Dung beetles

In the bush, nothing is wasted. A carcass, for example, when finished from our point of view is nothing of the sort. Horns are broken down by the larvae of horn borer moths, old bones are sucked and chewed by a variety of animals from giraffes to leopard tortoises providing vital nutrients.

A dung beetles rolls his ball away

Similarly, dung is not finished with once it hits the ground. The eating of dung, or ‘coprophagia’ is exhibited by a number of animals such as warthogs, scrub hares and leopard tortoises.

But the creatures best-associated with dung are of course the dung beetle species. Yesterday, following the visit of an elephant, we were able to witness the beetles at work, up close and personal! Within minutes of the elephant defecating several dung beetles had arrives on the scene, rolling large balls with incredible speed and precision before rolling them away. 

These balls will most likely be used by female dung beetles to lay their eggs in. Only one egg is laid per ball, keeping male dung beetles busy as a single female may lay up to 60 eggs per season.

These two dung beetles were having a scrap over a particular dung ball

Happy Easter

Elephant beside the water tower

This morning began in quite a different way to the traditional egg hunt: a lone bull elephant appeared on the entrance road to the lodge and spent over an hour working his way around our house.

Feeding by the veranda

Being used to viewing elephants from a vehicle it was wonderful to watch him from the ground, gaining a completely different perspective. We could see every hair, eye lash and wrinkle, not to mention really get a feel for his size.

Towards the end of his round he discovered a freshly dug trench which will form a new soak-away for our shower, giving us a few nervous moments as he promptly stepped down into it. Luckily he decided that it wasn’t worth further investigation, left the pipe and climbed out again before fading into the bush.

A Cold Front!

March was the hottest month we’ve had so far since moving to Leopard’s View with an average daily temperature of 34.6°C. So whilst we’d expect it to begin to cool down now we’re nearing the end of April, we didn’t expect it to do so quite this suddenly.

Since the last rainfall just over a week ago the average temperature has dropped to 25.5°C which has proved to be quite a shock to the system. Jumpers are being worn, blankets pulled out of cupboards, & English guests assure us that it’s much hotter in the UK!

Bush baby banquet

Spotted – a lesser bush baby foraging above the sun deck getting a fill of its favourite food source, gum. Gum provides a very nutritious sideline to insects being rich in both carbohydrates, proteins and minerals. In this particular case the bush baby is feeding on the gum of the marula tree. 

A most ferocious dinner guest...

Picture taken from Google

Dinner on Monday night was interrupted when a pair honey badgers (Mellivora capensis) came to drink just metres away at the bird pool. We were alerted to their presence by the reflection of light on their silver back and watched them for a while before they disappeared into the bush.

This black and white colouration is known as ‘aposematic colouration’ and acts as nature’s warning system to deter predators from eating unpalatable prey. Honey badgers produce a strong smelling secretion from their anal gland which is used as a defence mechanism and, coupled with their well-earned reputation for strength, must surely count as unpalatable!

No roadworks but......

During the evening of 30th June we became aware of loud cracking noises from close by our house.  Not able to wander out in the dark to investigate in detail, we could only make out the shape of an elephant in our torch beams, feeding on a tree just the other side of our carports.  From his tusks we could recognise him as a bull we have seen around on several occasions.  He spent at least an hour at the tree before moving off to tackle a raisin bush, drinking from our overflow tank and then demolishing a ‘blue thorn’ acacia just outside Kudu Hut.

Next morning, however, we were able to see exactly what the elephant had been up to.  The alternative track from our house to our entrance road was awash with several large branches from a marula tree and a whole host of smaller twigs and debris.  Some had been chewed but many were just left untouched:  elephants are nothing if not wasteful eaters.  At this time of year, when the grasses have dried up and have transported their nutrients from the leaves down to the root system for storage over winter, elephants are more dependent on trees for nutrition, particularly leaves and bark.

The only good thing about marula wood is that it is very soft and so easily cut with a bow saw for removal!

News from the bush babies

It appears that the local lesser bush baby (Galago moholi) family has expanded into another residence. Having moved house from the game viewing tower to the roof of the office last year, dusk down at the deck has become a quieter affair. In the last few weeks, however, the sunset has been punctuated by the tiny silhouettes of three adult bush babies bouncing down the tower on their way to begin a night’s foraging.

The others are still living in the office roof so we’re hoping to discover the identity of the tower three. They may turn out to be last year’s pups or new faces altogether. We’ll be sure to keep an eye out from now on!

Rain at last!

The bush at Leopard’s View has been looking very dry in recent weeks. Dark clouds have threatened tantalisingly on many occasions but have departed without bringing any real relief since 29mm at the end of February. March was incredibly hot with the average daily maximum for the month being 34.6 degrees.

With an average annual rainfall of 450mm, last week's cumulative total for this year's rainy season of 372mm was well below what we hoped for by the end of March. Monday night, however, the promising clouds did not disappoint. 42mm fell in a tremendous storm, with Tuesday’s continuous drizzle yielding a few more millimetres. 

Already the bush has taken on a green tinge again with grasses changing colour literally overnight. We’re very grateful for this latest downpour, and are hopeful that this year’s winter will not be too tough after all.

A visit from the pride

It was with great excitement that we spotted a dark shape lying in the shade beside the waterhole mid-afternoon. It could only be a big cat and the telltale outline of a small tufty mane confirmed it to be a young male lion. He soon moved off to a clump of bushes behind the waterhole but wasn’t lost from sight for long.

Half an hour later, as the sun began to dip and the air became appreciably cooler, the rest of the pride began to materialise. One by one, females, males, and sub-adults came down to drink from the waterhole before gradually making their way off along the road, one of the old adult males taking up the rear and scent marking as he went.

Although they had moved off, their presence was heard late into the night with a chorus of deep roars punctuating the other night sounds. What a treat!