For a while we’ll alternate between wildlife photos and India photos. Today we have an unlikely pairing: an elephant and an arachnid.
Reader Richard sent an informative email about the elephants of Tsavo Park (Kenya) with some words on poaching. Note that there are two species of African elephant: the one below and the smaller forest elephant, Loxodonta cyclotis. Richard’s captions are indented.
Last year, WEIT touched a couple of times on the poaching of elephants in Africa, especially that of Satao (WEIT 15/06/14 and 16/06/14). I thought that your readers might perhaps be interested in some photographs that show a more cheerful outlook. There are currently about 11,000 bush elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Tsavo East. On my first visit 28 years ago, I saw only one large herd. Heavy poaching was driving the numbers down, and over the next three visits I saw respectively none, one tiny group, and a solitary old male. Ten years ago, however, I saw well over a hundred in a few hours, and these are a few of the photographs. The really encouraging thing is the unusually high proportion of juveniles. It looked as though the recovery from the worst of the poaching years was largely endogenous. I plan to visit Kenya again soon, perhaps in a couple of months, perhaps next year, in which case I shall definitely try to re-visit Tsavo East to see if the picture is the same.
The second photograph is a bit of a joke against me. The time taken by an early digital camera to autofocus allowed the elephants to hide their heads. Lions perform the same trick. However, it clearly shows that Tsavo elephants are, indeed, pink. The soil is laterite, containing a high proportion of ferric compounds. When elephants find a muddy patch, they wallow in it, and walk away covered in mud, which stains their hides this characteristic colour. This leaves a slight depression, which collects more water, which attracts more elephants to wallow, and this positive feedback loop eventually forms a waterhole. I was told by a guide that most of the waterholes, which benefit many other species, are made by elephants.
The fifth to eighth photographs were taken from Voi Safari Lodge, which is built part way up a rocky hill overlooking the waterhole. Although a bit scruffy, it is my favourite safari lodge. The seventh photograph gives some idea of the emptiness of the place. The horizon on the top left is southern end of the Yatta Plateau, about 40 km away; there is no human habitation in view. The plateau is said to be the longest extant larva flow in the world, at 290 km.
The ninth photograph is a bit poignant. When I saw Satao [the big tusker who was poached for his tusks; see the two WEIT posts cited above], he had three companions, one behind him on the track ahead of us, and the two in the photograph joining the track from the side. When we came too close behind Satao, the left-hand elephant in the photograph threatened us, with outstretched ears and waving trunk. As soon as we backed off, he calmed down, and got onto the track behind Satao and ahead of us. He was the main reason that I could not take a better photograph of Satao. The only other time that I have seen a threatening elephant was when we inadvertently cut him off from the rest of his herd. Again, he relaxed as soon as we got out of the way. If you do not annoy them, these gentle animals are very tolerant of human presence, even if you are close to them.
The last photograph is not an aberration. The hyraxes are the closest living land relatives to elephants. This one is a yellow-spotted rock hyrax or bush hyrax, Heterohyrax brucei, and is about the size of a domestic cat. They are very tame, and in fact are a bit of a nuisance around the lodge, frequently invading the dining room. They seem to regard the tiles and stone of the lodge as a natural extension of the rocky hill that is their normal habitat. They will readily take food from your hand, but this is not a good idea. Like elephants, they have a pair of enlarged incisors, which in their case function as pretty effective canines and can inflict an inadvertent but nasty bite. I saw a very unhappy small boy, who had just fed one, with blood pouring from his hand.
Switching gears, we have a scary-looking spider from reader Chris Taylor in Oz. I have no idea why nearly ever snake and spider in Australia is poisonous; have biologists come up with an explanation?
This is a male of the red-headed mouse spider species Missulena occatoria, which was running around on the drive of the my property near to Gulgong in New South Wales. The male has the red head and fangs like this, while the female is all reddish-brown to black. The male is most often seen, as the female lives in trapdoor burrows up to 50cm deep. We often see the burrows, but not the spiders. The male however goes wandering around trying to find a mate, so is more visible. And yes, they are capable of giving a serious bite to humans, though very rarely do.
Amusing typo: “longest extant larva flow” should be “longest extant lava flow”. I’d like to see either of those thing firsthand.
I chuckled when I saw that too.
Wonderful photos, Richard, and fascinating commentary. Thanks!
“Flow like a larva, punch like a lion.”
I saw that too.
I also chuckled, and then googled because I knew I’d seen claims that the longest lava flow in the world was Undara in north Queensland. It’s only 160 km, though.
Undara’s most famous for its lava tubes; the Wikipedia entry on lava tubes mentions examples on the Moon and Mars, but none in Earth’s southern hemisphere (where it might be presumed they wouldn’t occur because everything is upside down, and lava wouldn’t flow uphill even when it’s inside out).
I really like the larva flow image though. Don’t really mind if it’s made of tadpoles, caterpillars or maggots.
What lovely elephants. It is so easy to read their body language, especially if they fan out their ears & wave their trunks – a lot like how humans wave their arms about!
The hyrax is really cute. Look at his strange feet!
