Su Ran had a bad feeling in his heart.

Before he could use his eyes to see what kind of animal was outside, the creature ran away as if it had foreseen it.

So when Su Ran pushed open the door, he saw nothing.

Only some vague footprints were found on the ground.

The light was a little dim, so he took a flashlight from the room and then squatted on the ground to look at it carefully.

I compared my palm with the footprints on the ground and found that it was about half the size of my palm.

"Is this not a tiger's footprint?"

The old man suddenly appeared behind Su Ran. Grandpa hadn't rested yet. He watched Su Ran go out and noticed what happened outside, so he followed him out.

Su Ran thought for a moment and said, "It's not a tiger. A tiger's footprint is bigger than this, but it is also the footprint of a large cat."

The old man also nodded slightly, agreeing with Su Ran's analysis.

Feline footprints have a unique shape and structure.

Their footprints are usually circular or oval in shape with a distinct sunken area in the middle.

This is due to the soft pads and elastic bone structure of cats' paws.

This special footprint shape allows cats to be more stable and flexible when walking.

And cats’ footprints vary in size and spacing.

Large cats like lions and tigers have larger footprints, while small cats like house cats and ocelots have smaller footprints.

In addition, the spacing between cats' footprints is also related to their gait and speed.

Cats that run fast leave footprints that are wider apart, while cats that walk slowly leave footprints that are closer together.

Based on current speculation, Su Ran can be sure that the people who just came were not the golden monkey's parents.

This made him feel a little regretful.

If the parents were golden monkeys, they could at least return the little one to their family, but why did the cats come to them?
Su Ran was sure that this guy must be here to look for the golden monkey.

Su Ran couldn't explain the reason. Seeing that it was still late at night, his grandfather told Su Ran to go back to bed and talk about it tomorrow.

But Su Ran felt that since the incident had already happened, he had to figure it out as soon as possible. After all, judging from the footprints, there was a high probability that they were leopard footprints.

When Su Ran thought of this, he couldn't help but feel a little scared.

"This leopard likes to eat golden monkeys the most. Could it have smelled the scent and came down from the mountain?"

Guessing in his mind, Su Ran quickly set off towards the mountain.

Not much time has passed yet, and the other party can't run too far.

Su Ran quickly activated his body skills and reached the top of the mountain as fast as lightning.

His eyes were sharp and focused, and he began to search for suspicious animals around him through thermal perception.

In the mountains and forests, Su Ran's figure was like an agile cheetah. He shuttled through the dense woods, looking for any possible clues.

Su Ran's patience and hard work finally paid off.

He hid behind a huge tree and quietly observed the bushes twenty meters ahead.

There, a Siberian leopard was crawling quietly, its movements light and agile, as if it were a ghost in the mountains.

This Amur leopard seems to be doing something important. It licks its paws carefully, and every movement is full of caution and meticulousness.

There were also bursts of whimpering sounds coming from its mouth, a low and sad sound, as if telling of its loneliness and helplessness.

Su Ran observed all this quietly, fearing to disturb the Siberian leopard.

"It's the only large cat near this forest. It looks like it's really this guy." He took a breath and felt that things were getting a little tricky.

"This Siberian leopard will definitely target the golden monkey again, but I can't kill it now, can I?"

As the only guardian of the little golden monkey, Su Ran returned to the room after going down the mountain and felt extremely worried when he saw the little guy sleeping.

In the end, he decided to wait and see what happened.

He turned on the live broadcast, sat in front of the camera and said to netizens seriously: "Everyone, something happened when I woke up just now. I found that a leopard might have come to my house. It should be coming for the golden monkey."

Hearing this, the audience couldn't help but feel worried even though they were thousands of miles away.

Many people hurriedly asked if the golden monkey was okay now.

Su Ran smiled and told them that there was no problem now, and he also pointed the camera at the sleeping golden monkey, which made the audience feel much more at ease.

"But the little guy is now being targeted by the leopard and may be in danger at any time in the future."

There is a saying that goes, "I'm not afraid of thieves stealing, I'm afraid of thieves thinking about it."

If Su Ran relaxes his guard one day, something might happen to the golden monkey.

But at least he knew that he was facing a Siberian leopard.

The Amur leopard is the second largest cat species in the Far East and has other aliases.

For example, the Far Eastern leopard, the Amur leopard, the Manchurian leopard, etc.

It is one of the nine subspecies of the modern big cat family leopard.

Generally speaking, the average weight of an adult Far Eastern leopard is between 35kg and 55kg, making it a relatively small subspecies of leopard.

Currently, there are only more than 100 Far Eastern leopards in the wild, and they are only distributed in Northeast Asia. They are a first-class protected animal in my country and are recognized as a critically endangered animal in the world.

Compared with the golden monkey, it is even more precious.

And like tigers, leopards were once widely distributed in my country, and compared to tigers, leopards seem to be more of an all-round player.

It has a stronger ability to adapt to the environment, so its distribution range is wider, from south to north and from east to west.

These leopards are divided into four subspecies.

Amur leopard, North China leopard, Indian leopard and Indochinese leopard.

So when they heard Su Ran explain that he had discovered a Far Eastern leopard, many experts in the live broadcast room felt excited.

Zhao Huaiguo is such a person.

As a wildlife conservation expert who has been engaged in field exploration for decades at the Northern Animal Research Center, he has encountered and personally photographed many rare protected animals.

"I remember when I first started this business, my master encountered a family of Amur leopards while tracking and recording the living conditions of a pair of moose in the wild for the first time."

"It's a female leopard with her three cubs."

As he spoke, Zhao Huaiguo took out his wallet, and inside it was a photo of a family of four Amur leopards that he had taken.

The photos are old, but he still cherishes them, which means that the memories and scenes at that time are unforgettable to him.

"So, teacher, have you seen this family again later?" asked the student next to him.

Zhao Huaiguo shook his head: "No. Not anymore."

This may also be the reason why he is so excited when he sees the Amur leopard mentioned by Su Ran in the live broadcast room.

However, he also knew that the Amur leopards today were definitely not the same ones he saw more than 20 years ago.

But now there are still Amur leopards appearing, which makes him extremely relieved. (End of this chapter)