It was another cloudy, cold, windy day. But I don’t think that had anything to do with it. There was still no sign of the dogs. I walked the hills checking any cave I could find, including their old den sites, but nothing.
Are the pups now finally mobile and hunting with the adults? They sure looked big enough to do so when I saw them the other day.
With nothing happening at the dog den I tried out the hyaena den. A low ranking mom was suckling her 2 big cubs, about 8 months old. A very peaceful scene, until the little guys arrived. They are obviously from a higher ranking mom and attacked one of the cubs suckling. Just the one and not the other. Presumably this one is a male. They attacked and bit him to stop him suckling so they could suckle. The mom couldn’t retaliate and she got up and moved away from the den. Her cubs followed and she was able to suckle in peace.
But that was only until they heard a hyaena calling a long way east. Suddenly all the hyaenas headed that way. I took my chances along the roads and eventually caught up with them. 9 hyaenas had gathered and all were excited bouncing around with their tails up. But I really didn’t know why.
Maybe it was an intruding hyaena.
They soon got down to their greeting ceremonies and then the laughing began. And hyaenas sure know how to laugh. I just love it!
The laughing was all in excitement as the big mommies hassled a low ranking male. And playing it safe he pleaded subservience. Good boy!
In my travels in search of the dogs I was travelling past where the giraffe carcass was and piles of vultures took to the skies. Surely they weren’t still feeding on the giraffe. On searching I found the remains of a fresh zebra kill, partly eaten. The predator was obviously in the area and that’s why the vultures weren’t feeding. But when I approached the predator had moved away and the vultures came piling in. 10minutes later I pushed them off the carcass to see how much they’d eaten and already they’d just about cleaned it up! Just skin and bones remained.
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