National Geographic Eternal Enemies: Lions and Hyenas Page #3

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She is chased off

and the old female is left alone

to whatever fate awaits her.

In the night, her blood drains out

onto the grass.

The Central Pride is now

smaller by one lioness.

It is always sad to watch the death of a lion

or a hyena that we have come to know,

but these endless cycles of life and death

have continued throughout the ages.

Matsumi and her pride reassemble

and walk into the darkness.

Silently.

The horrors of the night melt away

into the warm glow of survival.

After the death of the older female

and within a month of losing her cubs,

young Matsumi comes into heat again.

Mondayvoo reacts to the scent

and follows her trail

knowing that she is ready for mating.

While the younger male, Untwydumala,

is away patrolling the territory,

his brother dominates the mating.

A few months later the Southern Clan

patrols on the same patch of Savuti

that soaked in the lioness's blood.

They are hunting.

For the first time the Princess has joined

the matriarch on the hunt.

Zebras have returned on their migration.

The clan methodically hunts down the fauls,

not bothering about stealth.

Untwydumala is back from his patrol.

Always ready to confront hyenas.

He catches the matriarch.

It is a moment of supreme opportunity

for the male.

Not concerned with food, his drive is to kill.

Her back is broken.

The matriarch can't survive

a brutal mauling by a male lion.

On her very first hunt,

the Princess is faced with a catastrophy.

She has only just passed

from total dependence

on her mother's milk into the harsh world

where she will have to fend for herself.

As the Princess finds her,

the matriarch breaths her last.

Without the matriarch, the clan is in turmoil.

They are leaderless.

New relationships have to be sorted out.

Second and second-ranked females

now compete for the top position.

The males molest a female,

possibly to force her to choose a mate.

Among hyenas females select

which male to mate with.

For months the clan will be nervous

and quarrelsome,

weakened against attack

by lions or other hyena clans.

The life of the Pincess is also in turmoil.

Without the protection of her mother

she has lost all rank in the hierarchy.

She wanders in and out of the clan's territory

without knowing its limits,

without the guidance of an adult.

Alone, in a world full of enemies.

The old den site has been abandoned

because of fleas,

and the new dens has new young cubs.

The Princess is accepted here

because she is still a clan member.

But now, she has no privileges.

Even the new cubs are allowed

to take advantage of her.

Very soon she becomes alienated

by her uncertainty

and leaves the dens for the last time.

The marking and patrolling of boundaries

by both lions and hyenas

is a way of avoiding a conflict

like the recent lion fight

which can result in death.

The hyena clan uses a waterhole

as a territory boundary in the dry season.

It is here where the Princess

joins up with her clan

at night to tag along on the hunt.

On the north bank,

the clan's neighbours have smelt for days

the intrusions of the Princess

and now rush in to confront

her disruptive clan.

The dispute is over the territorial boundary,

which seems to run through

the centre of the waterhole.

During this crucial confrontation

a new matriarch emerges

and leads the Southern Clan into battle.

When hyenas clash, they use their teeth

as vicious weapons to inflict heavy wounds

on each other sometimes ending

in serious maulings or even deaths.

The Northern Clan is stronger,

but the fighting is confused.

Finally, they retreat again

before the Southern advance.

After the battle has won her own clan

mistakes the Princess as an intruder

and attacks her.

The only safe ground

is in the cente of the waterhole.

In time the falling Pricess

may join either of the clans.

But she will never again

climb a ladder to dominance.

The boundary has been decided.

It will stay fixed for some months

by the smell of the thick, pasty markings

left by both clans after the clash.

Fixed, too, is the relationship

the hyenas have with the lions.

One that can only change with death.

A blood feud that is forever.

Once again Mondayvoo is away from the pride

patrolling on the grassland.

The new clan matriarch is in attendance

following his every move.

In a unique display of overlapping

territorial language,

the lion marks against the hyena.

Usually, territories are disregarded

by other species,

but now the matriarch and the pride male

express their hostility

with unmistakable actions.

This new matriarch is confident and defiant,

marking where he marks

and harrassing the much larger lion.

Her calls and her fluffed up tail posture

attract support from other clan members

and don't go unnoticed by the lionesses

on the edge of the open area.

The matriarch seems to succeed

in the psychological warfare.

This is not a competition for food.

When Matsumi leads the pride out

to meet the hyenas

it is to do battle once again

with their eternal enemies.

Frenzy calls filter across the bush

to the king ears of Untwydumala,

"He Who Greets With Fire".

The hyena killer.

A swift bite to the neck

and the new matriarch is dead.

The day belongs to the lions.

It was not always easy for us

to witness these struggles for life.

But at the end of it all perhaps,

we came to know more about ourselves

and the struggles

that rage within our savage souls.

Creatures of instinct,

helpless to change their destiny,

forever these eternal enemies will fight on.

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