Jambo From Colin

Hey All,

My name is Colin Hadley, the new RA for Talek camp. My research background is largely within the scope of primatology, having worked with howler monkeys, capuchins, and spider monkeys in Costa Rica before making my first trip to Africa to work as a research assistant for the LuiKotale Bonobo Project. The first divergence I took from the order of primates was working alongside a furry field partner (I’m talking about a dog) to conduct wildlife surveys in the western United States. And now my desire to burgeon my experience has brought me, once more, to Africa. To the striking landscape of the Mara our hyenas call home.

My field partner Siska and I conducting carnivore surveys in Oregon

An adult female howler monkey with a juvenile that has uncommon gold coloration on much of its tail

Upon arriving in Nairobi, I was met with two unanticipated incidents. The first being a case of lost luggage that would delay our trip to Mara, the second being the contents of my first meal in Kenya. I’m not sure I ever would have guessed fried chicken and french fries. Regardless, the prolonged stay in Nairobi came to a close and, with all luggage in tow, we made the drive to the Mara. Naturally, I became overly excited at seeing each herbivore species for the first time. Sightings that would become unfathomably commonplace in the following days. But the truly special part was seeing the species I had come all this way for. The hyenas.

A short game drive the evening I arrived in the Mara would give me my first glimpses of a few of our Talek West hyenas and the weeks that followed have provided an array of interesting sightings. Beginning with locating the communal den for our smallest study clan in Talek: Cool Beans. 

A slow and uneventful drive through the tall grass in their territory was flipped on its head when we approached a lone tour car to find they had been sitting quietly and photographing the eight resident cubs not only new to myself, but also to the project. With Talek West and KCM denning outside of the reserve, locating a den was a huge find.

BENS standing over her cub FYR at the Cool Beans communal den

Two days later, an early morning drive in Talek West territory gave way to my first observation of a mobbing event. A crowd of our Talek West hyenas formed around two female lions laying in the grass. Tails bristling, the rambunctious group repeatedly darted in and out from the lions, with the excitement carrying over into numerous affiliative and aggressive behaviors amidst our hyenas. With nothing in the lions’ possession to hold the attention of the hyenas, the crowd eventually dissipated.

Lions in Talek West territory with a freshly killed warthog

Talek West hyenas mobbing a female lion

Lastly, my favorite moment thus far: a clan war between Talek West and KCM. We had just arrived in KCM territory in the morning and had just stopped at two KCM hyenas as we heard whooping begin a few hundred meters to the east. Our hyenas snapped their heads and stood up, and the walk east soon became a lope. More whoops as we followed our two hyenas. 4 KCM individuals eventually swelled to 18 as more Talek West hyenas were arriving a hundred meters to the east. The morning turned into charges, retreats, bedlams of aggressive behaviors, and tense stand offs. The thrilling hours of observation came to a close as Talek West eventually turned and retreated east into a lugga.

As I continue to familiarize myself with our hyenas and the data we collect, I am left in eager anticipation of the year ahead of me.

KCM charging the Talek West front early in the clan war

KCM subadult TIGR leading the charge toward Talek West

PION retreating to the Talek West front as their charge ends

KANI looking over her shoulder during a lull of the clan war

Jambo from Anne Ju

 

Jambo Jambo!

My name is Anne Ju, and I am the new research assistant based out of Serena camp! I grew up in Quebec (the French part of Canada). Since my arrival in January, I have been consistently amazed by all the beauty that the Maasai Mara Reserve has to offer. The one thing that stood out to me from the beginning is how closely we live to the wildlife in camp. As I am writing these lines, I can hear and see the baboons digging into the ground to look for caterpillars, and a warthog from the warthog family that regularly runs around camp munching on the grass (Figure 1).

Figure 1. A male warthog munching on the grass just beside our tent lab in Serena camp.

