WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA SABI SAND, SOUTH AFRICA · WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA SABI SAND, SOUTH AFRICA For the month of February, Two Thousand and Eighteen ... given the resilience of

WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA SABI SAND, SOUTH AFRICA

For the month of February, Two Thousand and Eighteen Temperature Rainfall Recorded Sunrise & Sunset Average minimum: 19˚C (66˚F) For the month: 75 mm Sunrise: 05:40 Average maximum: 33˚C (91˚F) For the season to date: 397.7 mm Sunset: 18:36 Minimum recorded: 16˚C (60˚F) (Received to date since beginning of August 2017)

Maximum recorded: 40˚C (104˚F)

The green months are in full swing with the Sand River moving through a cycle of ebbs and flows with the rain received. It has been like watching Blue Planet in a time lapse mode, with the exception of us all living in the environment and seeing it in real time. The summer migrants are preparing for their annual return soon, however still gorging themselves on the bountiful amounts of insects emerging after the rain.

Here's a highlights package of the month's sightings Lions: Lion sightings have been incredibly interesting for the month of the February, with the dynamics of the Mhangene Pride and the aging Majingalane male lions as they disperse. The pride’s litters have reached independence, the now sub-adult lions have been viewed regularly on their own in varying numbers, from four individuals to eight, often with the mothers of the pride not being present. The coalition of Majingalane males battle through the hardship of being a male lion in the wild, and have been viewed with the sub-adults, following the younger lions in the hope to overpower a potential food source. One of the

younger lionesses was reported to have a large gash under her left jaw, a clear indication of a wound inflicted by a buffalo during hunting. The puncture wound was only noticed when the lioness was seen resting with the pride within a short distance of a group of buffalo that they were hunting the night before. A wound that would be a reminder that experience far outweighs brawn in the wild! A harsh lesson, however, given the resilience of wild animals the wound should heal and she will recover well. Leopards: The Halb’Nkunzi female leopard continues to move further north as her daughter (the Schotia female) resides in her territory close to the lodge. The Schotia female has been viewed regularly this month as she returns to a prospective den-site within close quarters of the lodges. We are all yearning to see her new litter. With this being her second litter, we are holding thumbs that she has some experience from her previous litter and thus turns out to be a successful mom. We know for sure if her last litter was anything to go by, her cubs inherit her beauty along with her striking blue eye colour. This month of leopard sightings had brought along a few surprises and most notably the return of a legendary leopard that roamed the entire section of Singita for many years, the Kashane male. Even though he has aged, he was looking as regal as ever. Another exciting find was the Ntoma female, daughter of the elusive Mobeni female. The Ntoma female was last sighted two years ago shortly after being independent to her mother. The Ntoma female moved through the central areas as if she was returning home and confidently marked her territory along her route. Elephants: An interesting month, as the female marula trees have fruited and continue to have large piles of fruit beneath the canopy of the trees since mid-January, which has drawn large herds into the areas. The fruits have been consumed not only by the elephants - other species capitalized on the fallen gems of nutrients and they too have consumed large amounts during the past few weeks. The elephants have moved purposely in search of further marula groves to feed on the fruits and this has caused the sightings of large groups to be sporadic. Wild dogs: The wild dog sightings have been on par with our previous year recordings, indicating the consistency with which these animals move through the summer season. It has been notable that our viewing of the pack members always increases within the winter months, however the few sightings that we do experience in the summer are always rewarding. Buffalo: The largest group was approximately 150 individuals. This relatively small group of buffalo has been hunted or trailed by the Mhanegene Pride consistently within the southern sections of the reserve.

Bird list: The total bird count for the month of February was 209 (213 in January). Specials for the month included European hobby, kori bustard and secretary bird.

Always the last to see the sunset! Article by Nick du Plessis Giraffe are one of those species that every set of guests would love to see; a safari trip is simply not complete without seeing one of these iconic safari animals. One of the interesting facts about them is that they are not at all territorial; why that is of any importance is because we go through periods where we see a lot of them around and times where we really struggle to see any at all! The fantastic thing is this month we have been really fortunate with the amount of sightings, and have had a number of large journeys moving through the reserve.

