Waffles, LCS, and Kruuk's Culvert.

Right now the north hyenas “club” is at Kruuk’s culvert, a culvert just about a kilometer north of camp. We use the word “club” to refer to an area where the hyenas seem to prefer to hang out. The club and the den are the two main centers of activity within a territory. Kruuk was one of the first scientists to study spotted hyenas and is also the one who originally termed the word “club” to mean a spot where the hyenas like to hang out. The fact that the north hyena's club is currently at Kruuk's culvert is entirely coincidental but in the last few days we've seen some interesting stories unfolding here that have to do with our favorite hyena friendship, that of Waffles (North clan's matriarch) and LCS (a very low-ranking hyena in North clan named for her ear damage, a slit in the 'c' area of her left ear). 

LCS and Waffles are best buds. 

Two days ago we followed Waffles, North’s matriarch, to Kruuk’s culvert along with Waffles’ daughter LogC, son Torani, and grandson George. They joined up with Tinsel who was nursing her daughter Rama by Kruuk’s culvert. Not long after all the hyenas had seemed to settle down for the day we heard an antelope dying in the thicket not too far away. Immediately all six hyenas were up on their feet loping towards the source of the noise. We arrived to see LogC and Torani holding two halves of an impala calf- they clearly hadn’t killed it but they’d chased off the hyena who had before we arrived. Back towards Kruuk’s Culvert we saw that LCS had joined the group and we thought it might have been her who killed the calf since she was the only new hyena here. However poor LCS, a very low-ranking hyena, was not welcome at this hang out. LogC and Tinsel, with their blood still up, started aggressing on her the moment she got closer, asserting their higher ranks.

LCS also happens to be Waffles’ best friend but Waffles couldn’t do anything about her daughter’s aggression. In fact, in the heat of the moment Waffles actually joined in on a low level aggression we called a point, in which an animal rigidly points its entire body at the subordinate animal, usually with tails and ears erect. Even though this was a very low level aggression LCS had had enough, and she wasn’t going to forgive Waffles for that mishap. As LCS started to lope away Waffles’ demeanor changed from energetic to confused. We followed Waffles as she went loping after her best friend. When LCS disappeared a few hundred meters ahead of us over a low rise Waffles paused to give out four long low whoops, possibly trying to call her friend back. This was the first time I’d ever seen a hyena whoop in order to specifically call another hyena. Usually whoops seem to be reserved for announcing food or lions. However LCS essentially slammed the door in Waffles face when we crested the rise to see her disappear into a dense patch of grass without a single backwards glance.

LCS and Waflfes sharing a natal den.

Sometimes it really seems like Waffles and LCS’ friendship is a little lopsided with Waffles always pursuing and trying to be friendly to LCS, who can be indifferent. It was Waffles who moved her cubs to LCS’ natal den (where she had given birth to her son WAWA) and though LCS seemed perfectly content to share her hole with Waffles’ she really didn’t have any say in the matter. This goes against what the literature says animals of different ranks should behave. In socially complex animal societies lower ranker animals almost always prefer to associate with higher-ranking animals for benefits that such associations can confer. As a very low-ranking hyena LCS should be the one pursuing friendship with Waffles, the matriarch, rather than the other way around!

LCS and Waffles looking alert while their cubs explore the breakfast plains. 

Yesterday, to our relief, it seemed that Waffles and LCS had reconciled their differences and were back to being friends again. Together they took their cubs for one of their first graduation walks. Their destination? No big surprise: Kruuk’s Culvert. Kruuk’s culvert is a little over a kilometer away and this was the furthest from the den I’ve ever seen cubs of only 4 months old. Mrs. Butterworth (MRSB), Aunt Jemima (ANTJ), and Wailing Wall (WAWA pronounced Way-Wah) were all extremely excited to be out in the world. MRSB, ANTJ, and WAWA are all best buds (all boys) and they happily romped through the tall grass with their heads up and tails bristled.

New best buds in the making. MrsB, Wawa, and AntJ. 

It made me worry a little, if Waffles and LCS had bumped into any trouble there weren’t any holes near by for the cubs to take cover in and Waffles and LCS certainly wouldn’t be able to protect them from lions if it came to that. However, late morning is probably one of the safest times to take your cubs for a walk because the lions will hopefully all be asleep in the warm sunlight.

