April 6, 2007
African Field Notes Updated - Info! Video! Pix!
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February 16, 2006
African Field Notes: The Baboon
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Baboons are found in surprisingly varied habitats and are extremely adaptable. All they need is a water source and a safe sleeping place, such as a tall tree or a cliff face.
When water is readily available, baboons drink every day or two, but they can survive for long periods by licking the night dew from their fur.
They spend a lot of time grooming each other while the juveniles play – pick off bugs and eat them. Yum!
One interesting phenomena is that you often find impala and baboons coexisting. The reason for this is unclear. Baboons are more vigilant – baboons forage for seeds on the ground and the impala nibble on new shoots on the bushes.
Sometimes, the male baboons will eat young impala. The impala drop their young after the first rains and there were large numbers of very young calves around. The baboons have been known to grab the baby impala and violently eat them, yet the impala herd does not show any distress over this. Baboons are generally messy feeders and drop a lot of food onto the ground from trees which the impalas feed on.
Latin Genus: Papio
A Group Is Called: A Troop (More Group Names At: Critter Collectives)
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February 15, 2006
African Field Notes: The Greater Kudu
The Greater Kudu is perhaps my favorite kind of African antelope. You'll often see their horns used as decoration in game lodges, but the real live thing is a beautiful member of the African animal kingdom.
The Kudu is rather large, with very distinctive spiral horns, that can grow as long as 72 inches, making 2 1/2 graceful twists. They have brown fur with stripes and spots.
Kudu live in the woodland bushveld. They eat grasses and leaves.
Kudu also are a very tasty game meat, often found in biltong, a South African dried meat snack.
Another weird fact: There's a rather disturbing sport in Africa called Kudu Dung Spitting, which sounds exactly like it is...
Latin Name: Tragelaphus strepsiceros
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
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African Field Notes: The African Elephant
The African Elephant is the heaviest, largest land mammal in the world. Some adults weigh more than 14,000 lbs & their brains are 3-4x the weight of the human brain.
Elephants have lots of blood vessels in their ears. They flap their ears and their blood pumps through, cooling and then circulates back to the rest of the body. This is important because elephants don’t sweat. If they get overheated and cannot find water, they can stick their trunk down into their own stomach to get a bit of water to spray over their back.
The elephant's trunk has approx 150,000 muscles, and its used as a nose, arm and hand. Babies don’t know how to use trunk when they are born, instead they drink with mouth. Sometimes they just wiggle their trunks or suck on them like a baby would on a thumb.
Family units are led by the oldest female, who is often 40 or 50 years old, while males visit only for mating. It takes almost two years got a baby elephant to gestate – the longest of all land mammals. When an elephant is about to give birth, other female elephants may act as a midwife and comfort the expectant mother.
They communicate using something called infrasonic sounds, which are very low noises that can be heard for miles. There have also been instances of mimicry – like an elephant mimicking the noises of a truck.
Elephants also communicate thru scent – giving off smells when ready to mate, when they’re sick or about to give birth but what is most interesting is how they show empathy for each other. Elephants are known to care for others in their family. They’ll often slow down or help physically support an ailing fellow, even bringing food if they cant for themselves.
Elephants grieve, sometimes for months – especially youngsters who lose their mothers. When an elephant dies, it is not just abandoned. The family unit stays with the corpse, sometimes for days. Then, after a while, one by one they touch the body and turn away. Sometimes they will even cover the body with brush and dirt. Elephants ignore the bones of other creatures, but if they come upon elephant bones, even years later, they will stroke them, and then sometimes scatter them.
Latin Genus: Loxodonta
A Group Is Called: A Parade (More At: Critter Collectives)
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Also on Perlgurl.Org:
Little Big Things: The Discovery of the Pygmy Elephant
Photos: San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park: African Elephant
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African Field Notes: The Cheetah
Cheetahs can sprint up to 75mph, even turning in mid-air to continue pursuit of prey.
But these sprints often tire them. Cheetahs often lose their kills to other predators if they do not eat quickly. It's also very difficult to feed their young. Cheetahs are daytime hunters, likely because many of the predators that would steal their kills are noctural hunters.
This cheetah spent hours stalking this impala. I know because we watched it happen. After catching the antelope, the cheetah was so exhausted, it took an exceptionally long time for the impala to die. The cheetah just help onto its neck while the impala gasped, and then finally died. It was a very primal experience, not particularly pleasant, but necessary.
