Spotted Hyena-part 2

goooner

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As mentioned in part 1, we spent quite a bit of time with these guys in a small waterhole. The one lower ranked (probably a young male) sneaked around the hole looking for permission to join in.

#1 He seemed to be 'asking' for permission to join in

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#2 Sneaking around tentatively

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#3 before lying down with his head on a rock for-longingly looking at the pond

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#4 They had lots of fun with this stick-lol

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#5 Nice and close

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Excellent set! Like a mini documentary of hyena behavior.
 
gooner, this is a nice series of shots documenting these animals. This series demonstrates the "social" nature of these animals.

What a lot of folks don't realize is that they serve a very useful purpose in the African ecosystems. They are the "cleaners" in the sense that, while they will hunt most of their food on their own, they also clean up what is left by other predators, lions, leopards, etc. I had the good luck of actually seeing a brown hyena on my recent trip to Namibia.

WesternGuy
 
I never thought I would see a picture of Hyenas I would consider cute, but you have done just that in many of your shots. I like the ones showing a softer side of the pack vs the usual scavenger fighting for food pics. Nicely done.
 
gooner, this is a nice series of shots documenting these animals. This series demonstrates the "social" nature of these animals.

What a lot of folks don't realize is that they serve a very useful purpose in the African ecosystems. They are the "cleaners" in the sense that, while they will hunt most of their food on their own, they also clean up what is left by other predators, lions, leopards, etc. I had the good luck of actually seeing a brown hyena on my recent trip to Namibia.

WesternGuy
Their destructive pests from what I read. They keep and eat people.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
I spotted a hyena once. He was running for mayor.
Seriously, fine photos. Wolves and hyenas and the like have had a bad press. Mother nature knows what she is doing. Mankind is the cancer of the planet.
 
gooner, this is a nice series of shots documenting these animals. This series demonstrates the "social" nature of these animals.

What a lot of folks don't realize is that they serve a very useful purpose in the African ecosystems. They are the "cleaners" in the sense that, while they will hunt most of their food on their own, they also clean up what is left by other predators, lions, leopards, etc. I had the good luck of actually seeing a brown hyena on my recent trip to Namibia.

WesternGuy
Their destructive pests from what I read. They keep and eat people.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
"keep and eat people" - it would appear that you are reading different things than I am. Yes, they are known to prey on humans, but a lot of the"humans" that they consume are usually, already deceased. To quote from Wikipedia:
"Although attacks against living humans are rare, the spotted hyena readily feeds on human corpses. In the tradition of the Masai and the Hadza, corpses are left in the open for spotted hyenas to eat. A corpse rejected by hyenas is seen as having something wrong with it, and liable to cause social disgrace, therefore it is not uncommon for bodies to be covered in fat and blood from a slaughtered ox. In Ethiopia, hyenas were reported to feed extensively on the corpses of victims of the 1960 attempted coup and the Red Terror. Hyenas habituated to scavenging on human corpses may develop bold behaviours towards living people; hyena attacks on people in southern Sudan increased during the Second Sudanese Civil War, when human corpses were readily available to them. If you have a look at Section 9 in this URL - Spotted hyena - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , it will give you some additional information on their relationships to people.

Hope this helps.

WesternGuy
 
I liked how you captured their social side and love the one with the hyena's head on the rock.
 
Excellent set! Like a mini documentary of hyena behavior.
Thanky for looking.

gooner, this is a nice series of shots documenting these animals. This series demonstrates the "social" nature of these animals.

What a lot of folks don't realize is that they serve a very useful purpose in the African ecosystems. They are the "cleaners" in the sense that, while they will hunt most of their food on their own, they also clean up what is left by other predators, lions, leopards, etc. I had the good luck of actually seeing a brown hyena on my recent trip to Namibia.

WesternGuy

Thank you. I looked at your flickr account and saw the brown hyena, and wild dog pics. Loved them. If I'm not mistaken the brown hyena is a solitary animal though.

I never thought I would see a picture of Hyenas I would consider cute, but you have done just that in many of your shots. I like the ones showing a softer side of the pack vs the usual scavenger fighting for food pics. Nicely done.
Thank you.

I spotted a hyena once. He was running for mayor.
Seriously, fine photos. Wolves and hyenas and the like have had a bad press. Mother nature knows what she is doing. Mankind is the cancer of the planet.
lol. Thanks for looking, and commenting.

I liked how you captured their social side and love the one with the hyena's head on the rock.
Thank you.
 
gooner, this is a nice series of shots documenting these animals. This series demonstrates the "social" nature of these animals.

What a lot of folks don't realize is that they serve a very useful purpose in the African ecosystems. They are the "cleaners" in the sense that, while they will hunt most of their food on their own, they also clean up what is left by other predators, lions, leopards, etc. I had the good luck of actually seeing a brown hyena on my recent trip to Namibia.

WesternGuy
Their destructive pests from what I read. They keep and eat people.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Strange post. You have obviously no idea about these animals :ambivalence:
 
Wolves are very social animals, within the pack. I would by surprised if hyenas are much different.
 
gooner, this is a nice series of shots documenting these animals. This series demonstrates the "social" nature of these animals.

What a lot of folks don't realize is that they serve a very useful purpose in the African ecosystems. They are the "cleaners" in the sense that, while they will hunt most of their food on their own, they also clean up what is left by other predators, lions, leopards, etc. I had the good luck of actually seeing a brown hyena on my recent trip to Namibia.

WesternGuy
Their destructive pests from what I read. They keep and eat people.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Strange post. You have obviously no idea about these animals :ambivalence:

Your right, I don't. I live in Michigan. Quoted from National Geographic, "an increasingly overpopulated Africa, hyenas and humans come into frequent contact. In fact, the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania actually leave their dead to be consumed by hyenas. However, these intelligent and bold animals will raid food stores and crops and are blamed for many livestock and even some human deaths. In some areas they have been heavily hunted as destructive pests."

Those are gorgeous pictures and we rarely see such interesting captures. I was not trying to degrade the importance of the photo, just responded to something I read after the pictures sparked an interest. I found it fascinating they may be considered "destructive pests" and also found they are closer to the cat family that dog. I never would have looked them up if it were not for the photo's.
 
I was just curious about you statement in your posting that "they keep and eat people" and I must admit I didn't understand what you meant by keep. I am wondering if you meant kill?

I do know from discussions with natives on a couple of my visits to Africa, that they are often considered pests, but I think that this is sometimes a generalization that people make about predators, just as we in North America often make the same comment about coyotes and wolves, however, I don't think I have ever heard bears referred to as "pests", yet they are known to kill domestic animals. I think the point that some of us would make is that we do have to be careful in making such generalizations as often they are based upon only a few isolated incidents that tend to get blown out of all proportion to their relative importance and then get widely publicized through such pseudo-scientific organizations such as National Geographic. Granted not all their "work" is pseudo-scientific, it is just that it is often difficult to distinguish one from the other (good science vs. pseudo-science) in their writings, and, personally, unless I know the source, I tend to take such generalizations with a grain of salt. Then that is just me, as I tend to be a skeptic of such things that are often "publicized" without substantial evidence to support the associated claims.

WesternGuy
 
It's all good western guy. That was an android spell check slip. I appreciate your insight and I admire your insight.. Wonderful set and I smarter for it. Well done all the way around.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
Your right, I don't. I live in Michigan. Quoted from National Geographic, "an increasingly overpopulated Africa, hyenas and humans come into frequent contact. In fact, the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania actually leave their dead to be consumed by hyenas. However, these intelligent and bold animals will raid food stores and crops and are blamed for many livestock and even some human deaths. In some areas they have been heavily hunted as destructive pests."

Those are gorgeous pictures and we rarely see such interesting captures. I was not trying to degrade the importance of the photo, just responded to something I read after the pictures sparked an interest. I found it fascinating they may be considered "destructive pests" and also found they are closer to the cat family that dog. I never would have looked them up if it were not for the photo's.

Ok, thanks for looking, and I'm glad I culd spark some interest with my photos.
 

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