Mammals are everywhere. Sir David Attenborough reveals the ingenuity behind their success.
Image by Jo Hayley. Hyenas are incredibly attentive mothers, investing an exceptional amount of energy into their cubs.
We had travelled to the Ngorogoro Crater, Tanzania and as our vehicle crested the rim and we got our first glimpse, it took my breath away. An unimaginably surreal landscape, and so vast my mind couldn’t comprehend that this was a caldera, once part of an enormous active volcano. We took some obligatory photos at the viewpoint and headed to a campsite on the rim of the crater – our home for the next 5 weeks.
It didn’t take long to spot our first hyena. Less than 5 minutes after reaching the crater floor a sentinel stood watching from a nearby rise before trotting away – probably to tell the others about our arrival. The Crater hyenas live in rival groups known as clans, and each of the 8 clans dominates a distinct, but overlapping, territory on the Crater floor. Around 400 hyenas make their home in the crater, and the largest clan holds more than 90 individuals.
Image by Jo Hayley. Hyena cubs play all day, but this play fighting will actually help dictate their social hierarchy in the future. We spent countless hours sitting in that pitch darkness, using thermal scopes to search for signs of activity. While making the Dark episode I had spent hundreds of nights in a similar fashion, but nowhere did the night feel as wild and suspenseful as there.
Image by Jo Haley. Camera operator, Luke Barnett waits for the sun to go down and the action to start.
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