It started with two lions I have had on my mind a fair amount. One of them in particular, a male I’d last seen looking like he’d come off second best in a fight we still can’t fully explain.
We headed out early to find him, and what we found was a surprise in the best possible way.
What followed that morning, while we were still sitting with those lions, was a moment I hadn’t managed to get out until now. We heard impala alarm-calling in the distance. I left the lions, linked up with two trackers, Ray and Lide, and followed the signs. What we found will mean a lot to those of you who have been following the channel for a while.
The rest of the week unfolded with everything from a leopard quietly getting back to normal after a difficult chapter, to a hammerkop in a shrinking puddle going about its day, to news from a wild dog pack that genuinely caught me off guard, something I have never heard about before let alone seen with my own eyes.
I’ll let you watch the episode to see what that might mean going forward.
It’s an episode that holds a lot in it. I won’t pretend otherwise. But it’s also an honest reflection of what a week out here actually looks like, the wins and the losses sitting next to each other, often closer than we realise.
Press play. Come along for the ride.
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Born 2021, daughter of Nkoveni. Young dynamo actively claiming territory near camps, showing promise as next generation's dominant female.
Forced into early independence at 11 months. Despite her small size, she's proven resilient, currently raising a cub in SE Londolozi.
Well Sean, although this episode began with a bittersweet sighting, albeit your last of Three Rivers, it became one of interest and curiosities. I have only seen Hammerkops along the causeway or sometimes up in a tree overlooking water, but never in or near a pan. I was rather impressed by the initiative displayed by this particular Hammerkop to stand in this pan and literally picking up his tasty morsels of tadpole, one after another. It would be interesting to learn if you observe this behavior at another pan in a different location. But most surprising was you seeing five pregnant Wild Dogs in the same pack – how does this even happen?! Could 2 or 3 of these females have come from a different pack than the Toulon? Perhaps they became pregnant and the Alpha and Beta females chased them away and they became part of this pack – sounds crazy, but then so does 5 pregnant females in one pack. If all give birth around the same time, that will be madness and I doubt the eight males and new mothers will be able to catch enough prey to allow all those pups to survive. I do hope they will stay around, secure a den, and this story will continue to unfold – it would be one for the records!
Thank you Denise. The Hammerkop was a small joy of my week, and I am sure that they must be doing it all over.
On the wild dogs — all five females are from the same pack and broke away together. Catching enough prey to feed all these hungry mouths is going to be a challenge for sure.
Thank you Sean for my Sunday treat!
That’s amazing news about the 5 pregnant wild dogs. As they’re such a rare predator in Africa, would there be any records elsewhere of this happening?
Does Xinkhova still have her 1 remaining cub as far as you’re aware?
Thanks Suzanne. Glad it landed.
To your question — five pregnant females in one pack is extraordinarily rare. The accepted understanding is that wild dog packs have strong reproductive suppression by the alpha female, so multiple pregnancies in a single pack happen occasionally but rarely at this scale. I’m not aware of a documented case of five at once. We’ll be watching very closely and consulting the wild dog research community as the story develops.
On Xinkhova — she lost both her cubs, the one we saw and then we presume the other one must have been killed before that which is why she moved the last one. She’s doing well herself though and we’re hopeful for her next litter.
Hi Sean, this week was jam packed with different scenarios. The Gijima male looks okay and is healing slowly. So sad to hear the Three Rivers Female is not with us anymore. At least you saw her last Sean, which must mean something for you. About the Wild dogs is mind boggling. Five pregnant females is unheard of, because usually the Alpha female or the Beta female gets pregnant in the pack. Well this is going to be interesting to see what happens when these five females start giving birth. Good to see the Ximungwe female again.
Thanks Valmai. The Gijima is healing well, which is a relief. You’re right that the Three Rivers sighting carries a different weight now, knowing it was the last. I’m glad I got to spend that morning with her.
The wild dog situation is genuinely unprecedented in my experience. I have no idea how this is going to play out. We’ll keep you updated as it unfolds.
Hi LGR. That was such a very good and interesting virtual safari video clip that you had for us this week so far, so as usual, thank you for putting it up. I got your reply message from the other day about the tragic, sad and untimely death of the Three Rivers female leopard, and yes I do understand what you were saying about the fact thst you’re not going to interfere with the lives of her 2 tiny cubs who must be about 8 to 10 weeks old, but I suppose you’ll just have to wait and see what happens to them, but though they might be wild tiny cubs with no mother, it is a shame that they can’t and won’t be found and taken to a rescue and rehabilitation centre where they could be cared for and looked after by caring and expert humans who might be able to show and teach them how to hunt and kill for themselves in a couple of years time when they’re old enough. And as terribly sad as it might seem, but I don’t think any other female leopard is going to take them on and look after them. It would be nice if that happened, but I don’t have a great feeling that is and will be the case though. I don’t suppose you do either, even though you clearly have your reservations about their survival.
