Wildlife and conservation new, wild travel information and links for booking
Rock or cape hyrax has 5 recognized subspecies, again, unsurprising given its vast range. Generally having a hide within a natural rock cavity, Rock hyraxes are social animals that live in colonies of up to 50 individuals. They sleep in one group, and start the day, warming up in the sun
They are also listed as least concern
As or when we get contacts to see these creatures, they will appear beneath the news section
Photo credit: D. Gordon, E. Robertson
Yellow-spotted hyrax, has
a recognized 25 subspecies, though given the vast range of this species, this is perhaps not a surprise. They generally live in rocky areas and rock Kojes, that can be seen littered across savannah
It is listed as least concern, though in some areas it is hunted by humans, which has caused local problems. They are browsers, eating leaves twigs and other edible things it comes across (I have seen one eat a banana skin.
Kruger National Park and Mapungubwe National Park, are two reserves where they can be seen.
Countries containing at least some of their range, include Angola, Botswana, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, northern South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
Though rock hyraxes resemble rodents, their closest living relatives are actually elephants and manatees.
The striped dolphin (sometimes called the Euphrosyne dolphin) has been heavily researched and is found in temperate and tropical waters around the world. It has (until recently been included in the genus Stenella, but it has been shown to actually be an oceanic dolphin. According to a recent study, the closest relatives of the striped dolphin are the Clymene dolphin, the common dolphins, the Atlantic spotted dolphin, and “Tursiops” aduncus, which was formerly considered a subspecies of the common bottlenose dolphin. The striped dolphin was described by Franz Meyen in 1833.
The striped dolphin has a similar size and shape to several other dolphins that inhabit the waters it does (see pantropical spotted dolphin, Atlantic spotted dolphin, Clymene dolphin). However, its colouring is very different and makes it relatively easy to notice at sea. The underside is blue, white, or pink. One or two black bands circle the eyes, and then run across the back, to the flipper. These bands widen to the width of the flipper which are the same size. Two further black stripes run from behind the ear — one is short and ends just above the flipper. The other is longer and thickens along the flanks until it curves down under the belly just prior to the tail stock. Above these stripes, the dolphin’s flanks are coloured light blue or grey. All appendages are black, as well. At birth, individuals weigh about 10 kg (22 lb) and are up to a meter (3 feet) long. By adulthood, they have grown to 2.4 m (8 ft) (females) or 2.6 m (8.5 ft) (males) and weigh 150 kg (330 lb) (female) or 160 kg (352 lb) (male). Research suggested sexual maturity was reached at 12 years in Mediterranean females and in the Pacific at between seven and 9 years. Longevity is about 55–60 years. Gestation lasts about 12 months, with a three- or four-year gap between calving.
In common with other dolphins in its genus, the striped dolphin moves in large groups — usually up to thousands of individuals in number. Groups may be smaller in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. They may also mix with common dolphins. The striped dolphin is as capable as any dolphin at performing acrobatics — frequently breaching and jumping far above the surface of the water. Sometimes, it approaches boats in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, but this is dramatically less common in other areas, particularly in the Pacific, where it has been heavily exploited in the past. Striped dolphins are known as “streakers” throughout the eastern tropical Pacific due to their behavior of rapidly swimming away from vessels to avoid collisions.
The striped dolphin feeds on small pelagic fish and squid.
The striped dolphin inhabits temperate or tropical, off-shore waters. It is found in abundance in the North and South Atlantic Oceans, including the Mediterranean (sightings and strandings have been reported rather recently in Sea of Marmara[6]) and Gulf of Mexico, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. Roughly speaking, it occupies a range running from 40°N to 30°S. It has been found in water temperatures ranging from 10 to 26 °C, though the standard range is 18-22 °C. In the western Pacific, where the species has been extensively studied, a distinctive migration pattern has been identified. This has not been the case in other areas. The dolphin appears to be common in all areas of its range, though that may not be continuous; areas of low population density do exist. The total population is in excess of two million. The southernmost record is of a stranded individual nearby Dunedin, southern New Zealand in 2017.[7]
Japanese whalers have hunted striped dolphins in the western Pacific since at least the 1940s. In the heyday of “striped dolphin drives”, at least 8,000 to 9,000 individuals were killed each year, and in one exceptional year, 21,000 individuals were killed, though since the 1980s, following the introduction of quotas, this number has fallen to around 1,000 kills per year. Conservationists are concerned about the Mediterranean population which is threatened by pollution, disease, busy shipping lanes, and heavy incidental catches in fishing nets such as long-liners, trawlers, gill nets, trammel and purse seine nets. . Recent threats include military sonar, and chemical pollution from near by harbours. Hydrocarbons are also a major concern such has PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and HCB (hexachlorobenzene). These are said to give problems to additional food chains as well as doing a full body test to see what hydrocarbons may be passed down through parturition and lactation. Attempts have been made to keep the striped dolphin in captivity, but most have failed, with the exception of a few captured in Japan for the Taiji Whale Museum.
Striped dolphins are one of the targeted species in the Taiji dolphin drive hunt.
The adult striped dolphin eats fish, squid, octopus, krill, and other crustaceans. Mediterranean striped dolphins seem to prey primarily on cephalopods (50-100% of stomach contents), while north-eastern Atlantic striped dolphins most often prey on fish, frequently cod. They mainly feed on cephalopods, crustaceans, and bony fishes. They feed anywhere within the water column where prey is concentrated, and they can dive to depths of 700 m to hunt deeper-dwelling species.
