Today we have photos from out of Africa, all taken by Delia Randolph, who works in England and Kenya. Her notes are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
A few from Kenya where I live and work.
A handsome blue wildebeest (Connochaetes gnou):
Happy hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius):
A couple more from the Mara, near the Mara River:
Common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) in foliage. Warthogs have specially-adapted protective pads that allow them to ‘kneel’ down to feed – you can see the thickened skin between the ‘hairy bits’ on the front leg. And the next picture shows them in action.
Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) coming back with lunch. Hyena’s are one of the few animals that easily eat bones, horns and hooves. I was once doing some research on sheep vaccines in Kenya, and, according to the protocol, I had to do a post mortem on any sheep that died. The herder came one day to tell me a sheep had been killed by a hyena. He looked at me funny while I got together my post mortem kit. I arrived at the scene of the crime to find a few small tufts of blood-stained wool. That was all the hyena had left of a 250 lb Merino – the quickest post mortem ever.
Lion and lioness (Panther leo) with hyena in the background. Lions and hyenas compete for territory and prey. As well as direct competition both species engage in kleptoparasitism, that is, stealing prey hunted by the other species. Who is the thief and who is the robbed varies with population number and other factors.
Resting hyena in foreground, skulking hyena in background (would be perfect to play Shakespeare’s Richard 111, even has a hunchback!). Silver backed jackal, also known as black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) in background. Jackals don’t compete directly with lions or hyenas, going after smaller prey, but will pick over kill remains.
Two silver backed jackals and vultures after someone else made a kill (not sure whether lions or hyenas, we came after the action). I am not sure of the species of the vultures
Griffon Vulture.
I rather think it’s a African White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus).
Very good pictures!
Brilliant photos. Amazing information about hyenas and their ability to eat almost anything. Growing up, our family had a beagle who probably THOUGHT he was a hyena, because he sure did at least try to eat almost everything.
Great photos. Were you that close to the warthog?
Lovely photos; they make me nostalgic for Kenya. I desperately want to go back there next February/March but the covid situation makes that look increasingly unlikely.
Were you lucky to get shots of Warthogs? I have seen them often but I found that they always fled at any approach. The only photo I have of them is in a photo that I took of some zebras and it includes a distant view of them vanishing into the bush.
Beautiful photos, thanks! It looks like there could be good news on the way for big cat conservation in Zambia: https://lionaid.org/news/index.php
Oops, a better link: https://lionaid.org/news/2021/08/an-amazing-thing-just-happened-in-zambia.htm
These photos are terrific as well as the commentary. I had no idea that warthogs had elbow pads, nor did I know about the hyena’s ability to eat everything- now THAT’S a successful scavenger, no?
Great pix and text! Thanks. I think warthogs must be about the … least attractive of mammals.
You have seen a naked mole rat, haven’t you?
I am glad people liked these – readers’ photos are one of my favourite themes (along with Caturday). On the Mara, you can get really close – the animals have learned that humans are mainly harmless idiots who just make strange noises and point boxes at them.
Connochaetes gnou is the black wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus is the blue wildebeest.