Wildcast

BB now seems to be in a dilemma. Should she go hunting so she can replenish her reserves and take the risk of not being successful, or should she stay at the den saving her energy and hope to get enough food from the other adults, which means fighting off 12 hungry pups at the same time?

The pack hunted successfully around midnight in the full moon. But BB didn’t join them having been out with them earlier for several hours.

The pack returned well fed and were eager to feed the pups and BB but did BB get enough?

At dawn BB was gnawing on the week old remains of a duiker skull. There was truly little if any nourishment left in it, yet she devoured this dried out piece of calcium. Was she maybe in need of calcium for her milk supplies?

There was also a rib cage from the impala the pack had killed last night which one of them had returned with it. But as soon as BB got her teeth into it the alpha pups were chasing her and without much ado they relieved her of it.

These little guys obviously don’t know where their bread and butter come from. Steal BB’s meal AND then suckle from her when they’re hungry. It just doesn’t work that way!

One really starts to feel for BB in this situation and as the days go by she is put under more and more pressure as the pups get bigger. She’s always last in line for getting food but has to be first in supplying it and in that task she has no say. She just has to produce the goods when the alpha pups demand it. No wonder she continuously looks so exhausted.

Totally oblivious to their mother’s dilemma, her pups were having great fun today venturing far from the den following after the remains of the impala ribs as they kept changing hands. There wasn’t really any meat on them to speak of but a spare rib just couldn’t go spare.