South African wildlife
edyong | February 7, 2010These are rock hyraxes or dassies. They may look like guinea pigs, but they're in an entirely different order of mammals. It's sometimes said that they are the closest living relatives of elephants. However, some scientists would dispute that sirenians - the manatees and dugongs - are more closely related still, with the hyraxes as a more distant outgroup.
They're nimble animals, scuttling comfortably across rocky terrain and even climbing trees with relative ease. They can often be spotted basking in the sun to raise their body temperature, not unlike a reptile would. We found this pair in…
edyong | January 23, 2010
To me, this portrait sums up the essence of the Cape buffalo, an imposing animal with a reputation for being grumpy and unpredictable.
Of all the debatably named "Big Five", this was the one we saw most often and frequently in very large herds indeed. With those massive bony lumps (they're called "bosses"), they're re not really animals that you want to start honking or revving out of the way, so we spent a lot of time sitting in the jeep and patiently waiting for a herd to cross the road. And when does the Cape buffalo cross the road? Whenever it bloody well wants to.
Of course, there's…
edyong | January 3, 2010
This is the last animal we saw on our South African safari, and we found it sitting on top of our conditioner. Thank goodness it wasn't a leopard.
I reckon it's a foamy nest frog, so named for its tendency to lay its eggs into a nest of foamy bubbles overhanging a body of water. I always thought this species had a darker colour but apparently, they become almost white in bright sunlight. Charming little tyke, isn't it?
edyong | December 20, 2009Safaris are all about the big game. But even though elephants, leopards and rhinos (oh my!) fill your lens and retinas on a daily basis, it's still just as wonderful to watch a squirrel scamper through a tree. This species is known in South Africa simply as a tree squirrel, or Smith's bush squirrel more broadly. Its golden coat with tinges of rust and green make it a far more handsome creature than the common grey squirrels that run through London's parks. It lacks none of their characteristic agility either, as the video below will demonstrate. I spent a good half-hour watching this…
edyong | December 12, 2009
A few years back, I was in a zoo looking at some ostriches. The man standing next to me was imparting knowledge to his children with tremendous pomp and circumstance, telling them about all things ostrich. He noted that despite their comical appearance, they are very powerful birds. So far, so good. He said that they had a powerful kick - also accurate. He said that they have a sharp, retractable claw on each foot that they can use to disembowel lions. No... that's Velociraptors.
Perhaps I'm being too harsh. Ostriches, being the largest living birds, are formidable indeed and their toe…
edyong | December 6, 2009
There's nothing like going on safari, rounding a corner in your open-top jeep and catching a glimpse of your first wild animals. Which will almost certainly be impala. Much camera-clicking, oohing and aahing ensues.
Three days later... you have seen enough impala for a lifetime. They are everywhere. Sometimes, you'll drive for an hour, see nothing at all, catch a glimpse of movement, hurry towards it only to find yet another herd of impala. You start to resent the impala for not being something more interesting, for deigning to be commonplace when they could be, say, hunting dogs. You…
edyong | November 28, 2009
Ah, penguins. You just can't help but smile. These animals are found on Boulders Beach near Cape Town, where they come so close to the erected walkways that you could potentially reach out and grab one (if the mood took you and you were an idiot).
The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is part of a genus with four species. The last time I saw one of them, it was off the Galapagos Islands (the Galapagos penguin), and the other two members of the group (the Humboldt and Magellanic penguins) are natives of Patagonia. They're commonly known as jackass penguins because of their distinct,…
edyong | November 22, 2009
Of all of South Africa's species of antelope, the kudu is my favourite, mainly because of those elegantly spiralling horns. They adorn the logo of the national parks and several street signs (which promise kudus majestically leaping out across highways, but seldom deliver). And they're pretty tasty too...
This individual is one of the only adult males we saw. The one in the second photo is a juvenile, and his shorter horns have only begun their first turn. The animals in the bottom two photos are hornless females.
