Week 203 (13th July – 19th July 2007)

327 attempts to mount Cathay while TigerWoods and Madonna hunt:

This week began with a series of exciting events. While TigerWoods and Madonna were continuing their hunting, 327 and Cathay had another date.
This time once the sliding door was opened, 327 didn’t come out but Cathay ran directly into the outdoor cage of the breeding centre. At first 327 seemed frightened by her and ran out of the cage immediately. He ran very far into the quarantine camp. Cathay smelt the whole cage carefully and then went out to pursue 327. They had some close contact. Apparently 327 seemed very friendly to Cathay. He neither avoided Cathay nor roared a lot at her as before, but began to smell her. Cathay was also cooperative and kept rolling in front of him. They only spent a few minutes in the quarantine camp before both of them ran back to the cage again. They became more and more intimate with each other and smelt each other at times being nose to nose. 327 even tried to bite Cathay’s neck. After a few attempts 327 began to mount Cathay. Though this action only lasted for a few seconds and the position was wrong, it encouraged everybody because it means 327 finally showed sexual interest in Cathay.

Since their relationship was still unstable at this time they were not allowed to stay together unless they were closely monitored. Every night 327 was introduced back into the breeding centre, while Cathay stayed in the quarantine camp. The door to her cage in the breeding centre was also opened so that if she had any interest she could come in and explore it further. During the days they were kept together.

However, the exciting moment of their first real sexual encounter was no repeated again. Cathay and 327’s honeymoon was interrupted by food. 327 had no intention of sharing food with Cathay and showed aggression towards her while any food was around.

The wildebeest carcass was finally taken away to prevent it from interfering with their interaction. Unfortunately by now Cathay was no longer in season and her interest in 327 had changed. After monitoring them for 2 more days, Cathay was introduced back into the 4 ha camp.

Back in the 40 ha camp. TigerWoods and Madonna had managed to hunt. On Friday afternoon only 12 blesbok were counted in the 40 ha camp. After 24 hours TigerWoods and Madonna appeared with full stomachs, which confirmed that they had hunted one blesbok. The rest of the week was spent lazily digesting their meal. Madonna apparently tried another hunt. A 2 cm long scratch was found on her nose on Wednesday afternoon, which could be from the horn of the blesbok. They were then introduced back into the 9 ha camp. Now it was Cathay’s turn to hunt.