When things hot up in the bush the elephant calves just can’t contain themselves. They just can’t wait to get to the waterholes for their daily mud party. They have so much fun. Just like out kids going wild in a swimming pool on a hot day.
And of course I just wish I could join in the fun!
Monthly Archive for October, 2006
Blacksmith plover nests are really just a scraping in the ground that always look like the surroundings. And the eggs are so beautifully patterned that they too blend in totally with the surroundings.
But they always nest close to water and at this time of year when animals are concentrating around water, they really do live dangerously trying to look after the eggs, and how do they keep the largest land mammal from standing on them?
Amazingly elephants just didn’t stand on the nests. The adult bird would always stay on the nest, even when those jumbos were walking past only feet away.
Sadly over the weeks I saw the eggs go from 3 to 1 and then next time I looked there were none. But both adults were still feeding on the shores. So presumably the eggs weren’t trampled, otherwise I’d have seen the evidence, and all of them should have been trampled. So how did the eggs disappear?
Monitor lizards, jackal? I really don’t know.
Ever since these little guys were born, the alpha pups have hassled them on a daily basis. AND it still goes on.
But now it’s more of a game and BB’s pups keep coming back to be tormented yet again!
I still find it amazing that BB’s survived those early days when only 2 days old and the alpha pups would take them out the den just to use them as a play thing. But presumably all this rough treatment has only made them tougher and more able to take on the tough world out there.
All fires are really devastating, but in good hands, bush fires are very useful management tools.
I’ve just heard from the guys at Malilangwe that the wild dogs have been seen again. But they are right in the very east at Manyoka. Somewhere I didn’t expect them to go to. Although what it could be is they are finding it easier to hunt on the burns. These areas are so much more open having been burnt it makes for easier hunting.
Yellow-billed stork, spoonbills, Egyptian Geese and other feathered fishermen are in action around the shallows of Sosigi Dam (:map:) in this clip.
We came across this elephant bull which had lost the tip of his trunk, probably in a wire snare some time back when he moved off the Malilangwe property. The prehensile tip of the trunk acts like fingers on a hand and allows the elephant fine control over small objects like fruit and thin branches. See how he has had to adapt the way he feeds and grasps objects..
Some more elephant photos for you to enjoy
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