Under Jas's direct guidance, Aurora and the cheetah joined the workspace, gathering smooth river stones and dry branches along the margins of the pool and dropping them into the flowing current.
Before long, the fishing weir was completely assembled. Now, there was nothing left to do but wait for the fish to drive themselves into the trap.
"ROAR~~"
From their boulder across the pool, the mother black bear and her white spirit cub flagged the felines' presence. However, sensing no competitive intent or threat to their deer harvest, they ignored the newcors.
By the ti the two bears had finished feeding, the primitive stone trap had already stabilized the current. Within a brief window, dozens of heavy fish were actively thrashing within the enclosure.
The trapped fish cramd against one another, their dense bodies packed together like commuters on a rush-hour bus.
Watching the sudden collection, the small eyes of the mother bear and her cub dilated completely. Their simple processing units couldn't understand why such a massive concentration of food had volunteered into a single pocket.
"ROAR~~"
On the opposite bank, Jas decided the collection window had peaked. Stepping into the shallows of the weir, he began harvesting the dividend.
Opening his broad muzzle, he drove his jaws downward, securing four to five fat fish in a single, crushing bite.
He tossed the wriggling catch onto the dry gravel and repeated the strike chanics several tis, clearing the locked fish out of the riverbed.
In less than an hour, he had harvested over forty pri targets.
Without exception, these were massive Pacific salmon that had spent the cycle migrating inland from the open ocean. Under the fading amber glow of twilight, their heavy scales reflected a silver-white luster, instantly triggering the cats' appetite.
The performance left the mother bear and the spirit cub completely transfixed with envy. The volu of salmon piling up on the gravel was beyond their ability to calculate; if they had to hunt that many fish using traditional paw swipes, it would have required cycles of continuous effort.
Jas, Aurora, and the cheetah tore into the fresh harvest, their jaws working until every last fish had been reduced to nutrients.
His gut swollen to a round contour, Jas let out a heavy, satisfied belch. Shaking out his paws, he began a slow, rhythmic pace to locate a sheltered thicket for the night.
Once the feline vanguard cleared the pool, the mother black bear and her cub cautiously crossed the channel, inspecting the strange arrangent of stones.
What was this structure? Why had a massive volu of salmon pooled inside it?
The two omnivores were completely mystified.
But within minutes, they watched several more salmon navigate the river current, pass through the entry gap, and fail to locate the exit, becoming locked within the stone boundary.
The volu built rapidly. Soon, over a dozen heavy salmon were thrashing violently within the rocks, scattering spray into the cool air.
"ROAR~~"
The mother bear and her white cub locked gazes. In that single mont, an entirely new dinsion of foraging strategy had opened before their primitive minds.
The Olympic Mountains. Mount Olympus.
Another dawn broke across the misty canopy.
"ROAR~~~"
Deep within the ancient conifer stands, a cohort of massive, bronze-furred primates was foraging through their established ho range.
These were Gigantopithecus(Gigantopithecus blacki). Their physical proportions were staggering; standing upright, a dominant male cleared nearly three ters in height with a mass exceeding half a tric ton—making them the largest primates to ever walk the earth.
The giants operated within a strict, polygamous structure. The alpha male led the vanguard of the group, fulfilling the roles of territorial defender, coordinator of movent, and primary shield against external predators.
As they covered ground, the primates systematically harvested wild nettles and stripped the tender bark and fresh leaves from the lower brush. Due to their imnse weight, the giants remained strictly terrestrial, scaling the massive redwoods only under extre circumstances.
By midday, having secured their baseline nutrition, the cohort redirected their movent back toward their primary nesting site to rest.
"Hoo-hoo!"
The alpha male dropped his heavy mass against the base of a massive redwood trunk. Swiveling his broad head, he directed a low, rumbling call toward several adult females nearby.
The females approached his position instantly. Their hands moved with practiced, familiar coordination as they began grooming his dense coat and massaging his broad shoulders.
"Rrumph~~~"
Closing his eyes with absolute satisfaction, the giant relaxed under the care of his group.
But the peace didn't hold.
"ROAR!!"
A foreign, resonant challenge shattered the quiet of the grove. The alpha's eyes snapped open, his pupils pinning a massive stranger that had breached his territorial boundary without warning.
The intruder bared its heavy teeth, its posture broadcasting an explicit intent to contest the alpha's rank.
"RAAAHHH!!"
As the absolute master of this range, the alpha male refused to tolerate the infraction. He erupted from the roots with a deafening roar, his massive fists drumming against his heavy chest plate as he charged the interloper.
The intruder matched his velocity, closing the distance head-on.
The dispute went live instantly.
The rest of the cohort retreated to a safe distance, watching the two males collide without attempting to intervene.
Their social loop closely mirrored that of modern lions. If their current defender secured the victory, the stranger would be driven from the territory, and their daily routine would continue without disruption.
But if the alpha collapsed under the pressure, they would be forced to accept the conqueror as their new sovereign.
The females watched the struggle with deep anxiety. If the intruder successfully dismantled the alpha's rule, claiming the territory and the females for himself, every unweaned juvenile in the cohort would be killed.
Because they didn't carry his lineage.
To maximize his own reproductive investnt, a successful usurper would ruthlessly destroy the previous generation's offspring, forcing the females back into estrus to nurse his own descendants.
"GRRRRHHH——"
"GRRRRHHH——"
Rough, primal bellows thundered through the ancient redwoods. The two massive males collided with brutal impact, rearing onto their hind limbs to exchange high-pressure blows in a savage, bare-knuckle brawl.
The forelimbs of Gigantopithecus were imnsely thick, their heavy fists functioning as their primary weapons against rivals.
The physical dispute dragged across the afternoon, the terrain around the redwood roots torn to mud before the hierarchy resolved itself at twilight.
The intruder was broken, retreating down the mountain slopes in complete disarray.
Though the alpha had successfully defended his sovereignty, the victory had exacted a heavy toll. He returned to the nesting site covered in deep lacerations and deep wounds across his limbs and back. Most concerning was a distinct limp in his left leg; the bone or joint had absorbed a severe impact.
Yet, a palpable wave of relief swept through the watching females. Their leader had maintained his grip on the territory, preserving the safety of their offspring.
The victorious giant unleashed a final, dominant roar toward the path where the rival had vanished, before settling back into the circle of his females.
They sward their defender, their tongues licking the fresh cuts, using their saliva to soothe the raw tissue.
The alpha male squinted through the gathering dark, but his ears remained pinned to the surrounding brush, his instincts on high alert for any sudden return of the threat.
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