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Semi was trying to get Siggy to play with her.

#pygmy goat #baby goats #gif #playing animals #SemiColon #Siggy #Siegfried #Twinkie #TwinkleToes #my post #my Pet

While on our morning observation yesterday, Benson and I had the joy of finding 5 hyenas on top of a very dead, very putrid vulture. While looking through our binoculars to ensure no subtle behaviors were missed, we were simultaneously trying (and failing) to cover our noses from the horrible smell. However, the hyenas didn’t seem to mind the smell, in fact they seemed to enjoy it.

At first, it was difficult to tell if the hyenas had acquired the bird with intent to eat it, or if they were merely playing with it. Behaviors that we would typically classify as aggressions (e.g. snaps, bites, chases, and lunges) appeared to be being exhibited, but the recipient of the behavior never exhibited the submissive behaviors typically seen after an aggression (e.g. laying ears against the head, grinning, giggling, defensive parrying). With hyenas with ranks all across the board, it was quite odd at first to not see any submissive behaviors being displayed from the lower ranking individuals. In fact, it appeared that all five individuals (Arby’s, Athi, Complex, Eowyn, and Richard Hatch) were all excitedly vying for their turn to roll in the carcass and cover themselves in the smell of dead bird.