The fact that they're called antelope suggests a relationship with…
edyong | November 14, 2009
This is Tyson, a male leopard and one of the last animals we saw on our South African safari. We only took headshots of him but immediately, you can see that he's stockier and more powerfully built than Safari, the female leopard that I showed photos of a few weeks back. Tyson, earning his name, probably weighs around 80kg or so.
And yet while we watched, he pulled off a languid stretch that made him look for all the world like a giant house cat - paws outstretched, maw agape and back arched in a graceful curve.
As he walked off, he marked his territory with a scent gland on his rump. I'm…
edyong | November 7, 2009
This is a bull elephant firmly establishing why it is he, and not the lion, who is king of beasts. The elephant's penis is not only massive but prehensile. As we watched in baffled amusement (and the faintest tinge of inadequacy), he used his penis to prop himself up (as in the photo), swat flies from his side and scratch himself on his stomach. David Attenborough never showed us that...
There's good reason for elephants to have prehensile penises. It's hard enough for a six-tonne animal to get into the right position for sex, let alone having to do the rhythmic thrusting that's required. So…
edyong | November 1, 2009We had numerous elephant sightings on our South Africa trip including a few family groups and a couple of lone males. Seeing them in documentaries or in zoos never quite captures just how big and impressive they are in the flesh, especially when they do things like beat up a tree. Note how this male uses his tusks and trunks to break off branches.
Also note how quiet it is except for the breaking of branches. Elephants may look like lumbering beasts, but their footfalls are dainty and quiet. They are 'digitigrade', meaning that they walk on their toes like a cat or a dog. Their heels rest on…
edyong | October 16, 2009Our one and only sighting of the spotted hyena, an animal that is far more beautiful than its reputation might suggest. Hyenas are powerful predators too; as much if not more of their meat comes from their own kills as it does from scavenging.
I know this shot is blurry but I quite like it nonetheless.
A hyena mansion. In Sabi Sands, spotted hyenas make their homes in termite mounds, taking over and enlarging burrows and entrances previously created by aardvarks. They're sturdy lodgings but not exactly luxurious ones - they are infested with parasites.
edyong | October 10, 2009The white rhinoceros - the planet's second largest land mammal. Even though it's the most common of the five existing speceis of rhino, there are still just over 17,000 left in the wild. For comparison, more than five times as many humans pack into Wembley Arena when there's a match on. With that in mind, we felt lucky and priveleged to see these magnificent animals, not just once but on four separate occasions.
These photos come from the clearest daylight sighting (most were of far-off animals lurking behind thicket), when we followed two individuals for about ten minutes. As you can see,…
edyong | October 9, 2009This is the martial eagle, one of Africa's largest eagles* and a truly formidable predator, even occassionally killing small antelope like duiker. This adult was a fair distance away but the presence of large nests gives away the location of trees where they might be found perching.
* I say "one of" because books differ as to whether the title belongs to the martial or the similarly sized crowned eagle. A comparison of various field guides suggested that the crowned is longer but the martial wins in terms of weight and wingspan (which has an impressive maximum of 8.5 feet).
edyong | October 4, 2009Every weekend, I'm going to post new wildlife photos from our recent South African holiday. The vast majority will come from the four-day safari we went on, and what better way to start this series than with shots of an animal named Safari. She's a leopard, and undoubtedly one of the highlights of the trip. We crossed her path twice and on both, she was totally unperturbed by our presence. On our second encounter, she even posed for pictures, sitting gracefully atop a termite mound bathed in a golden sunset.
If you're wondering why this leopard in particular is so recognisable, here's the…
edyong | October 3, 2009I'm back! For anyone wondering why I've been reposting old pieces for the last few weeks, it's because my wife and I were enjoying a much-deserved holiday in South Africa. I'll stick a link to some photos shortly, but for the moment, here's some post-holiday geekery for you.
The trip was a wildlife extravaganza. We spent four days in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve (just south of Kruger), as well as whale-watching, various walks through national parks and four fabulous hours tracking wild meerkats. I'll be sticking up details and photos over the coming weeks/months, but for now, here's a full…