Week 266 ( 26th Sep – 2nd Oct 2008 )
Breaking new ground
26th September 2008: Hulooo was waiting for his mother in the 9ha and when she arrived they lay together quite amiably for some time. Hulooo caught sight of her tail twitching and couldn’t resist playing with it. She ignored his antics for some time but enough is enough; she growled at him but he refused to heed the warning and continued plaguing her. When he didn’t listen she growled again and when he still didn’t listen she stormed at him, swiping at him with her paw. She caught him in the mouth cutting his gum and tongue, at that moment he became very respectful and gave her a wide berth for the rest of the afternoon.
27th September 2008: Madonna was pacing with a cub in her mouth and eventually arrived at where I was standing trying to get 327 to talk to me. She walked ever closer and stopped about two metres from me chuffing to draw my attention; I of course switched my attention to her and the little bundle she was carrying. I told her that she was so clever and that she had the most beautiful babies ever. She smiled especially wide, chuffed at me around the cub and looked as pleased as punch. Having accepted all my ooos and aaahs she left taking her precious bundle with her we have noticed that she only paces with a cub if there is somebody to show off to, once all parties have moved out of sight she lays down and relaxes……SHOW OFF! Hulooo and his mum spent some time together again today but Hulooo was so afraid of his mother he would hardly go near her and on the rare occasion that they did find themselves in close proximity he would cower and growl. Cathay ignored him for a long while and then started chuffing at him. This served to lift the atmosphere between them a little but Hulooo was still very wary.
28th September 2008: The morning started off with Cathay and TigerWoods lying on their backs with their front paws flopping on their chests. TigerWoods got up and started walking in circles around Cathay and she was keeping her eyes on him, turning her head in all directions. He soon became dizzy and walked off. As soon as his back was turned Cathay readied her attack. She stood up silently, crouched down, wiggled her bum and tackled his back legs. He collapsed in a puff of dust and then the chase was on. Cathay sprinted off and TigerWoods tore after her. Cathay allowed herself to be caught and both flopped down together; enveloped in clouds of dust. As soon as Hulooo has finished eating I opened the nine hectare gate for him and he was in like a shot. He spent an hour reading the emails that his mother had left him the previous evening; his face all screwed up showing his teeth and his tongue hanging out dribbling. He then rolled on all the small bushes and clumps of grass that she had sprayed, inviting me to join in by chuffing constantly; when I didn’t, he came running over to where I was standing at the fence chuffing at me as he ran before returning to his rolling. Once that was no longer fun he wandered off to investigate the other end of the camp.
29th September 2008: Hulooo is beginning to learn the routine of what is expected of him in preparation for him to spend some time with his mother. He needs very little encouragement to enter into the tiny camp in front of the 9ha enclosure and waits patiently by the gate until it is time for him to be let out. Cathay didn’t need a second invitation to visit Hulooo this afternoon and I didn’t even need the piece of meat I took with. She and I left the 0.5ha camp at roughly the same time and by the time I reached the centre she was crossing the river. The lesson in respect that Cathay taught Hulooo the other day is obviously still fresh in his memory because I really had to beg before he went out to greet her and even then he made sure that he stayed out of her reach. Cathay was more interested in what Madonna was eating and what JenB and Coco were doing than spending time with Hulooo. He was also not about to argue the point and demand that she play with him, instead he just lay to one side whining and calling to me to keep him company. At one stage Cathay cornered him against the fence and only then did he dare growl at her. He pulled his ears down flat against his head and at one stage it looked like he didn’t have any. Realising that he was feeling threatened she turned around and went to lay down under the tree that everybody loves to mark and before long took herself off down to the river. Taking that to mean that she was no longer interested in our get-together I dragged the boy’s supper into the quarantine camp and let Hulooo join his brothers.
30th September 2008: At 12:30 I paid a visit to Cathay and TigerWoods hoping that if I sneaked up on them unawares I could catch them in the act…..all I caught them doing was snoozing in the shade of a bush. Later at 15:30 I couldn’t even see them, never mind catch them mating. JenB and Coco were playing together in the breeding centre but Hulooo was nowhere to be seen. I called, I whistled and I yelled, still no Hulooo. Eventually at 18:10 he made his appearance. Whilst I was deciding whether or not to let Cathay in, the sun already started dropping behind the “koppie” and I realised that there just wouldn’t be enough time for them to visit before it was altogether too dark to see, so we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out if Hulooo has learnt some manners. As soon as the gate was opened Hulooo ran straight into the breeding centre to eat and was closely followed by JenB and Coco. I also entered the centre to see what they were doing and found Hulooo sitting on top of the carcase, Coco was lying in the doorway and JenB was lying on his back near the carcase looking at Hulooo upside down whilst surreptitiously groping behind his head for the wildebeest. Hulooo left the food momentarily to come up to the mesh for his daily head scratch and returned to his meal, giving JenB a whack on the head in passing. Realising that Hulooo was no fun the two young brothers played together in the doorway leaving their elder brother to clean his plate.
1st October 2008: Cathay hopped through the gateway and I scrambled into the bakkie and raced off to see where Hulooo was and only then did I look at the time, it was 18:07. I arrived at the top before she did and couldn’t see Hulooo so I yelled his name and he literally came galloping up to me at full speed. Now we just have to wait for Madam to arrive. She did eventually come up to where Hulooo and I were waiting and chuffed; Hulooo chuffed back but had no further contact with his mother. Cathay was more interested in the rubbing tree and ignored Hulooo and he avoided her, whining whenever I left his side. It was dark by this time so I then left the quarantine camp and let Hulooo back in. Cathay again refused to go back into the half hectare and out of necessity I had to leave the gate open for TigerWoods to join her. I attended to the last chores and bid all the cats’ goodnight…even the Cheshire cat grinning down at me from the sky.
2nd October 2008: Madonna was totally relaxed this morning, she was lying in the sun with both her cubs around her; licking then whenever they came close enough. On the rare occasion that she did pace, she did so without taking a cub with her. She didn’t even brag to 327 who was lying at the fence nearby.
Today’s visit was much the same as the previous one, she spent most of the time rubbing her head against the rubbing tree and Hulooo spent most of his time avoiding her. Suddenly for reasons known only to her Cathay’s attitude changed for the worse. She stood up purposefully, lowered her head, stuck out her chin and advanced on Hulooo. He immediately knew that trouble was on its way and cowered, Cathay continued to advance and Hulooo retreated alternately cowering and growling. Cathay forced him backwards for the breadth of the top part of the camp and then turned around and headed back the way she had come. Hulooo’s nerves were shot and he asked to be let back into the quarantine camp and I obliged. The strange thing about the whole episode was that although hers was an openly unfriendly and hostile action she didn’t once attack him physically.