The Big Cats of Bakula: The Rescuing

by PantheraMan

Chapter 2: The Conifer Cave Lion

With the other group, Banda was using his keen senses to try to track down the people they were looking for, while the others were doing what people do when searching for lost people. However, they got no response, but they did however, get a bit of a surprise when a pack of wolves ran past them, and it became crystal clear why that was as a female cave lion was chasing them, caught one in her paws and killed it with a bite to the throat, when the wolf was dead, the lion grabbed it and dragged it off, or at least it was until another member of the same species of cat that killed the auroch came along, and challenged the lion for the kill. While the lion was smaller, it wasn't going to give up it's prize without a fight, so it charged at the bigger feline, the cats clashed.

"HURAAAHH!!"

"RRAAAARRGGGH!!!"

The lion got a swipe to the sabertooth's shoulder, but the sabertooth was larger, and more powerful, and used it's strength to slam the lion down, and eventually, the lion was forced to back down.

"Rainbow, fly overhead and make sure that thing doesn't hunt the people we're looking for, in this drought, predators seem to be desperate." Ordered Banda

Rainbow did as he asked, as she ponied up and flew overhead and followed the lion for quite some time, in doing so, she was able to get a good look at the lion, she could tell it was a female, but also that is was bigger than an African lioness, but it was hairier, light brown, and had a dark brown stripe on the sides of the body.

-"I swear, that's the weirdest looking lion I've ever seen." Rainbow thought to herself.

As she kept following the lion, she saw that it was about to enter a cave, and saw two cubs run out of the cave, and the lion nuzzled her cubs and laid down next to them.

-"Aw man, now this makes the whole thing more emotional, wait...what's that smell?" thought Rainbow Dash who then went to investigate the smell, finding it to be the carcass of a Red Stag that died of starvation, she then got out her knife her parents gave her in case she needed to get out of a sticky situation and used her new butchering skills Applejack had taught her in recent weeks, and then proceeded to bring it to the den, but not on foot of course. She dropped the deer meat right in front of the lions who then ate the meat, leaving Rainbow to feeling some pride and flying back to the others.

CONIFER CAVE LION
Length: 10 ft from nose to tail
Height: 3 ft at the shoulder
Weight: Males are from 300-660 pounds while females are 200-480 pounds

The cave lions in this region are descendants of those that came from Europe during the Pleistocene age, and unlike their African cousins, they're solitary like tigers or leopards. Females can have up to 3 cubs in a litter, and she is very protective of her offspring, as males will kill cubs that they didn't father to bring the females back into heat so she can have his actual cubs. While they are powerful hunters, their diet mainly consists of Fallow Deer, Caribou, Red Deer, and Wild Boar, it's not very often they go after aurochs or bison. The reason for this is because they coexist with the Lokochumala, which is bigger and more powerful than the lion, so to avoid competition, they select different prey items. However, when food becomes scarce, then the competition intensifies, and the lions must eat quickly before their kills get stolen, and it's not very often they actually fight the sabertooths. However, in normal conditions, the cave lions are more aggressive towards the leopards and wolves in the region than the sabertooths because normally their dietary overlap is bigger, and due to this, wolves are rather rare in the region because of the competition with the lions.

Comments

[Comickook]

Again, you did a splendid job on the exchanges, action, future chapter set-up and Conifer Cave Lion info in all the right places. I especially liked how the gang got help against that sabertooth AND how Rainbow started ahead on the search-and-rescue.

[PantheraMan]

9552256
Thanks, I'm just amazed how far I've come with this franchise already. It seems like yesterday that I started this whole thing.