Cubs and their Lineages

To help us keep track of which hyenas are related to each other, when a hyena has her first litter of cubs, we assign her a lineage. All of her cubs are then named to fit the theme of the lineage. In order to officially assign a cub to a mom, we must see them nursing. Otherwise we are unable to tell for sure.

If we have a cub that we can repeatedly ID and they have not been seen nursing, we assign them a cub name, basically a nickname so that we can record that individuals specific behaviors. One of our hyenas, Burger, was seen nursing from two moms, and so she kept her cub name.

Here are some of my personal favorite lineages.

Clementine, who is a part of the "fruits" lineage:

Hail, who is a part of the "precipitation" lineage:

Dolohov, who is a part of the "Death Eaters" lineage:

Flame lily, who is a part of the "flowers" lineage:

Hola (on right) who is a part of the "Ways to say hello" lineage:

Pumba, who is a part of the "Disney Sidekicks" lineage: