Re: Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog

**Doogs** Thu May 26, 2011 3:29 pm

Update from J&A - May 24 2011 - Notch and his Boys: Latest!

Mallory Earnshaw (tech wizard who is helping to sync our computers and streamline our office workplace), whose sister Clea currently manages Rekero Camp in the Mara with her partner texted him to say that she had just spent time with Notch in the company of 4 of his Boys near Rekero (one of their favourite crossing places of the Talek River).

Just goes to prove – given my last update about 3 of the Boys – that whatever we might think these males are up to – carving up the northern Mara and mating with every lioness they can find whose in season – they have their own agenda. Just would love to be a lion – to get inside their heads and find out what they think the plan is. Regardless of the fact that they split – then team up – then split this way and that – when they feel like it they can still be assured of a (relatively!!) friendly welcome from other members of the coalition. As they say “blood is thicker than water”.
Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog - Page 6 768480

Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog - Page 6 768480

**Laikipia** Thu May 26, 2011 4:41 pm

Thanks Doogs - i love these updates. I had heard that Rekero was under new management so must research that a bit more as we are going to be there in September.

Lai

**Doogs** Thu May 26, 2011 8:39 pm

Will Jackson be there when you are Lai ? I really hope so :)

**whitestarling** Thu May 26, 2011 10:21 pm

Thanks Doogs. Great News about Notch, and the Boys. I wondered why we had'nt had any Rekero News Updates lately
WS

**Laikipia** Sat May 28, 2011 7:10 am

I don't know Doogs, to be honest we heard via Marguerite (SK's) wife but we had already booked, I believe the existing team will still be there initially, but regarding Jackson I don't know. Gerard and Jackson I think are now Nomadic Encounters.

They already had Topi House and Acacia House and I know somewhere else but I can't remember where. I think I will email and find out Very Happy

http://www.nomadicencounters.com/home.html

Lai

**Doogs** Sun Jun 26, 2011 11:53 pm

Update from J&A Dated 24 June 2011:

Hi Everyone – so sorry for the long silence! This will have to be quick as we leave for Sri Lanka in 30 min and still stuffing the last bits and pieces into the bags. Nothing new there then!

Mara: Zawadi was seen the other day around Moses Rock very near to Alex Walker’s tented camp Serian (it is a beautiful spot on the river). So scenic in that part of the Mara lots of beautiful mature trees and acacia thickets, rocky hills – just what a leopard likes. One of the guides says Zawadi was mating a couple of weeks ago. Good news!

Shingu/Shingo and her 6 nearly one year old cubs are in the Intrepids Camp area – what a miracle that is. And another female is about to give birth in the area we game drive – or has done so already.

White Eye was very heavily pregnant when I saw her on 11 June and my friend at Governor’s Camp – Stephen Mutua – says she is now lactating and he thinks she has given birth. She is 13 years old.

That is all we have time for – except to say we have a new member of the household – Simba (Ridgeback puppy) – who is just loving having a big ‘brother’ to play with aka Slippers – though his surrogate mum Coco is not impressed. He is a delight and has settled in so well – but now he just wants to chew everything up. Not sure what we will find on our return in 2 weeks time – but he is in good hands and has the run of our 10 acre property.

Take care everybody and we will catch up with what you have written in a day or two – haven’t been on Facebook or the Blog while we reorganise our work protocol here at home.

Oooooh mating going on with Zawadi, White Eye having cubs and a female cheetah due to give birth, very very exciting Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog - Page 6 71418

Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog - Page 6 71418

!!!

**Laikipia** Mon Jun 27, 2011 9:36 am

What a great update - and how fantastic that they have a Ridgie (I might be biased here) just the right country for them Very Happy

I can't believe White Eye is 13 - what a total star she is - here's hoping we all see her and her cubs in September.

Doogs you are definitely going to see Shingo and her cubs Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog - Page 6 71418

lucky you

Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog - Page 6 853843

Thanks for posting Doogs.

