Suffering Hyena

[Ken Watkins]

Marc has inspired me to post this as a result of his Hyena image earlier today.

Wild Dogs and Hyena are certainly not the best of friends as Hyena are always trying to steal Wild Dog kills.

In this case the shoe was on the other foot.

An Impalla had been killed by a Lioness who then had it stolen by a Hyena she then retreated into the bushes.
Unfortunately for the Hyena it had no time to eat the booty.
The Wild Dog pack who we were following saw what had happened and rushed in, the Hyena dragged the kill into nearby water, and was then attacked by the Dogs. They dragged the kill out of the water nd then chased the Hyena off giving it a many good bites on the posterior (happiness for us)

The pups finished off what remained of the carcass, then the Lioness returned to seize her prize, unsurprisingly the dogs exited stage right.

Taken in Kwando concession, Northern Botswana, 28th December 2011.

EOS 1D MkII

70-200mm MKII at 130mm

F7.1, ISO 400, 1/1600

[Fred Canter]

Must have been great to witness, and a great action shot to remember it by.
The green of the foreground grass looks slightly yellow to me, but then again that may be the actual color.
I really like the water splash as it shows the effort the Wild Dog had going after the Hyena

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Great story, didn't know that the dogs could win a battle with hyena's. I like the raized tails, lovely action Ken :cheers:

[Marc Mol]

Fantastic action image Ken, was it just a single hyena?, unusual for just one to steal from a lion.
The twin tail ups and open mouth really make this image, well done. :cheers:
TFS

[gail bisson]

Hi Ken,
Great story to go with the image. The grasses look a little yellow to me. I like the action and the raised tails but wish that the butts were not so head on and the bodies angled away from us. I don't think I could hang this one in the dining room!!!:bg3:
I also like the water splash and the expression on the hyenas face. Well done,
Gail

[Tom Graham]

Nice photo, nice action.
At the impala kill scene of my wild dog posting of Jan 25th a lone hyena approached. The dog pack would have none of it, chasing the hyena well away. Not necessarily trying to kill it, just not good buddies :S3: . On the other hand, I witnessed a large male leopard kill an impala while a hyena stood back and watched. After the impala was dead the hyena moved in and the leopard backed off letting the hyena have it. Next morning we found the leopard and an impala kill (same one?) in a tree.
Tom

[Rachel Hollander]

Ken - tells a story well (except for the lion and kill part). The splash definitely adds to it. I agree about the saturation and color and also the aesthetics of the rear view, though not much you could do about the last one.

TFS,
Rachel

[v.p.nurdeen]

Hi Ken,
Amazing story and great image.
VPN

[Ken Watkins]

Thanks everybody for your comments they are much appreciated.

Firstly the green, I have just looked at the RAW and it does look washed out and certainly does not appear to have changed colour during processing.

There was little I could do about changing angles because of the soft soil (we got stuck quite a few times)

We were not there for the original kill, and the Lion v Dogs interaction was all running way and did not produce any exciting shots, moving the vehicle was out of the question as any interference could have produced a disaster.

All in all an "average" day with the dogs at Kwando:bg3:

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Ken, If that is an average day......then I need to get there!!! I think the action goes well with the story too!

[Ken Watkins]

Roman,

You most certainly do, on our last trip we saw Wild Dog on 10 out of 12 days, and on one of those days we spent all day looking for the Cheetahs!

Kwando has been well know for good Wild Dog sightings for a long time, this 20 strong pack will probably break up this year but I am sure they will still be found next year. Hopefully with even more youngsters.

Drop me an email and I'll send you some details.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Fabulous action here Ken. Oftentimes when we see action like this it was in harsh light or the details are lacking, but here the IQ is looking good, and I don't mind the perspective at all. Shows you these dogs need "stones" to take on the bigger predators :w3:bg3:

[Ofer Levy]

Great action and drama! Excellent shot!!

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel and Ofer,

Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed, you had to be there:w3

[Arthur Morris]

An emotion-packed and dramatic image along with a great story.

[Harshad Barve]

An emotion-packed and dramatic image along with a great story.

Plus one here , big congrats
TFS