Solitary predator , a General story

Her hunt

A/N: I'm not sure if big cats purr like domestic cats so if you know please tell me :D

The sun was just rising in East-Africa and its golden glow spread itself over a world filled with large predators and even larger prey.

High on a barren tree branch, a mother leopard was awakened by the early sunrise, she was called Chioma. Her golden eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the light. It was early in the morning but the world was already full of live.

All kinds of birds were happily singing there song and a large group of zebra was grazing in the distance. Everything appeared peaceful but that was a mere illusion. Danger was lurking around every corner, in particularly hyenas and lions a leopards most feared she was safe for the moment. Neither lions nor hyenas could climb as well as her.

The dominant male lion roared to show who is boss while the lionesses and hyenas fought over a meal. The young female leopard didn't let it bother her although the noise was disturbing. She wasn't complaining though as long as they fought each other and not her.

Here, Chioma was heavily outnumbered by her natural enemies so she preferred to stay unseen. There was quite some distance between her and the lion pride with their fresh kill but the smell made her mouth water and her stomach growl.

She climbed down the thick tree in an instance and landed softly on her paws in the long grass. It was the beginning of the dry season, the grass and other vegetation slowly dried out.

Warily she thought about the upcoming circumstances. The battle for water would be fierce and she had two cubs to take of. They weren't here now; she left them at the den to be safe.

She hid in the long grass staying low to the ground, searching for a meal. Unfortunately the place was too open with not much trees to hide her kill in.

Out of nowhere a cheetah dashes forward to a group of impalas. It appears to be an experienced killer. It's slender and graceful body stretches for one last effort before slamming itself into its prey.

The impala falls to the ground with the cheetah on top of it already preforming a strangling bite in its neck. Loud cries escape from the impala before it falls still. Chioma stared with her mouth open but quickly composed herself and arrogantly turned away.

She might be slower than a cheetah and weaker than lions or hyenas, when it comes down to hunting successfully she'll beat them all.

Now revealed, she carried her tail high in a curl to let some gazelles know that she wasn't hunting. But the stubborn and cautious animals always insisted on sounding the alarm.

After passing through she spotted a lone young gazelle at a small water pond, the perfect opportunity. Slowly she began stalking her prey. The grass was lower here thanks to the gazelles that ate it but leopards were patient hunters and would stalk their prey for as long as necessary.

While stalking she opened her muzzle almost tasting the meat. She momentarily stopped as the young prey moves to another water source. There she spots a river crossing point. Her favorite kind of ambush spot.

The gazelles that are crossing seem nervous and they have all the reasons to be so. When settling on a spot to ambush she decided this one was not good enough and tried from a different angle.

The river makes the place greener with more vegetation. That meant she had more places to hide and she would keep searching until she found the perfect spot. Leopards have the ability to visualize their whole territory like a map in their heads and that was exactly what she was doing.

Chioma settled on a spot that was a little higher up on the other side of the crossing point. The green leaves blocked the unknowing prey from seeing her yet she could see them perfectly. The wind was in her favor as well. This was the perfect spot.

An alligator that was camouflaged by the muddy water bit one of the gazelle in the blink of an eye and swallowed it whole. The other gazelles turned around and ran back to shore. She cursed inwardly at the alligator. When she was still a cub she had an almost fatal encounter with one. That's when she learned curiosity is not a good thing. She shuddered at the memory of those big teeth.

After a while some gazelles tried again. While fearfully looking around them they swam across the river. The first one who reached shore was a big male right after that a smaller female.

The big male ran right past her then she sprinted forward stretching her massive body while running. The female gazelle hadn't seen it coming and ran straight to the river. Once again Chioma was cursing; she hated water.

Luckily her prey knew that there was an alligator in the river so it hurled itself to the left, right before it reached the water. The leopard smiled and ran faster. Her strong muscles rippled underneath her fur.

Suddenly while jumping over a rock her prey slipped and fell into a small pond. Even though she didn't want to get wet she didn't hesitate for a second and jumped in grabbing her prey by its neck.

Jumping out of the pond she tried to drag her prey out but it was heavy and the side of the pond slippery. It was hard to get out and the gazelle was screaming loudly attracting the unwanted attention of another alligator.

