Would it continue? Well I am sat writing this blog entry 79 days after Chanel made her first kill and since then the girls have been on what can only be described as a killing rampage! The total to date consists of: 5 Oryx, 2 Warthog, 3 Kudu, 4 Steenbok, 4 Duiker, 1 Scrub Hare, 3 Red Hartebeest and 29 Eland calves.
The girls have been followed every day and what we have seen and learned has been fascinating. Chanel has continued to be the group leader and main hunter. Whenever Chanel moves, the others follow, and when on the hunt she is the one who is focused on finding prey, she even stands up on termite mounds to get a better view of her surroundings.
Nestle and Toblerone have also made kills of their own, whilst Hershey helps bring the prey down but has yet to do the killing. However, she does have the very important role of the ‘can opener’ and is the first to open up the carcass, allowing the others to start eating. Chanel has yet to learn this skill and demonstrates how staying together has been a huge advantage for the girls with each having a role in surviving.
The fact they have stayed together is one of the extremely interesting outcomes of this project. It appears females who have lived together for many years in captivity will stay together if released into larger areas, completely going against what wild females would do. Whenever the girls do get separated for a little while (after a failed chase or walking through dense bush) they will start frantically calling for each other, especially Nestle who appears to be at the bottom of the hierarchy. This strong separation anxiety is something you usually only see in a close coalition of males or a mother and her cubs.
Throughout the past 86 days myself and Kate have taken turns being out in the bush and we have both loved being with the girls and seeing them live as wild cheetahs. My experiences in the bush have definitely been a major highlight of my two plus years here at CCF. One evening Ryan and myself were walking with the girls through the bush with the sun setting spectacularly over the African bush, it was a magical moment and one where I had to pinch myself to realise where I was and what I was doing.
Another highlight included running behind the girls who were in chase of a group of Warthogs, it was a frantic couple of minutes with cheetahs and warthogs running all around me. The cats ended up catching a piglet before having to drop it due to a ferocious charge by the piglet’s mother! Warthogs are tough opponents and the girls do not go after them that often. Also the sight of three cheetahs (the Chocs) chasing a group of Giraffe was another sight you don’t see every day. Chanel was being smart and chasing Eland instead!
When this project first got under way our biggest fear was that the cats would simply find a way through the game fence and venture onto our neighbours land with the possible scenario of them coming into contact with livestock…….NOT good. And if I had written this blog last week I would be telling you that we had had complete success with keeping the cats in. However, on Monday morning I was awoken at 6.20am by Ryan calling from the bush to inform me that Toblerone had escaped! We had always known that this was a possibility and had a emergency action plan in place for such an occurrence. So myself, Kate, James, vet Anais and vet tech Rosie were soon on our way to Bellebenno with a transport box, darting equipment and a horse leg. When we arrived we met up with the tracking team of Ryan and one of other student interns Aymeric. They had found Chanel, Hershey and Nestle calmly sat by the side of the road with Toblerone pacing up and down on the other side of the fence frantically calling to them trying to find a way back in. This was good news as we could go about tempting her back in the camp with the horse leg rather than having to dart her. We removed one of the swing gates and tried to tempt Toblerone to come through but despite being extremely interested in the leg she was too nervous to enter. James then cut the wire directly above the gate making the hole for her to enter much larger but despite my efforts waving the leg in front of her she still would not come back in.
We would not be outsmarted however and by tying the leg to some string we carried out a bit of cheetah 'fishing'. We stood further back and chucked the leg by the gate. Slowly but surely Toblerone inched forward in pursuit of the moving leg until she was fully through the fence. I then quickly ran behind her and blocked the exit and gave a huge sigh of relief. We then chucked the girls the horse leg and all four ran of into the bush with their prize. James fixed the fence and swing gate and the drama was over. It remains a bit of a mystery how she escaped as all the swing gates were in place and no obvious holes found. Hopefully, her uncomfortable experience being separated from the others will mean that however she did it, she won’t try it again!
So apart from this week’s drama the swing gates for these cats have worked, Hershey was even seen chasing a warthog that ran through one but she brought herself to a complete stop when the gate closed behind it and she didn’t try and follow. Many years in captivity in this instance appears to have limited the girls desire to investigate weakness' in the fence.
It has to be said that all members of the tracking team performed admirably, all except one……..Jetson. He let the good name of Land Rover down and despite having a few ‘quirks’ at the start of the project earning him some affection he soon underwent as series of consistent breakdowns and is now sat in the barn looking very sorry for himself.
Student interns Ryan and Aymeric deserve a huge pat on the back for their work and if you follow this link:
http://cheetahupdates.blogspot.com/2010/11/bellebenno-cheetahs-trackers-journal.html
you will be directed to the official CCF blog where the guys posted numerous updates about the release. However, I just can’t help but embarrass them a little (Aymeric is French after all). You see, on their first day of tracking unsupervised we got a call and had to go and rescue the pair as Aymeric had somehow managed to drive into the only hole on the Bellebenno roads, this picture speaks for itself:
So what now? Well I can’t go into too much detail just yet but the girls will hopefully have a new home in the very near future, a home of similar size to Bellebenno where they can continue to live life hunting for themselves. We can then place new cats into the camp and start the process again. I will of course post an update as soon as anything happens.
5 comments:
I am so proud of everyone, and most of all: the girls themselves of course :)
Do you think there'll be a point where one or more of the girls might meet a male suitor?
Good job Matt keep it up the good work
It is possible for wild males to pass through the camp but there has been no sign of one yet. It will be very interesting to see what happens when they get a new home and the chances are higher.
Do you think that the girls have stuck together (as well as for all the other reasons you've said) because so far there have been no males on the scene and that perhaps their relationship may change if a potential mate did turn up? Especially if any cubs were born. Also what do you think their chances are hunting solo, if this situation arose? I suppose much would be down to the nature and personality of individuals. Sorry for all the questions, I am just very interested :)
Apologies to the previous poster on this very late reply!
A male would very much have an effect on the group dynamic i think. Although so far I still don't think they have encountered one in Erindi. It is unlikely one will become pregnant and no one knows what would happen if one did. Would the pregnant individual leave the group or would the group stay together and help raise the cubs?
All four girls can take down prey on their own, the only one who we would worry being on her own is Chanel as she often relies on the other three to open the carcass, due to her poor teeth.
Post a Comment