er body knew when to fold those wings and fall - when to open them again, brake in thunder, whip on upward - when and how her hands must strike. Her dagger was not needed. The reptiloid's neck snapped at the sheer violence of that meeting."-Poul Anderson, The People Of The Wind IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 437-662 AT XV, p. 607.
Eyath is armed but her body suffices.
"'Hrraaaeeeeeeee!' Bigs shrieked and leapt.
"The gagrumpher froze for a fatal instant, its six legs tensed and whipping backward, then spurted forward in a desperate bound. Spots rose out of the underbrush almost at its feet and lunged for the exposed throat. Blood bubbled between his teeth, hot and salty and spicy across his tongue, but he concentrated on squeezing his jaws shut. Air wheezed through the punctured windpipe and he gave a grunt of triumph as it closed beneath the bone-cracking pressure of his grip. Suffocation killed the prey, when you got a good throat-hold. The animal collapsed by the forelegs, then went over on its side with a thump as Bigs arrived and threw his massive form against its hindquarters. A few seconds more and it kicked and died."
-"The Hall of the Mountain King," CHAPTER NINE, p. 79.
Need I quote more? I could but I will paraphrase. The "brothers Kzinamaratsov":
crouch;
pant;
hold their still warm prey;
"killscream" triumph;
rip the body open;
stick their heads into its abdomen;
eat major heart, secondary heart and liver;
feel replete;
pile the remainder to eat later;
crack bones for marrow;
nibble organs and tripe;
groom blood and bits from each other's fur;
croon;
yawn;
want ice cream;
lap bourbon from dishes;
purr;
are gratified by the terrified hush of the native life.
Every time I think that we have come to the end of their animal activities, there is more. I had not known that a good throat-hold suffocates the prey but I will take their word for it. The authors seem to have interviewed a kzin.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Well, I knew about how choke holds on the throat can kill from reading of how cheetahs hunt their prey by precisely similar methods. And cheetahs are felines, btw!
Ad astra! Sean
Lions too, though not always. They hunt cooperatively that way too, both "prides" (groups of related females with males attached) and bachelor groups of young males.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I would have thought, given how much larger and stronger lions are compared to cheetahs, their prey would be killed by lethal bites.
I did know of how lions hunt cooperatively: in a mated pair one lion will be posted upwind of the chosen prey, and the other lion would drive gazelles or other prey to where the first lion was lying in ambush.
Ad astra! Sean
They sometimes severe the spine with a bite, and sometimes choke. The choke-hold has a number of advantages -- it kills more quickly than exsanguination, for example.
Leopards tend to maul their prey to death, or scoop their intestines out with their hind feet.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Understood, what you said about lions! And I was amused by how John Rolfe and his companions in CONQUISTADOR introduced lions and tigers to that alternate North America!
Gruesome, how leopards treat their prey!
Ad astra! Sean
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