Leo : The Lion King

[3rd POV]

(Joe Rogan Podcast)

"What in the fuck is that thing?"

Joe spoke for the entire room as he said that. On the other hand, Forest was smiling ear to ear as he looked at the shocked expression of everyone in the room.

There was a long pause before Joe spoke again, "Is that even real?"

On the screen was a picture of Leo. In the image, Leo was simply walking through the savannah. But the picture was taken at the perfect moment, where his muscles were flexed and visible under the loose layer of skin.

It was rare to get such a clear picture of Leo in the wild since the researchers almost never got close to him. They had more videos of him than a perfect picture like the one displayed on screen.

"That is 100 percent real Joe," Forest said, his voice had a grin.

"No..." Joe drawled in disbelief, "No, Nah. It can't be. It has to be edited, right?" he glanced at Jamie, the fraud checker of the show.

Jamie had no words, he merely gawked at the image the same way as everyone did. His mind was contemplating whether it was edited or not. The details of the picture said it was not edited, but the image as a whole looked unreal.

Like something abstract given physical form.

Forest chuckled, "The picture came straight from the researchers Joe. There is zero editing involved. You really think I will pull up some half baked pictures on your show?"

"Look at all those muscles, my god," Joe said, "He's like Hercules."

"Oh yeah. Look at the shoulders, look at the paws," Forest said.

"Why is he like that? That doesn't look like a lion. He looks...." Joe narrowed his eyes, "He looks more like a big mountain lion,"

"Like I said, that is a real lion living in the Serengeti region. A rogue without a pride. The researchers called him Leo. My friend told me it's a way to affirm his identity as a lion since he didn't exactly look like one anymore," Forest mentioned, "Leo literally means lion."

"No, no, he still looks like a lion. But he looked like a roided-up version. You know what I mean?!" Joe said with a laugh. "How big is he?"

"They estimate him to be around 250 kilograms, which is around 600 pounds give or take," Forest said.

"Jesus, that is almost four of me," Joe said and laughed nervously. He looked around at the studio, "That is a cat the size of four of me.

The staff in the studio and even Forest himself chuckled for a while. The single picture already had a huge impact on everyone. What would the reaction be when he showed everything else? The thought made Forest rub his hands in expectation.

Joe cleared his throat and processed the existence that was Leo. After that, he asked, "So what is he? Some kind of animal experiment? Did the scientist in all their wisdom decide to give a shit load of steriods to one of the moist powerful predator?"

Joe was showing teeth. It honestly wouldn't surprise him if the scientist did just that. It sounds about right given their history.

"No, it's natural. And it's precisely because of that that he blows everyone's mind." Forest said.

"But how is that possible?"

"Like I said, hypertrophic adaptation. It is similar to the Duba lions where the animal successfully adapted to their environment and shortcomings to survive." Forest said. "The lion you see has no tail but it has adapted to perform despite that."

"Wait....really?" Joe Rogan looked back at the image on the screen. Perhaps the muscles had stolen his attention completely that he missed the missing tail.

Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that Leo's body has adapted and therefore the lack of a long tail did not look out of place at all. Perhaps it was a bit of both.

Joe scrunch his brows as he looked at the short tail of the lion. Forest saw his struggle and so he changed the image on the screen. The next image was that of Leo, but it was taken from the side to show his full length and lack of a long tail.

Joe Rogan gassed. It was an audible, exaggerated gasp that has become a habit over the years as an entertainer. Being a podcaster means learning to express your emotions fully for the viewers.

"Oh fuck," he said, running his hand through invisible hair. "Holy shit that looks crazy,"

"Yeah. So what happens is that they believe Leo lost his tail while he was just a small cub and his body has adapted around that disability as he grows older. Very much like how the Duba lions grow bigger and stronger due to having to hunt down buffalo," Forest said.

"Man, that is crazy to look at. I'm looking at him and you just told me the reason but my mind is still like, How?!" Joe said, now he was rubbing his bald head.

"Nature man, it's crazy. It finds a way to survive, always do and always will," Forest added.

"But still, even with the explanation of hypertrophic adaptation, the researchers cannot answer why it is that extreme and why it happens so fast. Also, they don't understand why he keeps growing and keeps getting bigger," Forest said, "One of the reasons why they are still out there, trying to find answers."

"That is just incredible," Joe said. A short silence followed as they just nodded at each other and digested the information.

Joe click his tongue and cleared his throat before speaking again, "And you say they contacted you because they want to know if he has ancient DNA?"

"Yeah, they did. They did," Forest began and adjusted himself on the chair briefly, "It was difficult at first because they couldn't dart him to extract blood or DNA,"

"Wait, what do you mean? They can't shoot him? Is darting illegal?" Joe asked.

"No. My friend said they even called a ranger with a licence to dart Leo. They just can't physically do it to him. Leo is already very cautious towards the humans. He is not like other animals that get used to the presence of humans. Even the research team will stay at the very edge of the horizon to study him and use cameras with zooming lenses or drones," Forest said.

"But luckily, Leo has a somewhat permanent home. They got some blood and fur samples from there and sent them to me," he said. "And then I sent these samples again to labs and genetic experts that I know,"

"They can look at the DNA from furs?" Joe asked.

"Yes. If the fur has roots, it's possible," Forest answered.

"But why send them to you? Why don't they just send them to labs directly?" Joe asked.

"Ummm...because of budgeting issues. My friend said they get funds, but studying Leo and tracking him cost a lot. Especially since they have to use drones a lot, since he didn't allow them to be too close. And DNA testing costs quite a bit, especially when it's looking for ancient DNA. There are also international issues. You actually need a permit to send biological samples like this across borders in some places and I just happen to be the guy they knew who could do all these. So they called me," Forest answered.

