What’s going on in the wild dog pack?
I picked them up at dawn all well fed and lying around in the mopanie woodland. But again there was a new a change in status.
Punk was back as the alpha male and Sash was looking rather dejected.
But instead of Punk shadowing the alpha female as he used to, and as I’d expect him to do now not wanting Sash to move back in, he was very relaxed about the whole affair and lay a ways off from his mate. And even when the dogs got up to greet, Punk didn’t run to her side.
When Sash approached the alpha female lying down, she just got up and moved away. He didn’t follow.
This is the time the dogs should be mating, and quite possibly have already done so. So might it be that Sash is the father of the next litter but Punk remains the alpha male? This is something only DNA tests could give us conclusive answers.
For the rest of the day I was searching for the elephants and didn’t pick up any fresh sign of them. It’s amazing how such huge beasts can just melt away.
In my search I found some mopanie worms. Big deal! Well for the local people they’re a delicacy eaten fresh, fried or dried. They can be found in vast numbers but I only found one tree with about 10 individuals.
Back with the dogs at dusk and they were on the hunt. But the wildebeest gave them the once over and the dogs soon backed off.
I wasn’t able to do a head count today, but the good news is it’s not Whisky who is missing. So if he was then we have a full pack again. Another head count is in order.
Except for the big unknown beast, (which was probably drawn in at a later stage), this hunting scene is drawn with such accuracy and exceptional detail with great conformation. Including this wonderful Gemsbok. Today there are no Gemsbok in the area. And if they did occur here hundreds of years ago, they would have been on the very eastern limit of their range. This is an animal very much associated with arid country.
11th March 2000
The female leopard, White Cloth female, is still with Tjololo watching his every move and trying all the ways in the book to get him to show at least a little interest in her. With each approach his aggressive snarl soon has her backing off.
They moved north and losing them through a marshy area we picked up Tjololo stalking impala. We were all lined up with Tjololo and impala in front of us ready to launch his attack. Only metres away and muscles loaded, he suddenly withdrew to move to the left around the bush. This alarmed the impala which fled but Tjololo’s chase was immediate and quick and he soon had a young impala. With the event obscured by bush and long grass, we missed again.
Tjololo was shortly chased by a hyaena and treed the carcass. He fed twice in the night but the White Cloth female didn’t feed at all continuing to press on with her desires. No doubt Tjololo will soon give in.
We had to leave the leopards in the early hours as the biting flies and mosquitoes became unbearable. Returning to them at dawn we found the White Cloth female not further with her endeavours.
On the Mala Mala airstrip we picked a cheetah mother and her 2 large cubs. The cubs were boisterously at play.
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