Jambo from Taylor

 

Jambo!

My name is Taylor, and I am the new Research Assistant (R.A.) at Serena Camp. I recently graduated from the University of Vermont, where I studied Psychological Science and English. I have always been extremely passionate about animal behavior and spent much of my undergraduate career participating in various volunteer opportunities to get outside and interact with wildlife. I also had the opportunity to work in a veterinary clinic in Philadelphia for a year following my graduation, which only increased my love for animals. Outside of school and work, you can find me hiking, swimming, painting, sketching, and reading.

This is a picture of me in Vermont extracting teeth from a White-tailed deer carcass. I volunteered on this project during my undergraduate career at the University of Vermont. The biologist that was working at the deer check station with me taught me how to age deer from the rings on their teeth (similarly to how a tree is aged from the circles in its trunk).

Even though I’ve only just arrived in Kenya recently (July 2), I have already learned so many new things. There have been many opportunities for community outreach, and I particularly enjoyed our visit to the Mara Elephant Project (M.E.P.), where we put our heads together to chat about our mutual interest in and compassion for wildlife in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Memorably, we were taught to fly drones and got to see a bird’s eye view of various creatures in their natural environments.

Here we are learning how to fly drones at the Mara Elephant Project. The neon orange circle in the bottom of the photo is a landing platform for the drone. From left to right: Felix (M.E.P. drone pilot), Jana, me, Brianna, Maya, and Natalie.

Above is an aerial picture of a giraffe from the drone that we were learning how to fly at M.E.P.

This partnership led one of M.E.P.’s employees, Wilson, to visit us at Serena Camp, where we observed him flying a thermal drone to locate one of our clan’s dens. We quickly discovered that the best time frame to locate animals with the drone is early morning, as many of the heated rocks from the day’s sun looked remarkably like various prey animals. One early morning session with Wilson yielded promising results, and we went out in search of what we suspected may be our South Clan’s den. Unfortunately, upon inspecting the area further, it became clear that the hyenas we were witnessing were part of a neighboring clan that isn’t included in our study. Even though we didn’t locate the den with the drone right away, the excitement of a fresh lead kickstarted a new wave of enthusiasm in our search.

Above is a picture from the thermal drone that Wilson was flying over our South territory. The white color denotes heat, and the shapes that I have circled in red are what we suspected to be our study hyenas at their den (which turned out to be incorrect).

The morning after Wilson left, our team noticed several hyenas in our North territory coming from the same direction. With a surplus of people in camp, we have had the opportunity to split into two cars and cover more ground, and the morning observation crew from North territory (Eli, Natalie, and Brianna) informed my group of their encouraging findings. Later that night, Eli, Maya, and I went out to North territory to investigate the potential den lead, spending time listening attentively for any sign of den activity in the area that we suspected North clan hyenas to be coming from. Just as we were thinking about shifting our attention elsewhere, we heard what we believed to be a cub whoop! While unconfirmed, this gave us enough of a lead to shift the car closer to the whooping, where we heard a chorus of multiple hyenas whooping to each other. 

Unfortunately, it was too dark to safely navigate to where we heard the activity, and we decided to touch base with the team and scope out the area at a different time. The following morning, Jana, Maya, and I returned to the location with sufficient light to safely off-road and began to explore. Sure enough, it quickly became apparent that we had located the den! Before driving closer, we took a quick moment and silently celebrated our victory, composed ourselves, and then went in to meet North clan’s newest cubs!

Above is WALL (left) and GLOB (right). Based on their coloring, fur length, and size, our team has estimated that they are roughly around 5 months old. We can already tell that Wall is the dominant cub due to the preferred nursing position that he occupies, meaning that he nurses with his body closest to his mother’s stomach.

