Hyenas adamantly chase vultures away in hopeless attempts to protect their food

Having to constantly chase intruders away from your lunch table can become a tiresome business. Watch how two hyenas relentlessly charge into a large number of very hungry vultures, hopelessly attempting to save what is left of their meal.
Surviving in the African wild is a tough deal for wild animals and the phrase ‘Sharing is caring’ does not apply. When there is food around, competition is fierce and there is always someone else in line that will challenge you for it. It was during a safari in the Kruger National Park that we came across a carcass of what seemed to be that of an old giraffe. There was not much left of the carcass besides the bones and bits of meat in between. At the carcass was two hyenas busy feasting away on the left-over food. Hyenas are not the only scavengers in the African bush and it was not long before a small number of vultures arrived. At first the two hyenas were not much bothered by the arrival of the vultures but it quickly changed when the number of vultures increased immensely. The vultures started feeding on the strips of meat between the bones on the one side of the carcass and the two hyenas were crushing bones on the other side. We could sense that tensions were rising and that the hyenas were not prepared to share their food with all the vultures. Suddenly the one hyena chases into the vultures with a burst of speed. There would be a flutter of wings as the vultures were scared off but as soon as the hyena turned its back the vultures would move back in. The second hyena also had a go and charging into the vultures became more and more frequent. It started to look like a hopeless case for the hyenas as their threatening running charges did little to scare off the vultures. It started to look like the hyenas will end up hungrier than what they originally were. It all became too much for the hyenas. One hyena gave up and disappeared and it was not long before the second hyena realised that it was totally outnumbered. The last hyena finally dropped the leg of the giraffe it was chewing on and slowly disappeared into the bush. Once the hyenas finally gave up their meal, it was swarmed by vultures immediately that finished off most of the remains during the rest of the day. It was incredible to watch how the whole story unfolded right in front of us and we realised that even if you are as big and scary looking as a hyena, in the end, determination with great numbers on your side usually wins the day.