The eastern tropical Pacific and Mediterranean populations of the striped dolphin are listed on Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), since they have an unfavourable conservation status or would benefit significantly from international co-operation organized by tailored agreements.[9]
On the IUCN Red List the striped dolphin classifies as vulnerable due to a 30% reduction in its subpopulation over the last three generations. These dolphins may also be an indicator species for long term monitoring of heavy metal accumulation in the marine environment because of its importance in the Japan pelagic food web as well as its ability to live for many years. Various other groups have signed memorandum, agreeing not to hunt them.
Conservation efforts have included having ship lines take a new path to their destination such as cruise lines as well as reduced human interaction close up. Feeding the dolphins has also become a problem, and has led to behavioural changes. This has also been suggested as another reason for mortality events.
The striped dolphin once thrived, numbering 127,880 before 1990. Since then, the population has suffered from incidental catches in fisheries. Mortality has been considered unsustainable, but there is a lack of data which hampers conservation efforts.
Various cases of stranding over the years have been a cause for alarm. With an unfavourable conservation status and the increasing amount of debris piling in the ocean every year, striped dolphin’s population is decreasing. 37 dolphins stranded off the Spanish Mediterranean coast were suffering from dolphin morbillivirus (DMV). The causes of these stranding have been changing from epizootic to enzootic.
There is a suggestion that theses strandings are caused by a virus, and that the virus is becoming more common.
Hippopotamus are a fascinating animal. Large, highly aggressive, and spending most of their days in water. For many people, their memory of a Hippopotamus on safari (or in a zoo) is a pond with a grey bump in the middle. But there is far more to a hippopotamus than meets the eyes. Duromg the night, Hippo leave the safety of the water and go into the bush to graze.
They are incredibly dangerous, and there is a far higher risk for people wandering in the bush to be killed by hippo than anything else. In the past, they were one of the few species that still lived in significant numbers outside reserves. Unfortunately, as the human population of Africa has grown, the majority of these free roaming Hippo have been killed – for an African living on a tiny income, a hippo is a huge pile of meat, which can be sold, and some of its teeth are made of ivory.
A rough estimate suggests that the meat is worth around 8000. When you add in the Ivory teeth, it is possible for a Hippo carcass to be worth a years average salary (and that is the mean salary). 85% of Africans survive on $5.50 per day, which works out at almost exactly $2000 – so for 85% of Africans, a hippo carcass is worth 4 years of salary – assuming that you do not make much money from the ivory, and it would not be surprising if this added significantly.
When you look at these numbers, it is not surprising that people poach Hippos -and it makes it very hard to work out how to save them.
Of course, Hippo can be worth far more in tourism dollars over their lifespan.
Common hippopotamus are possible to see in all the Savannahs that we have listed so far. Visit wild places to see the total list.
Below is links to some of the biggest (though as I say, hippo can often be seen in small reserves and in places outside reserves as well. All our savannah wild places have sizable populations of common hippopotamus.
So the black rhino is one of the two rhino species that survive in Africa. Their last common ancestor was around 6 million years ago (in comparison the Javan and Indian rhino split just 2 million years ago). Being browsers, not grazers, they are far harder to see, as they spend their time deep in the bush, far from the open plains where white rhino are discovered.
Being solitary, they are also generally found at far lower densities than white rhinos. having said this, in many reserves this is as much as a result of poaching as of a low natural density. Having spent some time based around the Kruger, we have encountered White rhino a huge number of times, but black rhino have eluded us, though their dropping have been encountered on a few occasions.
The black rhino is a younger species than the white rhino having evolved from it, 4-5 million years ago.
They both have 2 horns, made of keratin, the same as our fingernails, with the front one being longer than the back one. The front horn has an average length of 50cm, though this is not a set thing. Plenty of black rhino have been measured with a horn 135cm long, and the world record was a horn 150cm long.
Regions of their range have been lost at various times, though in recent times, there has been an effort to turn back time In May 2017, 18 eastern black rhinos were translocated from South Africa to the Akagera National Park in Rwanda. The park had around 50 rhinos in the 1970s but had lost them all by 2007. In September 2017 18 were reintroduced, and 1 has been born since. The park employs a team to protect the rhinos and so far this has worked. In October 2017, This transfer took place in 2018. The governments of Chad and South Africa reached an agreement in October 2017, to transfer six black rhinos from South Africa to Zakouma National Park in Chad; this was complete by May 2018. Once established, this will be the northernmost population of the species. The species was wiped out from Chad in the 1970s and is under severe pressure from poaching in South Africa. The agreement calls for South African experts to assess the habitat, local management capabilities, security and the infrastructure before the transfer can take place.
Historically there have been a wide range of subspecies suggested for this species: The most accepted position considers seven or eight subspecies, of which three became extinct in historical times and one is on the brink of extinction. I have listed all these below
The most widely adopted alternative scheme only recognizes five subspecies or “eco-types”: D. b. bicornis, D. b. brucii, D. b. longipes, D. b. michaeli, and D. b. minor. This concept is also used by the IUCN, listing three surviving subspecies and recognizing D. b. brucii and D. b. longipes as extinct. The most important difference to the above scheme is the inclusion of the extant southwestern subspecies from Namibia in D. b. bicornis instead of in its own subspecies, whereupon the nominal subspecies is considered extant.
Seeing Black rhino is hard, but they are in most African reserves that we list
To see the whole tweet click here
The South...
Rhino are unable to sweat, which means that as temperatures increase, both black and white rhino are more and more reliant on finding shade, in order to keep...
