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