Tag Archive for 'dog'

Relentless plea for food: Video

Published

on July 26, 2009

. 2 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, bushveld, cites, conservation, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, fence, film, filmmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, Impala, IUCN-Red-List, kill, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, plea, podcasting, predators, teach, video, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

The pups are growing fast and becoming more and more mobile and beginning to move with purpose. Not just floundering around.
And Puzzles has now almost totally relaxed her ‘hold’ on the pups. She’s now quite happy for the other pack members to be with them while she’s out the den getting some fresh air and no doubt a break from all those little ones.

I’m still battling to count how many pups, but it still seems like 12. They’re just all over the place like ants.
Today for the first time some of the pups were able to suckle standing while Puzzles was standing up. They’ll do this more and more as they get older.
But already since the beginning of the week the pups have started eating meat. True little carnivores.

The sub-adults bored with hanging around the den, went exploring and found this porcupine holed up in a cave close by. With each approach the dogs made, the porcupine would rattle it’s quills sending the dogs scattering.

A typical day at the den:
Dawn – the pack awake and run around frantically greeting each other, followed by some time to hassle the pups. Puzzles is usually still in the den with the pups.
The pack then go hunting. Puzzles stays behind in the den, but later comes out to rest on the rocks. And when she’s really hungry, she paces around looking into the distance and listening.

Several hours later the pack arrive back having hunted successfully. Puzzles runs around frantically begging from all pack members for food, which they regurgitate for her.
Having fed Puzzles, the sub-adults will go into the den to play with the pups and sometimes regurgitate food for them. They continue to hassle the pups until about 10 or 11am. In this time Puzzles would have suckled the pups once or twice.
Then it’s chill out time for all. The whole place is quiet for the next few hours.

About 4pm the dogs wake and greet. Wake the pups and then settle down to rest for another hour before going hunting at dusk.
Back from the hunt after dark, they feed Puzzles, play with the pups briefly and then it’s rest time for the rest of the night.
Although yesterday afternoon they never came back, only returning a few hours after sunrise today. Someone reported seeing them having killed 3 impala against the fence. So when they returned they were all well rounded with lots of food for Puzzles.

Mischief at Dawn: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on July 20, 2009

in videopost

. 7 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, baboon, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, bushveld, conservation, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, groom, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, play, predators, teach, video, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

Very suddenly over the last 2 days the wild dog pups are now so much more mobile come right to the entrance of the cave. Right up to where I’m sitting.

The great thing is Puzzles doesn’t seem at all phased with me there and will actually move off while her pups play close to me.
Puzzles also seems to have resigned herself to the fact that her sub-adults will in time anyway be playing with her pups, so why not just let it happen now and save herself the hassle of continuously having to chase them off. And the sooner she can trust them, she can leave one behind to look after the pups while she’s out on the hunt.

One of the pups ventured right out on it’s own seeming ready to take on the world out there.

But that was until his big brothers and sisters came bouncing in. The sub-adults just couldn’t resist the little one and all 8 of them were all over it. I couldn’t see the pup for the dust and commotion. They all just couldn’t contain themselves and were overly excited. The sound too, was something else. Eventually after a couple of minutes the little one emerged from the dust cloud none the worse for wear.

So I suppose it’s not surprising that Puzzles keeps them away from the pups when they’re first born as this sort of mass excitement could harm new born pups.

New hyaena den: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on July 13, 2009

in videopost

. 8 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, bushveld, cites, conservation, Cubs, den, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, hunting, hyaena, hyena, IUCN-Red-List, malilangwe, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, rocks, teach, video, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

Again the dogs must have hunted with the moon this morning and were back feeding Puzzles before dawn.
Nike was still determined to see the little ones but mom was having none of it.

The pups seemed a little restless moving around in the small gap I could see through. And Puzzles again kept moving them to the new spot she’d made.

By mid morning all was quiet and Puzzles was snuggled up with her little ones.
It was a quiet afternoon too with Puzzles not venturing out her new spot and growling whenever any of the sub-adults ventured close. There was no sign of the pups this afternoon as they seemed happily snuggled up with Puzzles.

The hyaenas moved their den about a week ago to this new den where Mark filmed them. They seemed a little nervous as they get accustomed to their new home.

On the loose with dad: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on July 12, 2009

in videopost

. 11 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, bushveld, conservation, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, elephants, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, holiday, hunting, IUCN-Red-List, kids, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, office, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

I saw my first glimpses of the pups today!
The moon is almost half and the dogs must have hunted by it in the early hours of the morning. When I arrived at dawn their faces were all bloodied as the moved around the den.
Puzzles was inside and not begging for food. So I presume the pack had got back shortly before I arrived.
In the mornings the sun is behind the den, but I have Mark’s vehicle up there with the lights so I can film inside the den. I’m just so happy to be getting this footage right inside the den. Pretty unique stuff. AND Puzzles is quite happy with me sitting there right at the den entrance.

She came out the hole in the side of the cave where she has her pups, and attached to her one nipple was a pup, like an oversized tick! The little one fell off as she took a few steps. It can hardly walk, but its eyes are open. Puzzles picked it up and move it back into her little lair.

