Table Of ContentThe Call of Carnivores
Also by Hans Kruuk
Predators and Anti-Predator Behaviour of the Black-Headed Gull
. Leiden: Brill,
1964.
The Spotted Hyena, a Study of Predation and Social Behaviour
. Chicago and
London: University of Chicago Press, 1972 (repr. 2014, Brattleboro, VT: Echo
Point Books).
Hyaena
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.
The Social Badger
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Wild Otters
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Hunter and Hunted: Carnivore Behaviour and Their Relations with People
.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Niko’s Nature: A Life of Niko Tinbergen and his Science of Animal Behaviour
.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Otter Ecology, Behaviour and Conservation
. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2006.
The Call of
Carnivores
Travels of a Field Biologist
Hans Kruuk
Drawings by Ineke Kruuk and Diana Brown
PELAGIC PUBLISHING
Published by Pelagic Publishing
PO Box 874
Exeter
EX3 9BR
UK
www.pelagicpublishing.com
The Call of Carnivores: Travels of a Field Biologist
Paperback
ISBN 978-1-78427-193-0
ePub
ISBN 978-1-78427-182-4
PDF
ISBN 978-1-78427-183-1
© Hans Kruuk 2019
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
All rights reserved. Apart from short excerpts for use in research or
for reviews, no part of this document may be printed or reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, now known or hereafter
invented or otherwise without prior permission from the publisher.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
Crocuta crocuta
Cover: Spotted hyena ( ) crouched over kill, taken with remote
camera. Liuwa Plain National Park, Zambia. © Will Burrard-Lucas/naturepl.com
To Saskia, James, Hannah,
Edward and Lyndon
Contents
Acknowledgements
viii
1. In the field 1
2. Camouflage in an aquarium 5
3. Gulls and their enemies: foxes and hedgehogs 9
4. Serengeti: hyenas, lions and the dusty track to Seronera 17
5. Solomon, the hyena in my bath 25
6. Clans of the savannah 35
7. Hyenas hunt 46
8. Witches, and death in the dark 57
9. Masai, people and art on the Serengeti plains 70
10. Striped without a clan 81
11. The Kalahari desert: a story of sand-dunes, people, hyenas
and badgers 90
12. Nomads of northern Kenya 101
13. Harar, town of the people’s hyena 110
14. Vultures gathering 117
15. Flying next to vultures 125
16. Chasing dogs on Darwin’s islands 135
17. Badgering in Britain 146
18. Olfactory delights and olives 158
19. Shetland otters 167
20. Otters in and around the garden 179
21. Otters, crocodiles and orcas 186
22. Three monks, calls of gibbons, and otters in Thailand 196
23. Down under: platypus, quolls and leeches 202
24. Just one last project 208
References
212
Index
215
Acknowledgements
I am immensely grateful to Niko Tinbergen for opening my eyes to animal
behaviour, and for the great times we had in the bird hide. My Serengeti and
Ngorongoro experience was made possible by John Owen, Director of Tanzania
National Parks, to whom I owe immense thanks. Also in Africa I benefited
greatly from the wise words and friendship of Hugh Lamprey, and Gus Mills
introduced me to the marvels of the Kalahari. Everywhere I worked I was
helped by many students, assistants, colleagues and friends, far too many to
name them all, but they will know how much I appreciate them, still. And, of
course, I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from numerous insti-
tutions. The writing of this book would have been quite impossible without
the backing, encouragement and criticisms from my children Loeske and
her husband Patrick, and Johnny and his wife Alice – my gratitude to them
knows no bounds. Thanks also to my sister Ineke, for her touching drawings
of the Serengeti hyenas, and to Loeske Kruuk, Lyndon Meir, Gus Mills and the
family of Niko Tinbergen for the use of photographs. The Alcock-Brown Trust
kindly allowed me to use the splendid sketches of otters by Diana Brown. But
especially, I will never have sufficient words for my deep gratitude to Jane, who
enjoyed the hyenas, Solomon and everything since them just as much as I did.
Chapter 1
In the field
Serengeti house with spotted hyena. (Ineke Kruuk)
he entire floor of the Ngorongoro Crater in East Africa, all this huge
Tarea of beautiful grassland, lakes and streams, is ours for the first few
hours of daylight. There are no tourists yet, and our tent catches the first
rays from the sun rising above the forests of the crater rim. Birds sing, zebras
bark, wildebeest grunt, some cranes fly over. The two large groups of hyenas in
front of Jane and me, some 40 animals, are a striking confirmation of my latest
discovery, that these fascinating animals live in large clans which are often at
loggerheads with each other. It is another new result of my study here, along
with the know ledge that I am watching real hunters here, not the scavengers of
popular imagination but hunters, just like wolves, hunters from whom other
carnivores such as lions steal. To be able to pursue science in such surroundings
is a tremendous privilege, a fortunate and fabulous existence.
I have spent most of my life watching the behaviour of wild animals. How that
began, and came to dominate my life, I don’t really know. But what I can see now
is how a love of natural history turned into science, into observations and experi-
ments that asked how animals’ behaviour shapes their existence. Over the years I
have written books and scientific papers about my work, about animal behaviour
and ecology, and why I believe this to be important. Here, I am writing about the
pleasure I derived from being involved in it, about the wonderful natural history,
about the rich tapestry behind all my observations in Africa, in Shetland and in
many other parts of the world. It is about working with wild animals.