Lai

**whitestarling** Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:51 pm

Thats fantastic new about Shingo cheers

and White Eye what a great Girl she is 13, and still breeding fantastic. Lets hope we see Zawadi's Cubs, you might see them while your there Doogs
Thanks for posting Doogs
WS

**Doogs** Mon Jun 27, 2011 4:32 pm

Isn't it just wonderful that White Eye is still going strong and having lion cub

at 13 years old, she's a real trooper !

I'm not sure if Shingo and her cubs will lurk around the Intrepids for long with it being Olive's territory but lets just hope they are lurking somewhere in the Mara for us all to see in September Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog - Page 6 71418

I've said this before but never seen Cheetah or Leopard cubs (young) when we've been our in the Mara, would absolutely make my day if we did, fingers crossed ! Wink

**Doogs** Thu Jul 14, 2011 11:10 am

Update Dated 13 July 2011 - Pride of Sri Lanka: June/July 2011

Great to be back in touch with you all. We have just arrived home (a couple of days ago) from the most wonderful safari to Sri Lanka. Much more about that in the next few days. But just to let you know we will be hosting a safari to this extraordinary destination some time during the first half of 2012 – just the two of us and 8 guests for whale watching and goggling, leopards (of course!) and blissful cultural visits to some of the temples and ancient cities that enthralled us during our stay – 12 days in all.

We just never expected such a rich and stimulating experience. Our hosts and chaperones – Chitral Jayatilake and the Keells Hotel Group and Janaka Dassanayaka of Skywards Holdings – made this a truly memorable journey. We returned home having made a host of new friends and brimming with ideas for the future which we want to share with you as we embrace yet another adventure.

Now about that puppy!! Just a couple of weeks before we left for Sri Lanka we travelled up to Limuru (tea country) to take possession of a Ridgeback puppy. We have called him Simba (well, what did you expect!) – and yes, he is adorable. Coco our mother Ridegeback had breast tumour a while back but is still here – we had a scare the other day though and knew it was time to find a puppy. Slippers – Coco’s son now has someone to race around the garden with and will soon find himself ‘the smaller dog’ judging by the size of Simba’s front paws – they are huge! Goes without saying that Little Cat is not best pleased by this unexpected arrival who thinks everyone and everything is his new best friend. But all is now well, Little Cat has reclaimed the house after a few weeks of uncertainty and Simba is learning to be a grownup dog with the rest of the pack.

**Laikipia** Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:28 pm

Thanks Doogs - i always love their blog, sounds like Sri Lanka was magical. Also loving the furries update and hearing about their new Ridgeback puppy Simba (a good choice of name of course).

Lai

**Doogs** Thu Jul 14, 2011 1:53 pm

With a name like that would definitely get on well with Tamu Wink

**Laikipia** Thu Jul 14, 2011 4:24 pm

She would love another Ridgie to play with more than anything -

Lai :snoopy:

**Doogs** Thu Jul 14, 2011 4:26 pm

Awwwww, bless I love you

**Doogs** Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:49 pm

Update from J&A - July 31 2011 - Catching Up: Radio Collared Wildebeest & School Children

Sorry for the silence. Been a bit more active on Facebook – but haven’t forgotten you all!

Thought you might be interested in this from Robin Reid’s work in the Mara. Just such a great idea. ILRI Ecologist Robin Reid, now director of the Center for Collaborative Conservation at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, USA, had begun a project in Kenya that is putting radio collars on 15 wildebeest initially from the Loita population (not the Serengeti wildebeest – the Kenya ones) to learn more precisely what routes the animals take in their migration. The bit I love about this is that the project is involving Masai schoolchildren, who are naming the wildebeest, which they will be able to follow. The wildebeest collars send regular tracking signals to Safaricom (one of our local telephone providers), which are then sent to Colorado, where the routes are posted on a web map that the schoolchildren can follow. Three Cheers and a very big Hurrah to Robin for that wonderful initiative.

