THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH

As you know if you’ve been following the blog, 1/2 the folks who went to Kenya continued on to Botswana. We all knew that seeing Wild Dogs wasn’t a guarantee, but we had high hopes because we were going where and when our chances were highest. (And no, in response to one comment, there are no [African] Wild Dogs in the states, we’re talking another species here, see photos below.) We stayed at Chitabe Camp in the Okavango Delta, owned and run by Helene Heldring and David Hamman, and very close to the research station of Tico McNutt, who has been studied AWDs for over twenty years. We knew that he had radio collars on most of the packs in the area, and we knew that it was still denning season, meaning that the adults tended to stay put more than usual. Still, as an experienced naturalist told us “Seeing AWDs is a gift you can never count on.”

Finding the dogs turned out to be the adventure of a life time. First off, 7 of us got split off from the rest, missed our plane and arrived 1 and a half days late. (Actually barely made it, bush plane couldn’t land in the dark and we and our luggage were literally thrown from one plane to the next in Maun with only minutes to spare.) The six of the group that made it on time (Barbara, Barb, Lisa, Jane, Debbie & Pam) spent 4 hours the first afternoon and 14 hours (really) the next day looking for the dogs. One of the pack was radio-collared, but you have to be within 2 km to get a signal, and the dogs had moved from their usual area because of floods earlier in the year. They finally found them late in the afternoon of the 2nd day, about two hours drive from our tent camp.

Re-united, we all (with a few exhausted exceptions) took off at 6:30 the next morning, driving back to the area where the dogs had been seen.  First we drove about an hour and half on what we would call a track and Botswanans call a road. A plane had been circling overhead looking as well, and the pilot found the dogs and radio’ed in coordinates. After approaching the area, we left the sandy rutted track and began driving ‘off road,’ which included driving not through a woods of Mopane trees, but over them. Imagine driving toward a 12 foot tall tree, with 3 or 4 three inch wide trunks, and simply driving into it and over it. Absurdly, the trees pop back up like cartoon figures, and the damage to the area is minimal. Still, the camp and researchers only go off road when they are doing research and have no choice.

Here’s Tico holding up the antenna, looking for a signal from the collared dog:

After about 45 minutes, Tico said “There!” And there they were. First we saw an adult, and then immediately came upon this scene:

The photo is a bit fuzzy,  my apologies.  The light was a bit low, but mostly I was shaking with excitement. The 12-14 pups (we were never totally sure) were seeing a vehicle for the 2nd time only in their life, and they immediately took off after this photo was taken. Unfortunately, the pups had just developed to the point in which they no longer dashed down into the den when they were frightened. That meant that instead of staying still, the pups ran off and the adults had no choice but to run after them. We followed slowly through (and over) the thick, brushy woods, stopping often to avoid scaring the pups, Tico always holding up the antenna to keep our electronic connection with them.

Lucky for us and for Tico, who wanted to radio collar another member of the pack, the pack stopped after about 30-45 minutes, and we were able to stop close by and watch them while Tico prepared to place a radio collar on another individual. (He always tries to keep 2 members of the pack collared, since mortality is high and losing a radio collared pack member means losing the pack.)

We all sat breathless as Tico prepared the tranquilizer and dart gun, and groaned as a group when his first shot was lifted by a puff of wind and landed in the sand. He prepared another, seconds counting down, and this time the dart bounced off the hip of the female he was targeting. More groans all around. However, it might have been a blessing, because he had wanted to collar “Jones,” the breeding male and had decided against him because he didn’t look settled enough to get close to. (I think that was the most fun I had on the entire trip… realizing that I too had concluded that Jones wouldn’t stay still if we drove close: even though he was lying down, he had never turned his head toward us, although we were only 30 feet away. I loved being able to transfer reading a domestic dog to reading an African Wild Dog!)

After the second darting attempt, Jones looked more settled, so we slowly approached him (in our vehicle), Tico raised the dart gun one more time, we again held our breaths and this time the dart flew straight and true, into Jones’ thigh muscle (only safe target). Jones lept up, ran 10 feet away, and then circled around for a few minutes, lying down conveniently in the shade. Tico and driver BeBe then took measurements and collared Jones, and eventually we all were allowed to come down and see Jones close up, pet his stiff fur and look at his two horrendously infected teeth. Ouch.

Here’s Erin getting a once in a lifetime encounter with one of the world’s most endangered species:

And here’s Tico giving Jones the andidote, after about 40 minutes of data collection and collaring:

We stayed with Jones until he was well up and recovering. I asked Tico if there were ever challenges to a dog’s social status if it returned to the pack a bit woozy, but he said he’d never seen a sign of it. He had worried about that very thing his first year of research, and actually removed the dog from the pack for a day to avoid a power shift. Eventually he found that to be unnecessary, and has not seen any problems in all the subsequent years he’s collared dogs.

This post is getting a bit, uh, lengthy, so I’ll postpone talking about comparative AWD/Wolf/Coyote/Dog behavior til later (if you’re interested… or is this getting boring?  let me know, truly!).

Last comments: Someone with the improbable name of Tico McNutt (I mean, really!) can be one of the most inspiring, dedicated, knowledgeable and kind people imaginable. He has three graduate students working with him now, and has spent over twenty years working with the highly endangered wild dogs. I don’t doubt that he is one of the reasons that dogs are holding their own in Botswana now. And Chitabe Camp is without question one of the most amazing places on earth. The tents are gorgeous inside (complete with blow ups of David’s astounding photographs over your comfy bed), baboons play on the roofs of the tents outside, the entire place is brilliantly run and profoundly eco-sensitive. I said this was my last trip to Africa, and it probably is, but if anything pulled me back it would be the AWD research and Chitabe Camp.

Here’s one more photo of the dogs (sorry, I just can’t resist):

Why Grandma, what big ears you have!

Meanwhile, back at the farm: No photos yet, but it is green and lush and cool and I feel like I’ve fallen into an emerald. Lassie and Willie and Sushi are wonderful, two of my ewes are struggling with a still unknown disease, the lambs are thriving and the grass is bountiful. Oh my it is good to be home!

THIS WAS WRITTEN on August 11th, but not posted til now. So don’t get confused, it’s out of order!

In transition, 10 minute to write. in nairobi between tent camp on edge of maasai mara in masai village and flights either to home or to So Africa for those of us going on to Botswana.  Trip amazing, too much to process while it is happening. Picture:

The ultimate ‘hard eye’ from a lioness 10 ft from YOU while she walks by your van with her cubs.

A leopard getting beat out over a kill by a lion.

Streams of wildebeest drawing lines across the vast and open mara, always led by zebra.

Elegant and yet adorably cute Thompson’s gazelles switching their tails in time to the bumps in the road.

More dust in your hair than you can ever imagine getting out.

Talking to young maasai warriors about their belief that cows = money, and wondering how long they can continue gathering cattle now that they tend to stay in one place.

Making life long friendships with driver guides Joe and John and Hamm, and especially Tony, our own African Angel.

Hearing that Lassie looks all over the house several times a day.. for me? and trying not to turn into a puddle.

gotta go, car leaves for airport in 20 min. next adventure, here we come….

(and everyone is well.. a few tough days for some of us, me included, but everyone doing great, though all ready for a long bath and long sleep!)

Back in the Jo’berg airport again, but this time after having spent two days in the Okavango Delta at Chitabe Tent Camp. 1/2 of us arrived 1 1/2 days late, having barely made it when our last flight was delayed and the sun’s descent meant we might not be able to take the small plane to the isolated camp: couldn’t land after dark. But we squeaked in, blank eyed and exhausted and then spent two days in heaven.  We not only saw AWD’s, we were able to be with Tico when he radio collared “Jones,” the dominant breeding male of a pack about two 1/2 hours away from the camp.

The group that arrived on time spent 5 hours one afternoon/evening and 14 hours with  Tico and his radio transmitter trying to find the pack, which they found late the afternoon the rest of us arrived. We left early the next morning, in hopes the pack hadn’t moved, and after driving not through a woods but over it (to be explained when I return) we found one adult, and then bang, right straight in front of us: 12 or 14 pups, just out of the den. The adults are habituated to people, but the pups were just out of the den in that they were no longer running back to it, so they took off and the adults followed. We carefully followed them for about 45 minutes, radio antenna held on high, and they finally settled down, pups and adults both.

It was a wonderful experience for people who want to see what field work is really like: Tico’s first 2 darts missed, we were almost out of time (he had a plane to catch later that day) but the 3rd time was a charm, and Jones got the dart full in the thigh muscle (only possible target), and went down close by in 10 minutes.
We all got to watch Tico take all his data, put the radio collar on Jones, and then we all got to get out and touch Jones, look into  his mouth (poor guy, two horribly infected teeth), pet his stiff, hard fur. It was miraculous. Most people never ever get to see dogs, even after spending hours, days, weeks, looking, and we spent most of the  morning with them. Amazing.  Photos to follow.

Three more planes to home (have taken 2 already). Others waiting for a terminal to check in, so will go now. All on trip are fine, full of stories of wonder and adventure. Some good, some not so good, but all experiences to cherish the rest of our lives.

I’m coming Lassie….. soon.

Trisha

An alert reader sent in a link to a story about ‘village’ dogs in Russia who have figured out how to forage for food in an urban setting. The dogs actually hop onto trains that take them into the city where there is a great deal of food. But they don’t just forage in garbage pails, their strategies are far more sophisticated. There are reports of dogs sneaking up behind people eating and barking loud enough to startle the person into dropping their food. They schmooze up to children, rest their heads on the leg and look–well, you know–all soft and pleading and get fed snacks from the kids. Reportedly they have learned to use the traffic lights to cross the road safely and it is said they that know what stops to get off on and even to alert one another when the stop is coming up.

I’m a bit skeptical of the last part of that statement, not disbelieving entirely, just skeptical, but I have no trouble believing that they can easily understand traffic lights. Check out this video of crows who not only have learned to drop nuts onto a busy street for cars to run over them and crack their shells, they’ve learned to use the pedestrian cross walks to collect their bounty when the cars are stopped at red lights!

Meanwhile, back in Botswana, and having nothing to do with crows or dogs, here are some of a few favorite photos from my last trip to Africa:

I don’t know if we’ll see many elephants in the Okavango Delta, but I’m sure we will have seen many in Kenya. I can’t describe to you what it is like to be within a few feet of one of these magnificent animals, and to watch their intricate social relationships and communicative signals. On my last trip we watch a small herd of elephants walk out of river and almost into the lap of a resting pride of lions. The lead matriach elephant threw up her trunk and tail, flapped her ears and trumpeted loudly while trotting quickly toward the pride. The lions looked stupefied for one moment, and then lept up and ran away. You can imagine that we loved watching it, and patted ourselves on the back for telling our driver to just let us sit in one area for awhile and let things unfold around us, rather than driving willy-nilly to look for ‘more animals.’

Well, here we are, 7 of us anyway (Matt, Kelly, Meg, Beckett, Erin, Jim and me for any relatives trying to get news), in the Jo’berg airport, over a day past when we were due to arrive in Botswana. Due to a series of unfortunate events, we were stranded and alone in the Nairobi airport 2 nights ago. Caught in a legendary traffic snarl in Nairobi, we spent 2 and 1/4 hrs either motionless in traffic or driving hell bent for leather, going THE WRONG WAY on the other side of the highway. Nairobi Airways denied us boarding anyway, even though we there almost an hour before take off and their rules said we’d be okay.  Three hrs and $1,000 later, we booked for the next morning, but bad news…. next plane from Jo,berg to Maun delayed, but will get there tonight, ….we think.

Most importantly, this is the most wonderful group of people imaginable. Smart, flexible, supportive, funny funny funny funny.  To them all, to Kelly and Matt (who own this laptop) and Meg and Beckett and JIm and Erin: REMEMBER THE BISCUITS

While we’re in Africa I’m sure all of us will have our eyes out for dogs, whether owned or feral. Out of the cities, most of the dogs I’ve seen in Kenya and Tanzania have been “village dogs,” although many of them are ‘owned’ by someone in the area. “Owned” just means something different there: When you ask “Is that your dog?” it’s common for someone to say yes, but the dog will have no name, no identification and clearly is relatively independent of people. Usually what they mean is that the dog is allowed to sleep in their yard, but that there is not much of a relationship otherwise. Even in the cities, the people I’ve talked to have said that dog ownership is relatively common, but that, at least for most Africans, dogs are often not allowed in the house and are primarily kept as guard animals.

Thus, guarding and protecting seems to be the most common function of dogs in urban and rural areas, although this is not to say that there aren’t lots of Africans who have pet dogs that they love and cherish. But the dogs you see driving around and in villages when on safari look like classic ‘village dogs’ and live relatively independent of people.

On previous trips I’ve noticed that every Masai and Samburu village we’ve visited has dogs hanging around. When asked, everyone says the same thing: the dogs are there to warn them of lions. I’ve never seen or heard of anyone using the dogs to manage or control livestock in any way. (This is mostly done by young children, who yell and throw stones to move animals from place to place.) The Masai and Samburu villages are protected only by thorn-tree fences constructed on the perimeter of the village, and the cattle and sheep are brought in every night and the thorny ‘gate’ is pulled shut behind them. Even inside, the animals (and people) are still sometimes vulnerable though to lions and the dogs are important warning systems for the inhabitants. I would think leopards are also a problem, having adapted to human settlements very well. I know that they are a major predator of dogs in some settlements–I’ll ask this trip if leopards are as big a problem as lions.

Here is a Masai woman with a pup at one village. (You can see the thorn fence behind her that is used to keep out night predators.) Truth be told, the impression I got was that the pup had rarely been handled, but the woman, being no dummy, noticed that we tourists found the dog fascinating, and she accommodated us by staying beside it and trying to pet it. I’ll try to take lots of pictures on this trip of dogs, and no doubt have lots to talk about when I get back . . .

One of our alert readers sent a link to a study done by Kathryn Lord of U. Massachusetts on the “meaning” of barks in a variety of species. The link is to a newspaper article written about the study, complete with comments (mostly irate) about the findings of the work. But the study (which I of course don’t think is a waste of money, contrary to some of the negative comments) brings up some very interesting questions that researchers in animal behavior have been thinking about for decades. The over riding question is this: what, exactly, is the message of vocal communication? Take any species, and ask yourself: is the bark, the growl or the song of a particular animal an expression of the animal’s internal state (expressing fear, or affiliation, or emotions that could lead to aggression) or (and?) are some vocalizations more like the abstract aspects of human language, in that each call refers to something in the environment, external to the sender. Scientists call this “referential communication,” meaning that the call is not just an expression of fear or excitement, but a more abstract phenomenon that refers to an event or object external to the self (as in: “There’s a lion under our tree” or “I just found a specific kind of food.”)

What’s fun for us is that this debate now includes the bark of the domestic dog (and high time I would say!). It is shocking (truly) how little the bark of the domestic dog has been studied–there are, after all, over a thousand individual studies on the call note of the Red-winged Black bird.  But thanks to researchers like Sophia Yin and Kathryn Lord, among others, barking has become a vocalization worth study. Yeah for them!

To summarize with painful simplicity, Sophia Yin and Yin and McCowan did some very interesting work (see (J. of Comparative Psychology, 2002, Vol X, p 189-193 and Animal Behaviour, 2004, Vol 68, p 343-355 respectively) confirming our anecdotal observations that different contexts elicit different kinds of barks from dogs. Harsh, low pitched barks were given most often in “disturbance” situations (stranger at the door) and higher pitched, more tonal barks were given if the dogs were playing or were isolated away from their owners. Yin suggests that these differences are interesting and important, countering the arguments of some others whose published work suggests that dogs are so altered from the wild type that barks have no value for ethological study.  Yeah for Yin for making an excellent argument (as I told my Dissertation committe once, if it’s good enough for Darwin, who was fascinated by domestic dogs, surely it’s good enough for us!)

Lord et al, in her recent paper that got so much press (just Google her name and “dog barks,” argues that barking in domestic dogs is best described as a “mobbing call,” a vocalization seen in a large range of species, given in circumstances in which an individual is often ambivalent (wants to approach but afraid to) and has the same acoustic features of other mobbing calls. She and her co-authors argue that barks are purely expressions of emotional states, and have no “referential function.” That does NOT mean that a great deal of communication can’t be relayed, and that the receivers can’t learn a great deal about the environment by listening to the bark of a social partner, but it does mean that a bark is not saying “Large man approaching from the North” or “Timmy is stuck in the well” but something closer to “Ah Uh, What do I do now?” We can learn that the sound of their bark means there is an intruder, but the dog isn’t necessarily trying to communicate that.. or are they?

This is VERY complicated and wonderful topic. I could write for hours, but I’d better not, so I’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to comment on what you think about this issue.  To prime your thoughts, I’ll add that I’ve never had the impression that barks were anywhere near as nuanced a communication as visual signals in dogs, AND that there is a growing body of research that has found referential communication in a variety of species, including Prairie Dogs and, ironically, a small, beautiful primate called a Vervet, who I am probably watching right now as you read this . . .

Meanwhile, not “back at the farm” but in Africa: As most of you know, I’m in Africa (having written and pre-posted this before I left). This is a photo I took on a previous trip of the famous Vervet Monkeys, known to all students of animal behavior because researchers Seyfarth and Cheney spent over 20 years studying their vocalizations, and showing that they truly do use “referential communication.” They have different alarm signals (and responses) for flying predators (who they run DOWN the tree and hide from), terrestrial predators (who they run UP the tree to escape) and snakes (who they run into the grasses and mob). It’s great research, using lots of playbacks that show that although the young can physically produce all the calls, they give them to the wrong triggers at first (at any flying bird for example) and the adults generally  ignore them until they learn to distinguish an eagle from a vulture. Cool stuff, and seeing the monkeys live, right next to our dinner table (as we might be right now!) is a thrill for me beyond description. Besides, how many male mammals have testicles that are robin’s egg blue? Well, Vervets do… but sorry, this photo is of a Vervet female and her new born infant. They are in a tree that was just a few feet from our table, beside a Masai Warrior who usually stays in the dining area to shoo them off our tables if need be!

Watched adult female and two subadult cubs (3-4 yrs? still some spots on legs) chase vultures off a recent zebra kill. Elephants coming in out of the hills to feed in the amboseli swamps, we’ll see more of them later today. Am meeting with camp naturalist to learn more… saw an animal that looked exactly like an African Wild Cat…. which is pretty much exactly like a tabby house cat.  How tell difference? At night the zebra and antelope come right up to the veranda. Have to watch out for vervets, who try to steal the sugar off your table and dash in your room. Yesterday we caught one on our luggage, just starting to unzip it. And yes, we’ve seen lots and lots of robin egg blue testicles (on the vervets, honest.  they even have a penile display that zoologists patriotically call the “Red White and Blue display.” Gotta love it.)

Running out of computer time, don’t know if will have access again in Kenya. This lodge is the biggest we’ll stay out, otherwise we are in small, tent camps. The facilities are lovely, even can get a massage (!) but there are a lot of people and we’ve been spoiled by our first isolated tent camp in the Tsavo. Will be similar tho in the Masai Mara, staying in a small, isolated tent camp.

