Do send in your photos! Thanks to kind readers, the tank has risen a bit, but I could always use more (don’t forget the Latin binomial as well). Today’s photos come from Susan Hoffman, an evolutionary geneticist at Miami University. Susan’s notes and IDs are indented.
I saw your appeal for more pics, so I’m finally pulling out some photos that I promised to you quite a while ago, from a trip we made in 2017 to the area near Port Elizabeth, South Africa. We spent most of our time in the Addo Elephant and Mountain Zebra National Parks, which are small but delightful drive-through parks, like mini-Krugers. This first batch is from Addo, and I’ve given you several of some species so that you can choose your favorites. The animals are:
Burchell’s zebra foal with mom (Equus burchelli):
Elephants (Loxodonta africana) and Cape buffaloes (Syncerus caffer) sharing a waterhole:
Red hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus)—very numerous and unafraid:
Bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis)—this fox was very intent on checking out what appeared to be rodent burrows”
Common eland (Taurotragus oryx):
Warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) with hartebeest:
Leopard tortoise (I think) (Geochelone pardalis):
A glorious set – really speaks something- So much better than a zoo
the zebra pic has the tail captured at the height of its swing and gives the photo a sort of intensity- almost like its live – because I’m imagining the scene in real life… the anticipation of mom’s (?) tail swinging, the goal chewing, looking the other direction, huddled close together…
foal
I corrected autocorrect twice in that one.
Wow! These are great. Thank you.
The bat-eared fox is an odd looking fellow. I found this at the link:
“The bat-eared fox is predominantly an insectivore that uses its large ears to locate its prey. About 80–90% of their diet is harvester termites (Hodotermes mossambicus). When this particular species of termite is not available, they feed on other species of termites and have also been observed consuming other arthropods such as ants, beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, millipedes, moths, scorpions, spiders, and rarely birds, small mammals, reptiles, and fungi”.
I remember first hearing the name as “bad-eared” fox…Great photos, Susan. Thanks for posting.
Great pictures – thanks!
Oh man, I would love to do one of these. Terrific pictures! I checked out the tortoise. The leopard tortoise does loose much of its amazing bold coloring as it gets big.
Africa fauna! Always my favorite subject of RWP. Hadn’t seen the tortoise before. I didn’t know Africa had gigantic tortoises.
There’s an even bigger species farther north, the African spurred tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata). Haven’t seen one of those yet!
I hope you see one some day! And take a pic for us readers. 🙂
I really enjoyed seeing these, Susan. Thanks!
Good photos
Warthogs: evolution’s little punchlines.
Great pix, thank you!
D.A., J.D., NYC