Commentary: Leon Marais - Lawson's Birding and Wildlife Safaris
Filmed by Mohamed Abraham
What a thrilling moment this is; the vocalisations and the interactions - it's just remarkable to see.
I found this to be a very exciting video; I almost felt like I was there watching it. Remarkable. I would love to see something like that. I've seen smaller kinds of interactions, but I always find the relationship between wild dogs and hyenas to be very interesting.
I think I've spoken about this in a previous video, but they basically have various outcomes of the interactions. Sometimes they are almost neutral towards each other. Sometimes, there even appears to be a bit of, almost one could say, affection between them, you know, licking and nuzzling.
And then sometimes there's this kind of aggression, and you can see that coming out here. But you see how the hyenas kind of keep their backsides low to the ground, and the wild dogs use their superior coordination and numbers. But in this one, you saw the hyenas rushing in as well. So it was a bit of give-and-take.
I don't think there was a clear winner here. Not that it was a serious fight. I mean, they're not out there to kill each other. Obviously, just interspecies aggression, competing for the same food items and often the hyenas are stealing the kills of the wild dogs. So the wild dogs don't always appreciate them, I guess.
But a very interesting video, and well done to the videographer.
Watch the video on Youtube
Related Wildlife Videos
Submit your own African wildlife video to win prizes.