Some of the subadults are now showing a lot of interest in the pups, especially Nike, but Puzzles will have none of it, screaming and growling at them if they get too close. At times Nike had her head in the hole, but Puzzles would growl her away.

This afternoon, the little pups seemed even more mobile and Puzzles kept picking them up and carrying them into another part of the den. But I think it’s linked to where she has her hole. Although she seems not to think so and kept moving the little ones to the new hole. AND they’d just crawl back again.
Really exciting times and they can only get better. And the great news is how Puzzles is so accepting of me.

Mark did the video clip of the girls and me before he left. This was shot before the dogs started denning.

Buffalo Parade: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on July 11, 2009

in videopost

. 1 Comment Tags:adventure, africa, animal-kingdom, blog, blogumentary, buffalo, bush, bush-knowledge, bushveld, conservation, documentary, dog, ecotraining, education, endangered-species, experience, film, filmmaker, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, herd, IUCN-Red-List, kill, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, parade, peace-parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, waterhole, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

The dogs were still at the den at dawn but moved off shortly after we arrived.
The girls in the meantime were still fast asleep on the back of my truck. Being holidays they’d got to bed late and were now catching up.

For the 4 hours we were at the den, they slept only to wake when I was leaving.

The dogs hunted successfully and were back at the den to feed Puzzles, after a couple of hours hunting. The pegging activity lasted not even 5mins and all were back sleeping.

Leaving the den late morning the girls were back at camp stretching and keep in shape for their gym. I took to the road for a good run and then onto the dam to paddle my kayak. It was a most glorious morning without a breath of wind and the dam was like a mirror, UNTIL this hippo surfaced about 30m away and came leaping in massives bounds towards me, the huge bow wave preceding his advance. What he didn’t bargain on was that I was quicker than him in the water, thankfully, and I managed to cruise away.

Back with the dogs in the afternoon and with no action at the den the girls took full advantage of my camera and found me to be an amusing subject. As you can see I was that impressed.

Pampering Puzzles: Video

Published

Wildcaster

on June 8, 2009

in videopost

. 3 Comments Tags:adventure, africa, blog, blogumentary, bush, bush-knowledge, bushveld, conservation, Cubs, documentary, dog, education, elephants, endangered-species, experience, film, flickr, GLTP, gonarezhou, Great-Limpopo-Transfrontier-Park, IUCN-Red-List, kill, lions, malilangwe, mashable, narrowcasting, Open-Content-Alliance, pamushana, peace-parks, photo, photos, podcasting, predators, teach, video, wild, wild dogs, wildcasting, wilderness, wildlife, wildlife-documentary, youtube, zimbabwe

The dogs are still seriously on the move and poor pregnant Puzzles just tags along behind, her tummy looking ever so huge these days.

Today was interesting in that Kodak just couldn’t leave her alone, whining and hassling her the whole time, so much so that she wasn’t able to feed. Although she was really well fed as they had killed in the night with the moon and again at dawn. All the dogs looked as if they were pregnant.

I had an interesting afternoon with them a couple of days ago. The pack had moved into the hills and spent the day resting there. I joined them later in the afternoon resting with them until they got active about an hour before sunset. They did their normal greeting ceremony and moved on around a corner in the rocks when Puzzles suddenly sounded the alarm. I came round the corner to see all the dogs giving their alarm bark and rushing at this small cave in the rocks. They would all rush in then back off. Hair on their backs up and tails erect. They kept at this for some time. Then rested up close by for a few minutes before resuming their advance. I thought it was now my opportunity to score points with the pack and so made my advance peering into the cave from a few meters. I think they were impressed….. Anyway I couldn’t see anything but heard a low sort of deep breathing and their seemed to be more than one. It almost sounded like a puffadder puffing, but the sound was too big. Was it a python? It couldn’t be a cat cos it would be hissing or growling. I was baffled. Then 2 of the pups went right up to the cave with their bodies half way in. They did this a couple of times. I was now sure that if whatever was in there wasn’t going to attack them, then surely it wouldn’t attack me. So off I went peering into the cave. It was very narrow and really just a slit in the rock. I couldn’t see anything. So I pulled myself up a ledge right there and was able to peer into the cave. No more than 3ft away was this tawny flank tightly wedged in a crack in the rocks. Lion! I realised then the pack must have surprised Magwaza’s cubs and chased them into this cave. That was fine, BUT now where was Magwaza??!!!
Thankfully she never appeared and eventually the dogs moved off.

I had never seen Magwaza’s cubs before and this could hardly have counted for a sighting. Just a tawny flank?!

But then this morning I got lucky. Rushing out east to catch up with the dogs I had Manyari, Sjambok, Chahwihwi, Magwaza and her 3 cubs. They were jumping around all over her and have a fun time playing. Also with the pride was another lioness. Where did she come from? I presume she is from the group of 8 cubs that broke away from the Nduna pride with Manyari. And she might even be Manyari’s last cub.

It’s a pity I haven’t been working with the lions for some 6 months now, so really haven’t a clue what’s up with the pride.

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Tag Archive for 'dog'

Relentless plea for food: Video

Mischief at Dawn: Video

New hyaena den: Video

On the loose with dad: Video

Buffalo Parade: Video

Pampering Puzzles: Video

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