Above you can see MTV, a small black cub. Based on his dark coloring and the early emergence of his spot pattern, our team has estimated that he is around 10.5 weeks old. You can tell from the pointy tip of MTV’s phallus that he is a male.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work collaboratively to pinpoint one of our study’s dens. While it would’ve been thrilling to find a den using one of M.E.P.’s drones (which still is a possibility for our other two territories), there was something special about uncovering the first den I’ve seen here solely relying on the expertise, knowledge, and stellar communication skills of our research team. Even though it has only been a few days since our discovery, I have already had the chance to sit in on several different den session transcriptions. These learning opportunities are invaluable to absorbing the complexity of behaviors exhibited and getting to know all the individuals in the clan. I have much admiration and gratitude for the hard work of everyone here to find the home of our North clan.

More generally, I am incredibly thankful to be working here for a year and observing these beautiful animals with such an amazing group of people. From the very beginning, everyone has been so kind, compassionate and welcoming. Philomon, Moses, and Stephen, who work long-term in Serena camp, do an impeccable job upkeeping the study’s beautiful campsite, keeping us all safe in camp, and crafting up delicious meals! Brianna and Maya, who have been in Serena camp as R.A.s for a year now, are unendingly generous with sharing their expertise on anything and everything. Natalie, who is the new R.A. that will be working in Talek camp, is the perfect person to be learning everything with, and has already helped me with catching up to speed on training (as she came a month earlier). Jana, who is our R.A. trainer extraordinaire, is an endless source of information, and always willing to sit down and walk me through tricky concepts. Eli, who just recently arrived, has also been patient and thoughtful in teaching all he knows. Many thanks to all of you that I have mentioned, as well as the many others that I have learned from but haven’t named due to the increasing length of this blog post!

Hoping to update again soon – fingers crossed that we find our other two dens for Serena camp within the next few weeks or so!

Warmly,

Taylor

Brianna (left) and I (right) spelling out M.H.P. for Mara Hyena Project!

Jambo from Natalie!

 Jambo! My name is Natalie. I am so excited to be here in Kenya. In just the first few days I have experienced so much: from a busy day in Nairobi, straight to seeing baboons and zebras on the drive to the Mara, and so many more animals in the Triangle. On my fourth night, I was able to witness and take some pictures of the amazing sight of the South Clan hyenas taking over a hippo carcass being eaten by lions. The matriarch SNUG taking the largest share of hippo ribs, perhaps guarded by an ally and unchallenged for her hearty meal.

SNUG, the matriarch of South Clan, with a full belly, eating the remaining meat off the hippo ribs, and STAR standing behind her. 

In May, I graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder where I majored in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. There, I enjoyed studying a variety of species and subjects, especially animal behavior. I am excited to continue researching and learning about behavioral ecology and the complex social systems of spotted hyenas while here in the Maasai Mara!

A variety of behaviors are displayed by the group of South Clan hyenas gathered to take the leftover hippo carcass from the lions. Hyenas come together when mobbing lions, as it takes roughly 4 adult hyenas to chase off a lioness and 7 adult hyenas to chase off an adult male lion. 

My hobbies include hiking, painting, and learning new things – Most recently being hyena behaviors, crocheting, and Kiswahili. Thanks to guests staying at camp, Elise, Brian, Josie, and Zev, I have had some amazing opportunities since arriving to learn more about the amazing place where I will be staying for the next year and the people who live here. On Tuesday, we visited a traditional Maasai village, where we saw the boma and traditional houses, and were invited to join in on the women’s dance. There I learned a few phrases of Maa (the Maasai language), such as “orkonoi” which means hyena!

The women’s dance at the Maasai village outside of the triangle.

Afterwards, I tried some phrases out with the guys at camp, my favorite being “sidai oleng inada” meaning the food is good which is the only way to describe Philimon’s cooking. Philimon, Stephen, and Moses run the Serena orkonoi camp and have made me feel safe and at home as soon as I arrived. I am so excited to be part of the MSU Mara Hyena Project and to learn and experience much more during my time here! 

Jambo from Brianna

Hello!

My name is Brianna Zapata. I graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz this past June. I have lived in Kenya since August 1st. What an adventure it has been! Getting to know the individual hyenas has brought such a sense of wonder into my life, leading me to have more questions about their behaviors and how it correlates to human behaviors. 

My hobbies include reading, rock climbing, and anything to do with nature. Four days before embarking to Kenya I finished traveling across Costa Rica into Panama via bicycle. These past six months have taught me, even more so, the intrinsic value of nature. I plan to head into my future with this at my core. 

There is no doubt how important the Mara Hyena Project is; long-term continual data collection can facilitate scientific inquiry to better understand ourselves and other animals. My predecessors have written papers supporting this claim! Our mammalian counterparts hold primal instincts that we humans have lost; this project will shed light on these in the navigation of our future. 

This time in Kenya is incredibly important to me. From attempting to learn Swahili to what to do with my life as a recent grad has taught me discipline and patience. Life in camp is made wonderful with the help of Philomon, Moses, and Stephen, ensuring the cleanliness of camp, morning chai, delicious food to sustain us, and all the responsibility that comes with managing a camp in the bush. They have helped ease the feelings of homesickness, especially around the holiday season. Granted, The Mara Triangle is the furthest landscape imaginable from Los Angeles, and I am happy to be here. 

                                                                 Hike at the Ngiro outpost.

Taking it day by day these next six months to get the most out of my time here! 

Till next time, 

Brianna Zapata

Jambo from Maya

Greetings from Fisi camp! My name is Maya and I’m one of the newest research assistants for the Mara Hyena Project. 

It’s been wonderful to be here and experience the Mara. During our daily observational sessions, we drive to each clan’s territory to find the hyenas and observe their behaviors. During these sessions we record hyena behaviors and the presence of any charming mongooses, or other predators, that we see along the way. It has also been great to get to know the guys here at Serena camp: Philimon Naiguran, Moses Naiguran, Stephen Kimoine, and David Nchoko. They’ve been guiding us through the Mara, camp life, and the world of hyenas.

Our campsite is situated in the middle of The Triangle and we share living space with elephants, hippos, buffalos, lions, hyenas, warthogs and little dwarf mongooses to name just some of our neighbors. It’s clear that many of the animals feel safe around us. For that reason we rarely leave our tents at night. We can often hear elephants eating or hippos munching outside our tents. I think my mother would absolutely freak out if she was here, but none of us have been hurt by our wild neighbors.

This year I graduated from UC Davis where I majored in Ecology, Evolution & Biodiversity. While there, I enjoyed studying everything from how termites divide their workload to the variation in how white-crowned sparrows communicate with each other. I arrived with my co-RA’s Brianna and Ben in August - just about the height of the Great Migration! Jana trained us for a couple of weeks and since then I have been fascinated by everything hyena - from their morphology to their unique social structure. It has been tough to remember all the unique spot patterns we use to identify our study hyenas, but we are sharpening our skills each day.

Jambo from Kayla Fowler!

 

Jambo! My name is Kayla Fowler, and I’m here to tell you a little bit about the time I spent this past semester with the Mara Hyena Project.

I always knew I wanted to work with animals. Living in Chicago meant frequent trips to Brookfield Zoo, and I would spend the entire day just watching the animals do what they do (sorry Mom and Dad – I know you probably didn’t want to spend an hour watching the zebras!). I grew to love and appreciate the animals, especially large mammals, and it became my dream to see these incredible species in the wild. In high school, I wanted to become more involved with Brookfield Zoo, so I joined their King Conservation Science Scholars program. Through the program, I was able to participate in some pretty amazing opportunities, including a week-long field research experience with the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program in Sarasota, Florida. That trip sparked my passion for animal behavior research, and as high school was drawing to a close, I directed my college search toward universities where I could continue to explore that passion. And that’s how I ended up at Michigan State!

