High-ranking hyenas LOVE to show off their kills. Unlike their low-ranking comrades who must scarf down their food as quickly as possible before it gets stolen from them, these high-rankers can hold onto their scraps for hours. And what do they do with this extra time, you might ask - eat more slowly? No! Instead they take their carcass in mouth and gleefully parade around the low-rankers, gloating over their companions' misfortune of having a lower status. But sometimes, as they say, pride comes before the fall...even in the world of hyenas.
Yesterday, Eremet arrived at the Happy Zebra den holding a scrap of gazelle carcass in her mouth, nonchalantly flaunting her rank. But things quickly went downhill from there...
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| Eremet innocently drops her scrap to sniff the cubs at the denhole. |
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| Round 1: Puff, her son, emerges from the den and grabs it... |
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| ...and drags it into the denhole. |
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Eremet recovers her scrap, and the cubs stream out of the den after her (and the scrap).
Eremet: 1, cubs: 0. |
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| Round 2: Puff grabs hold of the scrap again, now joined by his brother, Smaug. |
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| Success! They drag it back into the denhole...1 point for the boys? |
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| No! Eremet reaches into the den and yanks the scrap back out...still 0 points for the cubs. |
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Round 3: This time it's serious. Puff and his brother bring backup -
their cousins, Daddy Longlegs and Recluse. |
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| Puff grabs hold of the scrap, and together the cubs drag it back into the denhole. |
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| Seems like third time's the charm in this game... |
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| Or not! Eremet, fed up, squeezes herself down into the denhole... |
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| ...grabs the scrap... |
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| ...and drags it, with Puff still attached, to the top of the denhole. Eremet: 3, cubs: 0 |
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Winner winner, carcass dinner?
Eremet saunters off with her scrap as the cubs watch sadly from the den. |
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1 comment:
Great photos for telling the story! Adorable four little cousins cooperating... love Arba and Erem's new babies' names.
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