What obviously stands out with a giraffe is its unique and interesting build - the long and beautiful neck, legs, tail, tongue and eyelashes. All of these features help them to fill a specialized niche in this ecosystem. The eyelashes and long muzzle are perfectly designed to reach deep into the branches of thorn tree species and protect the eyes and rest of the face from the needle-like thorns. The long and leathery tongue can further the reach of these already impressive animals to feel its way around the prickly trees. They have a massive heart to work against gravity and pump the blood all the way up that long neck. Most famously the neck makes it a species like no other! It is just a fascinating bit of biology, famous for having only seven vertebrae, and an extremely extensive capillary network that tries to slow down the blood before it reaches the brain because of that massive heart. What is being discussed more and more is how such an interesting creature came to be, where for many years it was always thought that they evolved to reach the tops of leaves that no other mammal could, barring an elephant pushing the tree over. This makes a lot of sense, but the most recent studies believe that it is more a case of genetic selection over time. How this happens is giraffe fight for dominance doing something we call necking, basically standing side-on to one another and swinging those heavy heads at the opponent. The physics of this is quite scary, it’s like having a three metre pole and putting a 50 kg weight at the end of it! So what looks like slow motion actually carries amazing forced momentum, somewhere in the region of 2 000-3 000kg per square inch! Why this is so interesting is generally the male with the longest/largest neck will win these bouts, so genetic selection with time is that the necks will just progressively get longer and longer.

Maybe this provides a different narrative to why these stunning animals look the way they do!

Temperature management and contentment Article by Leon van Wyk A subject that has been on my mind a great deal is the connection between good temperature management and contentment. I believe that it is something that affects us all… referring not only to humans, but to different classes of animals too. Let us first consider humans and some of the ways in which proper temperature management affects our moods. When I get up early in the morning I like to first have a hot shower and if, for some reason, my hot water supply is not working it immediately becomes an issue. If I then go on to have a lukewarm cup of coffee I’m guaranteed to be rather grumpy! Similarly, later in the day, and especially after a hot day and some physical activity, the idea of a gin and tonic might be a highly attractive one. Without ice the gin and tonic would be too warm to be properly enjoyed. Then I might decide to go back to my air-conditioned room to cool down. Imagine now finding that somebody has turned the air-conditioner unit onto heating mode. This too would really affect my mood negatively! Food needs to be enjoyed at the right temperature too. Hot food needs to be sufficiently hot, and should not be allowed to stand for several minutes on a cold plate before being served. Chilled soups need to be properly chilled, not just served at room temperature. Well, this is my opinion, anyway. I am quite particular about my coffee being hot, my hot food being suitably hot, my beer, gin and tonic or soft drink being ice-cold, and my wine being served at just the right temperature. Keeping a comfortable body temperature is also something which affects our state of contentment. Wearing an extra layer is sometimes appropriate at the beginning of an early morning drive, particularly in the autumn and winter months. This can easily be shed later in the day, as it warms up. Guests really appreciate the comfort of a hot water bottle at the beginning of a morning game drive in winter. This can easily be discarded later. On a sweltering summer day, when feeling somewhat hot and bothered, the

simple act of taking off your shoes can immediately bring relief and make you feel a whole lot better. This feeling of relief or contentment can be further enhanced by putting your feet in the cool water of your plunge pool. Some might opt to plunge right into the pool, possibly to enjoy an ice-cold gin and tonic there. How could one’s mood not improve, doing just that? So what about the animals and their management of temperature? At the outset, it must be said that, for the most part, animals are a good deal more accepting of the conditions they face than humans are. They make themselves as comfortable as they can, and get on with life! Obviously animals do have various ways of managing either their actual body temperature, or how they react to significant increases or decreases in the temperature of their immediate surroundings. On a cold, damp morning, lions will often huddle together for warmth, each one benefiting from the body heat if its neighbour. Impalas and other species of antelope fluff up their coats so that they don’t reflect the sun’s rays, and birds do the same with their feathers. This allows the layer of air that is trapped close to their skins to be warmed up by their own body warmth. Reptiles, of course, need external sources of heat to warm their bodies, which is why crocodiles and monitor lizards will often lie basking in the sun at the water’s edge for hours at a time. Cooling down can be achieved in a number of different ways, such as panting, ventilation, moving into the shade or by direct cooling through the use of water or mud. This article is about how thermoregulation affects state of contentment. Watch the obvious delight in the eyes of a warthog when it gets into a muddy wallow on a hot day. Sheer bliss! Buffalo bulls, which have a reputation of being inclined to be cantankerous, look very contented when they lie in a cool stream, where they sometimes remain for a good couple of hours while ruminating. Even at mud wallows, the usually serious bulls sometimes lose themselves completely in the blissful, youthful abandon of enjoyment that comes with the cooling, comforting mud. Elephants swimming… that must be one of the most obvious exhibitions of mood enhancement as a result of good temperature management. When it comes to the temperature of food or liquid that they consume, this is probably less significant in terms of affecting the mood of wild animals, than managing their body temperatures. Having said that, though, some animals certainly do have a preference for water that is cooler, which is one reason why

elephants often dig holes in the sand for water… this water that they reach through digging is not only cooler, but may also be cleaner, through the effects of filtering by sand. I believe that we humans, as well as many other organisms, can optimise our state of contentment and in so doing improve our performance, by taking a little extra care with the management of temperature. We can do it for ourselves, and we can do it for those we care about.