At MSU, I am majoring in Zoology with a concentration in Animal Behavior and Neurobiology, with additional minors in both Documentary Production and Spanish. My goal is to one day combine everything I’ve learned to produce nature documentaries and other conservation-focused educational materials in a variety of languages. I started working with Dr. Kay Holekamp (you know who she is...) in January 2022, helping her compile data from research papers on the density and feeding ecology of spotted hyenas across Africa, and editing chapters of a book she is writing. I was so interested by what I was learning and wanted to get more involved in the animal behavior analysis, so I reached out asking how I could get more involved. (To be clear – I was envisioning myself reviewing videos of hyena behavior and helping analyze that data.). She took me completely by surprise and responded with an offer to spend my spring semester at the Mara Hyena Project’s field lab in Kenya. I was ecstatic! As only a sophomore, it was an absolute (and unexpected) dream come true. 

I spent four months at the Project’s Serena Camp with Jana Woerner (who many of you already know from previous blog posts), and I can confidently say that the experience changed my life. Waking up every morning and being surrounded by such an incredible diversity of untouched nature and wildlife was a gift, and the work was so fun to be a part of (...although I could have done without mashing up stinky fecal samples. Yuck!). I worked with Jana to do the regular behavioral observations that the Project is responsible for year-round, and was also lucky enough to help with a special collaring project (which you can read about in the previous post) with the hyenas in South Clan.

Beyond that, I was able to take a couple of different brief trips to see other parts of Kenya, and was just stunned by the beauty everywhere I went. I’ve included some of my favorite moments from the experience below – I already miss it and can’t wait to go back! For now, I’ve returned to the States and will continue my studies at Michigan State in the fall. I will be continuing to work virtually with the Mara Hyena Project and hope to be back in Kenya sometime very soon. 

At the risk of sounding like a long-winded Oscars speech, I’d like to thank a few people before I end this post:

First, Dr. Kay Holekamp – thank you. Thank you for offering me this once-in-a-lifetime experience, and for trusting me, supporting me, and encouraging me to follow my dreams. Thank you for being such a role model in the field of conservation and research, and for paving the way for students like me to follow in your footsteps. You are an inspiration. It has been such an honor to work with you, and I’m looking forward to what next year brings.

Jana Woerner – what can I say? You were the best research mentor and field buddy I could have asked for. Thank you for putting up with my ridiculous excitement at seeing all the animals (I promise, you’ll never have to stop for another impala for me again) and for being so supportive of my passions for photography and film (I know you didn’t want to spend 10 minutes with lions or a random elephant, but thanks for sticking it out). Thank you for all the uncontrollable laughs, your guidance and advice, and being such a good friend. I’m not sure what I would have done without you!

Thanks especially to Dr. Eli Strauss, Dr. Andy Gersick, and Dr. Frants Havmand Jensen, for all your insights into field research, conservation, and academia – I learned so much from you all during your time in camp and I look forward to continue working with all of you! Whenever I think of our hilarious conversations at dinner or the unfortunate situations we got ourselves into (like fishing a hyena collar out of a den), it always makes me smile.

Thank you to everyone who made me feel so at home during my time in Kenya. It can be isolating to live in a remote research camp, so I deeply appreciated the time we got to spend with these individuals and more. Thank you to Brian and Sue Heath, for graciously hosting us for dinners and taking us out on game drives; to Benson Pion and Junior Pion, for always cracking me up at the drop-offs and being such great friends and co-workers; to our guys – Philimon, Moses, and Stephen – for everything you do for us and Serena Camp (I’ll always remember the special birthday cake you made for me – you guys are the best!); to the Talek staff – Joseph, Samwell, and Chief – for always being so kind; to Warden Alfred Bett, Rakita, and Benson Ketere, for giving us some incredible sightings (including my first leopard, my first cheetah, and Risasi and her cubs); to Aruasa David, for the laughs and fun times over dinner and drinks; to Jake Wall (Mara Elephant Project) and his family – Christina, Willow, and Wolf – for being so kind and welcoming, and for being so receptive to my interest in MEP’s research; to Shachar Gelbart, for his hospitality and giving us such cool experiences with the balloon safaris; to Lenaipa Daniel Losieku, Robert Lemaiyan, and our ranger for making my time at Sarara Camp in Samburu so unforgettable; and especially to the groups that we had the pleasure of talking to throughout my time in Kenya – your interest in the Mara Hyena Project was so appreciated and we loved answering your questions!

