Readers’ wildlife photos

We’re running low on this feature, so please send in some good photos. I won’t beg again for a while.

Today we have photos from Africa by Loretta Michaels.  Her captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Brief Introduction: I used to do a lot of business in Africa and so I almost always tried to tack on a weekend safari of some sort while there.  Most of these times I had only my iphone to take pictures, unlike the bigger safari vacations my husband & I take with all our camera gear.

While in Dar es Salaam on business, I spent a weekend on Chumbe Island, just off the coast of Zanzibar.  One of the more bizarre sightings was a Coconut Crab (Birgus latro), the largest land crab in the world, which is able  to climb coconut palms and easily crack coconuts with its claws.  These crabs also eat fleshy fruit and even prey on smaller crabs. This species of crabs has evolved to live on land from the sea, returning to water only to lay their eggs. On land, they live in underground holes made with fibers from coconut husks, and are generally only spotted at night. An adult crab can reach one meter in length. It has a curled-under abdomen that makes it look like a lobster. Coconut crabs supposedly have very tasty meat, so, unfortunately, they are hunted:

Three nicely aligned bush elephants (Loxodonta africana) I saw during a trip to Zambia:

A nice female African lion (Panthera leo), spotted during a night drive in Zambia:

A Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) spotted during a drive:

Two white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) in Nairobi National Park, a 45 square mile wildlife sanctuary established in 1946 just outside Nairobi:

Lunchtime at the Lilayi Elephant Nursery just outside Lusaka, Zambia.  The baby elephants are just adorable to watch, especially as they come running in from the fields when they see it’s feeding time:

A Golden Monkey (Cercopithecus mitis kandti) spotted in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda:

A mother and baby mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, just outside Kigali. It is one of two subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla.  The other population lives in the Congo. The park is one of the 3 homes of the endangered mountain gorillas within the Virunga Mountains:

Dominant male gorilla in Volcanoes National Park:

Variable Sunbird (Cinnyris venustus) in Rwanda. The sunbirds are a group of small Old World passerine birds which feed largely on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. Flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time: