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00:00 This little hyena cub has a hard life ahead of her. It's a wild world full of
00:07 danger. She'll have to learn fast if she's going to survive.
00:14 Hey team welcome to another video. If you're new here I'm Jules. As a wildlife
00:21 cameraman I've spent months living alongside hyenas while filming. I've
00:25 grown to love them and in this series I'm showing you why you should too. Today
00:30 we'll follow the journey of a young hyena princess as she takes her first
00:33 step out into the wild. Let's go.
00:49 This is the tale of Spotty the spotted hyena. Lame name I know, sorry.
00:55 Spotty's clan lives on the banks of a lagoon but this is not the beginning of
01:00 our story. For that we need to go back two weeks before when I arrived in South
01:06 Waiango National Park for another filming trip.
01:10 I'm here to film hyenas and all the other amazing animals that live here.
01:18 For viewers documentaries always start with pretty pictures of animals but for
01:28 filmmakers like me it starts with a search. The first step of filming is
01:32 finding animals and that can be a real challenge. For me there's something
01:38 special about the start of a filming trip. The anticipation, the excitement.
01:42 It's the start of an adventure. Even though I've spent years in the wild I
01:47 still have to adjust to being back there. You have to get your mind into being a
01:51 part of this landscape. Reading tracks, listening for alarm calls, watching your
01:56 back.
01:58 The first thing you notice is the stillness. Here time is only dictated by
02:05 whether the Sun is up or down. There's no traffic, no people but it's not quiet.
02:12 All around the bush is alive.
02:16 [Music]
02:30 When you're looking for hyena cubs the best place to start is the den. It's like
02:35 a family home for hyenas. This is where their young cubs grow up so it's a focal
02:40 point for the clan but they'll often maintain a bunch of other smaller dens
02:44 dotted around the area like summer cottages and this is where hyena
02:47 mothers will give birth away from prying eyes. Over the years I've developed a map
02:56 of all the holes I found in the ground. Now that might sound a bit strange and
03:02 it looks pretty confusing too but it's actually a really good way of finding
03:05 young hyena cubs. Mothers often modify holes made by porcupine or warthog into
03:10 temporary dens to stash their very young cubs. So I can drive around and check all
03:16 the holes in the ground for tracks or leave camera traps up and see if there's
03:20 anything living inside.
03:22 But this time the hyenas have given me the runaround. After a week of searching
03:32 empty holes I was ready to give up. Luckily a friend of mine Bertram is a
03:37 local guide and he saved the day and showed me where the hyena queen had
03:40 stashed her little princess. For the first few weeks hyena cubs are black
03:47 before they develop their yellowish color and spots so a little cub like
03:51 this is only a few weeks old. She's totally defenseless and completely
03:56 reliant on mum. It's a scary world out there but the den can be a tough place
04:03 too. Animals living wild attract parasites. Think about what your pet dog
04:10 would be like after a year or two of no grooming or a bath. Lice, ticks and other
04:15 nasty parasites crawl, burrow and scratch constantly. I'm making you itch yet?
04:23 Hyenas are tough but even they can't handle bed bugs so when the amount of
04:29 parasites in the den gets too much mum will move them. Rats like other
04:33 predators or rival clans can also trigger a move as can the presence of a
04:37 filmmaker like me so you have to be careful. Hyenas are really good mums so
04:43 until they trust you you have to walk a fine line between being close enough to
04:46 film but not so close that you disturb her. When you're filming animals it's
04:53 hard not to give them a name. Scientists tend to study a lot of animals so
04:57 keeping track of them is really hard so a hyena might be h317 or something
05:02 equally personal. Safari guides and camera teams are less traditional and
05:06 usually do give animals names. It's kind of a natural instinct. You spend so much
05:10 time with them you end up thinking of them as characters or friends. A buddy of
05:14 mine Simon works for the National Parks Department and he accompanied me during
05:18 filming. He and I wanted to name the young hyena cub Shula but that means
05:24 fart in the local language so it probably wouldn't have made the cut. We
05:28 decided that Spotty was a good enough name. Spending a lot of time at the den
05:34 you get a really good idea of just how many animals pass by. As they grow hyena
05:41 cubs have to learn to deal with these residents, elephant, warthog and these
05:45 baboons and work out which ones are a threat and which ones they can chase.
05:51 They haven't worked out they're supposed to be predators yet. Hyena cubs have a
05:58 lot of learning to do. Not only do they have to learn about the threats from
06:01 other animals but they also have to learn how to deal with a very complex
06:05 social hierarchy. Understanding your rank is one of the most important life
06:10 lessons a hyena cub has to learn. They do this amazing greeting ceremony when they
06:15 meet. With a superb sense of smell they're able to tell who's who and
06:20 reaffirm rank. Hyena society is matriarchal which means it's led by
06:25 females. Cubs are born with the ranks of their mothers so if you get a raw deal
06:30 and are born to a low-ranking hyena life is tough. If you're born to a queen and
06:35 you're a female cub you'll outrank all the other hyenas including the males.
06:40 Beyonce would be proud. Who runs the world?
06:45 The process of getting animals used to you is called habituation. When you're
06:50 filming in areas where there are a lot of tourists this is often been done
06:53 already by the guides but when you're filming baby animals you have to start
06:56 from scratch. Over the first few weeks of filming the cubs gradually get more and
07:01 more relaxed and that's when you start getting the good stuff. But sometimes
07:06 they can take it a little bit far.
