A Day with Leopard and Hyena
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Characters:
Guide, Tracker, Hyena, Leopard, Leopard’s baby, Carol and I,
guinea fowl, two squirrels.
Action:
A day in August. We are in a Toyota Land Rover that is open on all sides, windshield down, with Guide on the steering wheel, and Tracker sitting on the spying seat in left front. (Botswana, size of France, 70% national park). Much of the road is sand, it it has tracks that are unevenly and unsymmetrically carved out on either side, so the vehicle sways like a boat and we sit and sway along as good as we can, with a firm grip on the handlebar.
Early morning
Leopard follows Hyena in respectful distance (30 feet could be less could be more). Hyena gnawed on impala– today’s kill — and dragged it off, but somehow the movement seems half-assed, and it looks like she’s already satiated from eating most of it. (Knowledge that this hyena is a “she” is a consequence of Guide’s eminent expertise in wildlife). Guide also tells us there is a ranking among predators, following the sequence lion > hyena > leopard. (I never knew hyena is above leopard — how could I?) Leopard just waiting for a change in constellation to claim possession. But she cannot assert herself (again Guide has the perfect eye to make out the femaleness in this animal) since she knows about the ranking of predators Guide has been telling us about. Hence the persistence of a respectful distance.
Amazing to see long pauses between activities: Hyena abandons kill, looks around, sees Leopard but seems unable to decide what to do next. Attention back on the kill, though picking at it haphazardly. Belly probably full? Idea of a second kill, this time a leopard in easy reach? It would crown the day! Every time Hyena advances or retreats, Leopard follows but keeps the same safe distance. Thus Leopard seems connected with Hyena by an invisible string. Hyena finally walks away from kill but keeps looking back as though fondly reminiscing about the other scenario: keeping all to herself.
But then we finally see Hyena far away from Leopard, having apparently decided that it’s not worth it to hold on to a kill that is heavy and, as a matter of fact, somewhat outdated and already claimed by flies. Leopard, unsure if this is the final outcome, proceeds with utmost caution: she stays at her spot, again and again looking in Hyena’s direction for clues about the way this standoff might end. This is when we leave Leopard alone, assuming she will be the lucky one to inherit the kill without ever getting into a fight.
Afternoon I
Leopard sits under a tree in the shade, with the kill secured. She bites and licks on its elastic skin. Guide says licking with Leopard’s sandpaper-like tongue makes skin smooth and good for eating. Then abruptly Leopard takes a few steps out of the shade into the sunlight, and all hell breaks loose. Animals around the scene sound alarm. First a lonely bird starts shouting, then two squirrels high up in the tree start chattering, twitching their tails and make a ruckus, then other birds in the immediate neighborhood chime in as Leopard steps out into full view and starts trotting away. Now a flock of guinea fowl walks into the scene, gawking in high agitation and following Leopard. First four, then six, then more than a dozen emerge from the bush, running after Leopard, chasing her. It makes no sense. Get in harms way? Chasing a predator? These birds must be crazy!
[this is a picture from the internet but you get the idea]
Afternoon II
We follow Leopard into the forest to see what motivated her to leave without snapping up one or two of the mad birds following her. It would have been so easy. But Guide knows she has a baby somewhere which she will bring to the tree with the kill. For ten minutes we crisscross the area she might possibly visit, but to no avail. Then we drive back to the tree where we had first encountered her. Sure enough, Leopard is back; this time the baby is with her, gnawing on kill in the shade while she surveys the area around her, on full alert.
Afternoon III
Next time we pass Leopard’s tree, on our way back to camp, there is no trace of Leopard and her baby, but now the kill is lodged in a fork high up on the tree. She must have dragged it up there for safekeeping — another meal tomorrow, because, you never know!
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