"That's interesting," Joe nodded and adjusted himself on his seat. Then he asked the vital question.

"So did you find anything? Any ancient DNA on the lion?" Joe asked, expectation dripping from his tone and face.

Forest chuckled nervously while grabbing his shirt, "Well..."

"Go on," Joe urged.

"Okay, so in the beginning, we were expecting some kind of cave lion DNA, or perhaps Barbary lion DNA considering they became extinct only a while ago. But we found none of that. None. Leo has zero heritage from these ancient species," Forest said to the disappointment of Joe.

"In the end, we came to the conclusion that Leo has a different, unique combination of DNA compared to other lions and perhaps a mutation. We will need a more advanced DNA testing lab where we can analyse the entire DNA sequence and a better sample to prove this theory. If that is true though, we may very could be witnessing the emergence of a unique subspecies of lions," Forest said.

"Hmmmm....okay. So what you are saying is that Leo doesn't have a unique bloodline in him but instead he could be the start of a unique bloodline entirely," Joe asked.

"Pretty much," the guest replied.

"Dude, that is metal as fuck," Joe Rogan said and then laughed, "That might just be even cooler than having ancient DNA in him. Imagine being the father and ancestor to these new, giant and muscular lions in the savannah,"

"Yeah, yeah, definitely," Forest shrugged with a nod.

"Now look at this," Forest said and finally changed the image on the screen to a video.

It was a very rough and blurry video taken from a phone. The actual footage was not allowed to be leaked out just yet since so the researchers had sent him a short video of Leo hunting down a buffalo.

"oh...Oh...OH....OHHHH!!!!!!!" Joe Rogan increasingly loses his mind as the video played. The video covered the end of the hunt, where Leo was facing the Buffalo in a fight to the death.

"Is that a Cape Buffalo? Is that really a Cape Buffalo?" Joe asked in complete astonishment.

"Not just a Cape Buffalo, that is a fully grown male. It has no injuries before this whatsoever so what you are watching is a lion taking down a healthy, prime male buffalo by itself." Forest said, replying to the questions beforehand.

Joe did not reply; he couldn't. Seeing two behemoths of animals fighting each other to the death was basically a dream come true for him.

"Look at that, look at him. The lion knows how to wrestle, and it's attacking the eyes. It's targeting the eyes!!" Joe said.

They all watched in bated breath as Leo came out victorious in the battle. The hunt was successful and the apex predator dug into his food immediately.

"My god, he really killed it," Joe said, this time both hands clutched his bald head, "The mohterfucker really killed the buffalo. What takes a whole pride to take down, this lion did it by himself,"

"Holy shit,"

"Holy shit,"

Joe looked around.

"Holy shit,"

/////////////////////

That moment in the podcast went viral. This caused the whole episode to be one of the most popular and most viewed in the whole JRE podcast.

The moment in specific was taken out in the form of shorts and that too went viral among the masses that normally did not watch the JRE. The images and the video was posted on their IG page as well for others to share and watch.

This was the very first time the world had heard of Leo. It was the first step towards his global stardom.

---------------

Comment Section :

@Mohit_0812

"Dude killed a full-grown cape buffalo SOLO? That's the LeBron James of predators." 🔥🔥

(21k likes)

...

@Great_maid_Oni

"This is what happens when nature min-maxes its stats." 💀💪

(13.5k likes)

....

@red550

"The hypertrophy adaptation is real but that is stretching logic to a whole new level. Reality truly is often stranger than fiction. Holy shit"

(28.1k likes}

....

@md_rizvi

"Leo is who my cat thinks he is" 😾

(77.3k likes)

.....

@TrueImmortalDevil

"This is the UFO sightings all over again. Blurry videos and people believe anything" 🥱

(1.4k likes, 1.1k replies)

.....

@ABSDsodbnd862

"He has no tail but outmuscles every other lion? That sounds like comic book logic."

(4.3k likes)

.....

@Kairo_

"That's Mike Tyson for the lions and you can't change my mind,"

(79.3k likes)

....

@Mono_Mon

"Joe Rogan rubbing his head every 3 seconds like he's trying to summon Leo." 😭😂

(37.9k likes)

....

@JadeZ1

"Rest in peace to that buffalo. Bro clocked into work and ran into the secret boss." 😭

(44.4 likes)

...

@PETAboytoy

"I feel like the lion is definitely being expermeinted on. He does not look normal at all"

(1.3k likes)

....

@Quin Bland

"I don't even watch wildlife stuff but this gave me chills. Nature is metal."

(7.9k likes)

....

@Shape_Matters69

"Working in a zoo has me laughing with sunshine and rainbows. Meanwhile, nature just straight up evolves a monster like this."

(349 likes)

...

@PETAdildo

"Why is no one talking about how disturbing it is to celebrate a lion mauling another animal?"

(23 likes)

....

@RealanimalLover

"I hope this doesn't turn into one of those stories where humans start tracking him 24/7 and ruin his life. Let him be."

(23k likes)

....

@BigCripping

"If I was a lioness....." 😶‍🌫

(1k likes)

@Ozerist Replied : Don't you dare finish that sentence lil bro. (11k likes)

....

@LordKad

"They say Leo was born with full mane."

(4k likes)

....

@Tarlock

" Bro skipped everything and maxed strength,"

(6k likes)

...

..

[IMAGE]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author : That will be all for the week. See you guys the day after tomorrow.

Those that haven't given review, Do give me one. And actual reviews will be appreciated instead of dots, gif and five star.