Hyena physical abnormalities

One of the fun parts about darting hyenas is getting to be up close and personal with them.  Actually having to lift their unconscious bodies gives me a whole new sense of how large of a predator the hyena is, and getting to touch the fur of one of the animals I have spent a whole year observing is a wonderful thing.

Hyenas are all unique in their darting experience.  Some drool more than others, some snore (adorably), and some decide that the best time to fart is when you are kneeling next to them taking their body measurements.  And just like humans, hyena bodies are also all distinctive.  Here are some of the more interesting physical abnormalities I’ve seen this year.

Molly Ringwald is missing a toe on her front left foot.

Clovis has an extra (nonfunctional) nipple.

Marten has an extra tooth behind her lower left PM3.

Research Glamour

Research is not always glamorous. This is a fact I learned recently when Talek Camp needed to send in their U.S. supplies requests. Cue storage tent inventory time.

You would not believe the number of things we need to run this research camp on a daily basis!
And many of these things reside in the storage tent.

Wilson stands proud and tall among our research material.

After emptying the entire tent and cataloging all the various items, we discovered an additional problem. Ant infestation. So, armed with cans of red (danger-color) DOOM (probably the equivalent to: “Spray that kills bugs and gives me cancer in 10 years”), we committed ant genocide.

Ashlei begins the killing process.

What have I done with these hands....

Doom-ed ants

But at least, the terrible parts of this job (the storage tent) are coupled with the amazing parts of this job (hyenas.)

For example:

The other day on obs, Ashlei and I were driving along Horseshoe Lugga when we happened upon a group of excited hyenas. Tails bristling, noses thrust against grass stalks, and the smell of paste in the air were all signs that indicated a border patrol was about to take place. I leaned forward in the driver’s seat, binoculars glued to my eyes as Ashlei took a deep swig of air before the tirade of observation notes began to flow from her mouth.

The beginning of a border patrol

Smell something good? 

Parcheesi and Ted using their noses

So the sniffing and pasting began.

Everyone else follows Ted and Parcheesi's lead

Hyenas typically begin to produce paste around 3 years of age, when they sexually mature, though some can produce some at earlier times (Theis et al 2008). This is also around the time when they begin to participate in territorial defense, like border patrols and clan wars. As you can see from these pictures, Trunks is a juvenile (as she doesn’t know what the heck is going on) and she’s a little over two years old. She seems to be trying to participate in the border patrol, but without much success.

Trunks looking clueless

Trunks finally trying to participate, although not effectively

This sort of olfactory communication can create cohesive bonds between adult female hyenas (Smith and Holekamp 2010). And it can also be effective in establishing territorial borders between clans (Smith and Holekamp 2010). Thus a border patrol is a perfect time for female bonding as well as getting business done (protecting the territory.)

More sniffing...

However, interestingly enough, female participation in border patrols seems to actually correspond more with protecting their potential food sources rather than direct offspring protection from infanticide by other clans or alien hyenas (Boydston et al 2001).

Parcheesi takes a short breather from her territory marking

In conclusion, these shenanigans were quite fun to watch. By the end of their crazed sniffing and wandering, I believe the hyenas were quite exhausted (as were we, so much data!) but we all left satisfied. For us, we watched some incredible interactions and ridiculousness displayed by an excited group of hyenas. For them, they sniffed a billion grass stalks and marked their territory. All in a days work!

References:

Boydston, E. E., Morelli, T. L. & Holekamp, K. E. (2001) Sex differences in territorial behavior exhibited by the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Ethology. 107:369-385.

Smith, J.E., Van Horn, R.C., Powning, K.S., Cole, A.R., Graham, K.E., Memenis, S.K., & Holekamp, K.E. (2010) Evolutionary forces favoring intragroup coalitions among spotted hyenas and other animals. Behavioral Ecology. 21: 284-303.

Theis, K. R., Heckla, A. L., Verge, J. R. & Holekamp, K. E. (2008) The ontogeny of pasting behavior in free-living spotted hyenas, Crocuta crocuta. In: J. L. Hurst, R.J. Beynon, S.C. Roberts & T. D. Wyatt (Eds.), Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 11. Springer, New York. 179-188.

Getting food and peacing out!

(Blog post from H. Couraud)
 
Carcass sessions are one of the toughest times to be a research assistant (the number and activity level of the hyenas make it just about impossible to catch everything), but also one of the most interesting. Aggressions play out and you see a lot of personality and individuality regarding how hyenas behave in this high-intensity social and feeding scene. 

A couple of the ways you see each hyena choose their own strategy is how they attain food (particularly if you're a low-ranker), and what they do when the activity has subsided. Here are just a few of the 'get food!' strategies and post-carcass session activities the hyenas will choose.

--Wait your turn. Because you know you have to anyways...

--Take what you can get. If you're an immigrant male, that more often than meat means organs, hooves, scraps, or horns. 

Monrovia sneaks off with a wildebeest stomach 13May14

 --Cache your scrap in water, to decrease the chance of another hyena smelling it, so you can come back later.

Kisumu, being sneaky

--Play tug-of-war with someone who is lower-ranking than you are....like a leopard.

AL472 fights to gain control of the carcass

--Come in for the scraps when the carcass has been deserted... (Typically this is very low-ranking females or immigrant males.)

Navajo, our oldest and lowest-ranking hyena, gnaws at the remains of a carcass

--...and fight off the vultures that are doing the same thing as you.

