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Proud

Waterbuck is rather sedentary in nature. A gregarious animal, the waterbuck may form herds consisting of six to 30 individuals. These groups are either nursery herds with females and their offspring or bachelor herds. Males start showing territorial behaviour from the age of five years but are most dominant from the age of six to nine. The waterbuck cannot tolerate dehydration in hot weather, and thus inhabits areas close to sources of water. Cows are smaller than bulls. Waterbucks have a brownish-grey shaggy coat. The eyes and nose are patched with white, and there is a white collar under the throat. The rump has a characteristic white ring. The large rounded ears are a prominent feature. Only the bulls have long, forward curved horns. Both sexes emit a not unpleasant musky smell which normally lingers at resting sites.

16 August 2018Picture of the day, Wildlife

Snacktime

Warthogs use their tusks both for fighting off unwanted predators and other competing male warthogs, and the warthogs also use these tusks for digging in the dirt for grubs and insects. Warthogs have a diet that consists mainly of grass, fruit, berries, roots and insects but warthogs are also known to occasionally eat small mammals, birds and reptiles. The diet of the warthog however, depends on the season and what is growing and therefore available for the warthog to eat.

13 August 2018Picture of the day, Wildlife

Riveted

A lion pride consists of a few adult males, related females and cubs. Females form the stable social unit in a pride and do not tolerate outside females. Membership only changes with the births and deaths of lionesses, although some females leave and become nomadic. The average pride consists of around 15 lions, including several adult females and up to four males and their cubs of both sexes. Groups of female lions typically hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates. In a pride, lionesses do most of the hunting. In typical hunts, each lioness has a favoured position in the group, either stalking prey on the “wing” then attacking or moving a smaller distance in the centre of the group and capturing prey fleeing from other lionesses. An adult lioness requires an average of about 5 kg of meat per day. Pride lionesses often synchronise their reproductive cycles and communal rearing and suckling of the young, which suckle indiscriminately from any or all of the nursing females in the pride. Lionesses with cubs of their own are more likely to be tolerant of another lioness’s cubs than lionesses without cubs. Females have a typical weight range of 120 to 182 kg.

3 August 2018Picture of the day, Wildlife