Are the animals up THIS early?

Are the animals UP this early?

Tuesday morning we met at 6:15am to go on an early morning game drive. I think the ultimate goal of every game drive is to see a “kill”. (lions killing something) We saw lots of animals this morning (not nearly as many as yesterday – I don’t think they were up yet) and the weather was so nice and cool.

One interesting animal we saw was a spotted hyena. We saw one yesterday lying in the road. The hyena is known as the “scavenger” because he loves to come behind lions and finish up on the dead carcasses. They have the strongest jaws of any animals and can chew up bones like they were nothing. In fact, they DO eat so many bones that their feces are “strikingly” white because of the amount of calcium that they intake.

Litters of one or two are born, usually of different sexes. They are born with their eyes open and their teeth well developed. They start fighting at birth, especially if two females are born. One ends up killing the other before too long. That ensures dominance and that the strongest survives. If there are one of each sex born, the male will usually survive since he is no competition for the females. Weaning starts at nine months and is usually completed by 18 months. No other female will ever suckle a sister's young and should the mother not return from the hunt, these young will be left to die as survival of it's own genes is important. Other females will protect another's cubs. There is always a dominant female in the clan.

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