How I got my ear damage!

We showed up at the North den a few days ago to find these two! This little black cub was climbing all over this adult. At first we thought the adult was TRex because of her ear damage. TRex is currently the only hyena in North with a right B slit which is very handy in id-ing her. However, TRex already has fluffy cubs with spots that are seven months old, and the sacked out adult’s behavior just did not match what we would expect from TRex (or any adult hyena who was not this cub’s mom). The adult was being so patient with the cub as the cub was throwing himself at the her, dive bombing her, and running all over her.

We have not seen this cub nurse from anybody, so we are not quite sure who its mom. But we think his mom is Ink. We have seen Ink at the den quite a few times since the little cub showed up. Sure enough, when this adult got up we could see it was Ink. She had new ear damage, her ear was still slightly bloody! I caught this little guy doing this to her!

He probably did not give her the new ear damage. I have seen quite a few cubs enjoy chewing on their mom’s ears and nothing ever happened, but you never know…!!!