Hyena mating

Last month, Camille and I were lucky enough to witness a hyena mating! This is a pretty rare experience as, normally, hyenas will seek out a secluded place and go at it privately. However, as you will see from the photos, in this instance it seems that AO (Agent Orange, female) and EUC (Euclid, male) prefer exhibitionism.

We had set out for a normal morning of obs in Happy Zebra clan, and arrived at the D (fancy abbreviation for 'den') just as the sun was rising. AO's cubs were hanging out, wandering and play romping as usual. Then we see AO; strolling by, ignoring her cubs, and leave walking (lofty science language for 'leaving the session in a walking manner'). EUC was following close behind her, but that's pretty normal for hyena males given their low ranking (males want to get close to females, but are too scared to actually approach, so they end up following them around really pathetically). What we did notice was that she was unusually tolerant of his behavior and close proximity to her. She only aggressed on him once if I remember correctly, but then continued to walk away, not minding that he was following close behind.

Since nothing too exciting was happening at the D, we decided to follow AO and EUC. They continued walking in this manner for about 25 minutes, and we continued following them. The only reason we continued was because EUC briefly mounted AO a couple times, so we were hoping to eventually see the real thing.  Then they both decided to poop. 'Cool, more samples!' I think. Camille gets out of the car to find and collect the poop and I keep an eye on the hyenas. After a couple minutes of unsuccessful poop-searching, I see through my binos that EUC has yet again mounted AO, but this time he's STAYING up! "Camille!! We have to go now!" I shout. "Wait, I think I can find it, hold on a sec" she answers. "No, no, you don't understand. They're really doing it! They're mating, forget the poop!" I say. I'm not sure if those were our actual words, but they are true to the effect of our exchange before we raced off in anticipation of some exciting action.

We get there and yippee, they're still in the "thrust" of the action, so to speak. In the style of the true professionals that we are, we positioned ourselves in the best possible angle, took photos, recorded videos (the project requires us to!), and giggled our behinds off. It lasted about 6 minutes. Here are just a few of the hundred photos that we took (click on them to see full-size) --

 

It's blurry, but EUC following AO as they were leaving the D.

The scene as we arrived. Clearly they weren't concerned about topi or zebra voyeurism.

Had to give you a close-up.

Who says you can't multitask? They're even alert to their surroundings while in the act.

All done. EUC spent some time sniffing in the area he had been standing.

Interestingly enough, afterward, they continued walking in the same direction together. EUC would lope a bit ahead, but then turn around and wait for slow-walking AO to catch up. We followed them doing this for a while but then had to leave to do prey transects. Every once in a while, EUC would chase some zebra or wildebeest but then quickly give up. I like to think that after we left, EUC took down a yummy zebra for AO in thanks for her kindness and willingness to give him the best 6 minutes of his life.

Requited Love

Previous bloggers have expressed great admiration for certain male hyenas that hold special places in their hearts. And while I can see where they're coming from, I must confess that I cannot agree with them. In my experience I find that love/hate relationships never work out. It takes a strong woman to move on from an unhealthy relationship to one that is requited and, therefore, fulfilling and worthy of the investment of her time.

Which is why my heart has been stolen away by Rough and Ready. He is an amazing specimen of all the qualities I could ask for in a male hyena.

He has the most amazing spots you can imagine and was even dubbed "Awesome Spot in our data collection until we deemed him worthy of an official name (Immigrant males have to earn their name by sticking around for a few obs sessions and proving to us they have integrated into the clan by their behavior towards the other hyenas.). His spots are so amazing that is easy to identify, even when completely caked in mud.

Which brings me to another point. He is NOT afraid to get a little dirty. He's a real man's man of a hyena, not a wussy boy who's afraid to get a little mud on his paws.

He showed up in Prozac territory acting like he owned the place, amicably hanging out with the other males, following the alpha female around, and sacking out in the center of the action without a care in the world. Not only that, but he has covered a lot of ground to get to where he is today. Jeff and Dave have confirmed that he is the same hyena that they had previously seen on the other side of the Mara and named Acme. He seems to have been trying out different territories to find the perfect fit (or he was looking for me!).

In contrast to some other males I know, he LOVES the car. You can't get close enough to bother him without consciously trying. He'll go about his business like you are a part or it, or as if he's glad you're there to witness and share it.

Ours is a love/love relationship and I couldn't be happier.

Displacement Behavior

In her recent post, Kay described how conflicted males feel when courting females and how they do what we call "approach-avoid" ("I want you...but I'm scared of you...but you're cute....but also dangerous..."). I once watched a male hyena approach-avoid a female for literally half an hour. He would take two steps toward her, then freak out and back up as if he had hit an invisible wall. Then a minute later, he would shuffle forward again, only to hit the wall and reverse. This went on and on. The best part? The female was facing the other way, sleeping, and had no idea it was even happening. My heart really went out to that guy.

One other way this conflict is expressed is through "displacement behavior," which is when a motivational conflict in an individual results in a behavior that is completely irrelevant to any of the potential goals. The best example I can think of is how when I was an undergrad and had a big exam coming up, I wanted to do well—that's one motivation—so I needed to study, but I also wanted to be rested—that's the other motivation—so I needed to sleep. What I would actually do was clean my room, which clearly accomplishes neither goal—classic displacement behavior. Curiously, now that I'm a grad student, my displacement-behavior-of-choice has morphed into baking. Whenever I have a bazillion papers to grade, for some reason I decide that that's the appropriate time to try a new recipe for peanut-butter fudge brownies.

Okay, tangent over, back to the hyenas and THEIR displacement behaviors. So when males are doing the approach-avoid thing, it's very common for them to stop and begin vigorously grooming themselves, particularly the forelegs. Recently, we watched as a male pursued a female who was in estrus for over an hour, trying to get up his courage to copulate with her. He would scurry up behind her and just when it looked like he would mount her, he would chicken out and begin grooming his forelegs. During the course of this saga, he stopped to groom his forelegs a whopping thirty-six times(!!) before finally successfully copulating with the female. I think by that point he had the cleanest feet in the Mara.