Mom’s Dilemma: Video
Published by Wildcaster 2 months, 2 weeks ago Tags: adventure, africa, african, animal, animal kingdom, animals, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush knowledge, clouds scenic, conservation, documentary, ecotraining, education, endangered species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, hyaenas, hyena, malilangwe, narrowcasting, nature, Open Content Alliance, pamushana, peace parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, wild dogs, wildcast, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife documentary, youtube, zimbabwe.The hyaena den at dawn was surprisingly quiet. Usually the arrival of my vehicle gets the inquisitive little guys out to see what’s arrived. But there was no sign of them and I wonder if they haven’t moved den.
Shortly a big mommy arrives and calls in the den entrance, a low growl. She’s calling her cubs to come and suckle. But her cubs are tiny and right now probably sound asleep. Call as she may she gets no response.
And to make it worse she can’t go in there to wake them. The den is too small and specially so designed to keep out predators. So she decides to wait it out, but the sun soon gets too much and she leaves to find shade.
I left the den too and less than a kilometre away was at the wild dog den. They’re still there. The adults shouted their abuses at me, and the pups were growling and hassling each other underground.
I haven’t seen them now for about a week and no doubt they’ve grown somewhat.
I’m really at a loss as to how to work with the dogs at the moment. I know sitting there I’ll just be putting added pressure on them and anyway wouldn’t get any footage. So I’ll have to wait till they move again. This will probably be when the pups are big enough not to be den bound any more, which could easily be in the next couple of weeks.
It was back to the hyaena den at dusk and mom arrived just as the sun was setting. Again she called and again her cubs slept on! No doubt hunger will wake them as night falls.
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How did the mother get into the den to give birth to the cubs in the first place? Does the male play any role in rearing them?
It is interesting to contrast the whining of the mother wild dog to her cubs, to the low growling of the mother hyena to hers.
Eve
Wonderful photo of the sunset.
I second Eve’s questions. And if they can’t get out and she can’t get in, how does she feed them.
Thanks.
Make it a threesome question. Did she have the cubs in the depression nearby, and then carry them to the den and nudge them in as far as she could? I think I remember you saying their eyes open after two days? Is this a single mother, as I thought they denned together? And, yes, found hearing her growl spectacular! So. No cubs at two callings, lets all hope a snake isn’t involved….
Yes, mom is lovely. And. One certainly respects that flash of dentine! Never really noticed before how much the hyena’s head in profile is reminiscent of the grizzly bear’s until I saw the picture of them at the top of the home page. The one that shows several hyenas eating newly killed, steaming prey; with the setting sun backdrop.
Sunset superb, I have a folder for your sunrises and sunsets
b.
p.s. scienceguy288, please see my post to “Nothing is good for hyaena” video. It holds as a good response to the “vicious” hornbill.
Eve. The mother gives birth to the little one at the den entrance and the cub then crawls in deeper. The cubs then come out when mom calls. that’s if they aren’t fast asleep.
The male is just a member of the clan but no specific role in rearing them. The cubs are only suckled. Adults generally don’t bring food back to the den like wild dogs.
the mother will usually have her cubs at a den not being used. Keep them there for a week or two and then move them to the communal den.
so i think the other hyaenas seen in the area were just hanging around and not actually denning with this little one. Which would explain why i haven’t seen them again the last 2 days.
Great to see hyenas again!