Navajo 18Mar14

 And then after you're all fed and satisfied, then what?

--Waddle away. (One little push and it could be a 'roll' away)

Adonis 04Mar14

--Take some time to yourself. In the shade. 

Snaggletooth 13May14

--Sack out, and hang that mental 'Do Not Disturb' sign.

Lucy Luciano sacked out near a pond 13May14

 --Nurse wounds incurred in the scramble of carcass sessions.

*All photos by H. Couraud, all all taken during or right after a carcass session we observed.

Time Flies

I have less than a week left in Kenya. My time here has been full of adventures I have learned more in this past year than I could have imagined. My friends have become my family and this experience is something that I will treasure. I have put together a list of some of my top memories during my time in Kenya. Each of these memories leave me with stories that I will be sure to tell my friends and family once I get home.

I hope you find these memories as intriguing and memorable as I do:

10. Hiking the Escarpment

First of all let me just say I am not a hiker. During my journey along the escarpment I had feelings of misery, enjoyment, and all. I was told that the hike would last around 45 minutes but to my surprise it transformed from a 45 minute hike to over 2 hours. While I am glad I made the journey I am not sure if I will agree to go on a hike in the future only time will tell I guess. I did however manage to smile during all the pictures; even during my bouts of misery.

9. Getting Stuck

We all have adventures driving out here in the territory. Everyone here has gotten stuck at least once. On this particular day I was driving with my co-RA Chase and her mom Virginia. We had been rained in camp for a couple days so we were all excited to go out and see our favorite hyenas. After a couple of days of rain you have to be very cautious in the territory, crossings that you would normally take become impassible. Unfortunately I was not cautious enough and ended up getting the car stuck in a crossing along Horseshoe Lugga. As we were digging out the car the other car on obs showed up (cue the shame). After some laughter and teasing by Benson and Matt they helped us get the car out. I also left that crossing with a face full of mud (tip: try not to stand near the wheel when pushing a car out of the mud or else you will end up with a nice bush mud facial).

8. Eland Time

I decided make my last trip through the Talek Gate memorable and what better way to do that than have a photo shoot with a young eland. We use the Talek Gate to get from Talek Town to the territory. I have always seen the rangers standing near the gate with an eland and promised myself I would get a picture with it before I left the Mara. I hope this eland had as much fun during this photo shoot as we had.

7. Move in Day

When I first arrived to the bush I was not sure what to expect. I knew that I would be sleeping in a tent and that I would have to say goodbye to the worlds of flushing toilets and refrigeration but I had no idea what else laid in store for me. I was happily surprised to see that even though we live in the bush we have lots of amenities. Each tent has both a bed and electricity. There is a tent filled with books so if you ever have any downtime you can pick up one for a good read. There also lots of hard drives in camp filled with movies and TV shows. During the rainy season we spent a lot of nights watching movies together. If you’re interested in working out there is also an area in camp known as the gym. Chase, Matt, and I have spent the last couple of days in the gym doing the Insanity workout. I hope Shaun T would be proud!

6. Cooking in the bush

I love making granola. Using the oven here was such an adventure. It runs on butane so there was a lot of guess work as to how long it would take to make something.

5. Elephant Orphanage

When in Nairobi its always nice to take a break from errands and explore the city. During one of our excursions Chase and I ended up at the Elephant Orphanage. While there you can see the keepers feed young elephants and even pet them! You can also adopt an elephant and visit it during hours that are closed to the public.

4. Lion Mating

Sometimes during obs we see other carnivores than our precious hyenas. One day while on obs in Fig Tree I lucked out and saw lions mating.

3. Hyena Mating

During my times here I got to see not one mating but three!! Two were hyena matings and one was the lion mating that I mentioned above. While in Fig Tree Benson and I got to witness Donatello and Santiago mate. The mating process lasted for a couple of hours. Santiago would continuously mount and dismount Donatello. The hyenas would also take breaks from mating to play around in the pond.

2. Balloon Flight

One my second to last morning in the Mara Chase, my co-RA, organized a balloon trip for me. We got to fly across the Mara in a hot air balloon and had a nice tasty breakfast that included champagne at the end of the flight. While in the air we saw one our Talek West hyenas loping across the territory.

1. Darting

Darting a hyena is such a nerve-wracking and strenuous process. My first darting was EWOK. He is a very beautiful sub-adult male in Fig Tree and he is also Hadley’s favorite Fig Tree hyena. The morning of the darting my nerves were at an all time high. The drive to Fig Tree is about and hour which gave me lots of time for my adrenaline to build up along with my nerves. Thankfully we spotted EWOK not too long after entering the territory. With help and guidance from Benson I shot EWOK successfully. Thanks Benson!!

My time in Kenya was full of memories and people that I will never forget. I hope to come back here and make more memories in the future.

SOUNDS OF KENYA: Helmeted Guineafowl

These magnificent birds are Helmeted Guineafowl, or as I like to call them: the Mara Chicken.  They run around the Mara in flocks of three to thirty, scratching around in poop looking for fresh bugs and grubs to eat.  They must be capable of flight, but I’ve never seen it.  I’ve seen hyenas cubs chase them around and jackals consider taking a bite out of them, but I’ve never actually seen them fall prey to anything.  They’re gloriously goofy-looking and they’re a riot to watch strutting around, chirping at each other.  They are shy and afraid of the cars though, so I was really happy to get close enough to get these recordings: