Dog News

The Mapura pack have established a den site on Chishakwe.  They have chosen the spot well.  Unfortunately it does not offer great viewing opportunities but it does offer the pack maximum safety and a rear exit!

These pictures are among the first of the camera trap photos of puppies emerging from the den.

The puppies, at this stage, are an almost uniform black and have not yet developed their markings.  Some white can just be seen on them and these markings will be what are used to identify individual puppies at this stage.

Sadly not too long after these photos were taken two of the dogs from the pack were killed by lion.

Lion pose the biggest danger to wild dog after man.  They kill dogs and puppies if they can in order to lessen the competition for food.

The two dogs that were killed were killed away from the den site while hunting so it seems like the den site remains secure for the puppies.  The down sizing of the pack size may effect the dogs ability to successfully hunt though we hope that the pack remains large enough to overcome this.

We hope to post up dated news and some more pics of the pups soon.

Muvava Project winners 2011

For those of you who do not already know:  Chishakwe works in two schools situated in villages neighbouring the Conservancy; Muvava and Uteke schools.

Each year we conduct a competition featuring a chosen environmental or conservation theme.  The winning children win a day on Safari at Chishakwe and their projects are displayed in the little Chishakwe Museum.  The prize and the competition have proved most popular.

This year the project theme featured termite mounds and the important habitat resource that they provide.  The children really enjoyed the hands on work of creating their own termite mounds and made some excellent posters with illustrations to accompany them.

Pangolin Up Date

We are delighted to report that the Pangolin mentioned in our last blog has made excellent progress!  He began by going on long evening walks and foraging around for ants for dinner.

Ultimately he grew so strong that he made his escape into the wild!  We miss him but cannot deny that as a wild creature he is better off living on his own in the bush.

So the Pangolin story has what can only be considered a happy ending after all.

Pangolin heading out on a walk just before he left for good