CAPE PORCUPINE

Note: I hope you will not mind me using photographs that have appeared in my blogs before.

—————————————————————————————————————

We sometimes come across porcupine quills lying in the road or along paths when we are driving or walking in the countryside. They are fun things to pick up and to stick into things. Some people even cut them into short lengths to make attractive necklaces out of them. Having said that, I cannot find a single quill in our home! We used to have so many of them lurking in boxes or drawers – they have probably gone the way of grandchildren or been disposed of over the years. I don’t bother to pick them up anymore, merely enjoying seeing them in situ.

Don’t bother to pick them up? Of course I did when our children were small and when our (then) young grandchildren were with us. There is something really special about holding a light black-and-white quill that tapers to a very sharp point in your hand – especially as they are dropped by an animal one seldom sees.

The Cape Porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) is the largest rodent in southern Africa and one of the largest in the world. That honour goes to the South American Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris). Apart from wishing to obtain food, rodents gnaw on all sorts of things to control the growth of their teeth. Some of the trees in the rest camp area of the Mountain Zebra National Park have, for example, had to be protected from being gnawed – and possibly ring-barked – by roaming porcupines.

These porcupines have a single pair of sharp, continually growing incisor teeth that they use to gnaw through and rip up tough plant material. They also have long claws that they used to dig up roots and tubers. Other food forming part of their diet includes fruit, bark, and occasionally carrion. They sometimes chew on bones in areas with deficient phosphorus levels – a condition called osteophagia.

I can recall seeing a Cape porcupine only once and that was while we were camping in the Addo Elephant National Park many years ago. Regular campers in the park told us that a porcupine sometimes made its way through the camping area at night, entering close to where we had set up camp. They suggested we scatter some cut apples nearby.

Whether or not that was a good thing, I don’t know, but we did. Nothing happened. Darkness fell and, because the weather was particularly hot, one of my sons decided to set up his camp bed in the open outside. Much later that night he was woken by something vigorously shaking his camp bed: it was the promised porcupine!

Cape porcupines are widely distributed over South Africa. Males and females look the same, their bodies covered with flattened bristly hairs, spines which are up to 50 cm long and stout quills that grow up to 30 cm long and erect for self-defence. That is why their quills can be found all over, even if the animals themselves are not seen that often – while they may be active during the day, they are mostly nocturnal.

There is an interesting myth about porcupines that, for some reason, gets passed down from one generation to the next: that porcupines shoot out their quills when defending themselves from being attacked by other animals.

They don’t. The quills actually come off fairly easily when touched, and their sharp tips and overlapping scales or barbs make them difficult to remove. So, the quills merely get stuck into whatever comes too close to the porcupine. That said, it is a mystery to me how this Cape buffalo ended up with a quill stuck into it. Perhaps it picked it up after rolling on the ground.

Cape porcupines are occasionally preyed on by leopards, lions or hyenas for meat. As you can imagine, the success rate is very low as they are not easy to attack. When disturbed by predators, the porcupines tend to stand motionless and only turn aggressive when they are cornered. When this happens they lash around and charge sideways or backwards to lodge the razor-sharp quills into the predator should it persist. I presume this leopard, seen in the Kruger National Park, may have had such a close encounter with a Cape porcupine.

https://www.sanbi.org/animal-of-the-week/cape-porcupine/

 

ANIMALS AND WATER

I am revelling in the fact that we have received some good rain recently and so the first picture is of a horse drinking at a seasonal pool not far from where we live:

Then, to get you into the mood, here is a wonderful scene photographed in the Kruger National Park:

You can mainly see impala with a few zebra on the right.

These warthogs in the Addo Elephant National Park might amuse you:

While you might admire these lions in the same park:

Here are two animals I do not often show you. Both photographs were taken at Ekhutuleni. The first is of a hippopotamus:

If you look very carefully you might see the calf hiding behind its mother.

The last in this series is a crocodile:

OUR RICH WILDLIFE

Every time we visit one of our national parks I am reminded of how fortunate we are to enjoy seeing a wide variety of wildlife. The poaching of white rhino is an ongoing concern in South Africa – even in our protected areas – and so I always feel privileged to see one of these creatures in the wild.

We are used to seeing black wildebeest in the Mountain Zebra National Park and so it is fun to see blue wildebeest in places such as the Kruger National Park (where all of these photographs were taken).

Cape buffalo occur in the Addo Elephant National Park too, but this one is covered with Red-billed Oxpeckers.

Of course it is always a pleasure to see elegant giraffe.

Impala have been brought into several private game reserves all over the country.

No trip to the Kruger National Park feels complete unless one comes across a lion or two.

SCENES FROM NATIONAL PARKS

South Africa is blessed with several national parks. It takes time and travelling long distances to visit even some of them, yet none disappoint. Today I will feature scenes from a few of them. The Addo Elephant National Park is not very far from where we live and so, every now and then, we go there for a day visit. Given its name, visitors naturally expect to see elephants there:

It is also a good place for birding, where one might be fortunate to see raptors such as this Jackal Buzzard:

The Mountain Zebra National Park is also easily accessible to us and is the perfect place to spend a few days. Visitors here would obviously expect to see mountain zebras:

However, one might also be fortunate to spot a cheetah lying in the yellow grass:

There are red hartebeest in the Karoo National Park – which makes a good stopping point between where we live and Cape Town:

One can also enjoy seeing ostriches striding along the open veld:

The world famous Kruger National Park is several day’s journey from here and hosts an enormous variety of plants, birds, insects and animals. When we consider the alarming rate at which rhinos are killed in this country, we cannot help but feel privileged to see them from close quarters here:

The name on every visitor’s lips is ‘lion’. Mention the word and people speed up and jostle for space to see even the tip of the tail of one. Equally exciting to see though are leopards:

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is the furthest away from us and – despite its remote location – is such a popular destination that one has to book accommodation about a year ahead. This is an incredible place for seeing lions:

It is also a marvellous place for seeing the very beautiful crimson-breasted shrike:

DAGGA BOY

This might seem a strange description for a lone African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) seen wallowing in the mud, walking ever so slowly towards a waterhole or grazing in the veld. The double ‘g’ in dagga is pronounced as you would the ‘g’ in ‘gold’ or ‘glory’. The term ‘dagga’ in this context most likely has its origins in the Zulu word udaka (meaning mud or clay). In fact, you might frequently see remnants of mud caked on the hide of these lone buffalo. This is because they seem to spend a lot of time either rolling in mud or immersing themselves in muddy wallows.

These solitary old buffalo are past their prime – you can usually see how their covering of hair has thinned so that bald spots appear. By wallowing in thick mud the buffalo ensure they have a barrier against both the sun and the parasites that might infest these bald spots. Here two of these old dagga boys have teamed up in the Kruger National Park to seek water. Note the Red-billed Oxpeckers on their backs – they too help rid these animals of pesky parasites.

This lone dagga boy is grazing in the Addo Elephant National Park – not far from water, yet with no other buffalo to be seen in the area. He is possibly staying in this area with soft green grass because his teeth have worn down with age and so it is easier to eat. Note his heavy boss and upward curved horns – he must have been a formidable bull in his prime.

Now he lives away from the herd. He might team up with another dagga boy. Either way, as he weakens with age – and without the protection of the herd – he will become a target for predators.

Rest well old chap.