It's already Christmas? Yikes!

          Is Christmas really upon us? How is it possible that six months have whizzed by this fast? It seems as if it was just yesterday that Hadley and Eli were welcoming Ciara and I to Kenya with our first Nairobi errand running-camp supply gathering-vehicle repairing-trip. With half of my time gone by here in the Mara, it’s a struggle to wrap my head around this untimely reality whilst trying to convince myself I’m not in some kind of time warp. The omnipresent rain here in Talek these past few months has somewhat drained me of the over-festive and jolly spirit that is normally just oozing out of me throughout the holiday months. That said, life in camp has kept those spirits alive. 
          I’ve always placed a high priority on spending oodles of quality time with my family and friends, particularly during the holidays. In the absence of my loved ones back home, my Fisi (Swahili for hyena) Camp family is a more than welcomed substitute. The radio that we always have playing in the kitchen to deter the verminous vervet monkeys and boisterous baboons has blessed my ears with classic holiday tunes (with a bit more static) that I’m all too familiar with, but with Kenyan twists that have inspired my post this month. These covers of Christmas carols have made me ponder the meaning of Christmas and family, and not just to myself, but the guys in camp as well – how do they celebrate the holiday and what can I learn from them and their customs and traditions in comparison to what I’m used to back in Michigan?
          Joseph Kamaamia, a man who has become more than a great friend to me, but a fatherly figure that I look up to and admire for his positivity, work ethic, and sound moral compass, recently let me badger him with questions. Below, intertwined between some of my favorite photos I’ve taken throughout the first half of my year as a Research Assistant, you’ll find a sampling of quotes from Joseph. Through his unsolicited wisdom, generosity, and truly contagious optimism, Joseph has helped me feel at home while away from home during this Christmas season. May these photos and words from Joseph brighten your holidays and give you a glimpse into the Christmas thoughts of a genuinely wonderful man.

“To have my kids happy is to have me happy. I am a proud Dad.”

“My most memorable Christmas is the first visit I had with my Grandmom. I was 16. What made it special was that I had many friends of the same age who don’t get those chances, to see their family far away or at all, and so I was lucky. I knew I was lucky. I had never been to her home and it is a Christmas I will never forget. It was magic.”

 “I celebrate Christmas first because I am a Christian and also this is the day of Jesus Christ - a day to share together, to be together, to be one.”

 “As a child, I always wanted a new outfit – dreams of shiny new shoes, new trousers, a new shirt. To look nice, especially on Christmas, is important to me. Now, the most I wish for is the best for my kids. I wish for them to share and to be happy with what we have and for each other. Family is what matters most and Christmas is a time for family.”

“Now I am older and Christmas has changed a lot to me. When I was young it seemed cheap. I am happier now these days, now I know Christmas is for the kids, for my kids. Now it is about the connections and the community, to be moving and eating all day on Christmas with others around you. To be invited and welcomed by neighbors and sharing in food and smiles is the day of Christmas.”

“My best part of Christmas day is listening to my kids. Listening to them go on and on when I come home. What did I bring them? What can I tell them? What are they thinking? Luckily I have very honest kids.”

Happy Holidays from all of us Fisi Campers in Kenya! Wishing you safety and happiness as the New Year approaches. 

[ All Photos Property of Jared P. Grimmer ]

Playing it by ear

One of the biggest tasks any fresh-faced new RA has to learn is how to identify all our hyenas. With well over a hundred hyenas followed by each camp, that’s a lot of animals to learn. Our number one tool in the “who’s that hyena?” game is their unique spot patterns, but we do have another trick up our sleeves.

Here, Vail has his ears divided into sections, A-D. We would say Vail has a left B notch and a right C nick. 

Throughout the course of their lives, most hyenas pick up ear damage in fights with lions or other hyenas. Over the years we’ve invented a system of quantifying this ear damage for use in identification. We divide each ear into four sections, as illustrated above. Then, we can write down where and how each ear on a hyena is damaged and write it on all their identification photos. Since our hyenas are unfortunately fond of rolling in mud, laying in tall grass, sleeping in a pile of hyenas, or otherwise obscuring all their spots, ear damage can be a wonderfully useful tool.

