Ever been stuck with the kids wishing you were somewhere else? I’m pretty sure that is exactly what these two female Spotted Hyenas were thinking when I took these pictures.
Spotted Hyenas give birth in dens; usually they will make these by modifying another animal’s burrow. This is usually an old Aardvark burrow as they are the only African animal capable of digging the initial burrow as the dig for termites (yes, I know it’s hard to believe but it’s true!). However, as with many animals, these Hyenas had adapted to human incursion and were using a large sized storm water drain that ran under the road as their little den.
The day we spotted these two, it had been raining most of the day but had stopped just long enough for them to come out for some sun.
With mum mostly hidden from view and her pups suckling, there wasn’t much for these aunts to do but make sure nothing came too close. A task it seemed, they were too tired to bother to enforce… such a hard life!
With mum mostly hidden from view and her pups suckling, there wasn’t much for these aunts to do but make sure nothing came too close. A task it seemed, they were too tired to bother to enforce… such a hard life!
I couldn’t help but make an addition to this page. It’s just a photo to put into perspective the scene as I witnessed it. After seeing this very young hyena pup I could never think of Hyenas as just ugly ever again.
Hence the term; “beautiful ugly”.