The spider scares me – those red fangs are enough to make me run screaming as they say “these really hurt”.
And you can see how his stubby feet could be related to elephant feet.
I think I would know not to feed the hyrax: that face really seems to be saying “I will bite your hand!”
I wonder if they make good pets. Maybe they could be trained not to bit. They’re cute.
…bite!
I am delighted that you and Diana made your comments about the feet of the hyrax. I, too, think that they resemble elephant’s feet. I considered adding a comment to that effect in my description, but I was afraid that to do so would be to indulge in confirmation bias.
You’re absolutely right! I would almost certainly not have made the connection if you hadn’t pointed it out.
Now that I think about it, can pretty much play that game with any two mammals and any corresponding body part, though the resemblance between a hyrax’s nose and an elephant’s is a …. wait for it …. stretch.
It’s what you might call a mere smear nose, with no special ‘vantages.
Till one of them is born with ‘satiable curtiosity.
I’d not heard of these creatures before (or more likely, I did and forgot about them) but those feet are just so delightful!
The elephants are the best and must be protected. I will always give money to the groups attempting to save them from the poachers including exterminating the poachers.
Very interesting. I did not know about the red headed mouse spider. Methinks it displays classical warning colors.
Australia poisons everything!
My favourite fun fact about that continent is that it hosts stinging nettles 40 meters high …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrocnide_excelsa
A bit of a hazard for rainforest fieldwork, especially at night. We particularly enjoy the way the freshly-stung feeling recurs every time you get the skin wet, sometimes over a year later.
Yikes!
That’s crazy! How have I never heard of them?!
Good news about the population of these elephants and this little herd has a great habitat as the wide shots shows, ears that big deserve all the room they can get.
As for the arachnid what a superb fellow he is, I wouldn’t trust him and the feeling would be mutual no doubt.. he looks like he works out.
Great post, great photos, thanks.
The photos today are superb as well as the commentary. How someone can kill an elephant for their ivory is beyond me. Great news that this area’s elephant population is rebounding. Their pink color reminds me of the pink dolphins in the amazon. The hyrax is really cute with its pudgy body and feet, but it does have a mischievous look to it.
The spider is neat-o. One look at that in the wild and you know to stay clear. Do harsh environments = venomous species? After Antartica, I think Australia is probably the harshest continent when it comes to climate, soil fertility, environment and the like. It also seems many venomous species evolved in the desert.
Almost all spiders are venomous – there is a single family and a few scattered lower taxa that have lost their ability to produce venom, but that’s at most 1% of the 45,000+ currently described spider species. Very few spider species produce venom that coincidentally has negative impacts on humans – and spider bites to humans are rare, anyway.
Spiders have a monumentally bad reputation for no legit reason. 🙁
“I have no idea why nearly ever snake and spider in Australia is poisonous…”.
Do you mean venomous? Although I’m sure they are poisonous too if you swallow them.
Richard, thank you so much for the elephant series–it is transporting! I was especially taken by the the series of ever-more-distant views; what an incredible expanse of habitat.
Glad to learn the mechanism of waterhole development. I watch African waterhole live cams nearly every night–the continuing diversity of life that appears is mind-blowing.
Chris, it was a little unsettling to imagine that spider “running around” your drive. Were I to find one, though, like you I’d want a picture. 😉 Thanks for sharing!
Why Do Venomous Animals Live In Warm Climates?
…because more species live in warm climates. Nice video, good images (and key role by my old supervisor, Rick Shine).
…except Rick makes an error, saying there were no snakes in Australia before 20 mya. Naughty Prof!
I think that’s the first good news I’ve ever heard about elephants. The pictures of the hyrax and spider were superb. I love spiders, but would probably give that guy the right of way.
I’ve often heard that the hyrax is the closest living relative of the elephant. What are the grounds for that conclusion? Is it comparative morphology (same stuff, different sizes?). Paleontological evidence? DNA relationships? Or something I probably don’t even know enough to ask?
The elephant+sirenian [dugong/manatee] relationship was well supported by morphological cladistics that some (not many) people knew how to do properly in the 1980s (sharing a lot of unusual, non-primitive stuff), but hyraxes didn’t get into the same group until molecular evidence started stacking up in the late 80s-early 90s. There were still people putting them with the ungulates up to then. As usually happens, more recent morphological studies have been finding new stuff (synapomorphies) that also support the molecular relationships. Here’s a relevant discussion paper from 1988, around the turning point.
Thank you!
I love elephants! The Oklahoma zoo has a new baby elephant. 🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘
This is the baby elephant cam site http://m.news9.com/Promo.aspx?catId=292605
I’ve heard that hyraxes in Israel like the little penguins in Australia make a lot of noise. Bummer.
“The really encouraging thing is the unusually high proportion of juveniles.”
Encouraging as a sign that the population is growing but possibly also worrying in a species whose social behaviour revolves around senior matriarchs who carry the herd’s cultural memory that helps them survive droughts etc.? Hopefully the high proportion of juveniles is mainly due to strong recruitment rather than through disproportionate loss of these older elephants.
Nice pictures!