Signing off for now – nitarudi tena! (I will come back again).

Tiny Kayla was always so happy to see the zebras at Brookfield Zoo!

One of my all-time favorite moments – darting KNIN (South Clan) to remove her collar. I was so excited!

LORI, a South Clan cub, having a photoshoot moment.

The sunsets in the Maasai Mara are just so beautiful!

The sunsets in the Maasai Mara are just so beautiful! We were so lucky to see a newborn Thomson’s gazelle as it took its first steps.

Lots of cubs at the Happy Zebra den!

Lots of cubs at the Happy Zebra den! We were able to see Risasi and her cubs during a controlled burn, which made for a stunning backdrop.

Welcome to Mara Hyena Project's South Clan!

The Mara Hyena Project was established by Dr. Kay Holekamp in 1988 and has been studying the South Clan since 2008. We have two research camps in the Maasai Mara – one based in the Main Reserve, near Talek Town, and one based in the Triangle, near Serena Lodge. We are broadly interested in the ecology, behavior, and evolution of spotted hyenas. Right now, we are working on a large-scale research project to understand how communication drives coordination and decision-making in spotted hyena societies. To do so, we are collaring all hyenas 18 months or older in a single clan – the South Clan. These collars will record the GPS locations, activity levels, and vocalizations for every hyena in the clan for over one month. 

SNUG running away with a baby thomson's gazelle she stole from a lower ranker.

Spotted hyenas live in complex fission-fusion groups with stable dominance hierarchies. The fission-fusion dynamics of hyena society allow individuals to avoid competition at carcasses without sacrificing the benefits of group defense against neighboring hyenas and other competitors. We want to see how their vocalizations function to recruit clan-mates for group hunts and defense against lions and neighboring hyena clans.

Most collars will have unique color codes on the right side of the collar for easy identification of each individual. If you are in the Triangle and spot one of our collared hyenas, please leave us a comment below. You can also connect with us on Facebook (Mara Hyena Project), Instagram (@marahyenaproject), and Twitter (@MaraHyenas). This blog post will be updated regularly as we collar more individuals – we will include the name, color code, and some fun facts about each individual so you can get to know our South Clan 😊

A closer look at the color codes - these are read from top to bottom and there are four possible colors (blue, green, red, and white). This code is red, green, blue and belongs to MPRS.

Although these hyena names may seem random to you, we do have a system! Each female hyena gets a theme (lineage) after which her offspring are all named. Adult males that immigrate into a clan are named after cities. Lastly, these names are abbreviated into 3-4 letter codes that we use in our data collection. For example, Waffles, a mom in our North Clan, is abbreviated as WAFL and all of her cubs are named after syrups. If you think you’ve cracked the code for some of our South Clan lineages, leave a comment!

Update from December 2022: We officially collard our 25th and final hyena, GYRO, at the beginning of the month. The research team is taking the rest of the year off to spend the holidays with their friends and families, restock on field supplies, and watch a World Cup game or two in Nairobi. We will be back in the field in time for January 1st, when our collars start recording all hyenas around the clock and the real fun begins!

Meet The Hyenas

Silver Nugget – SNUG

SNUG is the matriarch of South Clan. With the help of her sisters, she rose to the top of the dominance hierarchy when the old matriarch died in 2018. She successfully raised her daughters ISSA and MPRS to adulthood and currently has two cubs at the communal den.