I graduated in last August from my MSc degree in ecology at the University of Sherbrooke. My MSc project focused on neonatal growth in Harbour seal pups (Figure 2), more specifically the growth patterns during the pre-weaning period. The harbour seal pups swim with the females directly after birth, which is very specific to this phocid species. Hence, the pups are expected to have a very large energy expenditure. My project aimed to characterize the growth patterns using nonlinear growth models, as well as investigating differences in growth between males and females, small and large pups, and between years. I also looked at external factors, such as environmental variables, to see if variation in their habitat had an influence on the growth patterns of pups. When I am not outside collecting data or on my laptop trying to model the data, you can find me running, hiking, reading, or sewing and embroidering.

Figure 2. A young harbour seal, the hat is glued to the fur to be able to identify clearly each individual.

I am very curious by nature and love to learn about new study systems, which is what brought me out here! The hyenas are just such interesting and unique animals. I am very excited to spend the next year studying their behavior and learning all the individual hyenas in each clan. So far, my days have been filled with photos and videos of hyenas as I am trying to recognize each of them by identifying their spot patterns and to differentiate their complex interactions. One fact about the hyenas that I learned and found very interesting is when a female gives birth to two cubs, the cubs will have to fight each other in order to determine who is going to be the dominant one. The dominant one will then be able to nurse in the preferred position (Figure 3), which gives him an advantage since it can profit from the female’s body heat. Sometimes, the dominant cub will also prohibit the non dominant one to nurse at all. This fight that occurs at the very beginning of the cub’s life will then have a significant impact on their overall ranking position in the clan.

Figure 3. A female hyena from our North clan (POL) who is nursing her cub (TEX). The position in which the cub is on the picture is called the nursing preferred position (npp), which is advantageous because the cub can profit from the female's body heat.

On my second day in the reserve, I was lucky enough to go out on the field and have my first observation session. We visited the North Clan which is closest to our camp. Seeing the hyenas really helped with the IDs. For example, NION (Figure 4) is one of the first female sub-adult hyenas from the North Clan that I met. Her left shoulder has a very distinctive spot pattern, which I found looks like a question mark. I can now always tell her apart from the others. Don’t you see it?

 

Figure 4. NION left side. We can see on her shoulder her very distinctive spot pattern that looks like a question mark

After a couple of dry days, we were able to find the communal den for our Happy Zebra clan, which was at their old location. We had to do a lot of off-roading to find the den and since the last time that the team went before I got here, the grass had grown so much that it was almost impossible to see clearly, let alone identify the hyenas (Figure 5). So this was surely an extra challenge.

Figure 5. A cub from the Happy Zebra clan hiding in the tall grass near the communal den.

Finally, we also went and tried to find the communal den of our South clan, which is the third and last clan that we monitor in Serena camp. Owing to the GPS collar previously installed on the matriarch named SNUG, we were able to find its general position. According to her GPS points, it looked like the den was close to where the previous one was. We tried to reach it using different off-road paths. We tried to go through rock fields, and then we tried to cross a lugga, which is what we call the wet stream-like areas here. After successfully crossing the lugga, we were still not able to lay eyes on the communal den as it is probably deep into the bushes. We will have to wait until the hyenas decide to change the position of their communal den.

 

Figure 6. An elephant herd grazing in the beautiful landscape of the Mara Triangle.

I am very excited to be part of the MHP team and get to know more about the hyenas. I am eager to learn everything from their complex social system to their numerous interindividual interactions. Being able to live in the Mara National Reserve is a real honour as this place is simply breathtaking. If you happen to be in the reserve and see a Michigan State University car, come and say hi!

 

Until next time!

Anne Ju

South Clan Den: Beautiful and Secluded

Hello again from Serena camp! 

As you may have seen from our last two posts on North and Happy Zebra clan, we are updating everyone on the current den situations in each territory. Read on below for the news of South clan's communal den! 

In our South territory, we were lucky enough to dart and collar SNUG (the matriarch of South clan). It quickly became apparent that the primary culprit behind South clan’s hard-to-find communal den was the distance that it was located from any pre-determined tracks. Indeed, this communal den was found only after about 1km of off-roading! Additionally, it is located next to two intersecting luggas, which means that the land slopes down on all sides to obscure the space from binocular scans on all fronts. That being said, the space itself is quite beautiful, and we can regularly see Serena lodge balloons flying overhead during observation sessions.

