Readers’ wildlife photos

Today we have photos from South Africa taken by reader Phil Frymire on a recent trip. Phil’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his pictures by clicking on them.

Here are some more photos from an August trip to Timbavati and Mala Mala in South Africa that occurred at the same time as our host’s visit. I previously submitted some leopards, lions, elephants and rhinos. Rounding out the Big Five, here are some African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) along with some spotted hyenas (Crocuta Crocuta), Burchell’s zebras (Equus quagga burchellii) and Northern giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis).

A resting buffalo:

A herd of buffalo. The male in the foreground has an impressive “boss” (the area where the horns grow together in the middle):

A “dagga boy” as Jerry’s guide Dan called them. Our guide Mike called them “retired”. These are old males that no longer travel with the herds. They will likely be taken by lions (but see the photo below). This one is accompanied by a red-billed oxpecker (Buphagus erythroryncha):

When we first encountered these lions at Mala Mala, they were walking with their left sides facing us. One of the females was limping pitifully. After we drove around for a better look, it became obvious why she was struggling. If you look carefully at the female on the right you will see a gaping, horrific wound on her right front leg running from the shoulder to the elbow. She never emerged from the bushes while we observed her so I couldn’t get a clear photo. Mike was very confident that the injury was caused by a buffalo horn. Predators fight for a meal, but prey fight for their life. Predators don’t always emerge from the fracas unscathed. Revenge of a dagga boy?:

Profile of a spotted hyena:

The same hyena intently staring at us:

Hyena with a black-backed jackal (Lupulella mesomelas) in the foreground:

The same hyena literally eating bone. The crushing sounds were very impressive:

A beautiful zebra:

Posing above a waterhole:

Why do zebras have stripes? Jerry mentioned in one of his posts that the scientific evidence supports the hypothesis that the stripes deter biting flies. I asked our guide Mike what he thought. He favored the idea that the stripes break up the body outline and confuse predators. He didn’t cite any scientific papers, but he did cite this view of a mother and foal:

Another mother and foal at a waterhole:

Four male giraffes:

Frontal view of a male showing the thick ossicones that they use in combat with other males:

Profile of a giraffe with an oxpecker on its neck: