Week 351 ( 14th - 20th May 2010 )
Madonna gets confused, Hulooo plays silly buggers and shows his brothers who’s boss
One morning Madonna chuffed 327 closer. He stopped to answer a call of nature and Madonna tried to climb on his back. He was having none of that and stood up – shaking her off. They both then chuffed at one another and Madonna threw herself at his feet. He was not really interested in her display and after some moaning and groaning and a last chuff he pushed off. Later in the day 327 was having a drink when Madonna walked up to him and after chuffing tried to climb on his back. He just muttered at her and continued drinking. She decided that if she couldn’t beat him she might as well join him and together they drank. After he had finished drinking 327 nipped her on the nearest hind leg and paced off up the fence. Two days later she was still confused about the natural order of things and walked around the camp in search of her mate. She eventually located him where he was sitting at the back fence staring into space and she tried to mount him once again. He was definitely not impressed and growled at her ferociously. She backed off hurriedly but returned a while later for a repeat performance. She received the same reaction and left the party.
Sam was trying to take some footage of the brothers and Hulooo realised that he had never seen THAT video camera before and became extremely interested in it – determined to have his face on TV. He was, therefore, equally determined to climb into the cab. He first stayed on all-fours and stretched his neck to look in at the window; that view was unsatisfactory and he stood up on the running board which elevated him sufficiently to see into the back of the truck. He caught sight of the camera bag and had a flash-back of when he was younger and stole a camera bag and how we spent the better part of half an hour trying to wrest it from him. He then stood up against the truck with both front feet on a back tyre and peered into the back trying tried to claw the bag closer. We shouted at him and hooted and he backed off - only to try the other side of the vehicle seconds later. We decided to put some distance between us in the hope that he would forget about the camera and its case and Hulooo and JenB followed. Hulooo proved that he was still as interested and after patting the tyres once again looked into the back, We shouted and made a lot of noise and he transferred his attention the front bumper which he patted and licked and tried to chew and once again we were forced to shout and flap our arms in an effort to discourage him. He then returned to Sam’s window and stood up on the running-board and chuffed into the camera which Sam quickly yanked back. We decided to leave whilst we still had the camera bag and four whole tyres.
In the middle of the week feeding time arrived and all three raced into the eastern annex and Hulooo turned the tables on Coco. They tussled over the carcass and the next moment Hulooo reared up on his hind legs and snarled ferociously at his brothers. They circled around the back and were met with sharp teeth and five claws. They tried again from another direction and Hulooo charged at them, that was when they decided to sit and wait patiently until he finally gave them the go-ahead. A few days later the boys rushed into the camp and drummed around one piece of meat. Hulooo once again enforced his alpha male status and roared at the others who backed off. Coco was next to find a piece of meat and JenB stood around looking from one brother to the other feeling very left out and sorry for himself. He tried to join Hulooo and was growled at; he tried to join Coco and discovered the Coco had five very sharp claws and a gruff voice. Once again he looked around him and then discovered a piece of meat not very far away and pounced on it… relieved that he had not been forgotten.