Visitors to the big game areas of sub-Saharan Africa are
often exhorted to spot The Big Five.
And doing so is often a badge of pride.
The name The Big Five came about apparently because the five animals are reputedly the most dangerous to hunt.
I've just returned from 10 days in the bush, so the idea of spotting The Big Five came up. Fortunately we succeeded in seeing all five, including the most difficult, the leopard.
Here I am in my bush vehicle, ready to go.
The animals comprising The Big Five are:
The leopard – elusive and very difficult to spot (my
favorite cat)
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| It's all mine |
The elephant – my favorite animal by far
The rhinoceros – in danger of extinction due to the demand
for its horn’s (non-existent) medicinal properties
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| A white rhino - a grazer |
The buffalo – usually placid in a herd, but decidedly
cantankerous when solo.
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| Don't come any closer |
Many visitors are surprised by the size of the animals, so I
thought I would provide you with some basic facts about each of The Big Five.
The elephant – or ellie as we like to call them
This is the largest terrestrial animal, with African ellies
being somewhat larger than their Asian counterparts.
A large male African ellie can stand 4 metres (13 feet) high
and weigh 7,000 kgs (15,000 lbs).
With its ears out and trumpeting, it is an awesome and terrifying sight.
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| Ears out an trumpeting |
On one of our bush trips, a group of us were canoeing along
the Zambezi from Mana Pools in Zimbabwe to the Mozambique border. We stopped for lunch on a small island,
whose side were small sand cliffs made carved out when the river was in flood. We were in the midst of setting up our
picninc lunch when an ellie walked out from under a tree. It looked at us curiously, standing
about 30 or 40 metres away. It
walked around another tree and peered at us again. Then it walked back around the tree to take another look at
us. Without any warning, up went
the trunk, a soul-chilling trumpet followed, and the ellie charged.
Our options were few.
Staying where we were was obviously not an option. But jumping over the small cliff into
the crocodile-infested, hippo-infested Zambezi didn’t seem very appealing
either. But we really didn’t have
a choice, so we moved with some speed towards the top of the cliff – probably 3
to 4 metres high. Just before we
had to launch ourselves over the edge, the game ranger who was accompanying us,
jumped in front of the ellie, waved his arms, and shouted.
The ellie skidded to a halt – literally – looked quizzically
at the crazy ranger, turned and walked away.
Of course, we were very relieved and asked the ranger why he
did what he did. He replied that
when young bull ellies charge like that, it is usually a mock charge – that
they are just strutting their stuff.
‘Usually’ we thought.
We were very thankful to have someone with us with knowledge
and courage, who provided us with a story for years to come.
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| In the Kalahari - running for a waterhole |
As frightening as they can be, ellies are also softies. I once watched a small herd drinking at
a waterhole. There was a tortoise at
the edge of the water in potential danger of being trampled. One ellie gently moved it out of danger
with it foot. Amazing.
People who spend time around ellies are constantly amazed at
their behaviour. They have a great
sense of humour. The story goes at
the game farm where I have a share in a bungalow that a group of young men,
highly intoxicated, were watching a herd of ellies. The men were making a great deal of noise, as intoxicated
men are wont to do. One ellie
apparently was so irritated at the intrusive noise in the quiet bush that it
wandered over to the Land Rover in which the men were sitting, lifted the front
of the vehicle off the ground, and dropped it. It them repeated this to reinforce its point and walked
off. Needless to say the bush
became very quiet.
Ellies, despite their size, are remarkably quiet when they
walk.
Most people who spend time
in the bush have stories about looking intently at some animal or other only to
find an ellie or two are standing a few metres away.
They have walked up in complete silence.
A big ellie has a foot that can reach
nearly half a metre across (that’s 18 inches or so).
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| This is a small footprint - and I have a big foot |
Ellies are vegetarian and go through a huge amount of leaves
and grass a day, often up to 150 kgs (330 lbs). They also consume up to 40 litres of water (11
gallons).
Elephant teeth are very interesting. Unlike humans who replace their baby
teeth with one additional set, elephants have six sets, the baby teeth followed
by five other sets. Unlike humans,
an ellie’s new teeth start at the back and push forward causing the old ones to
fall out. The last set typically
comes when an ellie is about 40 years old (they can live to 70) and has to last
the rest of its life. If it
doesn’t, the ellie loses the ability to chew and will die of starvation.
Ellie tusks are used for digging, debarking trees, lifting,
and fighting.
Tusks are relatively
soft and often wear down or break off.
The record length of an African ellie tusk is about 3 metres (10
feet).
Over the past couple of
hundred years, elephant tusks have on average become shorter because of natural
selection – the long tusked ellies were shot for trophies.
I’m sure Darwin would have had
something to say about this.
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| Enjoying the water |
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| Paddling in the Okavango Delta |
The most fascinating aspect of ellies, other than their
amazing social structure, is their trunk.
Made up of about 150,000 muscle fascicles, it is a remarkably versatile
tool.
It can lift 350 kgs (750
lbs) and can take the shell off a peanut without breaking the nut inside.
It can hold 8 litres of water (about 2
gallons) which is used for drinking and spraying over its own body.
It is also used as a snorkel when the
ellie goes swimming underwater – one of the great sights of the bush.
Last week I watched two ellie teenagers
cavorting in a river pool, rolling on their backs, going completely under water
except for their trunks.
A hippo
that had been enjoying the pool, retreated behind some rocks and glared at the
ellies’ intrusion into its space.
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| On the banks of the Chobe River - Botswana |
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| Family portrait - face powdered |
I can watch ellies all day (and night). Normally they are placid, but one always has to be careful when one encounters a breeding herd - mothers and young. As with all animals, mothers can be very aggressive when their kids are threatened or perceived to be threatened.
Talking of young, a baby elephant must be the cutest thing on four feet. It is very small, often able to walk underneath its mother's belly. It doesn't quite know what to do with tis trunk and sometimes trips over it. And. like other kids, little ellies love to play. A wonderful sight.
Well that’s enough for today.
Next time I’ll write about some of the other Big Five.
Stan - Thursday
