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By Citizen Reporter

Journalist


Hyenas go up against wild dogs in Kruger video

A standoff between predators at the Kruger National Park is an extremely rare event.


A rare standoff between Hyenas and wild dogs was captured on film back in January and published yesterday, giving viewers a unique insight into the interactions between the two species.

According to the Youtube channel Kruger Sightings, the tense confrontation was filmed on January 7, 2019, in the late afternoon by Clinton Delport, who was busy driving along the H14 road alone, towards the H9, when he spotted hyenas with young at the H9 and H14 junction, near the Kruger National park’s Phalaborwa gate.

“Clinton stopped his car and was busy watching the hyenas interacting with one another when all of a sudden, a pack of wild dogs, consisting of 17 pack mates in total, appeared! Clinton quickly took out his camera and began filming the interaction between them. Both the hyenas and the wild dogs stood their ground as the wild dogs began harassing the mother hyena with her cub. The mother hyena, being a mother, did not hesitate to protect her young and one of her young cubs also stood their ground against the harassment, showing how brave he, or she, is,” the site explains.

“During the exchange, Clinton admits to feeling pretty scared for the young hyenas, especially in the beginning, as they were completely outnumbered but realised that this was more a show of force and dominance by the wild dogs than an actual attack,” Kruger Sightings added.

 

(Compiled by Warren Robertson)

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