A Hyaenidae!
Matt shares one of his very special sightings with these hyena
Proof that not all mornings are made equal. As a field guide, I am very lucky with what I get to witness on a daily basis. Sometimes though, a particular morning can really stand out amongst the crowd.
Last week was one such day.
It started like many in the Klaserie, with a magnificent sunrise gleaming through the wispy clouds. Suddenly, through the dry riverbed, a lone Hyena bolted past us having heard something exciting in the distance. We followed him for many kilometers, pausing with him as he read his morning newspaper, stopping off at various trees or grasses to catch up with the night’s events before rushing off again. The anticipation was growing with every turn waiting to see what he would lead us to. We finally came across a waterhole where he slowed and paused sniffing excitedly around a small thicket. This must be it! We followed in slowly waiting for any sign of what had caused this lung-busting journey. Alas after a few minutes, he carried on lazily through the thicket where we could not follow, seemingly lost interest in whatever sound or smell had caught his attention some 30 minutes earlier.
Not perturbed, our group continued back all the way we had come to the perennial river, crossing through and following its still-green-tinged banks for a while. We came up along an old cutline and around a bend to find more Hyenas in the road. These, however, were round-bellied and full, lounging in the early morning sun beside the edges of the road. We looked to the right and saw another larger female peeking out of a hole in the termite mound- fantastic, a den site! “If you will excuse the guide joke”, I said over my shoulder to the guests behind me, “what a Hyaenidae this is turning out to be!” We approached slowly and found 2 young cubs behind the mound barely 12 weeks old playing ferociously with one another. We observed them for some time watching as they played building their young muscles and training their reactions with each other. Suddenly one disappeared headfirst, having misplaced a step, and tumbled,into a small hole in the back of the den. While the guests chuckled at the scene straight out of a cartoon, the sibling approached the hole and carefully peered down to see where his brother had gone. Unexpectedly, he darted to the side as his brother came rushing out and straight back into play not disturbed by his fall, although we did note they were both much more careful of the gap going forwards.
In the meantime, a group of Giraffe and Zebra had heard the commotion and came over to investigate. Seeing the clan sleeping in the open, the stallion alarm-called and the herd dashed off into the bush leaving the giraffes nervously watching. The mother Hyena, woken up by the sound, rushed to block any intruders and simultaneously the cubs darted into the same hole, with much more grace this time round. After seeing there was no threat, the mum relaxed and went back to her previous position and we decided to head off for our morning bush coffee – leaving the young family in peace. |
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