COLLARING ROSSIGNOL
Our research camp lies on the eastern fringes of the Okavango Delta, just outside of the famous Moremi Game Reserve. This location enables us to actively monitor around 13 packs of African wild dogs, together ranging over approximately 3’000km2. We try to regularly visit each of the packs to keep an eye on their well-being and their composition; who is still alive, who is gone, who is reproducing? Some of the packs reside close to our camp, others are far in sometimes inaccessible areas. One of these packs living in a particularly challenging area in the Okavango is the “Mystery” pack. Mystery once was – well - a mystery to us. The team at Dog Camp first found them in September 2021 in the border areas of another study area pack’s range. We later learned this was right at the edge of their range lying further west across a major river and into the flooded Okavango - which explained why we had not detected them before.
Having found this unknown pack opportunistically in 2021, the field team decided to collar “Angela”, the dominant female, with a VHF radio that would allow us to relocate them going forward and find out where they live.
However, in the following few months Angela could not be located from the ground. In addition to checking up on the pack, we were keen to deploy a GPS satellite collar on one of the female yearlings to follow her (and her sisters’) should they disperse. So, we realized it was time to organize a mission and find them from the air. From the air our range for tracking is several times what we can get on the ground, and when we get a location from the air, we should “easily” be able to drive to them on the ground – or so we thought.
Flying from Maun Tico approached Mystery’s range to scan for Angela’s collar. In the meantime, we sat by the radio in camp waiting for Tico to tell us what he has found. When he finally did get a GPS location in the plane, it became obvious that getting to where they were would not be easy. So, Tico mapped out a route with GPS points where it looked like we might be able to cross the various rivers to hop from island to island. About two hours after his take-off, Tico’s voice crackled over the Radio. “I have a loc for Angela ….”. Tico relayed the coordinates along with the water crossing fixes for a route so quickly that Gabriele struggled to get them written down.
We immediately set off into the Moremi Game Reserve with two research vehicles. We rarely go out with two, but given the challenging route, we decided it would be wise in case one gets stuck in a river. An hour and more later we left the “road”, made our way toward the first water crossing fix. Standing on the bank we were slightly skeptical that we could drive it. So, we took off our shoes and waded across, looking for hippos and crocodiles, to estimate how deep it was and whether the bottom was sand or mud. After walking it we concluded we could make it through, took a deep breath, and drove into the Okavango. It was almost too easy. It turned out Tico had a good eye – probably from years of doing this very thing in the Delta.
On the other side of the river channel, we were in no-man’s land. No roads, no humans, just the breathtaking wilderness of the Okavango delta. We felt as if we were the first people to visit. It was amazing. About an hour after the first crossing, we hit the next body of water. This time the flooded area looked to be much shallower but stretched 100 meters. We made that crossing smoothly as well and our journey continued further and further into the delta. As we arrived at the GPS location that Tico gave us, we scanned for Angela and only picked up a faint signal after driving a little further. Assuming they moved from hours before, we followed the signal and tracked the dogs to where they were resting in deep shade below a heavy canopy.
After verifying all the dogs in the pack, we pulled back slightly and prepared to dart with our veterinarian, Glauco. It was already getting late, and we needed to be quick to avoid the pack starting to move. Glauco aimed for Rossignol and pulled the trigger, and ten minutes later she was fast asleep. As we tiptoed out of the car, trying not to make any sudden moves or noises, the pack startled and moved a few meters away to lie down under another tree.
Collaring a dog usually takes no longer than 45 minutes, so we were confident we could finish the job before the pack headed out for the night. When we finished processing her and fixing a collar, Rossignol wandered off into the fading light to join her pack.
We decided to follow up with her and her pack early the next morning. With new collar, it should be easy to track them down… we thought. Exhausted from the expedition, we ate dinner, climbed on top of our cars, and unrolled our sleeping bags, trying to get some rest. As we slipped in our bags, a storm set in, and it began to rain. Only one of the cars had a cabin and so we all squeezed into it, waiting for the rain to cease. Once the storm had passed, we climbed on top again, falling asleep to the soothing noises of the nearby storm, as well as lions, leopards, and hyenas communicating in the distance.
