The Voices of Nature by Nicolas Mathevon;

Author:Nicolas Mathevon;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2023-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

14

The laughing hyena

COMMUNICATIONS AND COMPLEX SOCIAL SYSTEMS

South Gate Campground, Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. Night. Half asleep in the tent on the roof of the car, I can hear the fuss being made nearby. The trash can in the campground has been knocked over and the garbage is being searched noisily. There’s giggling, squeaking, blowing, and whistling. I cautiously open the tent zipper and turn on my torch. In the beam, I see two of them—honey badgers, savagely plundering everything they can. Suddenly, a growl, both muffled and powerful, threatening, long. Freeze frame. The feast has been cut short. The two angry badgers call out in rage and jump back at the sight of a huge spotted hyena, determined to take advantage of the situation. The badgers are formidable beasts that, it seems, do not hesitate to ward off even an elephant; but the jaws of the queen of the night are the strongest, and they know it. The hyena dashes over to a piece of rubbish and then trots away. It’ll probably join its family—I can hear them giggling and whooping in the distance. The badgers, relieved, start their ruckus all over again. The sounds of the African night! On another night in a camp further north, I’ll be woken up too, but by the mighty trumpeting of an elephant. In the south, at the Polentswa campsite in the Kgalagadi, the lions had roared all night. My camera trap attached to the bumper of the car showed the next day the passage of a lioness followed by a big male—a nightly stroll of the big beasts close by. During these nights, as during the days, far from the hustle and bustle of the university, endless meetings, administrative paperwork, and my computer screen, I always feel in my element. Excited but serene. My second life will be here, I decided one day.

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