Issidae – ISSA

ISSA is the 2-year-old daughter of the matriarch, SNUG. We suspect that she is currently pregnant for the first time and will hopefully give birth in November or December. Though female hyenas are sexually mature at 24 months, most don’t have their first litter until they are 3+ years old. However, high-ranking hyenas like ISSA are generally on the “fast track” to adulthood – they grow faster, wean earlier, and have their first litter sooner. 

Update from December: ISSA still has not given birth, so our prediction may have been wrong. Nonetheless, we are checking her GPS points frequently to see if she is on a natal den.

Empress Cicada – MPRS

MPRS is the 4-year-old daughter of the matriarch, SNUG, and the older sister of ISSA. She was “second-in-command” to SNUG but is slowly being pushed down the dominance hierarchy as SNUG has more offspring. Hyenas follow what we call a “youngest ascendancy” rule – new cubs inherit the dominance rank immediately below that of their mother, making them higher ranking than their older siblings. MPRS currently has two cubs at the communal den. 

Update from December: MPRS gave birth to a new litter of cubs at the end of November and GPS data indicates that she spends most of her time at her natal den - this den is hidden inside a thicket, so we have not seen the new cubs yet.

Stardust – STAR

STAR is a 10-year-old female who, strangely, has never given birth to any cubs even though she went through puberty at around 2 years of age. We’re not sure why STAR is infertile, but hopefully the blood samples we collected will shed some light on her situation. She is the older sister of the matriarch, SNUG. STAR and SNUG spend a lot of time together, and I suspect that their close alliance allowed SNUG to win the matriarchy over ROUG, their younger sister who was higher-ranking than either of them.

Palazzo – PALA

PALA is a 12-year-old female who managed to raise both SAMI and JOJO successfully to adulthood. She is the older sister of SNUG and STAR, but she is currently experiencing a decline in rank. We’re not quite sure what happened, but PALA was badly beaten up by her younger sisters and their offspring in both June and October of this year. Her two current cubs still spend a lot of time with their clan-mates, though PALA herself seems to avoid them at the moment. 

Update from December: PALA is recovering nicely from her injuries and is starting to spend more time in the vicinity of her clan-mates.

Jojo McDodd – JOJO

JOJO is the 3-year-old daughter of PALA. JOJO was the subordinate cub in her litter but was able to flourish when lions sadly killed her dominant sibling. Hyenas usually give birth to 1-2 cubs at a time. Immediately after birth, the two cubs fight over who becomes dominant. The dominant cub generally grows faster and fares better than the submissive cub, especially if the mother is low-ranking. JOJO is currently at a natal den, raising her first litter of cubs. 

Update from December: JOJO unfortunately lost her first litter of cubs, though this is pretty common for first-time moms. Generally, hyenas are pregnant again within a month or two after losing a litter.

Sam I Am – SAMI

SAMI is the 5-year-old daughter of PALA and the older sister of JOJO. She is currently raising her second litter at the den, a single cub named TOD. However, she likes to keep her distance from the main action. As a mid-ranker, this behavior seems to be more typical: one of the lab’s former PhD students found that mid-ranking hyenas actually have smaller social networks (friends/alliances) than low- and high-ranking hyenas.

Bellagio – BLG

At 14 years old, BLG is the oldest member of South Clan! Though she is the older sister of the matriarch, the “youngest ascendancy” rule has pushed her down the dominance hierarchy into a mid- to low-ranking position. She is currently raising her 8th litter of cubs, a single cub named WINX. Nonetheless, her linage remains relatively small as she has only raised her daughter, BSCT, and her son, PHRH, to adulthood successfully.

Seabiscuit – BSCT

BSCT is a 9-year-old female and currently has one cub that is becoming independent of the den. After a brief period at the natal den, spotted hyenas bring their cubs to a communal den. Each communal den functions as a social “hot spot” for the clan and allow the cubs to meet the other clan members. Once the cubs are 8-12 months old, they start to explore the territory and venture farther away from the den until they no longer reside there at all. We call this process “den graduation.” 

