I was playing with various images today and this is a resulting collage. I have called it “Lions and Leopards on My Mind”.
PS: I will not be at Thanda from 20 May until 10 June so there will be less Wildlife posts during that time (I will be in Europe on vacation :-)).
… the Jacobson’s organ inside the mouth of an African Elephant.
This was a really tough one!
More about the Jacobson’s organ:
The Jacobson’s organ or vomeronasal organ is an auxiliary sense of smell organ that is found in many animals. This organ is the sense organ involved in the flehmen response in mammals. The Jacobson’s organ is mainly used to detect pheromones, chemical messengers that carry information between individuals of the same species. Its presence in many animals has been widely studied and its importance for reproduction and for social behavior has been shown in many studies.
Its presence and functionality in humans is controversial, though most studies agree the organ regresses during fetal development. Elephants transfer chemo-sensory stimuli to the Jacobson’s organ in the roof of their mouths using their “fingers”, at the tips of their trunks.
… the subject of this image?
What species and what part of the animal?
I am looking forward to the answers!
I love the back-light ears on this little Baboon!
This is a collage of the fourteen different Elephant Bulls I observed at the “Masahlela” waterhole at Tembe Elephant Park. Last Friday all of them came to drink at the waterhole between 10:00am and 2:00pm.
If you want to have a look yourself you can tune into their 24hr webcam at the waterhole – just remember that South Africa is 6 hours before New York Time (EST) and 2 hours before London Time (GMT): http://www.tembe.co.za/webcam.htm
Also, check out my Friday’s blog post for more images: https://christiansperka.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/fill-up-get-cool-and-move-on/
Whenever I look into a Buffalo bull’s eyes I see a pendulum swinging in its head:
Flight Fight Flight Flight Flight Fight Flight Fight Flight Fight Flight Fight Flight Fight ….
And if you are on foot it better stop on “Flight”. Buffalo’s are one of the few mammals that will attack without warning. So it is important to respect these formidable creatures and keep the appropriated distance 🙂
I really like this Buffalo picture I took on Thursday at the Tembe Elephant Park.
Imagine you are an Elephant Bull living at Tembe Elephant Park.
It is midday and you are due for a service 🙂 You move to the largest of the
waterholes …
… and fill up with fresh water while some human tourist watch you
drinking…
… you meet a few of your pals, some of them friendly and some of them are ready for a fight…
… you finish your drink and do a little light sparring…
… you move on to the “cool down” mud bath. Some big shots are in front of you so you have to wait your turn…
… what a great feeling to cool down in the heat of the day …
… you chase a Wildebeest around a bit – just for fun …
… and have a little dust shower…
… and now it is time you move back into the bush to continue your on-going
meal (about 350kg per day).
Today I have observed this scenario 14 times at Tembe Elephant Park. All 14 bulls adhered to the same procedure – creatures of habit!
Have a good weekend!
In 2008 I was for the first time at Tembe National Elephant Park (This picture was taken then).
Tembe is know for some of the greatest tuskers in Africa (=Elephants with very long tusks). I will be spending the next two days at this reserve and I hope I get to see some of these “teeth giants” 🙂
While I was in the Lowveld for my training course I spent a few hours at Lake Panic in the Kruger National Park.
Besides many good bird shots I took a series of pictures of mating Hippos. Because of their size/weight they mate in the water. For most of the mating time one sees only the male but in the quite lengthy process the female occasionally surfaces to get some air.
My favorite lake panic bird picture is of a Malachite Kingfisher returning from fishing. I also got images of a Brown-hooded Kingfisher, a Woodland Kingfisher and a Pied Kingfisher. A good Kingfisher day!
On the way to Lake Panic I passed the Sabi River. This Elephant bull almost disappeared in the high grass along the river bank.
I enjoyed the Sabi Sands, Kruger and Lake Panic!
… and I am back home at Thanda 🙂 …
The last few days were very hot and our walks in the morning and in the evening were very exhausting. We had a few animal encounters, but not as many as we hoped for. Even the animals thought is was to hot to be out and about.
During these hot days they spend their time in drainage lines and in thick bush. It is too dangerous to walk these areas so most of our encounters were around waterholes. Rhinos, Buffalo bulls and Elephant bulls.
Yesterday we got a special treat when we went on a short game drive in the middle of the day to observe two Leopards. The female was keen to mate and she tried to “engage” the young male, but he was not interested. So we had a lot of growling in long grass but no action 🙂
Here are two pictures of the Leopards and an image of a young Elephant bull feeding next to my tent.
Young males Leopard
Female Leopard
A young bull behind my tent
