Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Carnivores general, Other wildlife, Uncategorized, zimbabwe | Date: Jan 25 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

This post has absolutely nothing to do with wild dogs, but these servals are just too cute, so I had to share this with you… The ranch I live on in the Savé Valley Conservancy (Chishakwe Ranch) recently agreed to provide a home for a family of 4 servals that needed a release site after being reared in Harare at the Tikki Hywood Trust.  The servals are an adult pair and their two kittens, 1 male and 1 female.  They are currently in a large enclosure whilst getting used to the bush and learning how to hunt. 

To help them learn to hunt, their meat is sometimes placed up in trees, to encourage them to climb (birds are an important component of a serval’s diet).  I was helping with this feeding the other day and was thrilled to watch the female kitten zoom up the tree to grab the meat that had been placed there.

She was hesitant at first, eyeing up the distance to her dinner….

But then confidently climbed up….

And successfully snagged the meat, dropping it to the ground where she could take it and hide somewhere deep and dark to eat in peace!

Rosemary x

Tags: cats, serval, zimbabwe

One response so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 24 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Some good news!  I had a great sighting of the Maera pack yesterday and was thrilled (albeit somewhat surprised) to still count 13 dogs – the full pack!  I even managed to see the snared pup, who is still with the group, looking fit and healthy and with no obvious sign that the snare is still around his neck!  I was SO excited to see that! 

It really does look like the snare has come off – certainly there is no sign of an open wound around his neck like there was before, and he is no smaller than his brother (both almost adult sized now).  If this is in fact the case, I imagine what happened was that the snare just finally worked its way loose, with the help of all the other dogs worrying at it.

Anyway, I’ll post again soon, but just wanted to let you know the good news!

Back soon,

Rosemary

5 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe | Date: Jan 20 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

We’ve just come back from a long day out looking for the dogs – goodness these packs travel a long way at the moment!  Rueben had found the Bedford pack yesterday, about a 20 minute drive from the house.  We went out at 6:00 this morning, but despite climbing a monster of a hill close to where they were last seen, there was no signal… had they been anywhere within a 10km radius we would have picked them up from that hill.  But no luck, so we continued going, stopping regularly and climbing every hill we could we find looking for a signal from the Bedford pack, but also from the missing Maera pack.

Eventually, just when I was beginning to wonder if the equipment was working properly, we picked up a reassuring beep….beep….beep from one of the collars.   The Maera pack!!  The missing, elusive, vanished, impossible-to-find Maera pack.  So we got as close as we could in a vehicle then traipsed off through knee high, wet green grass until we got to where the dogs were resting.  Unfortunately they must have seen us or smelt us before we saw them, so we simply got barked at and then caught a glimpse of a whole bunch of white-tipped tails disappearing through the thick vegetation.  Mmmph. So much for that.  We followed them after a while, but again saw not much else aside from lots of ears and tails heading away from us. 

Given the importance of seeing this pack well (to see if the snared pup is still with them), we tried one last time, this time in the vehicle as the dogs had moved a long way and were (we thought) maybe near another small road.  So we eventually got back to the car (soaked through with sweat – the humidity here is incredible at the moment) and set off after them again.  We skidded and slipped and slid along the track that was by now so covered with tall, green grass that it was hard to see where it went.  And even harder to see the really boggy patches….

After a while of fairly precarious driving, we were rewarded by a sighting of the dogs, good enough to count at least 10 of them and identify some of those.  Unfortunately we didn’t see whether or not the snared pup was there.  I didn’t see him, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t there…  After a while of peering through green leaves at dogs sleeping, we decided to leave them in peace for today, and head home.  I had the bright idea to continue along our small track to join up with the main road a bit further on (instead of retracing our steps and going back the way we knew was dry enough to pass), and promptly sunk axle-deep into thick, wet, clay.  Unfortunately, by the time I thought of it, I was too covered in mud to get out my camera, because it would have made an amusing sight:  Rueben and myself up to our knees in mud, slipping around like drunkards trying in vain to get the car out.  An hour or so later, after jacking up all the wheels and shoving logs underneath, we got out.  Hooray!! And wisely turned around to go back the way we had come…

We eventually made it home, considerably hotter, dirtier and more sunburnt than when we set out, but nonetheless pleased to have at least located the missing Maera pack.  We’ll go back tomorrow to try to find them again and get a better look at who’s there.  Mind you, storm clouds are brewing and there are ominous rumbles of thunder in the distance so it could be an interesting day…!

Back soon (hopefully!),

Rosemary

One response so far

Category: Other wildlife, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe | Date: Jan 15 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Internet been down for a while, so forgive the long gap between posts.  It’s been an interesting week catching up with the wild dogs and other matters in the conservancy… I’m very sad to report that Squeaker the baby warthog didn’t make it.  He seemed to be well on the way to recovery and was scooting round the lawn with youthful abandon, but then suddenly got sick again and didn’t pull through.  Sad though it is, at least he died being cared for and with company, rather than a slow, lingering death from dehydration stuck in the mud.

As for the wild dogs, unfortunately we still haven’t managed to locate the Maera pack which is the pack with the snared pup.  We have spent many hours of many days searching for them, but with no luck.  They move such vast distances at the moment – due to the widespread availability of water and the abundance of impala and wildebeest calves, so I’m sure they are just eluding us! 

We did however find the Mavericks pack recently – the sole remaining pack in the south of the conservancy and discovered something very interesting. The two males in the pack (two brothers) have been joined by a new female…. none other than Mina, the secretive alpha female of the Nyarushanga pack!!  Mina was last seen at the Nyarushanga den in the very north of the conservancy in August last year.  The pack didn’t leave the den until October, and it was presumed Mina was still with them, although we never saw her again.  Unfortunately we never managed to collar that pack before they left the den, and have since lost track of them.  Imagine our surprise therefore when one of them showed up 60km south with a completely different pack!  It was like seeing an old friend again – I recognised her straight away because she has very distinct white markings.

Anyhow, it’s good news for those dogs, because the other individuals were all related so there was no chance of breeding (and indeed they did not den in 2008).  Hopefully this year they will den, and Mina will have some more pups to augment the rapidly dwindling population in the south. 

Back soon,

Rosemary

Tags: alpha female, conservation, snare, warthog, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 09 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Apologies for the lengthy break in posts: I have been away for a few weeks in the UK, and failed to think of anything remotely interesting to report from there!  The field-work side of the wild dog project has been on standby for a while, because both the scouts were on leave as well, and the rains have made field work very difficult. 

Anyhow, I am now back in the conservancy, as is Rueben – our head scout, and we are just starting to work out where all the dogs are now.  Due to the abundance of water all over the conservancy now, the dogs are moving vast distances and are proving hard to keep track of!  Rueben had a good sighting of the Bedford pack a couple of days ago, but only counted 22 dogs.  The pack used to be 29, so I’m suspecting that a small group has split off.  Indeed there have been a couple of reports of a pack of 6 dogs around, which may well be the offshoot of the Bedford pack.  I’ll follow up on that in the next few days and let you know.

Rueben and I went out yesterday and after several hours of driving round and climbing big hills, we picked up a signal for the Mapari Pack (that’s the pack we collared again in December after Sandy (the only collared individual) was killed by poachers…).  We had to go in on foot, and found them lying in thick shade in a dry riverbed.  The wind was in our favour, so we managed to get quite close to them before they noticed us.  We counted 15 dogs (in December there were 16), but may well have missed one as they all jumped up and moved off.

It was a long, hot morning, but not only did we get to see the dogs, we also saw a monitor lizard, 2 elephants and a black rhino.  I must say it’s nice to back in the bush again!

I’ll be going down to the south of the conservancy in the next week or so, and will visit Anne and Squeaker (the baby warthog), so I will send an update on him then.

Back soon with more news from the dogs and the warthog!

Rosemary

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