Update from December: BSCT's cub went missing at the end of October. She gave birth to a new litter at the end of November, so she was already pregnant while her cub was still alive. Higher ranking hyenas can usually sustain a pregnancy while also nursing the previous litter, though mid rankers like BSCT may have a harder time doing both. 

Gyro – GYRO

GYRO is a 2.5-year-old female subadult and belongs to BSCT. Like RACH, she grew up during the pandemic when our monitoring efforts were drastically reduced. Nonetheless, we regularly see her wandering around the territory alone, or interacting with others over a tasty wildebeest carcass. As a mid-ranker, she likely won’t give birth to her first litter for another year or so, but we expect to see her more often at the communal den once her mother, BSCT, brings her latest litter from her current natal den to the communal den.

Lamborghini – LMBO

LMBO is a 6-year-old female that has not been able to raise any cubs to adulthood successfully. She is the granddaughter of former matriarch CLOV, but lost her high rank when SNUG and company took over. As a lower-ranking hyena, LMBO spends more of her time at the edge and outside of the clan’s territory. In fact, the GPS data we’ve received so far indicates that lower rankers tend to hang out in the northern part of the territory, whereas higher rankers prefer the southern part. 

Rachel Carson – RACH

RACH is a subadult male who grew up during the pandemic. His mother has been missing since last year, so his only remaining kin is his cousin, DETH. RACH is almost 3 years old; he will likely leave South Clan soon to find a new clan. Right before dispersal, subadult males tend to distance themselves from the other natal animals – we generally see them hanging out with immigrant males, other subadults who may be dispersing soon, or by themselves along the edge of the territory.

Death Star – DETH

DETH is a 9-year-old female and the granddaughter of the former matriarch, JAVA. She was pushed from the top of the hierarchy to the bottom third when SNUG and her sisters took over after JAVA’s death. Generally, a matriarch’s youngest adult daughters will fight over the matriarchy when she dies, but both Happy Zebra and South Clan experienced drastic hierarchy shifts after the deaths of their most recent matriarchs. Since losing her high rank, DETH has not been able to raise any of her litters to adulthood successfully.

Honor Harrington – HONR

HONR is an 8-year-old female that is relatively low-ranking. She had her first litter when she was 5 years old (recall that the high-ranking ISSA may already be pregnant at 2). HONR is currently at a natal den, though we have not seen her new cubs yet. Spotted hyenas give birth in a secluded den (natal den), where they keep their cubs for 2-4 weeks before bringing them to the communal den. 

Update from December: HONR moved her cubs to the communal den for a couple of weeks, before ultimately moving them to her sister's natal den. 

Capellini – CAPE

CAPE is a 2-year-old male subadult and a master of disguise. In the Mara Triangle, we rarely see den-graduated cubs and subadults during our regular observation sessions. Many earlier blog posts have alluded to this, but the tall grass, wallows, and rocks all provide perfect cover for the hyenas to hide from us (or, more likely, lions). And if you thought that having VHF tracking on these collars would make things easier, think again! The other night, I drove by CAPE three times before I finally found him sleeping in the shade of a massive boulder. 

Jean-Luc Picard – JLP

JLP is a 12-year-old adult female in the lowest-ranking matriline of the clan, and the mother of KNIN and MCKY. She is currently at her natal den, nursing ACE, the newest addition to South Clan. Like most low-ranking hyenas, JLP is one of our more elusive individuals and spends most of her time away from the more gregarious high rankers. In fact, we nearly gave up on darting her until the GPS points from HONR, JLP’s sister, led us right to her natal den. Phew! 

Mickey Smith – MCKY

At 23 months old, MCKY is the youngest hyena to wear one of our collars. She is currently at the tail-end of the most dangerous life stage for hyenas: the time between den graduation and adulthood. During this time, young hyenas often venture out on their own, or with their littermate if they have one, and encounter all types of troubles… namely lions, but also the risk of starvation as their slow skull development puts them at a huge disadvantage while feeding. However, the odds of survival increase dramatically when a hyena turns 2 years old, so we have our fingers crossed for MCKY!

