ANIMALS UP CLOSE

My patient readers have had a surfeit of animal photographs lately – largely because I spent much of last month either in the Addo Elephant National Park or in the Mountain Zebra National Park in the company of my Norwegian family. For a ‘change’ I think you might enjoy these pictures of a selection of animals seen up close. The first is one of the many donkeys that roam around our town:

Then we go into the wilds to observe a zebra eating:

Elephants in the Addo Elephant National Park sometimes approach vehicles very close indeed. Here is a close view of an elephant tusk:

Now, you can look an elephant in the eye:

We move on to the boss of a buffalo – which is being inspected by a red-billed oxpecker:

Moving much farther afield – to the Kruger National Park, in fact – we get a good view of a pair of giraffe:

ZEBRA FACES II

Who can resist the sight of a zebra? It is eight years since I first posted a collection of zebra faces and so, it is time for a few more:

The stripes stop before the eyelid and there is a clear white gap under the eye. Note the ‘beauty spot’.

Appears to have eyeliner above and below the eye. Note the full black line leading towards the eye.

A fine black line extending the eyeliner on the bottom lid. The stripes above the eye stop at the line across them.

Clear, heavy markings on the face. Note the broad line that runs down onto the eyelid and the clear line curling up to the eye from below.

Bold, clear markings with a line continuing from above to line the bottom lid. This line extends down from the corner to join the ‘nose’ lines.

Broad, dark facial markings. This photograph provides an opportunity for noticing fine differences in details between the two side of the face.

Enjoy looking for, and finding, other details not mentioned on all of these faces!

THE DAILY LIFE OF ZEBRAS

Of course these are not all the same zebras, yet the photographs that follow give some indication of what these beautiful animals get up to during an average day. Obviously they need to walk from one grazing patch to another:

Even though they are herd animals, note how they tend to follow one behind the other along well defined paths in the wild. These ones are clearly walking with purpose – either towards better grazing or making their way to a source of water. They need to drink water daily an so are seldom seen very far from water. Zebras can spend up to nineteen hours a day grazing:

This one is accompanied by a Cattle Egret. These birds are quick to pounce on insects disturbed by the zebra. Note the uplifted feathers on its back indicate a stiff breeze is blowing. Here you can see zebras approaching a waterhole:

As is the case with most wild animals, they approach very cautiously and will often stand around for a while to make quite certain there are no predators nearby before the dip their heads towards the water. Zebras drink about five litres of water at a time. Sometimes a waterhole can get rather crowded:

It is common to see a pair of zebras seemingly nuzzling each other like this:

What they could be doing is indulging in some social grooming: mutually cleaning one another’s neck and mane by using their teeth to nibble and scrape the neck, shoulders, back and sides. Among my favourite poses when zebras are at rest is when a group of them stand looking over each other’s shoulders – this often happens in pairs, but in this case there is a trio of them. They use their tails to swish flies away:

These zebras were photographed in the Addo Elephant National Park.

AN EYEFUL

Our vehicle is reflected in this zebra’s eye.

ANIMALS EATING

Warthogs are omnivores whose diet includes roots, berries, bark, bulbs, grass and a variety of plants. Their rounded cartilage snout is hardened on the upper side so that it can act as a kind of shovel to dig up bulbs from under the ground – as this one is doing:

Elephants on the other hand often break branches in order to gain access to the leaves, roots and nutrients in the tree:

Although kudu are well known as browsers, they also eat a variety of fruit, pods, forbs and creepers as well as succulents such as spekboom and aloes. This one is taking advantage of the many forbs that have grown after a long period without rain:

Red Hartebeest are predominantly grazers. While they usually prefer medium-height grass, they also tuck into the fresh re-growth of grass growing after rain:

Like the warthogs, bushpigs are omnivorous. Apart from insects and carrion, they also eat fruit, roots, bulbs and forbs:

We tend to think of zebras being predominantly grazers, yet they also include shrubs, bark, twigs, leaves and herbs in their diet: