North Clan Update: Collars and Dens Galore!

 

Hello again from Serena camp!

 

Exciting things have been happening with all three of our clans since we last had a chance to update everyone here. Per Taylor’s recent post, we were able to find our North clan’s communal den (which isn’t the current space that they’re using now, as we’ll explain below). Since then, our team has been able to successfully dart and collar three of our study hyenas (with the generous assistance of KWS vet Michael Njoroge), locate all three of our clan’s dens, resurrect a hyena once thought to be missing, and add a multitude of new cubs to our clan’s ranks. Below we’ll give a run-down on the comings-and-goings in our North clan!

 

During our early observations of the den that we originally found in North without the aid of collars, ARIA (the granddaughter of SOUP) alarmed all of us by grabbing one of her young black cubs and loping speedily off to the West. Naturally, after existing for so long without dens located, we were extremely concerned that ARIA’s departure marked a shift of North clan’s communal den. This worry led to us to follow closely in pursuit of ARIA, off-roading at a safe distance, while being cautious of the steadily increasing grass length. Unfortunately, ARIA quickly lost us in the tall grass, and we decided to turn back due to dangerous off-roading conditions (as the land sloped down into a potentially watery lugga). At this point we remained optimistic, as although ARIA had left, SOUP (the matriarch) was still regularly frequenting what we believed to be the primary communal clan space. Without the safety net of GPS-tracking collars, the concern that we may lose the den was always nagging at the back of our minds. We resolved to keep a close eye on the situation in case any other moms seemed to be departing in a similar direction with cubs.

 

These concerns were quashed when, with Eli Strauss’s arrival in late July, our team was able to dart and collar ARIA, the very hyena that had concerned us with her abrupt departure. The initial GPS points that we received confirmed our suspicions, and we off-roaded (using VHF tracking), to ARIA’s picturesque den-site. It was quickly apparent that not only ARIA was using this space, as SOUP and other high-ranking moms began to bring their cubs to this location (located, unsurprisingly, to the West of our first den across the lugga that we avoided off-roading through). For a period, we monitored both spaces, splitting our time between the initial communal den that we found, and ARIA’s new space (affectionately coined “Collar Den”). However, in early September, we noticed that only lower-ranking moms were spending time at the first den, and that even they had begun to transition to Collar Den. As of mid-September, we determined that the initial den was vacant, and focused all our energy on observing Collar Den.

 

See above for a collection of GPS points on ARIA’s collar. We circled the original den that we found without tracking her in blue, and you can see the current, primary communal den that ARIA established in green. Each individual point is connected to the following point by a red line, which is helpful for giving us an idea of the clan’s territory/range.

 

 

See below for some pictures of the exciting outcomes of our observations of North clan’s communal dens over the past few months.

 

See above, GLOB (in front) and WALL (behind). WALL and GLOB are MUTT’s cubs, and they are named after American Newspapers (per MUTT’s lineage theme). GLOB’s full name is the Boston Globe and WALL’s full name is the Wallstreet Journal. We estimate that they were born in mid-February of this year, and both of them are male.

 

 

KETL (Kettle Foods) can be viewed above. KETL’s mother is HOHO, whose lineage is chip brands. We estimate that KETL was born in early May of this year, and he is male.

 

 

Above you can see two younger cubs who we believe to be ARIA’s cubs (with ARIA laying down on the left): CABG and DARL. ARIA’s lineage theme is “nicknames for boyfriends/girlfriends,” so CABG’s full name is “Little Cabbage”, and DARL’s full name is “Darling.” In this photo we estimate that they are around roughly 12 weeks old.

 

 

In addition to WALL, GLOB, KETL, DARL, and CABG, we have six more known cubs (mothered by POL, RMON, REMI, and ANA). That being said, we believe that there may be more black cubs that we have yet to assign to mothers!

 

 

 

THANK YOU FOR READING!

 

Hopefully we will be able to keep you posted as further developments occur. Keep an eye out for two more posts with information on our South and Happy Zebra clans!

Warmly,

Taylor and Brianna

 

P.S. Please don’t hesitate to comment with any questions you may have about any of the above content. We will try to keep a keen eye on the blog so as to respond to any inquiries.