Chapter 54 54: What is prey?

[1st POV] (1 week later) Food was scarce. It's been a week since my encounter with the Mbali brothers and they were probably still recovering from their injuries because I haven't heard from them since. After I ate the impala back then, I've only had one more meal in the passing week. The reason for that was out of my control. The number of viable prey had hit rock bottom in the Serengeti landscape. The remaining animals were in small groups of three to five so they were constantly on the move and hard to track down. And even if you found them, it was almost impossible to catch them with how cautious they were. The dried grass and leaves did not help in stalking them either. It was hard to move without sound in this condition. And since they were not moving in big herds, it was almost impossible to predict their pattern like I previously did to set up an ambush. All in all, it was a horrible situation in the Serengeti. It had been nearly five days since I'd had a meal. I had not gone without food that long since the first time I arrived in the Serengeti. Even with the help of Grim, it was almost impossible to have a successful hunt that often. Opportunities did not rain after all. I was not actually hungry since a lion could go twice as long without needing food but I did not eat simply to stay alive but to grow as well. My fight with the Mbali brothers taught me just how much I needed to grow. I had to surpass Baraka in size and that demanded food while I was in my growing phase. It wouldn't matter if I had food later on in my life, I need it now. So that left me frustrated beyond expectation. I wandered around the dry landscape like a beast without purpose. "Grim!" I growled. There was a choking caw in the sky and I felt a shadow circle around the sky. Not long after, the vulture flew down and stirred up a gust of wind as he landed in front of me. "You see anything yet?" I asked. "Depends on what you define as anything," he replied with a shrug. "Anything that I can kill," I said. "Afraid not, sire. It's very beautiful from up there, very scenic with the golden grass and all, but nothing that would fancy you. I did see some rodents, warthogs and a small family of porcupines which I'm sure doesn't interest you much," he said. I groaned in annoyance, "You are right. I need meat, not some snacks." "You and everyone else, my lord," Grim replied while flapping his wings, "Welcome to the Serengeti, long dry season edition. It's famine, fatigue and fun for the whole ecosystem. Yay." I sighed, "Fly further Grim, and tell me when you find something." "Roger," he replied and flapped his wings and propelled himself to the bright sky. Grim circled around the region before flying even higher up in the sky and disappearing from my view. In the meantime, I wandered alone. Eventually, Grim came back a few hours later and told me that a clan of hyenas had just brought down an antelope. I immediately perked up at the news and then I let him guide me immediately. Unfortunately, the site was further than expected. It took me nearly an hour to reach the place so by the time I was there, the hyenas were mostly finished with the food. The sound of their sickening laughter was the first thing I heard. I quickened my pace and when they came into view, I spotted around nine of them near the carcass. They were eating at the remains of the antelope while the other hyenas had ran away with their share. I saw one hyena running with the part of the prey's leg while two other hyenas chased him down. But my focus was on the biggest part. I released a growl which immediately got their attention. When they saw me, recognition flashed in their eyes. Their hind legs buckled and their tails pointed down instead of pointing up for a fight. They knew me. This was not the first time I had robbed a hyena. Before, I did it just because, but now I was hungry. I roared and ran to them. My paws beat on the ground as I ran towards them as fast as I could. The hyenas spiraled into panic. Some of them tried to tear a chunk of the carcass while others ran without touching the food. When I reached there, two greedy hyenas were still trying to tear off a piece of the carcass so they bore the brunt of my assault. I swung my paw at the first one. There was an explosion of force and a deep thud. Which was swiftly followed by a howl of pain and something cracking. I turned to the other one and bit at his spine. My jaw clamped down shut and easily broke his spine. The hyena became paralyzed on his hind legs and he tried and failed to crawl away from me. Or was it a she? I refer to all hyenas as he because they all have dicks... "In your next life, run when you see a lion," I said and then turned my focus to the eaten carcass. They both tried to crawl away from me and I let them. "This must be the fall-off of the century," I said while looking at the incredibly unappetizing food before me. The food was even worse than those I abandoned in the past. The remains were bones and skin along with the fats that clung stubbornly to the skin. One look and you could tell they contained no nutrition or protein. That was the type of meal you eat to stay alive and nothing else. "It sure is tough when all your prey migrate to another, greener region. Perhaps it would've been better if I had followed them in their migration," I said, thinking in my mind that I should do just that next year. I took a careful sniff at the food and right as I was about to eat and take my first bite, I heard a loud calling sound in the distance. TRUMPHET!! This time it was not a lion's roar but an elephant's trumpet. From the origin of the sound, I could tell that they were far away so I had nothing to worry about. But I just kinda stayed there, facing the sound and listening to the shrilling cry of the elephant herd. It was like a song, guiding the others. It sounded kind compared to the warning message of a roar. Elephants were one of the animals that did not migrate to other regions during the dry season. Including animals like rhinoceroses, warthogs, giraffes and even buffalo. ... ... "Wait a minute," I blinked. "Those animals are still here. They are not leaving and they will never leave," I said to myself. In fact, I encountered some giraffes on my way here and now I just heard a group of elephants pass by. That meant that there were animals that remained in the region even during the dry season. They were such huge animals that I forgot to even consider them prey. Wildebeest, Zebras, Antelopes, Impalas. I was not limited to those animals at all. So why was I here, moaning about how there was no prey for me to hunt? The biggest ones are still here. "This is crazy, hahahaha," I said and started laughing out loud at the insane ideas that started popping into my head. I would not allow this dry season to mess up my diet and stunt my growth. I needed to be as big and as strong as I could be. "Grim!!!" I roared to the sky. The vulture made circles in the sky before he flew down to me. When he was flying overhead, I told him with a crazy grin... "Lead me to the buffaloes." Prey was not a category or a name for a specific group of animals. Prey was what I made other animals out to be. And any animal could be my prey. ... ... ... [IMAGE] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author : By the way, predators don't eat predators. They have the risk of infection and parasites, so they avoid them. They also tend to have lean mass; therefore, a predator is of much lesser nutritional value than a herbivore. Also studies have shown that lion who have regular cape bufallo in their diet are stronger and bigger compared to the average lion. This is because of Bufallo higher quality of meat, effort required to take them down and also quantity. So yeah, get ready for Leo final form.