African wildlife adventures live from the bush
Ever since these little guys were born, the alpha pups have hassled them on a daily basis. AND it still goes on.
But now it’s more of a game and BB’s pups keep coming back to be tormented yet again!
I still find it amazing that BB’s survived those early days when only 2 days old and the alpha pups would take them out the den just to use them as a play thing. But presumably all this rough treatment has only made them tougher and more able to take on the tough world out there.
After all the interaction with the wild dogs yesterday morning and then again the big fight in the evening the dogs moved their den. But they didn’t move to another den. They spent the day lying up at Formadhanga pan.
And this evening they were all still so well fed they moved about a km south and rested up again.
We did find this Scops Owl surveying the evening scene. To hear its call, click here Scops Owl Calling
With it being a dark night, no moon, I’m hoping to find them in the same area tomorrow morning. But they are steadily heading west and once they cross the Chiredzi River they’ll be inaccessible and we’ll have to wait till they come back whenever that may be. But here’s to hoping they stick around for some time longer. Cheers
We had such a great morning with the dogs, the whole pack was out hunting.
Its all happening in this segment, the dogs have mad a kill, a black rhino comes to investigate and lions are on the prowl
With the chill factor feeling like it was taking us well below zero, well actually it wasn’t but us Africans just can’t handle the cold, we weren’t too keen to follow the dogs hunting this morning. As it was I was already deep into my sleeping back negotiating the pedals driving to the den. I’ve actually thought of cutting a hole in the sleeping bag for my head and arms, but maybe I should rather just by the correct clothing.
The dogs must have read our minds as they were all at the den and they too had no plans of moving out. The reason of course wasn’t hard to find. BB’s pups were like meat balls on legs and the alpha pups not much better. They must have done well last night.
And this is what it was like for the rest of the day at the dog base camp. Around dusk all the pups were so engrossed in their play they didn’t notice the adults heading out to hunt. Of course the adults weren’t going to spread the word to them either. The adults didn’t help us either as they disappeared onto the burn in the west at nightfall.
Bandama was fairly quiet today with it being a cool day. The Blacksmith Plover still has its 3 eggs. The Sable Antelope herd made another appearance and drank with some giraffe.
AND of course just as we arrived 2 rhino bulls had already drunk and were on their way out.
Back on the burn was where it was all happening again.
We didn’t go to the den first thing this morning we headed out to the burn and picked up the adults hunting as they crossed the Binya road heading west onto the burn. But no sign of BB. This had us wondering if the rest of the pack could pull it off without her? They had hardly got their paws warm on the burn when they took off. But the burst of speed didn’t last and the alpha female was soon standing around wondering how things had gone wrong. 6 other pack members joined her and for about 5 minutes they stood around listening. Obviously hoping to hear the other dog having killed.
A couple of vultures and a Bateleur flew overhead and I was surprised that they should be up so early in the day before the thermals had got going. Of course the other dog must have killed and the birds were moving in. Well so I thought but that’s about as far as it went. The dogs headed northwest crossing the road and Voila! They were all getting stuck into an impala carcass. A subadult male. The missing dog must have killed it single-handedly and the other dogs were slow in finding it with the strong winds that were blowing all day.
A feast indeed was had by all and about 10 minutes later they were high-tailing it to the den, one of them carrying the head of the carcass. Back at base, the adults had already fed the pups having beaten us to the post. The alpha pups were standing wide, circling and jumping away from a very dead impala head. This was only the second kill they had seen and nothing was going to convince them in a hurry that this was breakfast. For a good 15 minutes they danced nervously around the carcass before finally realising this appetiser was for them. But even after feeding for a few minutes they would jump back expecting it to come alive and attack them.
Once they settled in to feed a Hooded Vulture arrived to partake in the pickings and seemed to have no respect for the pups. Well actually he knew the pups didn’t have the guts to take him on. And he was right but they weren’t about to invite him to their little party.
Whenever he got to a few feet of the feeding pups one would stalk him. Fly off? No that was too much like hard work. So off he trotted with an alpha pup trotting behind him and in circles they went around the carcass. This was quite the entertainment we needed. The lapping of the carcass was always stopped by Skrik. He was the boldest and would rush the vulture. The vulture would fly off a short distance only to start his advance again and the whole game went on. Later an adult arrived and put paid to their game.
Then BB’s pups suddenly discovered the carcass and came bumping in on already fat tummies to take over the carcass. The alpha pups had already had their fill and were passed out close by. Some 20 minutes later it was all over and all the pups had taken time out in a pile. It was surprising in the evening when the adults headed west on the hunt again when all seemed so well fed. Except for BB and she was actually leading the hunt. We lost them to the west of Formadhunga in a bad donga system soon after sunset and had to call it a day.
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