At first light the next morning we scanned for Rossignol’s signal but were met with silence. The same for Angela’s signal. We packed up and started out deeper into the wild, scanning and hoping to pick up a signal. Since we had two cars, we decided to split and track in opposite directions, only to meet after we had finished a circular route. But nothing turned up. Toward the end of a long and frustrating day with no signal we were about to give up when Megan decided to give it a final try with her antenna. And there it was. A faint beep from Rossignol’s collar. We bolted, racing in the direction of the signal and found the pack, all resting under a beautiful line of ebony trees. We were pleased to see Rossignol was sleeping among them and decided to start back home.
Rossignol’s Dispersal
Then Rossignol's story got more interesting. A few months after we collared her, she left with her sisters, dispersing to look for potential mates and a territory of her own. She was accompanied by 5 sisters, which is a rather large dispersal group for females, but not unheard of. These 6 Mystery pack females’ dispersal route was both interesting and worrisome as they travelled from deep in the heart of the Okavango into much drier livestock farming areas northeast of Maun and far from the wildlife areas of the Delta (shown in the figure below). They eventually turned back toward the village of Maun, then dodged back to the north into the delta in the Chitabe area, - right back to nearly where they started.
Now, this is where some Game-Of-Thrones - type of events unfolded. At the time Rossignol and her sisters dispersed, the Chitabe area was already occupied by two resident packs, Royal and Maui, with established territories; one occupying the north, the other the south. Coincident with the dispersal of Rossignol and her sisters, was a coalition of 16 male wild dogs that also moved into the Chitabe area. This is the largest single sex dispersal group we have ever recorded, but at least we knew from tourist photos where they came from. Between the 6 Mystery females and the 16 males, these new immigrants to Chitabe were bound to be a threat to the resident dogs.
Just from the sheer number of dogs, it was unsurprising that they, indeed, caused chaos upon their arrival in Chitabe. They likely fought the dominant male in Maui pack (he was found dead) which resulted in the pack splitting apart leaving fewer pack members to support dominant female’s puppies in the upcoming denning season.
While the newly arrived males were fighting Maui pack, the Mystery females found Royal pack at their den and caused quite a similar scene of chaos there. The females fought, and Rossignol and her sisters chased away most of the Royal females. Interestingly, they trapped Victoria, Royal’s dominant female, and guarded it, making it impossible for Victoria to escape.
While Victoria was trapped in the den, there were intense social interactions going on between Rossignol and her sisters and the Royal males. Eventually, however, the dogs got to rest a few meters away from the den, allowing Victoria to sneak out and go hunting. Oddly enough, after successfully tearing down some prey, Victoria returned to the den, probably to reunite with her pups and take care of them. Upon her return to the den, Rossignol and her sisters attacked her, forcing her back into the den where she died from her injuries. Then Rossignol and her sisters adopted all 21 Royal pack puppies forming the new Dikgosi pack. [Tico published a paper on Adoption in 1996].
Of course, to add more confusion, the 16 incoming males encountered the new Dikgosi pack and caused further chaos and, eventually, two (Rossignol and a sister) left Dikgosi and joined the 16 males, forming another new pack we named: Chaos pack - apropos of their origins.
Sometimes the struggle for dominance between sisters can get ugly. In the following months, as the packs were settling down, Dikgosi and Chaos met a few times, with fighting among the Mystery sisters - while the males and Royal pups watched and two more Mystery sisters joined Chaos, leaving Dikgosi with 2 of the original 6 that formed the pack. Sadly, as with most wild dog packs, most of the Dikgosi pups were killed by lions. It may be that the social instability among the packs caused by the chaos also contributed to poorer pup protection. Hopefully, peace will eventually return to Chitabe, with Dikgosi pack now in the north and Maui hanging on in the south, recovering from the period of instability. And Chaos pack? They moved further east across the Gomoti river, exploring the territories of the once strong Apoka pack, who are now slowly shrinking after the loss of their dominant male two years ago. However, Chaos didn’t settle and eventually crossed back over the Gomoti to Chitabe. The lives of wild dogs and the packs they form are always changing, sometimes with new dispersing dogs that threaten the social stability that is required to raise lots of puppies. Following these changes, and understanding where different dogs come from, and where they will go, is integral to our research and is a full-time job.
These type of life histories and dynamics of African wild dog packs is at the core of our long-term population monitoring and our understanding of wild dog survival, - something that will become even more pertinent as climate change challenges the future of this already endangered species.
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