Cheetahs are not a threat to humans. In fact, at one time, they were used as pets.
Latin Name: Acinonyx jubatus
A Group Is Called: A Coalition (More At: Critter Collectives)
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Also on Perlgurl.Org:
The Asian Cheetah
He Wants To See The Cheetahs
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African Field Notes: The Waterbuck
It's easy to identify a waterbuck from behind - it's got a big white ring or target, on its backside.
The waterbuck has a long-haired, often shaggy brown-gray coat that emits a smelly, greasy secretion thought to be for waterproofing.The meat of older waterbuck takes on an unpleasant odor from the waterproofing secretions, prompting predators to choose other prey.
A male waterbuck may have a harem of cows. Other males will challenge him for his mating rights. Below we have a challenge to a male with the harem in the picture below.
Latin Name: Kobus ellipsiprymnus
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
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African Field Notes: Birds
There are some more recent pictures of birds from our trip to Kenya and South Africa in the Special Assignment: Around The World In 40 Days.
Giant flocks of flamingos migrate to southern African. You'll see them hanging out in the marshes near Cape Town. They are pink because of their diet, and young are born like ugly gray fuzzy featherless turkeys.
Ostriches can run quite fast, and like to hiss. They have a wicked back claw that can eviscerate a predator. You'll often see farms of ostriches, as the steaks make good eating. You can often buy ostrich biltong (dried meat snack) from the locals.
The spoonbill has a very unique beak that looks like a wooden spoon. You'll see the spoonbill at waterholes. Both sexes share incubation and feeding the young.
One easy way to find a kill site is to follow the vultures. You'll see them circling a kill site, and hanging out in the trees, waiting for the opportunity to partake in a meal themselves.
The Ground Hornbill looks like a large black and red turkey. They are endangered.
There are a variety of colorful birds in Africa. The bee-eaters are very pretty, feasting on dragonflies and often living near water.
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Also on Perlgurl.Org:
The Reluctant Bird Buff (Avian Admirer?)
Birds As Carriers: From Avian Flu to Toxic Poop
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African Field Notes: The Warthog
Warthogs are fun to watch. Disney's Pumba is really quite like the warthogs of the wild - skitish and very round. And while its difficult to call them nice looking, they have a sort of ugly charm, you know?
When scared, their tail sticks up straight in the air like an antennae as they run away. When they run, they sortof prance along on very delicate hooves. They are a favorite food of the leopard.
Female warthogs only have four teats, so litter sizes usually are confined to four young. Each piglet has its "own" teat and suckles exclusively from it. Even if one piglet dies, the others do not suckle from the available teat.
Latin Name: Phacochoerus africanus
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Also on Perlgurl.Org:
Photos: San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park: Warthogs
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African Field Notes: The Leopard
The leopard is the most elusive of the Big Five, those being the most dangerous animals to hunt in Africa. The Big Five are: the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros.
Leopards love to eat warthogs but are known to eat all sorts of other animals. They have incredible strength. A leopard can climb as high as 50 feet up a tree holding a dead animal in its mouth, even one larger and heavier than itself! 
They often stash food up high so other predators like lions or hyenas can’t get it and steal it from them. Then they can return and eat more later.
I believe that I've read somewhere that the leopard's spots are unique, much like the stripes of a zebra.
Your best bet for seeing a leopard is in a tree, lounging during the day, waiting for the hunt at night
Latin Name: Panthera pardus
A Group Is Called: A Leap (More At: Critter Collectives)
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
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African Field Notes: The Lion
Lions are very social creatures. They live in prides and often act like large housecats - sleeping, napping, and resting for most of the time. They also have short bursts of activity for hunting and playing.
South African male lions have manes, unlike their Kenyan relatives, the Tsavo lions, which are maneless.
Males do less hunting, but they guard the pride’s territory. Males battle for dominance in the pride. When males take over a pride, they usually kill the cubs. The females come into estrus and the new males sire other cubs. Males also guard the cubs while the lionesses are hunting, and they make sure the cubs get enough food. Cubs are taken care of by the whole pride – nursing from any of the mothers.
Lions kill be knocking down their prey and going for the throat. Being smaller, faster, lighter and more agile than males, the female lion does most of the hunting. They hunt in a coordinated fashion. Smaller females chase the prey towards the center. The larger and heavier lionesses ambush or capture the prey.
