In late May, we showed up at the Happy Zebra den and found
Coel (short for Coelacanth, pronounced “seal”) sitting in a den hole looking
very nervous. She would get up frequently and stick her face in the den hole.
Other times she would crawl into the hole and disappear completely. Anytime a
cub or another hyena would get too close to her den hole she would lunge or
snap at them. We just knew that she must have tiny babies in the den hole. We
were super excited! Coel had lost her first litter of cubs in January, and we
really wanted these cubs to make it.
For the last few weeks, every time we have gone to the Happy
Zebra den Coel has been guarding her hole. Often when we arrive at the den we
won’t see her until partway through the session when she crawls out of the den
hole and aggresses on some nearby cubs who have gotten a bit rowdy. The cubs seem quite used to her aggressions.
When she lunges at them, the cubs barely back off. They just briefly stop
playing and look at her before going back to their chewing and tumbling. I am
not quite sure how seriously they take her anymore!
Finally, a few days ago Emily saw the cubs for the first
time!!! There were two of them! One of them has been named Cambrian and we are
still working on the name for the second one. Ceol’s lineage is geologic time
periods. Hopefully, these cubs will be luckier than their older siblings!
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| A very tired Coel with one of her cubs. |
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| Ceol with one of her cubs. |
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| Ceol's cubs playing with the big cubs. |
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4 comments:
This makes me so happy! I'm still amazed that COEL made it after KOI died. Tough family. Thanks for the updates :)
Awwww yay good job coel!!! Thanks for the update Maggie!!!!!
OMG, that cub is JUST. SO. CUTE!!!!
As the cub has just emerged, how old is it likely to be? I honestly can't get over how beautiful it is, and it seems to have an especially round face and in combination with its round ears, it's just...well, it's been a rotten day, but now I'm smiling. Thank you for that. :)
You folks should put out a calendar. "Spotted Hyenas of the Masai Mara." Seriously. Each month would be accompanied by a photo of some of the hyenas you study or perhaps a family tree of a particular clan, and you could have special days to mark special event in the lives of the hyenas of the Masai Mara, e.g., "25 June: Coelocanth's cubs first emerge from the birth den, 2014" or ? March 2012 "Selena North coup d'etat: Waffles, along with two others, deposes RBC as matriarch"
I'd buy one for my several, and a bunch for friends!
Again, thank you so much for sharing your work with these fascinating animals with us.
These cubs were about a month old when we first saw them!
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