 

See above for a collection of GPS points on SNUG’s collar. We circled the communal den in green.

 

When we first began spending time at this den, our team noticed a lack of activity here in comparison to our North and Happy Zebra dens (which were teeming with plenty of new cubs). However, after taking some time to warm up, we now have four new cubs, and suspect that there are younger cubs still waiting to emerge. In fact, we have noticed that one of our moms who regularly spends time laying in the den hole (HONR), has had some small black cubs peeking out from behind her. Unfortunately, we can’t assign these cubs official names yet until we see them nursing from their mother.

 

Interestingly enough, another unlikely set of residents in South clan’s den hole (other than the hyenas of course) are the flourishing population of bats that frantically exit whenever we arrive in the evening hours.

 

See below for some of the exciting outcomes of our observations of South clan’s communal dens over the past few months.

 

Above you can see NORB (left) and JOSI (right). NORB is ISSA’s cub, and their full name is Norbert. ISSA’s lineage is “Animals that Hagrid takes care of (Harry Potter)”, so NORB is affectionately named after Hagrid’s pet dragon in Book 1 of the series! JOSI’s full name is “JosiDog”, as their mother is KNIN and her lineage is “brands of dogfood”.

 

Above you can see FLGO (cub of SNUG) whose full name is Fulgoromorpha. SNUG’s lineage is Hemipterans, which refers to an order of insects, and Fulgoromorpha is the scientific name for a type of bug called planthoppers.

Here we have Surprise, our fourth and final larger cub at South’s communal den. Unfortunately, we don’t have an official name for Surprise yet as we have not witnessed them nursing from their mother yet. Until that time, they will keep their cub name, which we initially use to nickname cubs before their lineage is identified.

 

THANK YOU FOR READING!

 

If you're new to the blog, check out our last two posts which contain updates on North clan and Happy Zebra clan. 

Warmly,

Taylor and Brianna

 

 

Happy Zebra Clan Den Update (and news of a split)!

Our Happy Zebra clan’s den is located very far off-road. When we first arrived at this location, there was a secondary den system that could be found roughly 50m to the South, and this area appeared to be one of our mom’s natal dens (where she birthed her cubs). We kept an eye on this space, but eventually realized that she had cleared out after our initial sighting of her and brought her cubs to the primary communal den. The primary space is actually a network of three den holes (two of which we suspect may connect to each other underground). The area itself is optimal for visibility in a way that North and South clan’s dens are lacking – we are able to drive all the ways around the mound of the den itself, and the grass is relatively cleared out in front of the most active spaces.

 

See above for a collection of GPS points on ARGO’s collar. We circled the communal den in green, and you can see that ARGO has had quite a bit of movement throughout our Happy Zebra territory.

 

We were able to find Happy Zebra’s den thanks to ARGO (daughter of RUMG, the last known matriarch), the hyena that we collared in this territory. Based on Happy Zebra’s current clan list and dominance hierarchy, one would assume that ARGO is the matriarch of the clan, yet this doesn’t appear to be the case. This difference in what is officially listed is likely due to the fact that Happy Zebra clan has been in a period of upheaval since 2020, leading our leadership team to ultimately decide to cease studying the lower-ranking hyenas. See below for the official explanation of why (courtesy of Jana Woerner, current PhD student of Kay Holekamp):

           

Happy Zebra Clan split into two clans sometime in 2020 - there was limited sampling due to the pandemic, so the exact dates are unknown. The hyenas were using two communal dens, one that was primarily used by higher rankers and one by lower rankers, for several years. However, there was still regular movement between the two dens and most animals were seen in all parts of the territory. Since 2020, however, there has been no movement between the two groups and the lower rankers that split from the main group only hang out in the Northwestern part of the former territory. We named the new clan “Not-so-happy Zebras (NZ)” and all clan members that split off are now marked as NZ Clan hyenas in the Master Hyena List. Their new territory is located pretty far from our camp and covers a lot of unknown/difficult-to-maneuver terrain. There has also been very limited sampling effort in that area since 2021, so most of the new cubs/subs are unknown. Therefore, we have decided to officially stop studying these hyenas in August 2024.

