.

Fully aware of these behavioral patterns, Kurt had laid a silent ambush in the very grass where the baboons were accustomed to roaming.

Thus, Kurt's legion struck, engaging the baboons in a fierce clash.

Because the wild dog force consisted entirely of mature, robust males, their combat capacity vastly outclassed a scattered group of mothers and infants.

The battle was resolved swiftly. The wild dog army achieved a sweeping victory, successfully slaughtering three young baboons. Not a single wild dog was killed by the seven or eight desperate mothers.

Hiding in the nearby brush, Chu Ye watched the two factions fight. He had initially wondered if the baboons might successfully beat back the invading wild dogs.

After all, he had heard that African baboons were fiercely formidable creatures, frequently capable of holding their own against cheetahs and leopards. Yet, looking at the scene before him, the baboons' actual combat strength seemed rather mediocre. The legendary power of baboons apparently referred strictly to the massive, powerful alpha males, not the entire troop. Many of the females and sub-adults possessed remarkably poor fighting capabilities.