Tag: brown

Blend

The greater kudu of South Africa has tawny-brown to grey-brown coats with distinctive white stripes running down on its flanks. They have a white V-shaped band across the eyes and forehead with white spots on their cheeks. There are strong physical differences between males and females. The males grow long, spiral horns that can reach up to 1,8 m in length. The kudu bull’s horns reach full length at the age of six years old, and males are significantly larger than females. Bulls can weigh as much as 300 kg with a shoulder height of 1.4 m and cows weigh 210 kg with a shoulder height of 1.25 m. Kudu have long manes of hair that run on its back from head to tail and along the lower neck to the underbelly. A kudu herd tends to split up into two sub-groups. Young females remain with their mothers, while sexually mature males around the age of two years old form bachelor groups. Kudu males will join the female herds during mating season. No territorial spacing exists amongst bulls, but as they show age in their physical appearance, they have size-graded dominant hierarchies.
Info source: http://southafrica.co.za/kudu.html
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The photo was taken during January 2015 at Mabula Private Game Reserve, Rooiberg, Bela-Bela, Limpopo, South Africa.

Blend

Picture of the day, Wildlife

Flurry

The African fish eagle feeds mainly on fish, which it swoops down upon from a perch in a tree, snatching the prey from the water with its large, clawed talons. The eagle then flies back to its perch to eat its catch. Like other sea eagles, the African fish eagle has structures on its toes called spicules that allow it to grasp fish and other slippery prey. The osprey, a winter visitor to Africa, also has this adaptation. Should the African fish eagle catch prey over ten times their own body weight, it is too heavy to allow the eagle to get lift, so it instead drags the fish across the surface of the water until it reaches the shore. If it catches a fish too heavy to allow the eagle to sustain flight, it will drop into the water and paddle to the nearest shore with its wings. The African fish eagle is known to steal the catch of other bird species (such as goliath herons) in a behaviour known as kleptoparasitism. It also feeds on birds especially waterbirds such as ducks, greater and lesser flamingos, small turtles and terrapins, baby crocodiles, lizards, frogs, and carrion. Occasionally, it may even carry off mammalian prey, such as hyraxes and monkeys. It has also been observed feeding on domestic fowl (chickens).
Info source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_fish_eagle
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The photo was taken during October 2018 at The Falcon Ridge Bird of Prey Centre, Champagne Valley, Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Flurry

Picture of the day, Wildlife

Guardian

Guardian
The chacma baboon usually lives in social groups, called troops, which are composed of multiple adult males, adult females, and their offspring. Occasionally, however, very small groups form that consist of only a single adult male and several adult females. Chacma troops are characterized by a dominance hierarchy. Female ranking within the troop is inherited through the mother and remains relatively fixed, while the male ranking is often in flux, especially when the dominant male is replaced. Chacmas are unusual among baboons in that neither males nor females form strong relationships with members of the same sex. Instead, the strongest social bonds are often between unrelated adult males and females. Infanticide is also common, compared to other baboon species, as newly dominant males will often attempt to kill young baboons sired by the previously dominant male. Baboon troops possess a complex group behaviour and communicate by means of body attitudes, facial expressions, vocalizations and touch.
Info source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chacma_baboon
The photo was taken during February 2019 Mabula Private Game Reserve, Rooiberg, Limpopo, South Africa.
📷 Mariaan Buys

Guardian

Picture of the day, Wildlife