Mutualism being detrimental Article by Quinton Paul Josop Oxpeckers partake in a mutualistic relationship with many antelope and large game species living in the bushveld. We understand that the animals learn to tolerate the oxpeckers, landing on them, making trilling calls, hopping, pecking around on their bodies locating ticks and eating them! At Singita Sabi Sand we are fortunate to see both species of oxpeckers, being the red-billed oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) and the yellow-billed oxpecker (Burphagus africanus). The red-billed oxpecker is fairly common and often seen on the backs of impala, zebra, giraffe, warthogs, wildebeest, rhino and buffalo. The yellow-billed oxpecker is not so common in the area, this is due to the widespread over-hunting of Cape buffalo and rhino during the late 1800’s. Another reason for their scarcity is due to the rinderpest epidemic that reduced large amounts of cattle in the 1880’s. With the large herds of Cape buffalo frequenting the south of the reserve, guides are always looking out for the yellow-billed oxpeckers amongst the herd. The noticeable differences between the two species is that, the red-billed oxpecker has a smaller red bill, a yellow wattle growing around the eyes and uses a scissoring action when combing through the hair of their hosts. The yellow-billed oxpecker is slightly larger, has a red eye with no wattles and has a thickset yellow bill with a red tip. These birds prefer pecking at their prey rather than scissoring! Having different feeding styles also means the two species feed on different types of tick.

Recently a buffalo herd was found again with many of the animals having open lesions, probably the result of a skin parasite spread by biting flies! Both species of oxpeckers were present performing their duties, however this time they were not only looking for ticks but were also targeting the wounds of the animals, pecking at the flesh and really irritating the herd! This results in the wounds of the animals taking longer to heal, infection occurring and buffalo becoming weaker. Even though this symbiosis in nature is mainly advantageous to both species, it can become uncomfortable, communalistic or even parasitic if the host lacks the resilience to get back to its full strength!

The marula tree Article by Piet Marimane I went out on game drive with my guests where we had such a wonderful time and also saw a lot of animals. I then decided to change the pace by stopping at one of the beautiful marula (Sclerocarya birrea) trees and giving a talk about the tree. Marulas are probably best known for the delicious fruit they produce. The plum-sized fruit fall off the tree green and ripen to yellow on the ground where elephants, baboons, monkeys, antelopes and humans feast on them during the summer months (January to March). The fruit has lovely citrus flavour and we use it to make jam, jellies, port, juice, beer and Amarula liqueur. They are richer in vitamin C than an orange, even though the fruit contains less flesh and juice than an orange. Elephant bulls tend to feast on marula fruit for the vitamin C to boost their immune system before entering musth. Marula trees get attacked a lot by elephants during summer. Elephants are known to shake the trees to release more from the canopy. It is not true that elephants and baboons become intoxicated from eating marula fruit. Their digestive systems do not facilitate that kind of fermentation and this would be improbable with their rapid digestive systems anyway. There is an exceptionally hard kernel inside the fruit that has two to three caps that enclose the nuts. Nuts are high in protein and oil. Nuts taste a little like almonds and are collected by local human populations to be eaten. Oil is used for women’s facial cosmetics as a moisturiser. Squirrels also eat the nuts from these fruits. Elephants also eat the leaves and roots of these marula trees. They even push the trees over in times of food shortage to access these parts. They strip the bark to access the cambium (inner “bark”) which comprises the vascular tissue. This is the part of the tree that transports water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves. The tree is dioecious and houses the male and female parts on separate trees. This means that cross-pollination is obligatory and keeps genes vigorous. The way to tell the tree’s sex is by the presence of fruit and elongated flakes of bark on the female tree. Male trees have roundish shaped flakes of bark and do not bear fruit. The fruits are only produced for a few months of the year. The local tribes have a tradition regarding the sex of a marula that can help determine the gender of an unborn child. If a family wishes to have a boy, the pregnant woman is given tea from the powdered bark of the male tree and should they wish for a girl, tea from a female tree. A pinkish dye can be extracted from the inner bark and is generally used to dye basket work. A brandy tincture made from the inner bark is also used as a traditional malaria prophylactic.

February gallery

Photographs on location by Ross Couper, Nick du Plessis and

Quinton Paul Josop Singita Ebony and Boulders Lodge

Sabi Sand South Africa

Twenty-eighth of February 2018