season on Kenya camping safari you might be lucky to see more than this.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Interesting Game
season on Kenya camping safari you might be lucky to see more than this.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
The season has come!
Now there is plenty of food to lions,leopards,cheetahs
and others.You won't miss some dramas while on your
masai mara safari.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
How do you respond to an attack?
The thirsty zebras were interrupted when they sensed
that there is danger. Come and witness for yourself on
kenya budget safari how a herd of zebra respond to an
attacked member.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
'The coward one'......
In the traditional African society, the Hyena has been branded 'the coward one'.
This has
been due to the way of feeding of the hyena. Known as a scavenger, the hyena is
actually a great hunter and scavenging only makes 5%- 10% of their meals.
They
rarely leave any evidence especially because they devour everything. For
example they can make a kill in the night and the only sign will be light blood
stains.
In the
recent years the complexity of the hyenas has been revealed. Lots of time has
been dedicated to studying them. This article is about hyenas and their
survival tactics in the savannahs of Kenya. They range throughout
sub-Saharan Africa in savannah, arid areas,
and open woodlands. So far they aren't present at the coast.
There exist three species of hyenas in Africa. Two species are found in Kenya.
The most
common being the spotted hyena, crocuta crocuta.
They live
in groups called clans and the clan is under the leadership of the oldest
female, the alpha female. Interestingly, the females are dominant over the
males and are heavier than them. The females genitalia are very masculinized
which contributes to their being aggressive. Such sex dimorphism is not common
with other wildlife. This is due to the presence of higher level of
testosterone in the female's body than that of the males.
A
distinguishing feature with the hyenas is the 'haunch-back' and short hind
legs. They hold their head low when they walk. Usually the head has a rounded
skull and long ears. They have extremely strong jaws and a complex acidic
digestion system. This is one of the factors that give them a step ahead for
survival. They are capable of ingesting bones, horns, hooves and the tough
animal skins.
Only the
hair is not digested and this usually comes out in the form of bolus or locally
referred to 'hyena hair ball'. All this bone matter that they eat is what makes
the hyena feces chalk-white.
They hunt
in packs in a way that could be termed as ruthless as they do not have a
killing bite. They lack in hunting technique and most cases they run down their
victim to exhaustion. Usually they attack their prey and tear chunks before
their victim dies.
It is
interesting to know that lions steal lots of their kills. It is true that
hyenas do the final cleaning by chewing the bones and the skins left by others.
In some cases the hyenas have succeeded to steal from the lions but in most of
occurrences the reverse is more common.
The
reproduction and life cycle is not seasonal. The females do not however mate
with their members of the clan. They can take any other wandering male for
mating and discard him. Four months is the gestation period and usually give
birth to up to four cubs. These are usually black in color with some others
having small taint of black. A weird thing that happens with the cubs is
competition over who nurses first.
This in
most cases result in fighting for dominance. The looser usually starves to
death and this is only with the female cubs. Hyenas, unlike other wildlife take
very long to wean their cubs. It may take between 14-18 months. The female can
lactate up to 12 months with milk that is very high in protein percentage.(
14%). The cubs start following the mother to the point of kill when they reach
1 year.
They do
not bring back food to the den. They eat to their fill on the spot.
The female
cubs stay in the clan of their birth but males are kicked out when they reach
around 2 years. Apart from playing with the cubs the male has no role in
upbringing of the cubs.
One clan
can have between 20-100 members, all on the matriarchal system. All the members
are related. Each clan digs its own den which comprises of deep and long
tunnels to accommodate the clan. They mark their territory through anal sac
secretions. This is a paste that they use to define their boundary and is
deposited at the edge of their territory. That is their home-territory that
they protect and intruders are not welcome. They have a greeting system of
sniffing each others genitalia and also as a way of identification or
recognition within members of the same clan.
To the
untrained eye, it is difficult to differentiate between males and females. This
is because of the physical resemblance of the female's genitalia to that of the
male. But in any case they are female organs. The females are not hermaphrodite
as some have claimed at first sight.
Hyenas
have 'toilets' whereby all the members go to deposit their dung. This adds to
the boundary markings of their territory.
They
communicate in a number of ways: When about to attack the tail is held high,
when it is held forward over the back, it is a sign of excitement. And
when frightened they hold the tail tucked between the legs. When there is
presence of food, this is the time you hear the famous 'hyena laughter'
especially in the night. This laughter
is a call
to other clan members and can be heard up to 3 kilometers away.
It is
important to note that though hyenas portray cowardly behavior, they can be
extremely dangerous. They should be left alone, least intimidated and their
respect awarded to them.
Peter K. Philip
Natural Track Safaris
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
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