Here in Serena Camp, we
love all of the hyenas equally. Whether it’s a little cub who is gradually
learning its place in the dominance hierarchy, or a full-grown male who is
scared out of his mind while slowly approaching a female, every hyena we
observe contributes important data to this project. Nonetheless, there a couple
of hyenas that have gone above and beyond this month!
Happy Zebra Clan: Lizzo aka LZZO!
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| At only ~8 weeks old, LZZO is one of the newest additions to the Happy Zebra clan! |
Last week, we’ve had not
one, but two, film crews out here with our hyenas. We’re always happy to
accommodate these film crews because, let’s face it, our hyenas don’t
necessarily have the best reputation out there. The hyenas, on the other hand,
don’t always play along. Film crews usually approach us with their client’s
shot list (which is exactly what it sounds like: a list of all of the things
that the client wants to have video footage of). We usually refer to it as a
wish list: these shots range from very feasible (grass blowing in the wind), to
pretty manageable (two hyenas aggressing onto a third one), to “yeah, okay…
good luck with that one!” (a leopard approaching the communal den underneath
the full moon).
As most of these film crews have rather limited time frames to
get all of these shots, I often encourage the hyenas to participate. While the
film crew and I are driving towards the communal den, I will silently urge them
to have a fresh carcass waiting for us, and maybe they could also be fighting
over said carcass with two lions? And perhaps the neighboring hyena clan could
also show up to this carcass? Would that be too much to ask for? The answer?
Yes, absolutely.
The reality? We show up to the communal den, three moms are
sacked out, nursing their cubs. Two other cubs may be playing with each other.
Personally, I actually appreciate these slower den sessions, as I can enjoy the
little things that I may not notice when I’m busy transcribing all of the aggressions/appeasements/greets
happening during a busy session. One of my favorite behaviors that I’ve
witnessed so far went a little something like this: a young cub, standing next
to the den hole, lifts one of its hind legs to scratch an itch near its ear,
loses its balance, and falls straight into the den hole. Too cute!
Unfortunately, watching all of our hyena cubs sleeping against each other does
not make for very good television, so I continue to pray for a fresh carcass.
Enter LZZO! While everyone else has been sacked out during most of the filming
sessions, LZZO has been very eager to please the audience. LZZO has been
incredibly busy trying to play with all of the other cubs at the den (which
usually ignore it as they continue snoozing). LZZO even aggressed onto one of
the adult males who stopped by the communal den one night. Yes, that’s right,
with the dominance hierarchy in place, a little cub like LZZO can easily
aggress onto full-grown hyenas, and win. Hollywood, watch out: LZZO is truly a
shining star.
South Clan: Jojo McDodd aka JOJO!
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Originally known as "confusing cub," JOJO nursed from three (!) different mothers when we first met all of the new South cubs, leaving us thoroughly confused as to who its actual mother is.
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As you know by now, all
of our South cubs are technically MVPs at the moment. Because we didn’t know
the location of the communal den for South clan for quite some time, we are
currently in the process of habituating these cubs to us, our car, and our data
collection process. When we first found them back in July, all of the cubs
startled whenever we turned on the car, accidentally knocked our water bottles
against the dashboard, or coughed too loudly. Since then, however, their
curiosity has won: the cubs will walk right up to our car and investigate it as
soon as we drive up to their den.
Now that they’re comfortable with the car,
it’s officially time to introduce them to something much, much scarier: the
saliva stick. Saliva sticks are basically plastic tubes with a bit of rope
attached at the end that we can use to safely collect saliva samples from the
cubs.*** These samples are crucial back in the lab as they contain DNA! Getting
these samples, however, can be tougher than expected – hyenas hate things that
are above them, so holding these saliva sticks out of the car can be quite
scary for them. Nonetheless, this month’s true South MVP, JOJO, has been a very
eager participant. While the other cubs carefully investigated the saliva
stick, quickly backing away as soon as their noses accidentally touched the
stick, JOJO walked straight up and started chewing on the rope! Truly a hero we
don’t deserve.
North Clan: Aang aka AANG!
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Part of North's premier sibling power duo, AANG, along with her sister TARA (Katara), is officially old enough to no longer hang out at the communal den. Nonetheless, both of them somehow magically appear whenever there is food available at the den.
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I like to think that being confident is a good
thing. Unfortunately, every once in a while, I’m objectively, unequivocally,
100% dead wrong. Earlier this month, the Northies treated me to a carcass while
on solo obs. A lot of hyenas usually hang around fresh carcasses, so these
moments are always a great opportunity to see lots of cool behaviors. Even
better, I saw some of our cubs that are slowly becoming independent of the communal
den as I was driving closer to this carcass – very cool! The only problem? The
carcass was on the other side of a flooded track. “No problem, this is easy! I
can totally get there!”, I thought to myself while confidently shifting our
Cruiser into 4-wheel drive. WRONG!
Halfway across the track, my speed slowly,
but surely, reached 0kmh. If you’re not very experienced with mud driving,
that’s the one thing you don’t want to happen while driving through mud (okay,
maybe not the only thing, but it’s definitely up there on the list). Needless
to say, I did not make it to the carcass. In fact, I did not make it anywhere
for the next two hours while I waited for help to arrive. Luckily, I was not
stranded by myself! AANG, one of the older cubs in North clan, was wandering the territory by herself when she spotted me in the
distance. Rather than continuing on with her morning walk, she actually turned
and loped towards the car – very cute! She spent a good 20 minutes investigating
the car and keeping me company before resuming her morning routine. Truly an
adorable MVP.
***We use saliva sticks for scientific purposes only. Hyenas are wild animals, and it is important to remember that even these cute little cubs are predators with very sharp teeth. We do not condone any behaviors that put us or the hyenas at risk, and will always hide the saliva stick from tourists to prevent them from attempting similar things with the hyenas.
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