 

Even though ARGO may not be the highest-ranking hyena, it is apparent that she is enjoying life from her constant romping and need to play. In fact, on one memorable morning, we watched ARGO jump about, seemingly ensconced in a fit of the zoomies, and throw herself backwards onto the ground in an admirable imitation of a backflip. She is definitely a team favorite here in Serena camp!

 

Notably, the space that Happy Zebra clan’s den occupies seems to be a hotspot for many other species. We have been lucky enough to see pangolins there on THREE separate occasions, which was an incredibly special set of sightings as they are notoriously elusive creatures. Additionally, one can find themselves surrounded by Oribis, Wildebeests, or Elephants when journeying on the track that we made to Happy Zebra’s den. Overall, it seems like our clan chose an excellent neighborhood for raising their large brood of cubs.

 

See below for some of the exciting outcomes of our observations of Happy Zebra clan’s communal dens over the past few months:

 

Above you can see KRKN with her two cubs GRDN (Garden City Mall) and TIO (The Junction Mall). KRKN”s lineage is shopping malls in Nairobi.

 

Above you can see MALA (Malachite King Fisher) playing with two of adult hyenas at the communal den. One of those adults is ARGO, who is currently collared. MALA is the cub of DUKY, whose lineage is “different species of water birds”.

 

Above you can see VINE (Vine), cub of BARD (whose lineage is “Social media”). We like to remember VINE by the winding swirl on their side that resembles the tendril of a vining plant!

 

In addition to GRDN, TIO, MALA, and VINE we have four more known cubs (mothered by LANC, JUJU, and THLS). That being said, we believe that there may be more black cubs that we have yet to assign to mothers!

 

 

THANK YOU FOR READING!

Warmly,

Taylor and Brianna

 

P.S. Keep an eye out for our update on South clan!

 

 

North Clan Update: Collars and Dens Galore!

 

Hello again from Serena camp!

 

Exciting things have been happening with all three of our clans since we last had a chance to update everyone here. Per Taylor’s recent post, we were able to find our North clan’s communal den (which isn’t the current space that they’re using now, as we’ll explain below). Since then, our team has been able to successfully dart and collar three of our study hyenas (with the generous assistance of KWS vet Michael Njoroge), locate all three of our clan’s dens, resurrect a hyena once thought to be missing, and add a multitude of new cubs to our clan’s ranks. Below we’ll give a run-down on the comings-and-goings in our North clan!

 

During our early observations of the den that we originally found in North without the aid of collars, ARIA (the granddaughter of SOUP) alarmed all of us by grabbing one of her young black cubs and loping speedily off to the West. Naturally, after existing for so long without dens located, we were extremely concerned that ARIA’s departure marked a shift of North clan’s communal den. This worry led to us to follow closely in pursuit of ARIA, off-roading at a safe distance, while being cautious of the steadily increasing grass length. Unfortunately, ARIA quickly lost us in the tall grass, and we decided to turn back due to dangerous off-roading conditions (as the land sloped down into a potentially watery lugga). At this point we remained optimistic, as although ARIA had left, SOUP (the matriarch) was still regularly frequenting what we believed to be the primary communal clan space. Without the safety net of GPS-tracking collars, the concern that we may lose the den was always nagging at the back of our minds. We resolved to keep a close eye on the situation in case any other moms seemed to be departing in a similar direction with cubs.