I’m sure thst all of your work colleagues and loads of guests are all feeling her very untimely loss a lot altogether, as well as sharing some truly unforgettable memories of her and her ten years of life. Aren’t you? She was just a miracle leopard, who survived all the way to hard independence and adulthood despite been deprived of her mother and father in the space of three months in May and August of 2017, when she and her late twin brother were less than two years old. As sad as it must have been at the time, and now I don’t just over nine years later, I still don’t know how she managed to teach her self how to hunt properly and get herself to adulthood. I bet a lot of other people including you, are all quite puzzled by and about that as well as besides mourning her loss so untimely as we know she had two very young and dependent tiny cubs relying on her for milk, food, protection and stability to get them to the stage that their 2 older siblings, the Nsuku male and Tinxiya female had reached respectively. As she won’t be able to lead you to the spot where she’s moved them to recently, I don’t think you’ll ever know how and where they are, and they certainly won’t know that their mother will never be coming back to nurse, feed, groom and kick them anymore again at all, before going out to look for their next meal. It is a very sad and hard bitter pill to swallow for everyone there. I suppose you’ll just have to be in the right place at the right time to come across and/or hear them. I know they’re new and wild born leopard cubs, but it’s sad that no one will be taking them into care and feed and look after them, whilst trying not to get them to tame in a rescue and rehabilitation centre, bearing in mind that you say it is up to the African bush to decide their fate.
I know the Xinkhova female is cubless at the moment right now, but though we can only hope that she’s mated again, possibly with the same male leopard that killed her first litter of cubs, it’ll still be a bit to hard and early to tell if she’s busy conceiving a new brood there at all or not. At just 5 years and 5 months old, it’ll be nice to think that she soon will have a new litter of cubs on their way, and more importantly, be more successful at and in raising them to independence.
I know her inexperience didn’t help her as she was a first time mother, but as she is a independent young adult leopard, I expect some would have thought that she would have learned well from the experience of her aging mother by now. But though it may seem sad, it’s not unusual or uncommon for cubs to be lost.
As she is still a young leopard with a long time and a lot of life left in her, I think we should be more optimistic and hopeful as well as positive that she’ll be a bit or a lot more successful in raising her new litter to independence. Having doubts is one thing, but I think it’s best to be hopeful and think she’ll have a legacy.
After all, she and her twin sister, the Stone Drift female are both the same age of 5 yrs and 5 months, so they have got plenty of time to mate and produce several litters of successful cubs and get them to independence as well as a rather long way ahead of them hopefully.
It is so good to know that the slightly smaller of the 2 large Gajima males has recovered well from some minor nasty looking injuries that we think were possibly caused by a fight or stand-off with the young Nkuhuma breakaway male and he came of worse. But now he’s back beside his brother for the time being, I’m sure the Nkuhuma breakaway male will be thinking twice before taking on those 2 big boys again single handed. Especially as he’s outnumbered, outweighed and outmuscled by them. Isn’t he? I’ve got no doubt what so ever that they will probably chase him out of their territory and well away. I think they’ll have zero tolerance for trespassers in their territory, and especially when they have got lactating adult lionesses with some new and very tiny cubs that are and will be very vulnerable indeed.
I know they’ve been territorial on your property for just under a year now, but they’re proving to be a force to be reckoned with right now already. I hope they will both sire many more cubs together in the years and months to come and go. They will want to leave a successful and huge legacy behind them as possible before their time comes to an end in a few years time. Wouldn’t they?
It might seem unusual to have 5 adult female wild dogs all pregnant all at once together there, but I suppose as a pack of 13, they might stand a chance of raising all of their cute and tiny puppies to adulthood by working altogether as a team. To ensure that all of their unborn puppies survive, I expect they’ll have to move the tiny vulnerable youngsters all the way from one densite to another to avoid danger and also avoid them been sniffed out and killed by other bigger and stronger rival predators if they’re left alone, unprotected and unguarded. It is and will be fingers crossed for them.
Hope to hear from you shortly.
Robert 7.6.26
Thank you Robert, as always, for taking the time to write such a considered message.
You’re right that the cubs’ situation is heartbreaking. We’ve thought hard about it. The reality is that intervention in wild leopard cub mortality, even with the best intentions, has long-term consequences for the wild population that conservation science generally advises against. It’s a hard answer and not one I love giving, but it’s the one we operate under here.
On Xinkhova — completely agree with you. She’s young, she’s healthy, and she’s got plenty of time.
And on the wild dogs — fingers crossed indeed. We’ll be watching closely.
How amazing: the wild dogs at Londolozi are always good for another big surprise!
One pack steals cubs from another one and now there will be 5 mothers. That’s really extraordinary. I wonder how they will handle this situation and I am looking forward to hearing more about their story.
Thanks for the video of the Three Rivers Female! It’s a good, though also a very sad way again of saying good bye to this lovely leopard.
The episode with the hamerkop is funny. There is food for thought, though, that one doesn’t feel much compassion for the poor little tadpoles that get eaten by the bird but one feels really sad about the leopard that gets killed by lions.
Life and death are going hand in hand in the bush and it’s all about survival…
Thanks Christa. You’ve put your finger on something that’s been on my mind too — the moral asymmetry of who we feel for and who we don’t. The Hammerkop and the tadpoles is a small version of the same thing the Gijimas and Three Rivers represent on a bigger scale. Life and death side by side, all the time, all around us. Glad the goodbye landed for you.
It’s almost as if the wild dog females heard their population is in peril and rallied. I can heard Shania Twain’s singing, “Let’s go girls.” 😂 In all seriousness though, is there an alpha female in this breakaway pack, or does this mass mating have something to do with how hierarchy will be formed? Either way it’s fascinating, and I do hope they stick around so we can learn more. I bet the wild dog research crews are going to have a field day with this.