Kneesocks is kindly displaying her very unique ears. 

Because RAs always need something to argue about, the words used to refer to certain ear damage are usually hotly debated. Is that a left C nick or a slice? Does JLP have a right B notch or a scoop? Is her ear flat or serrated? No matter the term, we can all agree that finding someone with new or unique ear damage is an event to be celebrated, especially if that hyena has fluffy, hard-to-ID fur.

It's easiest to see with binoculars, but Sparks (the black cub in the foreground) has a nice left D notch, which led to her cub nickname, LeftD ("Lefty"). 

We’re equally excited when cubs pick up ear damage very young. It often takes us a long time to be able to distinguish between siblings because hyena cubs are all black when they’re born. It may be several months before they develop their unique spots, and until that time we’re stuck referring to siblings as a unit (poor Noggin and Melon of North clan have been NOGN/MELN in our transcription notes since August). On rare occasions, however, youngsters will develop ear damage and we can use it to distinguish between littermates. On the first day we discovered Sparks and Ember of Happy Zebra clan, we noticed Sparks had a chunk missing from her left ear. Although they were tiny, black, and otherwise indistinguishable, Sparks and Ember have had the privilege of being two distinct hyenas in our notes ever since.

We always appreciate ear damage that's visible from a distance, like Istanbul's right ear scoop. 

So although spots will always be the most tried and true tool in the repertoire of an RA, every time we find a hyena sacked out in a mud puddle, or asleep deep in a den we salute ear damage. Here’s to making our lives just a bit easier!

Are you my mother?

There are no baby showers, gender reveal parties, or birth announcements when new hyenas enter our world. Instead, a hyena mom prefers a more private affair, seeking solitary refuge in a secluded natal den to deliver her cubs. Only when they’re about a month old will she move them to the communal den, the clan’s hangout spot, to begin interacting with other cubs and adults for the first time. In the case of our study clans, they’ll also interact with us humans for the first time. While there may not be much hoopla in the hyena world when they’re born, the Research Assistants certainly give shouts of joy when we find new little ones running around the den.

The first question we ask when we discover a new cub is, “who is the mother?” because knowing maternity provides a more complete picture of the cub and its future prospects. For instance, their rank, which is inherited from mom, tells us immediately if this cub will have ample access to resources, since high-rankers usually out-compete low-rankers for access to food. Furthermore, if the mother is inexperienced (i.e. this is her first cub), there’s a higher chance the cub won’t survive. An experienced mom is more likely to raise healthy cubs to adulthood. Once we do know the mother, we can name the cubs in their mother’s lineage (e.g. brands of syrup, pre-industrial weapons, dog breeds); all of her cubs will have names within this theme after her first litter. This naming scheme helps us to remember how the hyenas are related.

To determine maternity, we have to see nursing. While a female hyena will interact with other cubs, she will only willingly nurse her own child. Sounds simple right? Well, sometimes confirming maternity can be quick and easy, but more often than not, it can be quite a frustrating waiting game. Our North and South clans both recently welcomed some new members, and determining the mothers was a very different scenario across the two territories.

Recent rains coupled with the North den’s swampy location means that observation sessions in North have been sporadic at best. So when Spencer and Robyn managed to get to the den a while back and announced there were three new cubs, we figured confirming the moms would take a while. But the Northies threw us a bone this time when, after a few dry days, we were able to get to the den. Within ten minutes of arriving a young female, Anatolian, sacks out and starts nursing two of our mystery babies and shows us she’s a brand new mom! Almost immediately after that, Ink, an experienced mom, sacks out and nurses our remaining mystery cub. It was like we pushed the “That was easy!” button. So, we’re happy to announce the arrival of Anatolian’s cubs, Momo and Appa (her new lineage is Avatar: The Last Airbender characters), and Ink’s new baby, Hobbes.