The alligator was coming closer so she had to think fast. Half of her prey was already in the grass so she decided to drop it and jump up alone. Then she quickly turned around to grab the prey's neck before it fell back into the pond.

Finally she was able to bring it to land and after that she laid down for a second having a stare of with the alligator. The big reptile closed its eyes while retreating underwater. She stood up again and tried to drag her food to safety.

Unfortunately there was no easy tree in which to stash or kill. She was panting heavily because trying to climb out of the pond had worn her out.

In the distance she could hear hyena gathering. With her last strength she dragged the gazelle into the bushes. There was only one option for her if she wanted to eat at all: it was smarter to admit defeat and hunt again. Those were leopard rules as old as their existence itself. Remain in the shadows. Never get close to enemies and never engage into battle.

She walks of knowing the leopard rules, leaving her catch behind. It wasn't long after she left when a group of four hyenas began eating her gazelle. It annoyed her greatly. She did all the work and they eat it. She growled angrily but silently.

After a while she turned her head only to hear the hyenas laugh with their fortune. She shook her head and kept walking. Fighting them was not an option. Her kind likes to keep their lives private and so did she.

In the bushes she noticed a hyena next to her so she changed course to avoid it. There was no way she would allow those things to follow her to her den.

So after doing a bit of sidetracking she entered her den in the gorge: it was inside the ground and covered with rocks and grass. A few bushed which stood before the entrance, prevented enemies from seeing it.

Glancing around her one last time in search of potential danger, she entered the den purring happily when being greeted by her two cubs who are only four weeks old.

"Mommy you're back!" Her energetic daughter squeals, in contrary to her son who stays quiet and licks her side.

"A leopard is supposed to be silent, Imani. Look at your brother, he's doing it right." She whispered softly then licks both of them on their heads.

"Obi is such a bore." The young cub Imani mumbled.

"I am not." Obi hissed and jumped on his sister.

They began sparring with each other. Their mother was amused while watching the two fur balls play.

How could to siblings be that different?

It wasn't only obvious in their personalities but also in their looks. Imani was energetic, loud and playful. She had a lot to learn but learning wasn't exactly her strongpoint. Her fur was neat and and bright yellow her eyes were slightly more green than gold.

Obi was mysterious, silent but also mischievous and the fact that he was so quiet only made him more dangerous. He was the perfect leopard. His fur was thick and darker yellow. Especially his tale was very fluffy but generally he was fluffy.

Her mate had been black so naturally one of her cubs was darker but neither one was black.

While resting in her den Chioma thought of her mate. It was his unusual color that had drawn her to him but that wasn't the only thing. He had been muscled and strong so her kids would be strong as well.

The day they met for the first time he wasn't the only male in her territory. Another male had crossed paths with her first and showed interest in her. The other male looked healthy enough so who was she to complain.

But before he became her mate the black leopard showed himself and challenged the other male. They walked in a circle for a while and Chioma remembered how graceful his movements were while walking. Then they clashed the dark male's fangs were visibly bigger than those of the other male.

The fight didn't last long. When the light colored male was pushed to the ground he took off.

She remembered how he walked; like the ground beneath him was made out of fragile glass. It appeared as though his paws barely touched the ground. That's how she met her mate it was also the last time she met don't stay with each other when raising cubs.

She yawned relaxed but her den was anything but save. Leopards may be hunters but they themselves are being hunted. Hyenas and other predators kill their weaker rivals if at any opportunity they get. And she knew they were close.

Suddenly she could hear a hyena step close to the entrance of her den. She growled loudly which made the hyena scarred so it ran away while wining loudly. She was lucky, the hyena was alone.

Even so she put her head out of the entrance and began hissing and growling violently with her cubs safely behind her. It was gone for the moment but it may return with backup. She had to move her cubs to one of her other dens.

She knew every cave among the gorge and decided to pick one far away from this one. She could only move one cub at a time so she decided to take Imani fist because Obi could stay quiet.

She signaled both of her cubs to stay silent and grabbed her daughter by her scruff.

One cub was moved the other was still waiting.

Then she senses another problem; one of her most feared enemies… baboons.

A/N: Dum dum dum duuum! I'm terrible at making cliffhangers xD. Even though leopards are bigger baboons can kill them so yes they are a great danger.

please tell me what you think^^

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