Happy Mothers Day!

Our last few engrossing days have been spent patiently waiting at the Alpha female’s den and we have been well and truly rewarded by hearing the pups down below on a few occasions.

She is ever so protective over her precious pups and never ventures far from the entrance. She will periodically patrol around the mound as in the image below where she is seen peering through the golden grass in the early morning.

Then this special Mother’s Day morning our first view of…wait for it… 8 tiny pups that could hardly walk, look at the tiny faces. This is the first time they have ventured out properly, so we estimate around 3 and a half weeks old.

Remember that they are born helpless with their ears and eyes closed, they are also born black and white, the tan and beige colour comes later. She feeds them nothing but milk for the first month of their life. They then begin to eat solid food regurgitated by other pack members at about 4 weeks old when the pups also begin to wander around outside the den.

Wild dog pups are usually weaned by five weeks. By seven weeks they begin to get their adult coloration and body shape in. When they are 8-10 weeks old, the pack leaves the den area to go into another area of their territory so if all goes to plan we will have another month with them at this den site!

Keep you all posted.