Readers’ wildlife photos

Today we have the eighth and last set of photos from reader Ephraim Heller’s recent trip to Africa.  His notes and captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them:

Here is the final installment of my virtual safari. These photos were taken in Tanzania in April 2025. Most are from the Serengeti National Park with a few from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana) in a field of spring flowers in the Ngorongoro Crater:

Elephant at dawn:

Thomson’s gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii) sparring over territory in the Ngorongoro Crater:

I’m enchanted by the playfulness of Banded mongoose (Mungos mungo), so I include a few facts courtesy of Wikipedia:

Banded mongooses live in mixed-sex groups of 5–75 individuals with an average of around 20 individuals. Groups sleep together at night in underground dens, often abandoned termite mounds, and change dens frequently (every 2–3 days). Relations between groups are highly aggressive and mongooses are sometimes killed and injured during intergroup encounters. Banded mongooses feed primarily on insects, myriapods, small reptiles, and birds. Millipedes and beetles make up most of their diet, but they also commonly eat ants, crickets, termites, grasshoppers, caterpillars, earwigs and snails. Other prey items of the mongoose includes mice, rats, frogs, lizards, small snakes, ground birds and the eggs of both birds and reptiles. Banded mongoose forage in groups, but each member searches for food alone; however they work as a team when dealing with venomous snakes such as cobras:

Sunset Masai giraffe (Giraffa tippelskirchi):

Olive baboon (Papio anubis):

The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), also known as the laughing hyena. Wikipedia reports:

The spotted hyena is the most social of the Carnivora in that it has the largest group sizes and most complex social behaviours. Its social organisation is unlike that of any other carnivore, bearing closer resemblance to that of cercopithecine primates (baboons and macaques) with respect to group size, hierarchical structure, and frequency of social interaction among both kin and unrelated group-mates. The social system of the spotted hyena is openly competitive, with access to kills, mating opportunities and the time of dispersal for males depending on the ability to dominate other clan-members and form ally networks. Females provide only for their own cubs rather than assist each other, and males display no paternal care. However, the spotted hyena is also very cooperative with their clan-mates; often hunting, eating, and resting together, and making use of their numeracy and communication skills to fight off a common enemy. Spotted hyena society is matriarchal; females are larger than males and dominate them:

Leopards (Panthera pardus):

And we finish the safari with a few final lions (Panthera leo).

The king:

Mom does not get any “me time”:

ROAR!:

Good night: