branch Archives - Page 19 of 26

Spirals

Kudu bulls have large horns with two and a half twists, which, were they to be straightened, would reach an average length of 120 cm, with the record being 187.64 cm. They diverge slightly as they slant back from the head. The horns do not begin to grow until the bull is between the age of 6–12 months, twisting once at around 2 years of age, and not reaching the full two and a half twists until they are 6 years old; occasionally they may even have 3 full turns. Male kudus exhibit sparring behaviour by interlocking horns and shoving one another. In rare circumstances, sparring can result in both males being unable to free themselves from the other’s horns, which can then result in the death of both animals. The greater kudu is also a target for poachers for meat and horns. The horns of greater kudus are commonly used to make Shofars, a Jewish ritual horn blown at Rosh Hashanah.

27 July 2018Picture of the day, Wildlife

Selati

On the 8th of November 1912 a railway line connecting the border town of Komatipoort with the gold fields at Tzaneen in the north-western Lowveld of South Africa, cutting across the Sabie Game Reserve for a distance of approximately eighty kilometres, was inaugurated. Known as the Selati Line, it played an immense part in the history of the Kruger National Park. The two metal train bridges across the Crocodile and Sabie rivers stand silent witness to a long departed era of Kruger Park’s history. In 1978 “The Railways” donated steam engine 3638, named “Skukuza”, to the then National Parks Board for permanent display at the replica station inside the camp.

6 July 2018Landscape, Picture of the day

Trotter

The handsome slate-brown shaggy coat of the Nyala is marked with white vertical stripes and spots on the flanks. Rams appear more charcoal-grey in colour. The rams have long inward curved horns and a white chevroned face. They have a ridge of long hairs along the underparts, from behind the chin to between the hind legs, they also have a mane of thick, black hair from the head along the spine to the rump. The nyala is used as a marker to distinguish between the names given to the males and females of other antelope species. This is because of the drastic difference in size between the male and female nyala. The male nyala is classified as a bull, while the female is classified as a ewe. Any male antelope smaller than the nyala bull is classified as a ram, and any female antelope bigger than the nyala female is classified as a cow.

2 July 2018Picture of the day, Wildlife