Saturday, January 18, 2014

The drama continues in Serena North

This morning it was really rainy and wet. When I arrived at the den there were no hyenas visible and I wondered if it was even worth it to go out. I decided, after sitting for 45min at an empty den waiting for some action, that I would just do a quick loop by the river and see if anyone was down there.

When I got down to the river road I found Tinsel, Hurricane and Oakridge with a topi carcass. A few minutes after I arrived, Sherman (who I thought was the new matriarch) loped up to the carcass and chased everyone else off. I hung around with Sherman for a little while until continuing on down the road. About 300m away I found Waffles, LogCabin and Torani (the royal family that had fallen in rank, we thought). Waffles and LogCabin were acting very excited and were bristle tail parallel walking while Torani loped around after them. They were headed towards the carcass so I decided to turn around and follow them. I arrived back at the carcass just as Waffles and her two kids were arriving. Instantly, I knew LogCabin and Waffles meant business. LogCabin didn't waste anytime before approaching the carcass and bite shaking Sherman. Waffles is a little bit more benevolent than her daughter so she let LogCabin do most of the roughing up.


After LogCabin and Waffles chased Sherman I had to take a long detour to follow them (it was too wet to just drive straight after them). When I arrived, Waffles was standing eating the carcass with LogCabin and Torani. Sherman was out of sight. It was so exciting to finally see a face off between Sherman and Waffles. I don't know if this actually means that Waffles is still the Serena North matriarch or it just means that things are still really unstable but Waffles isn't giving up her throne easily. If Sherman gets her daughter and her two granddaughters together Waffles and LogCabin may not be able to keep up for long.

As I was driving away from all the excitement I saw some hyenas on the other side of the river. These weren't any hyenas that we study but I sat and watched them check out a crocodile while hippos look on anyway. This morning once again reminded me how absolutely amazing hyenas are and that I must have one of the coolest jobs around.


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5 comments:

  1. deeJanuary 19, 2014 at 5:06 AM

    It's hard to know who to pin my hopes on. I saw Sherm recover from a cobra bite (awesome) and Waff was voted Mom of the Year a while back. They are both formidable hyenas. Thanks for a great post and please keep us up to date on the happenings in the clan.

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  2. NoraJanuary 20, 2014 at 3:08 AM

    Thanks for the update! Fantastic that you caught that all on video. Also, love the hyena vs. croc pic!

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  3. JuliaJanuary 21, 2014 at 5:18 AM

    Personal opinion is that this all would have gone down differently if the mighty Hook, Sherman's daughter, were there! Maybe they are really going to break all the rules and SHE'll come out as the alpha ;)

    I'm glad to hear that Hurricane is still around. He was such a fun cub to watch.

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  4. EmilyThomasJanuary 23, 2014 at 9:11 AM

    I agree that if 'the mighty Hook' were there things would have been very different!

    My gut says root for Waffles because I felt so bad for her when I thought she was ousted, but I do really love Sherman and her family (I had no idea she survived a cobra bite, wow!). Sherman's two granddaughters are two of my favorite hyenas in Serena North.

    I can't wait to see what happens next with these guys!

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  5. Lily J-UJanuary 25, 2014 at 9:52 AM

    Whoa! LogC really kicked Sherman's butt!!!! Sorry I missed that. LogC's not giving up too easy, hopefully Butter and Jemi are both butt-kicking girls and not too soft like Waffles (which is why we love Waffles of course).

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