07:10 These cubs are just being curious. Chewing my tires, ripping the canvas on my
07:17 camera mount and generally being cheeky. They're too close to film here but now
07:22 they know I'm not a threat and that's great. Once they get bored they'll start
07:26 ignoring me and that's just perfect.
07:30 When hyenas look at you it's different to other predators. One filmmaker I worked
07:35 with describes it as "doughy eyes". Cats like lions and leopards have a hard stare.
07:40 Hyenas don't. I know I'm probably gonna get trolled by sciencey types here but
07:45 hyenas have soft intelligent eyes more like a puppy. They also do this kind of
07:51 bobbing thing with their heads when they're curious like they're trying to
07:54 figure you out. It can be a bit unnerving at first especially at night when their
07:58 eyes reflect but once you realize that they're just curious it's really funny
08:02 to see them bobbing their heads like they're in the club. A juvenile hyena has
08:09 arrived at the den with most of an impala which they probably scavenge from
08:12 a leopard. It's an odd move usually they'd feed elsewhere and bring back
08:16 small bits of the carcass. Hyenas don't like sharing. This young hyena is a
08:24 fighter. She's got a broken leg that's mended but it's still hard to use. If she
08:30 was low-ranking she'd be dead already but she's got high status and that means
08:34 she's able to use that to her advantage. Usually when we make films we can put a
08:39 variety of shots together to make a story work. Here it was all happening at
08:44 once and being the only camera on the scene I had to try my best to capture it
08:48 all. Other than a few cuts you're seeing it unfold in real time. The adults are
08:56 all fighting for a bit of the carcass. The young injured cub wants her share.
09:00 You can see how the older hyenas are holding their aggression back. They
09:05 probably know they can take what they want by force but there would be
09:08 consequences. Breaking the rules of the hierarchy is a huge no-no and hyenas can
09:14 be vicious when enforcing rank. In the middle of it all a herd of elephants
09:23 show up and a couple of excited hyenas give chase.
09:32 The young injured cub asserts her rank. She knows mum will back her up. In the
09:45 end she gets her way and the dust settles. Life at the den goes back to normal.
09:52 After a couple of months Spotty has grown and she and her den mates are ready to
09:59 start exploring their world. They start making little forays into the wild and
10:03 this is the most dangerous time for them. They could encounter any number of
10:08 threats along the way. Later in life hyenas are able to dominate leopards but
10:19 at this age they'd be an easy meal. This wilderness is also home to the
10:24 Nsefu pride. A pride of lions can bring down prey as large as an elephant. A
10:29 couple of hyena cubs would make a nice little snack. The cubs are lucky the
10:37 lions are sleeping. They're conserving their energy for later when it's time to
10:41 hunt or until something surprises them.
10:47 [Lion Roaring]
10:49 Right now it's too hot to bother with a couple of scrawny cubs but after dark it
11:01 might be another story. With nowhere to be and no one to tell them what to do
11:06 the cubs meander checking out anything that catches their attention.
11:11 [Music]
11:13 It's getting late now and Spotty is still very far from the den. She'll be
11:23 crossing lion country in the dead of night and the Nsefu pride is on the hunt.
11:29 The lions are feeding close to the hyena den. Thermal cameras allow us to film in
11:39 the dead of night. My mate Neil was filming when the Nsefu pride and our
11:47 hyena clan clashed. The hyena adults push in to try and fight for the kill.
11:53 All hell breaks loose.
11:58 Let's just pause here a minute. Scenes like this are difficult to watch but you
12:08 have to try not to pick sides. On the one hand the lions have hungry mouths to feed
12:12 but on the other the hyenas can't let the lions get too comfortable or Spotty
12:17 and the other cubs could be in danger. It's like a schoolyard fight where you're
12:22 friends with both sides but here you can't just step in and break it up.
12:28 One of the hardest things for a filmmaker is to remain on the outside
12:33 and let animals just be animals.
12:38 In the morning all is quiet at the den and it's easy to assume the worst but a
12:47 familiar face is a sight for sore eyes. Spotty is okay and she'll have learned a
12:52 good lesson about life in the wild.
12:57 The cubs are in a playful mood and they've got energy to burn.
13:16 For Spotty this is only the start of a life full of adventure. Hyenas go through
13:21 so much, fighting with lions, dodging angry hippos. Every day is a new challenge.
13:27 I hope I've given you a glimpse into what makes them so special. From their
13:31 time as adorable little cubs to fierce encounters with rival predators. You've
13:36 seen how they've been misrepresented, miscast and misunderstood. Hopefully
13:41 you've fallen in love with them and with any luck that's made you care about them
13:45 too. We're gonna be doing a follow-up episode where we'll answer any questions
13:50 about hyenas you might still have and we'll let you know ways in which you can
13:53 get involved in their conservation. We'll be looking at some of the human-created
13:57 threats that hyenas face and hearing from some of the people who have made it
14:01 their life's mission to protect them. People I'm lucky to count as friends.
14:06 We'll be premiering that episode so if you're interested you can watch with us.
14:09 To do that make sure you subscribe and turn your notifications on. If there's
14:14 anything you want to know about hyenas just let us know. Leave us a comment
14:17 below and let us know what you learned or shoot us a DM on Instagram. We'd love
14:21 to know what you think. I hope you've enjoyed our adventure together. Thanks so
14:25 much for joining me and until next time, stay wild!
14:30 you
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14:38 (upbeat music)
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