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Wednesday 4 March 2009

NamibRand Boys - Days 81-83 (Feb. 27 - Mar. 01)

Sorry for the delay in getting the latest maps out.  Our Internet has been particularly slow these last few days.  Partly for that reason, and partly because we are beginning to scale back our monitoring of the boys, we plan to start sending maps out only twice a week from this point onwards, and weekly for the female. 

 

These were interesting days, with the dynamics of the group starting to change.  On the 27th, the boys all went for a long trek to the south following a herd of Oryx.  They didn't make any attempts to hunt them, but showed signs of particularly enjoying a cool breeze that had sprung up, often turning their faces into it.  A little after 6pm, they encountered the female and her cubs, but she wasn't interested in them and departed the scene.  The boys chased her briefly, but soon slowed back to a stroll.  

 

In the morning of the 28th, the boys split up with Ra staying put, while the others paced around the girls pen.  The girls stayed close to Ra, despite Mushara calling constantly for them.  In the afternoon, Kia had joined Ra, but as the girls were fed, all five joined back up.  They made no attempt to go and hunt despite not having eaten for a couple of days.

 

On the 1st, we discovered that Lindt was missing.  A search in the morning turned up nothing.  In the late afternoon, the four remaining boys abruptly headed northwest towards the farmhouse, when they returned to the pens afterwards, Lindt was back with them.  Since Lindt doesn't have a radio collar, there is no way to know whether he spent the time with the wild female, or doing something else.  After his reappearance Cadbury seemed especially pleased to see him again, but none of the boys moved much again that day.

 

            Rob

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