Hyena kill!

Saw my first hunt and kill last night and it was incredible! We left just hoping to get a Target trial in, where Julie sets out her model hyena and measures the reaction of another hyena. We were thinking of driving some tracks and hitting the burned area around 6. So I decided to take SST and follow the tracks that spit us out right across from the burned area. Started off on the track that leads to south1 transect and had to cut across some grass to get over to the SST track. Once safely on SST it was very quiet, not even an antelope! We hit an intersection that I wasn’t sure about, but thought maybe it led up to the den while straight would take us where we wanted. However soon after passing the track to the right it started to get really soggy. We had about 6mm of rain the evening before and this area is often still soggy even when everything is dry. After making it through one soggy patch we hit another and I didn’t want to push my luck so I decided to try the track that I was hoping was the back way into the den. Luckily it was so I wasn’t too lost and we hit the main road just a little past 6.

The game plan changed quick when we had a hyena come loping past us fast, cross the road in a blink and continue on. Hoping to get an ID shot and see where he was heading in a rush I turned off-road and revved up to 25kmp to follow him. Lucky for me this area was very flat with short grass and no rocks so we went FLYING across the plain. He kept up the pace and then we saw another hyena loping in the same direction on the opposite hill. And then two more appeared from other directions. Now it was getting exciting! With at least 6 hyenas visible all heading towards one spot we hurried along until it started getting rocky. Forced to go down into one we meandered around a little bit until the rocks disappeared, however now the grass was long obstructing visibility. Luckily (notice how many luckily’s there are in this post?) the GPS indicated that something called Sneaky crossing was about 200m northwest of us. A crossing meant that someone had driven over here before and that that was a good way across the lugga that separated us from the opposite hill where most of our lopers were. So I made my way over to Sneaky X and it was rather soggy but didn’t have any ruts or visible obstructions, so I backed up, put the car in 4 and revved across it safely. 

Now we could see a massive herd of buffalo at the top of this hill and at least ten hyenas had a group of maybe 7 adults and 2 calves separted off from the rest of the herd. We got as close as we dared (the buffalo were riled up) and started filming. A hunt in process! A group that fluctuated between 3 and 5 hyenas were testing this small group and chasing some of the adults. We couldn’t tell at the time but it seemed liked they had already targeted a calf and possibly injured it before/when we arrived. Its mother was trying to defend it but it disappeared from sight in the tall grass several times and we kept confusing it with the uninjured calf. After watching the hyenas spar with the adult buffalo for maybe ten twenty minutes suddenly the hyenas all converged slightly lower down hill on the calf which was as far as we could tell dead immediately. The adult buffalo and remaining  calf moved off back towards the main herd. Almost instantly the seven hyenas on the calf were drenched in blood. Two subs were trying to get in there but we repeatedly aggressed on while males and low rankings hung out around the periphery waiting for scraps. The grass was not too bad and we had a good view. I was only able to ID Saw, Pike, NatG, and Muon in the craziness but I was sure Boom, Arb, and Erem were there as well and I did ID arb later on. Eventually the subs split the carcass and there were more furious growls and bristle tails and biting aggressions. 

A massive thunderstorm was building behind us and all the hyenas were on edge, trying to eat as much as possible before any other predators could show up and take the kill. The storm was very orange and brown looking at one point and you could see lightning flashing in the distance. The buffalo herd disappeared into the fading light while the hyenas got redder and their bellies became bloated. Eventually the rain started splattering down and the hyenas were alarm rumbling mixed in with the thunder. Likely some of the alarm rumbles were false alarms so that the subs/low rankers could steal a bite. Within an hour the carcass was reduced to just a few spread out pieces that various animals were munching on. Probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen, the bright red of the blood was stunning and stark and the air of energy and excitement was palpable. Darkness and rain forced us to leave and by then almost everything had been devoured. This was a night to remember. Most RAs and grad students have only seen one hunt or kill and we were lucky to get to see most of the process minus the actual death of the calf.