K9 – KNIN

KNIN is our lowest-ranking female in the clan. Life’s not easy at the bottom of the hierarchy, but she seems to manage just fine! She is currently raising her second litter of cubs at the communal den and usually has a full belly when we see her. Maybe she’s a talented hunter? Time (and our collar data) will tell! We did find one surprise while collaring her: she is missing one of the toe pads on her hind right paw. We didn’t see any scars, so she was likely born this way.

KNIN's foot with the missing "toe."

Texas Slim – SLIM

SLIM is a 9-year-old immigrant male who stems from North Clan. He joined South Clan in December 2015, making him the highest-ranking adult male in South. Unlike natal animals, immigrant males follow a “queueing” system for their dominance rank: when a male joins a new clan, he usually becomes the lowest ranking hyena in the entire clan. To rise in rank, he must wait for the immigrant males who have been around for longer than him to die or move on by dispersing again to a different clan.

Strummer – STRM

STRM migrated from North Clan to South Clan in 2016, making him one of our long-term males in South. Research shows that spotted hyena males undergo an “endurance rivalry”, meaning that they generally must stay in their new clan for at least 2 years before siring their first cub. This is not always an easy feat as the lowest-ranking members of the clan, but STRM seems to have made close alliances with STAR, one of our females, and SLIM, another long-term immigrant.

Bakersfield – BAKR

BAKR is one of the immigrant males in South Clan. We are not sure which clan is his natal clan (where he was born), but we’re sure glad he chose South as his new home! Although female spotted hyenas stay in their natal clan for their entire lives, males usually disperse when they are sexually mature to find mates. This is an important aspect of hyena ecology that prevents inbreeding. 

Silver Spring – SLVR

SLVR is an adult male who immigrated into South Clan at the end of 2019. Immediately after collaring SLVR, he decided to go on a “vacation” to Tanzania. Our GPS data indicate that KNIN, a lower-ranking adult female, also went to Tanzania for a few days, and several other hyenas have gone on excursions outside of South territory in the past couple of weeks. These hyenas are likely trying to find food as the migration has officially moved back to Tanzania, leaving South territory with relatively few prey animals. 

Momo – MOMO

MOMO is a 7-year-old immigrant male originally from our North Clan. MOMO’s mother is a high ranker in North Clan, so MOMO enjoyed the “sweet life” before emigrating. However, once males immigrate into a new clan, they behave submissively to all hyenas they encounter, which makes them automatically lower ranking than all natal clan animals. MOMO seems to have adjusted well to the drastic decline in rank: we found very few scratch/bite marks on his body, and research shows that males who were higher-ranking in their natal clan often have an easier time when immigrating into a new clan.

Lexington – LEXI 

LEXI immigrated into South Clan at the beginning of 2020, which seemed to be a hectic time for the clan. During the span of 2 weeks, we saw 9 new aliens in the territory, 8 of which officially joined the clan. Unfortunately, all researchers had to leave the field around this time because the pandemic, so we’re still not sure what caused this immigrant boom.

Goliath Bird-Eating Spider – GOLI

GOLI is a 6-year-old immigrant male who was born in the Happy Zebra Clan. He joined South Clan in January 2020 and is currently the lowest-ranking hyena in the entire clan. GOLI has been in the clan long enough (2+ years) to sire his first cub, based on some recent work from our lab on endurance rivalry. In fact, we saw him courting MPRS just a few days ago. Unfortunately, MPRS was too busy nursing her two current cubs to pay him any attention, but we wish him all the best during these trying times! Female hyenas have a fully erectile clitoris making coercive sex impossible, and females are higher ranking than all immigrant males, so they can choose which males to mate with, and which males to fight off.