Momo and Appa having fun with mom, Anatolian.

Meanwhile, South has been quite a different story. We discovered two cubs at the end of November, and because we could tell them apart, we gave them the cub names Winky and Dobby. These nicknames are given as a way to refer to the cubs, if we can tell them apart, before we know the mother. Until we know maternity, we have no way of knowing the correct lineage and cannot officially name them.

As for confirming maternity, the South females were not making our job any easier. Java, the matriarch, has been sitting in the den and acting like a nursing female for almost two months now. Rangsang, Firefly, Trumain, Rastapopulos, and Bellagio have all been seen multiple times, sticking their heads in the den, also acting like nursing females. We really had no good guess as to who the mothers were.

Then finally, after a few weeks of wondering, Trumain finally, finally nursed Winky! We’re still deciding on a dog breed name for the feisty little one. I personally like Newfoundland.

Winky nursing (yay!!!) and Dobby in the background. 

 As for Dobby...we still don’t know. We’ve seen him/her approach multiple females as if to nurse... and then runs away into the den. Very anticlimactic and frustrating. So I think it’ll be a few more observation sessions before we can solve this last motherhood mystery.

 As frustrating as they are sometimes, I don’t think I’ll ever get over the feeling of seeing a sweet, tiny face peering at us from the den hole. In a place as harsh as the African bush, new life is a precious thing.

Hello!

Hello to all you hyena-loving humans! I am glad you are here reading this blog, and I hope that you are learning a lot about my new favorite animal and the amazing place it inhabits.

My name is Robyn Strong and I am the newest research assistant for the MSU Mara Hyena Project. I arrived in Kenya on 3 November and have been living at Serena camp since 9 November, and I have had a great first month! But before I start on my experiences so far, I should probably tell you a bit about who I am and how I got here.

I graduated from Humboldt State University in May with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology. Of course, I went through five years of college and four different majors before getting to that wondrous day. I had a bit of trouble deciding what I wanted to do; I cycled through Anthropology, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and International Studies before finally realizing that I could have a legitimate career staring at animals all day. I declared my Zoology major officially, and three years later, I spend my days staring at animals doing arguably the greatest job ever.

For the past couple years, I have oriented my studies mostly toward sociality and animal behavior. Specifically I found myself interested in social carnivores; this interest led me to research the evolution of sociality in lions (the only truly social felid), which somehow led me to hyenas, which led me to Dr. Holekamp, which eventually led me here.

Come to find out, hyenas are incredible. Who knew, right? I, like most other people, was first introduced to hyenas through The Lion King, which got almost everything wrong. I loved the noble lions of Pride Rock, and disdained the lowly hyena lackeys. While I eventually realized that it was a Disney movie and therefore not an accurate portrayal of animal behavior, it never really occurred to me that hyenas had lives beyond lions until reading scientific papers that discussed hyena communication and social dynamics.

Hyenas live in a matriarchal society with strict dominance hierarchies, have the cognitive power to remember other clan members' ranks and identities, and they communicate via complex vocalizations and unique olfactory signatures. While watching them these past few weeks, I have seen hyenas aggress on each other, sack out in the middle of roads, nurse their young, curiously investigate novel objects, romp around excitedly, play with old topi horns, roll in the mud, glare balefully at any humans in the vicinity, and trot right up to our research cruiser to sniff the muddy tires. I have heard horrible squeals and long, drawn-out whoops, excited giggles and obsequious groans. These animals fascinate, amuse, and impress me.

There are no words to explain the emotion that wells up in me when I realize that I am here in the middle of all this life, observing and taking notes, contributing real data to real scientists. And not only do I get to see hyenas every day, I get to see all the inhabitants of the Maasai Mara. Lions and leopards and rhinos, oh my! It is truly amazing, and I am beyond grateful to be here. I am looking forward to a year full of animals and science, and am very excited to share some of that with you!

'Til next time!