Tree agama males will enhance and brighten their blue colour while breeding to attract females. With agamas, their dominance in the group is determined through fights. A dominant male is brightly coloured and this male enjoys the privileges of mating with females and also gets the best place to rest.
Info source: https://www.kapama.com/rangerblog/tree-agama/
=========
The photo was taken during August 2015 at Pinelake Lifestyle Resort, White River, Mpumalanga, South Africa.
The white rhinoceros is the second-largest land mammal after the elephant. Adult males can reach 1,85 m in height and tip the scales at a massive 3,6 tonnes. Females are considerably smaller but can still weigh in at an impressive 1,7 tonnes. White rhinoceros are also known as the square-lipped rhinoceros due to their square (not pointed) upper lip. Their name comes from the Afrikaans word “wyd”, which means wide and refers to the animal’s muzzle. Compared to black rhinoceros, white rhinoceros have a longer skull, a less sharply defined forehead and a more pronounced shoulder hump. They have almost no hair and two horns. The front horn averages 60 cm but occasionally reaches 150 cm in length. The name rhinoceros means ‘nose horn’ and is often shortened to rhino. It comes from the Greek words rhino (nose) and ceros (horn). Rhinoceros use piles of dung to leave “messages” for other rhinoceros. Each rhinoceros’s smell is unique and identifies its owner. It can also tell a rhinoceros if the other rhinoceros is young/old/male or female. They also tell other rhinoceros that this is their territory.
Info source: https://hesc.co.za/species-hesc/white-rhino/
=========
The photo was taken during January 2014.
With a weight of 6 tons and a height that can reach 3.3 m to the shoulder, the elephant is the largest land animal in the world. Tusks of 90 kg have been recorded, but tusks of older bulls generally weigh 50 to 60 kg. Elephants can live as long as 70 years. With as many as 50 000 muscles, the elephant’s trunk is very sensitive. It is essentially a modified nose, able to detect water underground. Using the finger-like appendages at the tip of the trunk, elephants can pick the smallest flowers and twigs, pick a thorn from their feet and pull out strong reeds or grass. There is a common misunderstanding that the joints between the elephant’s feet and body are its knees. They are, in fact, its wrists. Elephants’ foot bones and hand bones are one and the same and have evolved to suit this four-legged mammal. An elephant’s tusks are actually its upper incisors, growing continuously until the elephant dies at about 60 years of age. They use their tusks for obtaining food, self-defence, and males use it for fighting. An elephant’s skin is about 3 cm thick, although it is rather sensitive. Elephants eat great quantities, and in a day can consume up to 272 kg (600 pounds) of tender shoots, grass and tree bark, drinking up to 200 litres of water in a single session. One elephant deposits about 150 kg (330 pounds) of dung per day, and drops a dollop every 15 minutes.
Info source: http://southafrica.co.za/elephant.html
=========
The photo was taken during September 2017 at Lake Panic Bird Hide, Kruger National Park Mpumalanga, South Africa.