 

These concerns were quashed when, with Eli Strauss’s arrival in late July, our team was able to dart and collar ARIA, the very hyena that had concerned us with her abrupt departure. The initial GPS points that we received confirmed our suspicions, and we off-roaded (using VHF tracking), to ARIA’s picturesque den-site. It was quickly apparent that not only ARIA was using this space, as SOUP and other high-ranking moms began to bring their cubs to this location (located, unsurprisingly, to the West of our first den across the lugga that we avoided off-roading through). For a period, we monitored both spaces, splitting our time between the initial communal den that we found, and ARIA’s new space (affectionately coined “Collar Den”). However, in early September, we noticed that only lower-ranking moms were spending time at the first den, and that even they had begun to transition to Collar Den. As of mid-September, we determined that the initial den was vacant, and focused all our energy on observing Collar Den.

 

See above for a collection of GPS points on ARIA’s collar. We circled the original den that we found without tracking her in blue, and you can see the current, primary communal den that ARIA established in green. Each individual point is connected to the following point by a red line, which is helpful for giving us an idea of the clan’s territory/range.

 

 

See below for some pictures of the exciting outcomes of our observations of North clan’s communal dens over the past few months.

 

See above, GLOB (in front) and WALL (behind). WALL and GLOB are MUTT’s cubs, and they are named after American Newspapers (per MUTT’s lineage theme). GLOB’s full name is the Boston Globe and WALL’s full name is the Wallstreet Journal. We estimate that they were born in mid-February of this year, and both of them are male.

 

 

KETL (Kettle Foods) can be viewed above. KETL’s mother is HOHO, whose lineage is chip brands. We estimate that KETL was born in early May of this year, and he is male.

 

 

Above you can see two younger cubs who we believe to be ARIA’s cubs (with ARIA laying down on the left): CABG and DARL. ARIA’s lineage theme is “nicknames for boyfriends/girlfriends,” so CABG’s full name is “Little Cabbage”, and DARL’s full name is “Darling.” In this photo we estimate that they are around roughly 12 weeks old.

 

 

In addition to WALL, GLOB, KETL, DARL, and CABG, we have six more known cubs (mothered by POL, RMON, REMI, and ANA). That being said, we believe that there may be more black cubs that we have yet to assign to mothers!

 

 

 

THANK YOU FOR READING!

 

Hopefully we will be able to keep you posted as further developments occur. Keep an eye out for two more posts with information on our South and Happy Zebra clans!

Warmly,

Taylor and Brianna

 

P.S. Please don’t hesitate to comment with any questions you may have about any of the above content. We will try to keep a keen eye on the blog so as to respond to any inquiries.

 

 

Jambo from Taylor

 

Jambo!

My name is Taylor, and I am the new Research Assistant (R.A.) at Serena Camp. I recently graduated from the University of Vermont, where I studied Psychological Science and English. I have always been extremely passionate about animal behavior and spent much of my undergraduate career participating in various volunteer opportunities to get outside and interact with wildlife. I also had the opportunity to work in a veterinary clinic in Philadelphia for a year following my graduation, which only increased my love for animals. Outside of school and work, you can find me hiking, swimming, painting, sketching, and reading.

This is a picture of me in Vermont extracting teeth from a White-tailed deer carcass. I volunteered on this project during my undergraduate career at the University of Vermont. The biologist that was working at the deer check station with me taught me how to age deer from the rings on their teeth (similarly to how a tree is aged from the circles in its trunk).

Even though I’ve only just arrived in Kenya recently (July 2), I have already learned so many new things. There have been many opportunities for community outreach, and I particularly enjoyed our visit to the Mara Elephant Project (M.E.P.), where we put our heads together to chat about our mutual interest in and compassion for wildlife in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Memorably, we were taught to fly drones and got to see a bird’s eye view of various creatures in their natural environments.

Here we are learning how to fly drones at the Mara Elephant Project. The neon orange circle in the bottom of the photo is a landing platform for the drone. From left to right: Felix (M.E.P. drone pilot), Jana, me, Brianna, Maya, and Natalie.

Above is an aerial picture of a giraffe from the drone that we were learning how to fly at M.E.P.