On their way back from Kruuk’s culvert they detoured a little bit over to Muffin den, the natal den where all three cubs had been raised until they were a little over a month old. I imagine the cubs’ paws must have been extremely sore by that point but they were as bouncy as ever while Waffles and LCS were starting to look a little exhausted. Even if Waffles and LCS’ relationship is a little lopsided LCS clearly still trusts Waffles greatly. She decided to sack out (lay down) in the small water hole near Muffin den to rest while her son WAWA went with Waffles and her cubs back to the den.

Very excited bristle-tailed MrsB and AntJ running through grass. 

Return of the Blog

Sorry for the lack of updates to the blog after our faithful contributor, Zach, left! I’m Deanna, the new research assistant here, receiving training from my very patient and helpful fellow RA, Noémie. In my few months here, we have already had many memorable experiences, both good and some less so, and one thing I’ve quickly learned to love about Africa is that incredible memories are the norm and every day brings a new adventure!

It’s been awhile so I’ll start with an update on our hyenas here at Serena Camp. First, both here and at Talek Camp, we witnessed a rare event of hyena infanticide! In our South Clan, the dominant female, Clovis (CLOV), had recently had only 1 new cub, Nali. Clovis’ second-ranked sister, Slinky, had just had 2 cubs, Rastapopulos (RAST) and Makuta (MAKU). Well this did not sit well with Clovis, who waited until a day when Slinky had left her cubs unattended at the den, and then she killed Makuta as he/she was playing with Rastapopulos and Nali! Nothing goes to waste among hyenas though, and Clovis fed the dead cub to her older subadult cubs, Ranch and Cheese Whiz. Within 10 minutes, there was nothing left of poor Makuta, but Clovis fulfilled her role as dominant female and loving mother quite well! They have since moved their den and are split between 2 new dens, making our jobs very difficult. One den is surrounded by bushes and a semi-dry riverbed. The other is on the opposite side of the riverbed and surrounded by a field of various-sized rocks, making it impossible to get closer than 100 meters and aptly named by Noémie as Nightmare Den.

 Clovis: the biggest, the meanest, the smelliest

In Happy Zebra clan, we have an overwhelming amount of cuteness at their den, with 13 cubs (theoretically, although 2 have not been seen in at least a month) play romping around and occasionally forming an indistinguishable pile of fur on chilly mornings. As exasperating as it can get, trying to ID and keep track of all the interactions between these cubs and other hyenas at the den, they make up for it in adorable moments.

In North clan, we have had some interesting interactions, indicative of a rank reversal. Three rough-looking lower-ranking females (Peepers, Waffles, and Eleanor) banded together and chased away the dominant female (RBC). In subsequent observations, RBC has displayed submissive behaviors (ears back, giggling, presenting her rear for inspection, being chased) to most of the other hyenas and their cubs, as though she has fallen from the top to near the bottom of the hierarchy. Many of the North hyenas are in pretty bad shape right now after an alleged bout with lions over a hippo carcass. Hooker is slowly regaining use of her left eye and has gained weight after looking frighteningly anorexic. Many hyenas had open gashes, bad limps, and puncture wounds, but they are healing quickly by human standards!

We were also fortunate enough to see 3 cheetah cubs at 8 weeks old with their mother and hear the famous cheetah chirp! However, the following week, the Mara Conservancy manager, Brian Heath, alerted us that the cubs’ mother was missing (probably killed by lions). We were privileged enough to accompany him and the rangers as they captured the 3 cubs. They are currently residing in an enclosure in Brian’s camp. The Mara has had bad luck with cheetahs since 2008, when the wildebeest migration brought a bad case of mange here that reduced the cheetah population by almost half. The Mara has not had a litter of cheetah cubs survive to adulthood in over 2 years, which makes these 3 cubs’ lives very important to the future of cheetahs here! Thankfully they will be guaranteed food and safety until they reach adulthood and can be released back into the reserve.

I am a bit of a cheetah fanatic so I apologize in advance if I become more focused on cheetahs than hyenas in the future, but I will try my best!

Noémie and I are also inadvertently becoming learned mechanics. We have yet to go a week without some sort of issue arising with either of our vehicles and have had to employ a hydraulic jack on several occasions, even before leaving Nairobi to come to the Mara! We have also spent some of our free time attempting to learn Swahili from the Masai men who help keep camp in order: Moses, Philimon, and George. It’s more impressive coming from Noémie, who is from Switzerland so she translates between French, English, and Swahili! As they say in Swahili, tuna jifunza pole pole (we are learning slowly, slowly).

