Part of the magic of living and working in the wild is the unexpected interactions between various animal species. After seeing vultures pouring out of the sky in the same area we suspect that there is a large carcass nearby.
Upon arriving at the scene we are entertained for ages by the interaction between a hyena and a massive wake of vultures as they all feast on a large kudu bull carcass. Unsure of how the kudu died, we suspect in a fight with another male for dominance and mating rights with females.
Enjoy this Virtual Safari…
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Amazing piece of footage Sean! Surprised the hyena (any idea which clan it might have been from?) wasn’t joined by any other clan members.
Thank you so much, Michael. I am not too sure which clan it was from, we were basically on the boundary between Sparta and Dudley, about 1.5km west from the boundary with Mala Mala.
Great intro music! Cleverly arranged Sean introduction to the storyline. Lots of small peeks into the technology!
Production just keeeps getting better!
Have no idea how this appeared as “Michel” Beni not “Vin” Beni. (And, actually, her name is “Michele.”
Hi Vin, we will look into this now and get it fixed.
Thank you so much, Vin. It was a great sighting and I had fun putting the story together afterwards.
Sean that was fantastic to see all the vultures feeding on the kudu carcass and to see the hyena try and defend his meal. In no time that carcass was cleaned up, yes they are forsure the scavenger of the bush.
They really did finish it off so quickly.
I’m sure that was thoroughly entertaining. Did I spy a marabou stork join the party at the end?
Yes, you did spy a Marabou making an appearance.
Phenomenal video this week Sean, and thank you for providing us with the collective nouns for describing vultures. I only had learned the “wake” of vultures. But what fascinated me the most was observing the single hyena, holding its own while feeding, in the sea of vultures. Where were the others? Adding to that, no lions or leopards arrived on the scene, which I found surprising. I had surmised when seeing so many vultures flying around a certain area, other predators would go running to see what’s on the ground. Compliments also on your opening segments to the Sunday videos. They really set the mood!
Thank you so much, Denise. I was also surprised that no other predators arrived on the scene. I was expecting something to come charging in.
Amazing videos of these vultures, Sean.
I respect vultures, they areas necessary for life in the bush and a healthy environment.
And it is good to know that Londolozi still has enough vultures arriving from all directions.
Great blog!
Thank you so much, Christa. There is a healthy population of vultures here which is amazing to see.
Sean, great video of the henna and the vultures .
Thank you so much, William.
Such interesting creatures are vultures. I’ve now seen what looks like chaos to be just hurried eating. With such a large carcass I was waiting for lions to roll in but apparently they were elsewhere! I learn something from every post. Thank you.
It is basically just hurried eating indeed, but because there is so many vultures involved it looks like sheer chaos.
That was AmaZing! I loved the shot of the vultures grabbing the thermals to get up high! Thanks again for sharing!
Thank you so much, Debra.
Fabulous footage Sean. I’m sure the hyena expended so much energy chasing the vultures away that he went off still feeling hungry 😆. Loved the drone footage at the end showing just how high the vultures soar in order to look for possible kills…and a great view of the bushveld below. Super !
Thank you so much, Cally.
That was actually very comical. If they Hyena just kept eating instead of chasing it would have been able to fill up faster, but this was far more interesting! Loved seeing the vultures – amazing creatures!
It was hilarious to watch the interaction between the hyena and the vultures. I think the hyena was just being greedy and did not want the vultures to feed until it was satisfied. But by chasing the vultures away it actually ended up allowing them to feed anyway.