Aliens

The rain has decreased and we’ve finally gotten to go on obs and see the hyenas more regularly. South clan, the one I started studying first because it was supposed to be easy, has been going wild nearly every obs. Male hyenas typically leave their natal clans and emigrate to new clan as sub-adults and apparently South territory is really attractive. At least 9 alien males are present in the territory and we see 7 regularly interact with clan members. Three of these aliens, KNG, GOLI, and TBMN are males from Happy Zebra, and one, MOMO is from North.

We also see a new hyena there just about every other obs. RANG, an adult female with a mangled right ear who hasn’t been seen since November 2018, showed up to the den. Last obs we saw her nursing two teeny tiny black cubs. It is very exciting but also challenging, especially since all the hyenas like walk arriving to the den from every direction as soon as it gets dark. Then they all run around like mad. I keep my camera filming so I can get behaviors and ID’s for hyenas I don't know back in camp. While challenging, the chaos has been really good for my ID skills because I see each hyena multiple times each obs in a different situation and from different angles.

South is also really cool because there is a ton of game around the den and I got to see a hyena-zebra interaction. The zebra didn't appreciate the hyena approaching so it squared up. The hyena wisely changed course. We also saw my first Mara rhino there!

North and Happy Zebra have both been pretty sleepy lately, but the Northies make up for it by visiting us in camp at night and serenading us.

Besides the rhino we’ve seen some other cool things including a python and a spotted eagle-owl.