Among the more memorable of our many nightly adventures, Noémie had a giraffe trip over a guy line of her tent one night and almost take the whole thing with it. We have had hippo and buffalo wars waged in the bush surrounding camp, elephants grumbling their disapproval of our campfire one night, lions mating on the plains in front of camp (and keeping us awake all night!) and rabbits racing for their lives from hyenas and genets but not succeeding as evidenced by clumps of rabbit fur the next morning.

We’ll try to keep contributing updates to the blog! Thank you for your patience, it was a steep learning curve in the beginning but we’re finally getting into as nice a routine as Africa will let us!

Waffles and cubs

Sorry for the delay everyone, but as promised, here's a quick photo essay on our winner for Hyena Mom of the Year 2010: Waffles! Most of the pictures are admittedly focused on the cubs rather than on Mama Waffs, but hey, can you blame me? Everyone knows hyena cubs are the cutest things in the Mara!

First up, here's Mama Waffs in all her glory. Excuse the deer-in-the-headlights expression, she's not used to being in the spotlight.


It was a big surprise when Waffless became a mom. It was her first litter ever, and we hadn't been seeing her around the den very frequently at all when, POOF! A cub appeared!


Surprise, surprise! A week or so later, we found that not only did Waffs have a cub... she had TWO. Thus was born the "syrup" lineage. Say hello to Log Cabin and Hungry Jack.


We saw them almost daily for 3 months. Here they are getting more adventurous, and starting to get their spots:



Then everyone, including Waffs and the babies, decided to switch dens. We lost them for around 2 or 3 months. I was getting worried that maybe the babies had died, since it was her first litter and cub mortality is higher the first time around. But Mama Waffs didn't disappoint. We eventually found the den, and our little guys had turned into monster balls of fluff! They're huge!


Nice going Mama Waffs. For our last shot, here's Hungry Jack, all grown up and eating a nice rack of ribs! Congratulations Waffles, those are some handsome looking babies you've got there.

Rampage through Serena Camp

Last night Serena Camp was invaded by a berserk hoard of lions, hyenas and hippos. They charged straight through camp, taking out nearly everything in their path. Casualties of the battle include the kitchen tent, the storage tent, and my (Camille's) tent. Meg and I are stationed at completely opposite ends of camp, so between us we pretty much witnessed the entire disaster: Meg watched the first half through her tent windows, while I got the "full impact" of the end of the fight (haha, I punned... keep reading to the end so you can appreciate it fully).

Meg:

Since I wasn't able to take photos of this memorable event, let me paint a picture for you. I'm lying in bed. The would-be blackness of the night is infiltrated by moonlight shining through the trees, lighting up the ground and creating eerie shadows throughout camp (okay, not that eerie, but I wanted to make it sound better). It's definitely light enough to walk around without a flashlight. Hippo screaming, hyena whooping, nothing out of the ordinary. Then I hear some MAJOR whooping, and the sound of something large running through camp (think of the sound if I galloped around upstairs and you were in the basement). Then I hear scuffling through the trees. Hm, that sounds big. I perk up and watch through my screen window to try and check out the action. It's like watching an action movie, Mara style. From what I could hear, it sounded like a minor fight was going on in the thicket. I see a couple lionesses/juvenile lions run by, so I run to the opposite side of my tent to look through the other window. Some hyenas run by. Cool.

All of a sudden, a HUGE crashing sound comes from the edge of the thicket: I turn around and look through the window opposite me (I'm now standing in the middle of my tent), and a group of at least 4-5 screaming hyenas are running towards my tent, with at least 4 roaring lionesses chasing them. OH CRAP. After I pause and take in the awesomeness of the situation, I duck down to a crouch (which, clearly, is the right thing to do in this situation. HIDE from the carnivores so they don't see you through your tent screen, duh). In the haste of my ducking I accidentally knock over my pee basin (ahem...chamber pot) and spill my own pee on my tent floor. Oh, GREAT. The beasts knocked IN TO my tent, turned the corner, ran in to my tent again, and kept on running.

The sound of lions and hyenas roaring that close to me with the sole protection of a tent screen was beyond incredible...incredibly scary. From what it sounded like, there were at least 10 lions and 10 hyenas overall, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were more. I stayed ducked down with plans to scurry under my bed until they had cleared the area to the other side of camp, but luckily I didn't have to resort to such action. It seemed they had chased the hyenas away, because most of the lions quietly ran back past my tent and in to the thicket from where they came.

OH MY GOD! WHAT JUST HAPPENED? I finally get up and go back in to my bed. Aside from some more hippo screaming, nothing else happened - at least that's what I thought at the time.

Camille:

It was around 11:30 or so when the noises started up. I could hear a mess of whooping, giggling and lions roaring, and it was steadily getting louder. Based on the direction of the sounds I thought that something big was happening in our driveway, but I had no idea at the time that Meg was actually in the middle of the fight. Just from the ruckus, I was pretty sure that there were at least 10 hyenas involved, but other than that I was just listening and trying to guess what might be happening. I wasn't worried, since we usually hear things happening just outside camp and we've never had a problem before.

Within a few minutes, it sounded like all the animals were moving closer. I could hear them from roughly the area of the kitchen tent, and started to get a small feeling that maybe things weren't going to go so well. Next thing I knew, I heard a stampede of footsteps charging in my direction. There was a loud crash (which I found out in the morning was the storage tent) and I frantically grabbed for both my glasses and a flashlight. I keep my window uncovered, so I had just enough time to shine the light out my window and catch a glimpse of a big gray shape hurtling towards me. Hippo?! CRAP!!! I flung myself off of my bed and rolled underneath it. Then it felt like the world just came crashing down around me.

For just a few seconds I could hear things falling over, the tent ripping, a hippo screaming, hyenas whooping from all around me... it was chaos! I was in pitch black because I had smacked the flashlight getting under the bed and must have whacked something loose. Then all of a sudden the cacophony passed over me and everthing went crashing away through the trees behind my tent.

I stayed frozen for a while, terrified that they might come back and run over me a second time, but eventually groped around for the flashlight and gave it another smack to turn it on. Then I could only stare. My tent was turned upside down! My chest of drawers had been flung into the middle of the tent, my bookshelf was toppled over, the desk was balanced on two legs and was only upright because the tent canvas had fallen down around it and was anchoring it in place! Everything I had on top of the table or on the shelves had been flung clear across the tent from the impact.

At that point I tried to decide whether or not to get out and get help or at least move to another tent (since Andy's was unoccupied), but I could still hear the lions and hyenas snarling at each other just on the outskirts of camp, and since I wasn't hurt I decided to stay where I was. I also had no clue where my phone might be in all the mess. I yanked the mattress to the floor and eventually managed to get a few hours of sleep, though every sound had me bolting awake in case I needed to take cover again.

Piecing together the events the next morning, it looks like after the lions and hyenas left Meg's side of camp last night, the fight swept through the kitchen tent and then off in the direction of the storage tent. Somewhere between the two tents the stampede picked up a hippo, who was probably just peacefully grazing in camp like the hippos do every night. The terrified hippo got swept along in the chase, the lions and hyenas ran directly over the storage tent, and then I looked out the window and managed to spot the hippo on a collision course for my tent. The hippo ricocheted off of one edge of my tent, smashing the metal supports, and then lions and hyenas ran directly through the middle of my tent and the whole thing came down on top of me.

We took pictures of the damage once the sun came up, and I think it was actually more terrifying to see the damage from the outside. From inside the tent, things were happening so fast that there was mostly a feeling of shock rather than fear. Seeing everything in the daylight just makes you realize how close a call it was.

First, a rough map of their path through camp:


The Kitchen Tent:


The Storage Tent:


Close-up of lion prints on the top of the storage tent:


My (Camille's) Tent:


Door to my tent (I had to belly crawl to get out the next morning):


Lion claw marks (sliced straight through the top of my tent):


Inside my tent:


Marks of the fighting on the ground outside Meg's tent:


Broken support poles from my tent:



Despite the damage to the tents, no one in camp was injured and nothing is irreparably broken. We were really lucky. Here's hoping nothing like this happens again!

It's a bird... it's a plane... it's SUPERMOM!

Sometimes people find it hard to believe that hyenas make good mommies. A few nights ago, though, Meg and I had the privilege of witnessing a showdown that would make a believer out of any skeptic.

We were at the den of our Happy Zebra clan happily watching our hyenas when we noticed a family of elephants browsing about 200 meters away. We at first didn’t pay the elephants any attention but they kept moving closer and closer to the den, at which point I switched to keeping an eye on the elephants while Meg observed the hyenas. The elephants got to within 50 meters of the den when a fight broke out between one of the younger elephant females and the big matriarch with a young calf.

The fight seemed to rile the matriarch up, because once the other female backed down, the matriarch promptly charged at our hyenas, who at that point hd stopped what they were doing and were watching the elephants warily. The visible hyenas scattered in all directions away from the den (and trust me, we scattered with them; there's no way I want to be that close to an angry, trumpeting elephant).

Suddenly, one of our female hyenas, Ojibway, sprang out of the den. She had been completely hidden in the den hole so we hadn't even realized she was there, but Ojibway just happens to have a brand new 6-week old cub inside that den. Ojibway saw the elephants, and instead of running with the others, she planted her feet right by the den and stared the elephants down. There were six elephants total standing less than 10 meters away from her, but she refused to back down. Meg and I were terrified thinking that we were about to watch one of our hyenas get trampled into the ground, but the amazing thing was that the elephants turned away and just left her alone. Way to go Ojibway!



Other nominees for Hyena Mom of the Year are:

Marten!

Marten is a low-to-mid ranking mom in Serena South, currently raising her first ever cub. Marten is such a good mom that, despite her low rank, little Jean-Luc Picard has now caught up in size to the dominant female's cub, who is also about 2 months older!


Left C-Slit!

She just gets to be in the running for being Hagia Sofia's mom, the single most photogenic cub in the history of Fisi Camp.


Pike!

Pike is our teenage momma. We didn't expect her to have cubs for at least another 6-8 months, and lo and behold, she went and had two of them. She surprised us even more when she turned out to be a fantastic mom. Boomerang and Katana are about 7 months old and already two-thirds their mom's size! Pike is also fearless in defense of her kids; she actually once attacked Koi, the top female, when Koi was poking at her cubs.


Sauer!

Sauer is such an overprotective mom that she managed to hide her cubs from us for six or seven months! Then suddenly out she comes with her two huge fluffballs, Optimus Prime and Megatron! Way to be sneaky mama-Sau.


AWP!

Such a patient mom is our AWP. She's happy to just lie there while her little cub Velociraptor uses her for a jungle gym, and gnaws on her ears to boot!


Waffles!

Waffles is second from the bottom in rank in Serena North clan, and a first time mom to boot. Despite that, though, her babies Log Cabin and Hungry Jack always look fat, clean and fluffy. I watched once as several of the higher ranking females banded together to pick on Log Cabin. Good mama Waffles dove underneath the females noses, squealing and giggling up a storm, and shoved Log Cabin out of the way so that he could run for the den! Then, once he'd escaped into the den, Waffles threw her body down on top of the den hole and wouldn't move, despite that fact that the other females were standing over her and beating on her.



So cast your votes hyena-fans! Who should be named Hyena Mom of the Year? You decide!

Splish splash, I was taking a bath

The Serena hyenas are usually pretty fascinating, but lately it seems like they're being even more entertaining than usual. This morning was a perfect example. Meg and I had bumped into a few of our North hyenas (almost literally, as it happens, because we initially found them when they ran across the road in the pitch black at 5:50am, right in front of our car) and were following them around hoping for some excitement.

They eventually meandered over to a small watering hole, and suddenly two of our hyenas, Angie and Arrow, dove into the water. It was 6:30am, completely freezing, and apparently they figured this was a perfect time for a swim. Go figure. Anyway, while we didn't quite get the excitement we were looking for, we were still thoroughly amused.

The pictures are a little bit grainy due to the faint light, but here are just a few of the things I've learned hyenas like to do in the water:

Splashing.

Snorkeling.











Err... drowning each other?











The backstroke.











And, my personal favorite, pistols at 10 paces.







Our hyenas frolicked in the water for a good half hour, and it looked like they were enjoying every bit of it. I was actually getting jealous towards the end -- it's been getting ridiculously hot here in the middle of the day and I'd love to go for a swim.

So, Kay, can we talk about installing a pool at Serena? Pretty please?