Thursday, 6 June 2013

Finally a carcass session at South!

Oof breakfast did not sit too well with me yesterday, my lower intestines are still recovering from a few days ago. Slept it off, skipped lunch, and went out last night to south. The night of the 5th we spent over an hour driving around the north western part of north territory with the radio on full blast trying to pick up any sign of Zoe but got nothing. However the radios have not been very reliable these past few days, still work, but I guess there are times when something in the atmosphere just makes the reception sketchy. Maybe its related to the haziness?

Dave was supposed to be back last night with another grad student Julie (not Julia) and two undergrad students but the car’s engine exploded in Nairobi and they’ve had to rent a car, so hopefully they’ll be in tonight! Better shave my legs and try to look like a human ha ha. Though maybe I’m getting used to hairy legs, nice to feel the breeze.

Carcass session this morning at South so I finally got to see some hyenas. Spent a quiet morning at the den with no sign of any cubs. Thoughts start to wander as the sky gradually gets lighter and usually go something like this: topi. Ah..another topi. That’s a big rock, maybe an elephant. Yes.. moving must be an elephant. No just buffalo. Wonder what those birds are making a ruckus about…


Perspective is funny out here, once something is more than 100m away it’s hard to judge the size. Once the sun came up we started driving a loop and found a male hyena that Wes didn’t recognize looking quite fat with a bloody face. So we drove up the hill and found half the clan with the skin and ribs of something. Think I might be starting to recognize Clovis, the retired matriarch, Java, now confirmed as the new alpha, Cheez Whiz, Nali, and Sula. Java was controlling the session and her sub aggressed on Clovis’s sub which also indicated that Clovis has fallen in rank now while Slinky mostly stayed on the outskirts meaning we can definitely confirm that Slinky is not taking over the alpha position.  

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