About the Author

James Tyrrell

Alumni

James had hardly touched a camera when he came to Londolozi, but his writing skills that complemented his Honours degree in Zoology meant that he was quickly snapped up by the Londolozi blog team. An environment rich in photographers helped him develop the ...

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21 Comments

on The Week in Pictures #388

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Master Tracker

Two very similar and good photos in the young impala ram and the wild dog , both showing the importance of eye contact

The pictures are really beautiful this week. Love all the wild dogs.

James, A cool Mongoose and Wild dog picture at the end nailed it this week. Good stuff

Very nice photos you are getting! Waterbuck are hard to capture, but your shot was excellent! And I particularly loved the rhino ‘working his midden’! Terrific TWIP!

Thanks Darlene!

Is it the open views that attracts game to the airstrip … the ability to see what might be headed their way? Seems like s tough area for predators to hunt in.

100% right!

Wonderful pictures! Interesting caveat on wild dogs predating hyaena cubs too, have not seen this formally reported. Has it been witnessed on Londolozi?

Hi William,
I haven’t seen it myself but I remember it happening on Singita next door; I think in 2015 if my memory serves me correctly. I’ll try find out some more detail for you.
Best regards

Senior Digital Ranger

I was curious about the how’s and why’s a wild dog would “disperse” from it’s pack? Since they have probably the closest knit social structure in the animal kingdom, even feeding and caring for their sick and elderly, I was surprised to hear of one ever being alone. I cannot find an answer to this anywhere. I would love to know why if you could share this?

Hi Johanna,
See my answer to Doug, asking the same question…

Best regards

Senior Digital Ranger

Thank you!

Interesting comment on the wild dog on the airstrip. Can individual wild dogs decide to go find another pack?

Hi Doug,
As I understand it, Wild Dogs do disperse from their natal packs from time to time, most likely in an attempt to maintain a healthy gene pool.
From what I’ve read, different areas have recorded different sex-skewed departures, with more females being recorded leaving in some parts of Africa and more males dispersing in others. I imagine it is due to a combination of current sex ratios within a pack (ie. if there were 9 females and one male, it makes more sense for females to leave) and social status (the alpha pair breeds, so a low-ranking dog might deem it more beneficial to leave and maybe get accepted into a pack in which there was a greater chance of breeding).
They are fascinating animals and worth reading up on!

Check out this link: https://www.bpctrust.org/blog/the-walk-of-life-african-wild-dog-dispersal-and-what-it-means-for-management-and-conservation

Best regards

Very nice pictures James! Looks like you’ve playing with your 600mm quite actively this week, almost all your pics are at full range… I love those close-ups, we really feel next to the animals (of course not litteraly like your curious wild dog at the end of the blog)

Hi Sylvain,
Haha if only it was mine! It’s such an amazing lens; it compresses the image nicely and can give a wonderful bokeh.
Yip, that dog at the end practically sniffed our tyres!

James wonderful photos, loved the one with the rhino

Wow James,

You’ve managed to capture some wonderful images this week, and it appears most of them were taken with a new lens?! The “Mickey Mouse “ wild dog photo at the end made me smile, wondering what he was thinking…… looking forward to your next installment- there’s no limit to subject matter available to you!

James, you are rocking it with the 1 DX II. We are getting very jealous! The close up of the inquisitive wild dog is a classic!

I love the phot0s of the impalas and the wild dogs!!!

And there is amazing light in that rhino photo!!

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