And for more on the decline in various species of wildlife in and around the Mara go online and check out a piece on Richard Trillo’s site The Rough Guide to Kenya dated Monday, June 13, 2011 with a guest Post by Dr Joseph Ogutu of the Bioinformatics Unit at Hohenheim University. Joseph studied lions in the Mara in the early 1990s and gave us our first counts on the lion population (22 prides) in the reserve. He has gone on to document the declines mentioned and his guest post is entitled “Research that paints a gloomy picture of the Mara”. Sobering reading I can assure you!

**littlewid** Sun Jul 31, 2011 9:36 pm

What an amazing initiative Doogs. That is going to be so exciting for the school children. I think that is the first i've ever heard of a Wildebeest being radio collard......i'm secretly excited that at last the Wildies are the stars of something......other than just watching them during the migration. I hope J&A keep us informed with the names and the findings of the project.

Sounds as though there may not be such good reading re the Lions What a Face

littlewid-x-

**whitestarling** Sun Jul 31, 2011 10:43 pm

Interesting news, and as you say LW not sounding good for Lions. There was a programe on earlyier this year where Widebeast, and Zebras were collered for the migration, but that was from the Serengeti side, it was really interesting to see the different routes that they took
WS

**Laikipia** Mon Aug 01, 2011 11:28 am

Thanks Doogs. That sounds fascinating. More news on the wildies and their habits will be really interesting.

Lai

Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog - Page 6 Wildeb12

**Doogs** Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:21 pm

Lai

Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog - Page 6 Wildeb10

**Laikipia** Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:54 pm

I am definitely hoping to get more wildie photos this time - should be plenty to-ing and fro-ing in September Very Happy

Lai

Jonathan & Angela Scott's Blog - Page 6 Wildeb13

**littlewid** Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:38 pm

That is a stunning photo Doogs cheers

and i'm hoping that you and Lai manage to get lots of Wildeboys pics whilst you are on your safari's bounce

littlewid-x-

**Doogs** Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:13 pm

Update from J&A
August 23 2011 - Update for Everyone Who Posted re Bird Fair

Hi Everyone – going to start at the top!!

Barbara – wonderful to see you and Maggie – you must be on some kind of drugs the way you always look so bright and young!

Canon: Yes agree it is frustrating that you cannot always use Extenders on your lenses. The 70-300mm L series is a lovely lens – Angie is now using one of these – but you cannot use an Extender due to the ‘speed’ of the lens – it is too slow.

The Powershot series – the G12 and the S95 deliver a similar optical performance and are both great cameras – Angie is just picking up a S95 as she wants something that really is ‘pocket sized’ but still top quality. I love the G12 with its flip out screen for over the head and low angle shots – with the flip out screen you can still see what you are doing. I don’t think the S95 gives you that option – but image quality is great.

The 100-400mm will take an Extender – it is just that you lose some features (I cannot quite remember but someone here will I am sure – but think you either lose your autofocus or the Image Stabilisation with the extender on).

Kris – no worries – once we are sorted with our new Website we will have a lot more images uploaded and will have someone to manage that process for us. It is a big weakness we know not to be able to share images with you.

Victor – missed the rugby but glad that SA beat NZ just to keep everybody on their toes!

I posted something about the young male mating on facebook and when I get time will copy and paste here!

Re Bob’s input – we now know that males are sexually mature from around 1.5/2 years of age in as much as they are adolescents capable of producing viable sperm. But normally they are prevented from mating and impregnating females due to behavioural dominance of the mature males in the pride who would attack any young males they found trying to mate. It happens though when the pride males are somewhere else in the area but is unusual as the hierarchy works well and young males get to ‘know’ their place. Dr Luke Hunter worked on a cheetah and lion reintroduction programme for Phinda Reserve in Natal which was a cattle/hunting ranch way back. He recreated whole prides with a founder population and found that – I think I got this the right way round – that where large males are absent young male lions start mating much earlier and impregnate the females. Normally young adolescent male lions are subjected to increasing levels of hostility from the adult lionesses – particularly when there are new litters of cubs as the males will be competing for sparse food resources at time that the younger cubs need. The lionesses make it very clear to the young males to move aside and they eventually split off – often when a takeover by new males takes place. As far as oestrus is concerned at one point Kate Nicholls and Pieter Kat reported that contrary to what we had thought (that females remained anoestrus when they had dependent cubs) it was more a question that females chose not to mate when they had dependent cubs but still cycled. The fact is though that mostly females do not breed again – or at least give birth – until their cubs are around 2 years old.

Interestingly when a takeover happens and cubs are killed – it seems that though females quickly begin breeding again perhaps partly to help bond with the new males it seems that they do not conceive again for around 3 months – scientists think this may be a way of the lionesses taking time out to make sure they are with the ‘right’ males – the fittest available in their area – rather than immediately get pregnant only to find that a stronger coalition is waiting in the wings and the whole disruptive process of infanticide happens again too quickly.

It does sometimes happen that a mother with small cubs is seen mating again – but nobody has come up with a reason why. Maybe some kind of a hormonal glitch?

So Victor – no doubt what the guide mentioned is true – we have seen this kind of thing from time to time – just nature doing its thing. We do not always know why – and when we think we do we are often wrong anyway! I well remember once giving a talk about this and that – lions, etc. – and afterwards a very nice and learned lady from the US said “really enjoyed your talk, but how to know….!). Made me think – I ‘knew’ because I had either witnessed something and made a judgement or had read about it from a trusted source – but what she said did make me try to be as clear headed as I could and to question my own assumptions from time to time.

Kris brings up an interesting thought – the hurricane and nature’s ways and how when some of these events happen the other animals often seem to know to move or take other evasive action – relying on senses we have long since lost! But stay safe and our thoughts with all of you who are having hard times for whatever reason.

Rich you are on the right track with the question of oestrus – just because a female is mating does not mean she is actually in oestrus – ie not actually releasing an egg. I mention one reason a little earlier in this chat. The cubs were small but big enough to be among other pride members by now – the mother will usually start to integrate her cubs into the social meliu from around 8 weeks by which time the cubs can walk ok and eat meat. The cubs are older than this. Bonding might be playing a part – the 3 Graces were a separate part of the pride for a number of years and only within the last year have really come into their own with their older relatives White Eye and Bibi.

The big question is can Clawed and Romeo stay in control during the migration – with plenty of food around it is a good time for nomadic males to explore for weaknesses in the Marsh Pride territory. But as I have mentioned elsewhere I think that one reason that Clawed and Romeo have lasted so long is because their are less males around due to pressure from people – spears and poison at times take a heavy toll on the lions in these boundary prides and young males that are forced into marginal habitat are at risk before they have the chance to breed.

We will see.

Angie and I are off to the States tomorrow. Back in Nairobi on 11 Sept and then Mara for 5 weeks before we head back to the UK for our talk with Sir Ranulph Fiennes on 21 Oct in London. You can find out more about that on Prestige Promotions website. And we will be in Islington Business Center for Canon Pro Solutions from 24-26 October. Hope to see some of you at these two events.

Take care and enjoy!

**Laikipia** Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:50 pm

Thanks for that Doogs. They are just so busy and must meet themselves going backwards sometimes!

Jonathan did mention the dinner on 21st October at the Bird Fair - just for interest the tickets are £225 each (I fell of my chair). It's a no for us Laughing

Great to read about the lions but as ever - hoping that Romeo and Clawed will be around when we are out there.

Lai

**Doogs** Tue Aug 23, 2011 4:02 pm

£225

holy moly

Yeah hoping they are as well Lai but it does sound as though there's not many males about to de-throne them lion cub

so that's good news for us cheers

**Laikipia** Tue Aug 23, 2011 4:09 pm

On my wish list Doogs.

Notch
Romeo
Clawed
White Eye

oh no I can't go on it's endless ..................

Lai Laughing

Sponsored content