Monthly Archives: October 2012

Our guide said that he had never seen the likes of this in all of his years. We came upon a fresh lion kill of a wildebeest that the lion had abandoned. A dog from a neighboring shepherd had found the remains. For 15 minutes the dog ate what he wanted while dozens of vultures and Marabou quietly sat on the sidelines clearly ever so eager to get into the meat. The dog came to see the power he had, so even after he was no longer eating he played with the carcass. He would pull on this piece—and the vultures would lurch forward but not all the way—the dog would look at them and they’d back away quietly. The dog would continue to play. After a while of this, the dog tested his power. He walked about 15 feet away and rolled around in the grass…… the vultures moved in, almost making it to the carcass. The dog stood up and took a few steps toward the carcass. The vultures backed off. All this time, more and more vultures landed. The number was now in the hundreds. Still the dog held rein. He would walk away; the vultures would cautiously move forward only to have the dog send them back again. The vultures were clearly being tormented and started fighting among themselves in the ranks away from the carcass. Eventually, the dog grew tired of the game and walked away. With each step the dog took going away, the vultures took 2-3 steps tentatively toward the meat. Once the dog passed the outer most flank of the vultures, the vultures swept in and a completely mad feeding frenzy began. Hooting, growling, tearing at the meat, kicking at each other, flying up and diving straight into the pile to force a hole to gain access to the meat. So it went. They consumed the wildebeest in short order….. These are only a few of the dozens of photos that we took throughout this phenomenon…..

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