Dancing with Hyenas

Starting in late May, Ingrid Wiesel of the Brown Hyena Research Project wants to equip more hyenas around Lüderitzbucht and Aus with transmitters, especially another spotted hyena.
The walls of her office in Ring Street in Namibia's coastal town of Lüderitzbucht are full of square little notes. Next to them large posters with whatever information is available on brown and spotted hyena. Here, Ingrid Wiesel shows us a black collar with a thicker part in the middle - a GPS transmitter.

The 38-year-old biologist from Hamburg intends to fit a second spotted hyena with this collar, starting in late May. The hyena recently appeared in the area around Aus where another one was collared last October. "I also have permission to fit two brown hyenas in that area with transmitters", she says. "It will be interesting to see how the two species interact."
Ingrid Wiesel has been researching hyenas since 1995 when a pilot study was carried out on the carnivores which until then were something of an unknown quantity scientifically. The feeding habits of brown hyena in the coastal area around Lüderitzbucht, where they have no competitors other than jackals, were the topic of her dissertation and later a main subject of her doctoral thesis. Data on the area where hyena occur, their movements and habits as well as data on the protection of their habitats are gathered by the Brown Hyena Research Project for the preservation of this species. The project was established in 1997 and finally registered as a non-profit organization in 2002.
The biologist has obtained permission to fit more brown hyenas in the coastal area and also a little further inland with transmitters. Since hyenas are nocturnal creatures, this means that baiting, catching and tranquilizing them all have to happen at night. Which tends to be rather complicated: "Last time I spent 31 successive nights outside, but I was only able to fit one hyena with a transmitter", Wiesel says. Perseverance and patience are essential for her work, she adds. Another difficulty is that there is no resident vet in Lüderitzbucht, but she always needs to be accompanied by one when transmitters are fitted.

Her aim is to fit 15 to 20 hyenas with a radio transmitter or the more advanced GPS transmitter. Currently only nine hyenas wear transmitter collars, Wiesel says. An estimated 100 brown hyenas roam the Restricted Diamond Area around Lüderitz and the total number for the whole of Namibia is thought to be 1000 to 1200 animals - they are indeed very rare and endangered. The Brown Hyena Research Project relies on donations for funding; the most long-standing donor is Namibia's diamond company Namdeb. How important these funds are becomes evident by the mere cost for a GPS transmitter - N$ 30 000.

The Hyena Lady, meanwhile, got her computer ready to show us pictures of how the first spotted hyena was fitted with a transmitter. And more pictures of the hyena wearing its collar in the desert. All animals with collars have been given names. "It is easier and nicer than just a number, isn't it", says Wiesel. The spotted hyena is known as Oona, her number is GCc1f. G is for her habitat, Garub; Cc is for Crocuta crocuta, her scientific name; 1 is for the first transmitter fitted to a hyena and f is for female. And why Oona? "I somehow wanted to express that this is the first one. So I came across the Irish name Oona which sounds like 'una' - 'one' in Italian", Wiesel explains.

She either chooses a name herself or leaves the choice to those who adopt a hyena to support the project (N$ 1500 per year), or to somebody who helps with collaring. Students are particularly resourceful with names, says Ingrid Wiesel. A film crew once named an animal Mr Ugly because the hyena didn't look all too pretty. Another one is called Mr Whitesocks. "I noticed his white ankles when I saw him from a distance for the first time", Wiesel recalls. In both cases, however, it is not altogether clear yet whether the misters are indeed males.
The monitor screen has turned colourful. Maps compiled according to GPS data show the movements of the hyena. The green lines which form a star around a dot are particularly striking. "That is the hyena's den", explains the biologist. In pre-GPS times it took her much longer, lying in wait, before she knew where the den was. The flipside of technology is that the researcher does not get as physically close to the animals any longer, she adds.

Ingrid Wiesel maintains that there is no real conflict between hyenas and human interests. But people know very little about these animals and as a result they fear them, she says. Therefore she finds it particularly important that school children learn why hyenas hunt seal pups. Wiesel has set up an information desk on hyenas - with posters and even a skeleton - in the ghost town of Kolmannskuppe, a former diamond settlement. Tourists may occasionally spot a hyena between the deserted houses of Kolmannskuppe. Chances are better, however, during a barbecue at Big Bay.
Road accidents are the biggest problem, says Ingrid Wiese. Three to four hyenas per year get killed on the road between Lüderitzbucht and Aus at night. And peculiar things happen, too: "Based on the data on one particular hyena's movement I put up a warning sign, and you know what, that same hyena got knocked over at that very street sign."

For more details contact:
Brown Hyena Research Project
P.O. Box 739 Lüderitz
Tel. 00264-63-20 21 14
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.strandwolf.org.za