Love to everyone, with a heart ful of gratitude to be able to experience such an amazing place, and to be so blessed with so much. Wish I could send photos, but am taking bunches and will post when return.

Here we are in Amboseli. 9 pm, long day, ending with dinner watching gazelles, zebra and wildebeest walking past the dining room. went on game drive in evening, found pride of 9 lions:2 black maned males, 2 cubs and 5 females. some of us saw them very closely, my van not right next to the van, but still amazing. cubs playing on top of mom, males looking bored and regal. all getting ready for nightly hunt.

Is just as wonderful as you would hope. People so kind, country astounding–vast and huge and full of contrasts. Dry sand dirt and electric red robes of  Maasai. Is sadness too–terrible drought causing suffering to people and animals alike. Maize crop has failed for people. Grass gone for grazers, so hippos and zebra suffering terribly. Browsers like giraffe and Kudu antelop doing much better. Birds everywhere, so beautiful you can’t believe they are real. Lisa, one of group, got a photo of a Lilac Breasted Roller (check it out) that will knock your socks off.  It’s hard to believe some of the birds are real, they look like Dr. Seuss or Disney animals.

Too much to describe in my 15 min of internet time, but have seen hyena, black backed and golden jackals, absurd and amazing numbers of elephants (including babies, “tembo toto” in Kiswahili. (Baby giraffe are Twigga Toto. How cute is that?

We are reveling in wildlife, country and people. Went to a Maasai school today that we had arranged before hand. Chlldren sang for us, so sweet our hearts could barely stay in our bodies. We taught them how to play Hokey Pokey dance (Barbara’s idea.. such a stroke of brilliance). The kids loved it, but not as much as we, all holding hands in a big circle, laughing together.

Group that came is delightful, couldn’t be better. Each van, of 4-6 people is developing it’s own personality, including the Impala Harem. I’ll let them explain… if they dare.

Tomorrow it’s a 6:30 game drive (best to see cats) for some, visit to a Maasai village for others. Then back for breakfast, and a game drive or nature walk.

Gotta go do some laundry. So much dust in my hair and clothes I could sell bags of sand for highway departments…

More soon, if can…

Wheeeee, the new 1/2 day seminar on play that I did in California a few weeks ago is out now on DVD, thanks to lots of hard work by Alta at Tawzer Videos. You can learn more about Dog Play on my website, but here’s the summary:

The seminar focused on three aspects of canine play:

1) The Natural History of Play: What IS play after all? Who plays and Why? (Those questions turn out to be much more complicated than you might think and have all kinds of interesting implications for us and our dogs!)

2) Play Between Dogs: What do we know about the development of play in dogs? The seminar includes new research out of Barbara Smut’s lab in Michigan about the development of play in dogs and what is “natural” and what is not. It also includes an in-depth discussion, with lots of videos, about what is appropriate and what is inappropriate play.

3) Play Between Dogs and People: This section summarizes the good, the bad and the ugly about play between two species, who are both attracted by our shared high levels of play as adults, and troubled by mis-communications that occur when members of two different species don’t learn one another’s play signals and play styles.

The DVD is about three hours long, and although I guarantee you that it’s not perfect, I am a little embarrassed to admit how much time was spent tweaking edits, smoothing transitions and dying a thousand deaths while watching myself, my double chin and my silly hair do. If you think you don’t like photographs of yourself, try watching yourself on video. But what’s important is the content, and I’m pleased to say that people at the seminar seemed to find it interesting and enjoyable. I love the topic myself, and love the interplay of science and daily life with dogs. I hope you enjoy it too.

Meanwhile, when you read this we’ll be on our way to the Maasai Mara, staying at Tipilikwani Camp right by the river. On the drive there from Amboseli, we’ll stop to get gas, discover that our urine does not fall straight out of our bodies as we try to aim for a tiny hole in the ground in the “rest room,” and no doubt watch some typical ‘village’ dogs hang out in the shade. Here’s some from a previous trip, showing the universal display of status and active submission seen in dogs around the world: