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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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on Cheetahs vs. Hyena

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We had an amazing sighting a few years ago with Sandros. A cheetah has just made an Impala kill on the western boundary. It was lying to the side getting its breath back. The light was fading fast. It suddenly lifted its head. A hyena approached from the east. It rushed in and grabbed the Impala. The cheetah rushed at the hyena trying to defend the kill. It gave up and walked off slowly while the hyena started feeding.

James if there had been say 5 hyena’s would the situation have changed in that the Hyenas might have seen an advantage to killing the cheetah if they had it surrounded or would the outcome have been the same.

Cheetah are fascinating … beautiful, graceful, incredibly fast … but the timidest of the larger predators! And so cat-like the way they hiss and arch their backs! It seems that one will stand guard while it’s mate eats and vice versa but as soon as another predator arrives they reluctantly yield their kill to avoid a fight.

An interesting blog James. Funny, I had often wondered what happens to the big cats’ bodies when they die or are killed by another animal. Well I guess any animal for that matter. Hyena and other predators are the clean up crew. You never stop learning about nature – always something different. Thanks for sharing with us.

It is fascinating to watch the dynamics between hyenas and the big cats, especially when it pertains to food. Do wild dogs ever enter the picture in the hyenas’ quest for food? I know the former are hunters but since the latter are opportunistic, perhaps they try to steal away a bit.

Hyhena’s are so aggressive and dominate. I had to laugh when, after the stand-off, the hyena merely laid down on the spot and went to sleep!! Incredible! Nature never ceases to amaze.

Senior Digital Ranger

Good stuff

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