Spiders vs Dragons vs Pirates... and Cock-a-doodle-doo

As some of you may recall, Sarah and I are working on a project looking at aggression between den cubs. In these experiments, we put a small amount of a yummy treat (read: some powdered milk or a raw egg) out for the cubs and watch them squabble over it. It's quite fun!

A milk trial in action.

  

My interest in this project lies in how juveniles learn their matrilineal ranks. Spotted hyena cubs almost always end up occupying the rank directly below their mothers. Despite the fact that the cubs will eventually find their places in the matrilineal rank hierarchy, it takes them some time to learn their appropriate ranks, and 'low-ranking' cubs can often enjoy a few months on top before being relegated to a subordinate lifestyle. In this project, I'm looking at how quickly different cubs learn their ranks and how the rank-learning process progresses. 

The lineup of Happy Zebra hyenas: Cock-a-doodle-doo is the
big one in the middle. Behind him are The Spiders,
The Dragons, and The Pirates.

So far, the Happy Zebra cubs have been obliging me with a dramatic den scene. The cubs currently at the den are (listed in order of highest matrilineal rank): Recluse and Daddy Long Legs (“The Spiders”), Puff and Smaug (“The Dragons”), Booty and Savvy (“The Pirates”) and Cock-a-doodle-doo.  Initially, it appeared as if the cubs all knew their ranks; The Spiders were very dominant and aggressive, and easily monopolized the milk powder. I was worried that I had already missed the rank-learning period!

Recluse and Daddy Long Legs sent all the other cubs

running during the initial milk trials.

Soon after, however, The Pirates achieved ‘alpha cub’ status at the den. One day, they were suddenly excluding everyone from the milk powder, and even The Spiders were bowing and scraping at the merest glance from Booty and Savvy. The Pirates had a nice long reign, but unfortunately for them, they are destined to be lower ranking than both The Spiders and The Dragons for most of their lives. 

Booty and Savvy showing Recluse who is boss.

In the most recent turn of events, The Spiders are once again dominant at the den, although it remains to be seen if this is the final change in ranks or if it is just another takeover on the way to alignment with the matrilineal ranks.

Back on top: Daddy Long Legs bite-shakes Booty in the

most recent rank change from the Happy Zebra den. 

(Narration by Heidi)

Personally, I am looking forward to seeing The Dragons come into their own, for thus far they have been the shyest of the cubs at the den. Soon they will have to put the strong willed and highly aggressive Pirates in their place.

The Dragons in play while Recluse looks on. The Pirates
are happily suckling away in the background.

But what about Cock-a-doodle-doo? Well, sadly, Cock-a-doodle-doo has quickly learned that he is the lowest ranking of all the den cubs, and his life already mirrors that of many other low ranking hyenas who have come before him. Here are some highlights of of the poor little guy's life at the Happy Zebra den. 

The life of Cock-a-doodle-doo and many other low-ranking 

hyenas that have come before him.

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!