This partnership led one of M.E.P.’s employees, Wilson, to visit us at Serena Camp, where we observed him flying a thermal drone to locate one of our clan’s dens. We quickly discovered that the best time frame to locate animals with the drone is early morning, as many of the heated rocks from the day’s sun looked remarkably like various prey animals. One early morning session with Wilson yielded promising results, and we went out in search of what we suspected may be our South Clan’s den. Unfortunately, upon inspecting the area further, it became clear that the hyenas we were witnessing were part of a neighboring clan that isn’t included in our study. Even though we didn’t locate the den with the drone right away, the excitement of a fresh lead kickstarted a new wave of enthusiasm in our search.

Above is a picture from the thermal drone that Wilson was flying over our South territory. The white color denotes heat, and the shapes that I have circled in red are what we suspected to be our study hyenas at their den (which turned out to be incorrect).

The morning after Wilson left, our team noticed several hyenas in our North territory coming from the same direction. With a surplus of people in camp, we have had the opportunity to split into two cars and cover more ground, and the morning observation crew from North territory (Eli, Natalie, and Brianna) informed my group of their encouraging findings. Later that night, Eli, Maya, and I went out to North territory to investigate the potential den lead, spending time listening attentively for any sign of den activity in the area that we suspected North clan hyenas to be coming from. Just as we were thinking about shifting our attention elsewhere, we heard what we believed to be a cub whoop! While unconfirmed, this gave us enough of a lead to shift the car closer to the whooping, where we heard a chorus of multiple hyenas whooping to each other. 

Unfortunately, it was too dark to safely navigate to where we heard the activity, and we decided to touch base with the team and scope out the area at a different time. The following morning, Jana, Maya, and I returned to the location with sufficient light to safely off-road and began to explore. Sure enough, it quickly became apparent that we had located the den! Before driving closer, we took a quick moment and silently celebrated our victory, composed ourselves, and then went in to meet North clan’s newest cubs!

Above is WALL (left) and GLOB (right). Based on their coloring, fur length, and size, our team has estimated that they are roughly around 5 months old. We can already tell that Wall is the dominant cub due to the preferred nursing position that he occupies, meaning that he nurses with his body closest to his mother’s stomach.

Above you can see MTV, a small black cub. Based on his dark coloring and the early emergence of his spot pattern, our team has estimated that he is around 10.5 weeks old. You can tell from the pointy tip of MTV’s phallus that he is a male.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work collaboratively to pinpoint one of our study’s dens. While it would’ve been thrilling to find a den using one of M.E.P.’s drones (which still is a possibility for our other two territories), there was something special about uncovering the first den I’ve seen here solely relying on the expertise, knowledge, and stellar communication skills of our research team. Even though it has only been a few days since our discovery, I have already had the chance to sit in on several different den session transcriptions. These learning opportunities are invaluable to absorbing the complexity of behaviors exhibited and getting to know all the individuals in the clan. I have much admiration and gratitude for the hard work of everyone here to find the home of our North clan.

More generally, I am incredibly thankful to be working here for a year and observing these beautiful animals with such an amazing group of people. From the very beginning, everyone has been so kind, compassionate and welcoming. Philomon, Moses, and Stephen, who work long-term in Serena camp, do an impeccable job upkeeping the study’s beautiful campsite, keeping us all safe in camp, and crafting up delicious meals! Brianna and Maya, who have been in Serena camp as R.A.s for a year now, are unendingly generous with sharing their expertise on anything and everything. Natalie, who is the new R.A. that will be working in Talek camp, is the perfect person to be learning everything with, and has already helped me with catching up to speed on training (as she came a month earlier). Jana, who is our R.A. trainer extraordinaire, is an endless source of information, and always willing to sit down and walk me through tricky concepts. Eli, who just recently arrived, has also been patient and thoughtful in teaching all he knows. Many thanks to all of you that I have mentioned, as well as the many others that I have learned from but haven’t named due to the increasing length of this blog post!

Hoping to update again soon – fingers crossed that we find our other two dens for Serena camp within the next few weeks or so!

Warmly,

Taylor

Brianna (left) and I (right) spelling out M.H.P. for Mara Hyena Project!