ears Archives - Page 36 of 59

Fluff

The common eland is the slowest antelope, with a peak speed of 40 kph that tires them quickly. However, they can maintain a 22 kph trot indefinitely. Elands are capable of jumping up to 2.5 m from a standing start when startled. The common eland’s life expectancy is generally between 15 and 20 years. Eland herds are accompanied by a loud clicking sound that has been subject to considerable speculation. It is believed that the weight of the animal causes the two halves of its hooves to splay apart, and the clicking is the result of the hoof snapping together when the animal raises its leg. The sound carries some distance from a herd and may be a form of communication.

17 July 2018Picture of the day, Wildlife

Quench

Elephants can also drink up to 50 gallons of water a day about as much as a standard bathtub holds. The elephant’s ability to locate underground water and dig pools helps provide many other species with water during droughts. Their unique trunk acts as part nose to assist in breathing and detecting odours, and part hand to assist with manipulating objects, social interactions, eating, dust bathing, drawing-up water and releasing it into the mouth for drinking.

5 July 2018Picture of the day, Wildlife

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