Kruger Jan 2014, a safari of wild dogs, ground hornbills and steenbok

[Big_Dog]

Wonderful shots of the tiny hyaena cub!
@@Marks - Great to see a fellow who has read Kruuk's excellent book! You're right, spotted mothers generally don't allow extra suckling. Brown hyaenas do though, as Gus Mills found in his respective Kalahari study.

[Marks]

@@Big_Dog Yeah, it's a great resource and also quite readable! Definitely earned a permanent place on my bookshelf. I have read Gus and Margie Mills' "Hyena Nights, Kalahari Days" but not their "Kalahari Hyenas," which I understand to be more a more scholarly book based on the same study period. Have you read that one by any chance?

 

@@Tdgraves I wasn't able to get your videos to play on my computer at work, so I'm just going through them now. They add a lot to your report. I love the jauntiness in the way the wild dogs trot.

[Big_Dog]

@@Mark - Highly agreed! I too have read Gus and Margie Mill's excellent 'Hyena nights', and indeed also Kalahari Hyenas. Very like Kruuk's book and just as good. Shows just how different the ecology of spotties can be with different enviroments in particular, as well as the wealth of brown info.
Hoped he may have published a similar book with his Kalahari cheetah study but sadly not...I guess the texts of Eaton and Caro will have to suffice for those spotted cats!

[twaffle]

Thoroughly enjoyable report and some great sightings. Love those dogs and hyaenas.

[Tdgraves]

@@Big_Dog Yeah, it's a great resource and also quite readable! Definitely earned a permanent place on my bookshelf. I have read Gus and Margie Mills' "Hyena Nights, Kalahari Days" but not their "Kalahari Hyenas," which I understand to be more a more scholarly book based on the same study period. Have you read that one by any chance?

 

@@Tdgraves I wasn't able to get your videos to play on my computer at work, so I'm just going through them now. They add a lot to your report. I love the jauntiness in the way the wild dogs trot.

 

@@Marks I love the way that they trot - they never seem to walk anywhere, always moving much faster

[TonyQ]

@@Tdgraves

I have just been catching up with the last section - very enjoyable

You can never have too many dogs - and I really like hyena

You have beautiful photos of them, adults, young, and in the rain.

 

(@Big_Dog @Marks thanks for the book references)

[Tdgraves]

Thanks @@TonyQ

[Tom Kellie]

~ @Tdgraves:

 

There was one sighting during the just completed Masai Mara and Nairobi National Park safari which baffled me.

There were three separate, consecutive encounters of an unfamiliar species, a female, another female, then a male. They were in fairly flat, grassy country, hiding on the ground.

After returning home to Beijing early this evening a tentative identification was made with The Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals.

Nevertheless, I felt uncertain of the provisional identification, not knowing my duikers from my xxx-boks.

I searched Safaritalk and found this exceptionally photographed trip report which I hadn't yet seen.

Your lovely image of Raphicerus campestris, Steenbok, verified that was indeed what I observed and photographed in Masai Mara on 3 May.

The only slight difference is that the three animals which I photographed had a much shorter black blaze on their nose, stretching above the nostrils, than the much longer blaze pictured above.

Many thanks to you for the image, the identification, and the trip report.

Without your clear photography, I'd have remained uncertain, as various search engine image searches aren't available here.

With Appreciation,

Tom K.

[Tdgraves]

thanks @@Tom Kellie

 

We went on several safaris before seeing a steenbok (and caused some consternation by asking our guide to find us one, rather than a clawed creature!!) but on this trip, they were literally everywhere!!

[Tom Kellie]

thanks @@Tom Kellie

 

We went on several safaris before seeing a steenbok (and caused some consternation by asking our guide to find us one, rather than a clawed creature!!) but on this trip, they were literally everywhere!!

 

~ @Tdgraves:

 

True confession: I'd never even heard of a steenbok before this safari.

No doubt it was lightly passed over in field guides and in trip reports. Somehow it never registered in my consciousness.

Now it's a highlight which I'd be de;ighted to someday encounter again.

The three that I observed in Masa Mara were reticent without being skittish.

Very charming behavior, when they nestled down in the tall grass.

It makes me smile to think of your guide's reaction to a request for steenbok sightings.

Tom K.