Wilkinson's World

Be that as it may, they are interesting animals to observe.  Chacma baboons move around in troops of fifty or more, lead by both an alpha male and female.  The large alpha male, weighing in at about 32 kgs, does most of the mating in the troop and his existence revolves around maintaining his dominance.  Fights break out when young males try to mate with females or usurp the alpha male’s position.  They have a strict behavioural and dominance code, even when it comes to troop movements.

The lifespan of a baboon is between eighteen to thirty years.  They mate throughout the year and females give birth to a single offspring after a gestation period of six months.  Young babies cling to the underside of their mothers initially and as they grow older, they move onto her back where they are supported by her tail.

The weaning period is between six and eight months.  Although there is a very close bond between mother and baby, all babies are protected by the other females in the group.  Females have babies every two years.

Their diet consists of fruit, roots, bulbs, insects and sometimes very young buck.  They can be domesticated, (see our story on Bobby the baboon at Namibgrens, who thinks he is a goat), but it should be remembered that they are wild animals and can be extremely aggressive towards humans, especially if there is food around or mothers feel that their babies are threatened.

In their troops they are very sociable and spend hours grooming and playing with each other.

The Latin name for the Chacma baboon is Papio cynocephalus ursinus.

The hardy Camel Thorn (Kameeldoring as it is known in Afrikaans – and which actually translates to Giraffe Thorn) is an acacia, easily recognized by its amazingly gnarled bark, small leaves and the little grey velvety comma-shaped seed pods that it produces.  It also sports rather nasty thorns, typical of the acacia family.  When in bloom, small round yellow flowers adorn the trees.

Apparently I’m not the only one who loves them.  It must be the tree most favoured by animals and birds, not only for its food, but the deep shade that it offers in intensely hot areas like the game reserves.  Cattle, camels and small herbivores also enjoy eating the seed pods that drop onto the ground below.

The tree gets its name from giraffes that like to feed on the succulent leaves.  Their leathery tongues and lips pay no heed to the thorns as they feast on the foliage on the uppermost branches.

There’s no telling what you will see in a Camel Thorn tree.  We’ve been lucky enough to see it decorated by birds of every description, raptors with snakes, enormous communal socialable weavers nests, and even a leopard …

and a beautiful Caracul having a comfortable snooze!

The most famous Camel Thorn trees in Namibia have to be the ones found at Dead Vlei, the dry white pan surrounded by magnificent red dunes in the Sossusvlei area.  These dead trees, purported to be hundreds of years old, are a photographers delight and are featured in just about every book on Namibia.

In Namibia most campsites are situated under Camel Thorns trees and as an added bonus, their wood is excellent for braais (barbeques).  No wonder I love them so much.  Oh, and by the way, please don’t let on about my secret fetish!

Horned Adders are not that big as snakes go, being between 250 and 400 mm in length.  Our latest find was a very young snake, we could hardly discern its little horns.

The venom of Horned Adders is mildly cytotoxic, causing necrosis, pain and swelling.  Their fangs are situated in the front of their mouths and are quite large.  Interestingly enough, small snakes are purported to be more poisonous than large snakes of their own species, the reason being that small venomous snakes inject all their poison at once when biting a victim, as opposed to adult snakes that limit the venom delivered with each bite so that they can strike more than once.  So it’s not the potency of the venom that counts here, but the amount of venom delivered in each bite that causes the damage.

Their skin colours and patterns vary according to their geographical situation.  We’ve noticed differences in snakes found in various locations in Namibia.  The specimens found here are much lighter than those found in the central Cape, which are greyer and a dark olive brown colour.

We were worried that this snake would be run over by a passing car, so Rob tried to coax it of the road with a stick.  It immediately coiled up and faced him, hissing loudly.  Eventually he managed to persuade it to move off and it slid away – looking very much like a side-winder the way it shuffled away.

These snakes eat small rodents, birds, lizards and frogs.  They breed in summer and normally have up to eight young ones (and sometimes a lot more).  They’re easy to recognize as their heads are triangular with a single horn over each eye.

Acknowledgements :  A Guide to the Reptiles of Southern Africa – Graham Alexander & Johan Marais

 

 

 

Last weekend we went hiking and camping at Ameib Ranch in the Erongo Mountains in Namibia and we were delighted and fascinated to see a zedonk – a cross between a zebra and a donkey.  Actually we had seen this remarkable animal once before on a trip to this game ranch, but it was just as thrilling to see it again – this time a much bigger version as it had had a couple of years to grow up.

The zedonk is a Zebroid – which is the generic name for all zebra hybrids.  This interbreeding, although interesting, is not ideal in nature because donkeys and wild equids don’t have equal numbers of chromosomes and this results in the offspring of such a mating being either poorly fertile in the case of females or sterile in the case of males.  In most of these interbreedings, the sire is the zebra and the female is the donkey or the horse.

Our zedonk was happily hanging out with both horses and donkeys on the ranch – we didn’t see any signs of zebras in the vicinity and don’t know whether this zebroid was the result of  ‘animal attraction’ between two species or an experiment on the part of the farmer.

Here in Namibia, the rock rabbits have grey fur.  Their fur colour is determined by their environment – if they live in dry, desert-like conditions with limited foliage, their fur is grey, whereas dassies found in wetter regions, like the Cape in South Africa, have thick brown fur.

They are sociable animals and can be seen in large numbers (herds of over fifty dassies are not uncommon), but we mostly see them in small family groups.  They are extremely agile and can run up and down sheer rock faces without any difficulty.  They’re equally at home perched on thin tree branches.

Rock rabbits don’t move far from their refuges when looking for leaves, grass and insects to eat, and they are able to go for many days without water.  Predators include leopards, snakes and eagles.  We often see snake eagles and Verreaux’s eagles hunting in the Erongo Mountains.

Families are protected by a dominant male, who marks his territory to prevent disputes.  Dassies give birth to two or three babies after a 6-7 month gestation period.  It takes the young three years to reach their adult size, although they are mating before they are eighteen months old (typical teenagers!!)  Their lifespan is about ten years.

It is interesting  to note that the enormous elephant is the closest living relative to the rock hyrax.