Lions digest their food quickly, which allows them to return soon for a second helping after gorging themselves. You’ll often see them with HUGE stomachs, just laying around a kill.
Lions can often survive in extreme drought conditions, eating tsama melons for moisture in the desert.
Because they often take over kills made by hyenas, cheetahs and leopards, scavenged food provides more than 50 percent of their diets in areas like the Serengeti plains.
Latin Name: Panthera leo
A Group Is Called: A Pride (More At: Critter Collectives)
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Also on Perlgurl.Org:
Photos: San Francisco Zoo - Adult Male Lion
Bats In The Belfry & Lions In The Tower
Canis Africanus
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African Field Notes: The Spotted Hyena
Hyenas have some of the strongest jaws in the animal kingdom. With their powerful teeth and jaws and efficient digestion, the spotted hyena can utilize virtually everything on a carcass except the rumen contents and horns. The parts they cannot eat are regurgitated. Even desiccated carcasses yield protein and minerals during lean times. Because they eat bones, the hyena leaves behind white droppings.
Hyenas are just as dangerous as a lion – it’s a good idea to keep arms in the car when they're around. Lions and hyenas have a long-standing dislike of each other. They steal each other's kills, and attack their young but don't eat them. There have been cases of packs of hyenas attacking lone lions, and of lions specifically hunting down a hyena den and killing the cubs, but not for food.
A hyena clan is a stable community of related females, among which unrelated males reside for varying periods. The highest-ranking females and her descendants are dominant over all other animals. Female hyenas are bigger than the males and dominate them. Cubs are raised in communal dens and males play no parental role, with only a privileged few permitted anywhere near dens.
A pregnant hyena will find a secluded burrow to have her young in. Usually twins are born in a burrow after a long, 4 month gestation period. Young are born with incisors and canines present, eyes open. Beginning only hours after birth, siblings of like gender battle for dominance, using the neck biting and shaking. The one that wins keeps the other from nursing until it weakens and dies. Two to six weeks after whelping, young are transported to the communal den. Young depend entirely on milk for about 8 months and are not weaned until 12 to 16 months old.
Latin Name: Crocuta crocuta
A Group Is Called: A Cackle (More At: Critter Collectives)
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Posted by sorsha at 9:42 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
African Field Notes: The Crocodile
In Africa, you need to tread lightly near rivers and streams. Otherwise, you might find yourself being a meal for a 20 ft long croc! You will often find hippos and smaller crocs cohabiting, along with birds and other marine animals.
Crocs are ambush predators. There's a really famous 6 meter croc that lives in Burundi named Gustave, thought to be the largest croc in Africa.
Mama crocs build nests and then guard the eggs from predators. When the babies are ready to hatch, they make grunting or barking noises from inside the egg, and use a short little tooth on the end of their snouts called an “egg tooth” to start breaking out of the leathery shell. Some croc moms even help by gently biting the egg to open it up more easily.
After the young have hatched, the mom carries them to the water in her mouth then guards them for most of the first year of their lives. Sometimes the hatchlings get to ride on her back, too. She will threaten or attack any predator that lurks too close, and in some species she will call the hatchlings to swim into her mouth for protection.
All crocs store fat in their tails, so they can go for quite a while without eating if necessary—as long as two years for some big adults!
Latin Family: Crocodylidae
A Group Is Called: A Congregation (More At: Critter Collectives)
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Also on Perlgurl.Org:
Photos: San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park: Crocodiles
Living With Predators - Crocs
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African Field Notes: The Giraffe
Giraffes are the tallest land mammal, adults growing up to about 18 ft tall.
Very thick drool and a long tongue almost 2 feet long help them to eat acacia trees with wicked thorns. The drool allows them to swallow the thorns without mesing up their digestive systems.
Giraffe's have a special circulatory system. They have very large and powerful hearts that can generate double the normal blood pressure for a large mammal in order to maintain blood flow to the brain against gravity. They have unusually elastic blood vessels with a series of valves that help offset the sudden buildup of blood (and to prevent fainting) when the head is raised, lowered or swung quickly.
Adult Giraffes are too large to be attacked by most predators, and a single blow from their hind leg can kill a lion.
You’ll often see them in the same area as lions – always watching the predator – instead of running from it.
Young giraffes can fall prey to Lions, Leopards, hyenas, and African Wild Dogs. They are a predator favorite, causing fewer than 50% of young to reach adulthood.
The little giraffe to the left was about 6 feet tall. We saw it in the same place for three days in a row, near both of its parents. It would often hide behind a little bush with no leaves on it, as if we couldn't see it.
Latin Name: Giraffa camelopardalis
A Group Is Called: A Tower or Journey (More At: Critter Collectives)
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
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African Field Notes: The Wildebeest
Both males and female wildebeests have curving horns. You'll often see them grazing along with zebras.
Why? Because one species likes short grass and the other likes long grass. The wildebeest graze on short grass and it can be any type of shortgrass. It feeds on the shortgrass the other animals have trouble eating, this is its evolutionary advantage.
Also, the wildebeest has poor eyesight and an excellent sense of smell and the zebra has good eyesight and relatively poor sense of smell. Together, they have a better chance of detecting predators.
The largest mammal migration in the world is that of the Serengeti wildebeest. Over two million wildebeests migrate twice a year across the Mara River in Maasai lands. Other grazers like Zebra also migrate along with the wildebeests, not to mention predators like the African Lion.
Wildebeest females give birth to a single calf in the middle of the herd, not seeking a secluded place, as do many antelopes. Amazingly, about 80 percent of the females calve within the same 2- to 3-week period, creating a glut for predators and thus enabling more calves to survive the crucial first few weeks.
A calf can stand and run within minutes of birth. It immediately begins to follow its mother and stays close to her to avoid getting lost or preyed upon. Within days, it can run fast enough to keep up with the adult herd. They find strength in numbers: large herds mean smaller chances of being preyed upon. If a calf loses its mother it will follow whatever is closest – a car, a person or occasionally even a predator, but in the latter case, probably not for very long.
Latin Name: Connochaetes taurinus
A Group Is Called: An Implausibility (More At: Critter Collectives)
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Posted by sorsha at 9:40 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
African Field Notes: The Rhinoceros
There are two kinds of rhinos in South Africa – the black and the white. Both have two horns, unlike the Asian rhinos.
Rhinos have poor eyesight and excellent hearing. Because they are very nearsighted, they often charge when they are startled – at speeds up to 40mph. This has given them an undeserved reputation for having a bad temper.
Rhinos have a fondness for rolling in the mud, and scientists believe that this helps them stay protected from the sun.
African rhinos cannot swim like their Indian counterparts.
There are several ways to tell the difference between a black and white rhino: the wide mouth of the white rhino is perfect for grazing on grasses, while the more narrow, pointed lip of the black rhino is great for pulling leaves and shrubs into its mouth. Black rhinos have various habitats, but mainly areas with dense, woody vegetation. White rhinos live in savannas with water holes, mud wallows and shade trees.
Rhinos communicate using dung-heaps called middens, where they leave messages for other rhinos.
Latin Family: Rhinocerotidae
A Group Is Called: A Crash (More At: Critter Collectives)
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Posted by sorsha at 9:38 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
More African Field Notes Entries
African Field Notes: The Zebra
I was surprised when the zebras started making noise. I'm used to quiet horses, but zebras make a sort of donkey-like noise, and they buck and such as well. When a zebra is attacked it will kick hard with its... Read More Here
African Field Notes: The Hippopotamus
Hippos are the third largest land mammal. Although they are hooved, they also have webbed toes since they spend a lot of their time in the water. At night, they leave the safety of the water and forage, even miles... Read More Here
African Field Notes: Cape Buffalo
Both male and female buffaloes have heavy, ridged horns. The horns are formidable weapons against predators and for jostling for space within the herd; males also use the horns in fights for dominance. Sight and hearing are both rather poor,... Read More Here
African Field Notes: The Black-Backed Jackal
Black-backed Jackals live singly or in pairs, and are sometimes found in small packs. Jackals can best be described as opportunistic omnivores, I've seen them feeding on the outskirts of kill sights along with the much-larger hyena. Black-Backed Jackals are... Read More Here
African Field Notes: The Duiker
Duikers are small antelopes that inhabit forest or dense bushland. They regularly run through these areas and when disturbed, plunge into thick cover to hide. This trait is the source of the name "duiker," which in Dutch means "diver."... Read More Here
African Field Notes: The Impala
One of the first animals you're likely to see on a game drive is a herd of impala. My friend Monika calls them the rats of the desert, the most common type of African antelope you’re likely to see. You'll... Read More Here