If you’re reading this, you have probably watched either wildlife TV documentaries, YouTube videos or both, pitting animals of different species against each other. Some of the predictable conflicts are between predator and prey, for example – a wildebeest cow defends her calf against a leopard, or a pride of lions in a war of attrition against an old buffalo.
There are also many videos of deadly fights between predators such lions against hyenas, lions against each other and wild dogs taking on a troop of baboons.
The conflicts are usually savage and gruesome. Wild animals have no empathy for the suffering of another, and I am quite sure no predator has ever made a quick kill to put its prey out of its misery. They aim to kill rapidly so they can start eating as soon as possible.
I am not going to cite examples to support the above argument. If you’re interested there are plenty of horrific clips online.
Personally, I avoid videos where some poor animal is cruelly ripped apart by predators. People commiserate and say things like “Oh well, that’s nature’s way”. That might be so, but it is still a terrible thing that I don’t have to watch.
As with most people, I enjoy a clip where the prey fights back and even stands a chance of getting away. Humans seem to naturally support the underdog even if it means that a few big cats have to go hungry tonight.
Recently a video of a zebra biting a crocodile in the Mara River was doing the rounds. The zebra clearly had a good grip on the croc’s cheek muscles. I am sure I was not alone thinking, “Yeah, bite him hard and chomp his face off”.
Comparisons about the relative strength or fearsomeness of various species often accompany such videos. Questions usually go along the lines of, “Who would win, a leopard or a hyena?” or “Can two lionesses take down a buffalo?”
These questions depend on multiple factors such as the size and experience of the animals concerned, but perhaps just as important, is how hungry are they? A hungry lion will take much greater risks than one that’s been gorging all night.
Sometimes predators hunt even when they are not hungry, but an easy opportunity presents itself that is too tempting to resist. Quite often these less than enthusiastic hunts end in failure after a brief chase.
I have seen a lion stalk and then chase a zebra that she had absolutely no chances of catching. It crept forward, belly to the ground, until it reached the point where it had to charge. There was no more cover – but it was not close enough. The lion leapt forward, several metres behind the zebra but was never able to get close enough to lay a claw on its back. It was pure instinct. Lions never look a gift zebra in the mouth.
Many years ago in the Kruger National Park, I watched a single, very pregnant lioness stalk a lone buffalo bull that was lying down chewing the cud on a marshy river bank not far from the Skukuza rest camp. She waited for a while and then slowly inched towards the oblivious bull. She was about ten metres away from the buffalo when she launched her assault.
At the last second, the buffalo must have heard her move. He got to his feet and spun around with extraordinary speed to confront his would-be attacker. It was amazing to see how fast such a usually ponderous animal could move if need be.
I couldn’t help asking myself, “What was she thinking?” The lioness was so heavily pregnant that she could never have hoped to bring down an adult male buffalo without considerable help from her sisters.
She was alone and the buffalo chased her off with a severe reprimand.
Fast forward to a more recent visit at the Addo Elephant Park, AEP, where Ilza and I watched a single male buffalo wallow in the Ngulube water hole for a good 15 minutes while a small herd of elephants waited respectfully for their turn. Conversely, I have also seen a young elephant chase about twenty buffalo out of the Marion Baree water hole at the AEP.
A key factor in both the above cases is the gender of the aggressor animal. A male buffalo, sometimes called a dagga boy, often appears to be blindly courageous. They don’t fear anything. I have seen two dagga boys peacefully drinking at the Peaseland waterhole while five hyenas sniffed around behind them. They did not even look up to see what the hyenas were doing.
Judging from the hyenas distended bellies, I am quite sure they were not the least bit hungry and were only waiting for their turn to have a drink.
Solar power and biofiltration for the Addo Elephant Park
The South African National Parks (SANParks) announced last week some big improvements to the way it deals with water in the AEP. These improvements include solar power to supply water to the Park’s 17 largest boreholes and a biofiltration system to recycle up to 80% of grey water in the Main Camp.
The AEP is located in a water scarce area and is regularly threatened by drought. There are no rivers or natural lakes in the main section of the Park so a number of dams and watering holes have been built for the animals. The Park’s 600 odd elephants, thousands of antelope and other wild animals need to drink a lot of water every day, so keeping those dams supplied is vitally important.
Animal Survival International, an animal welfare organisation based in the United Kingdom, provided R2 million funding to launch the project three years ago. The aim is to convert diesel generators to solar power. SANParks explains,
“Whereas the diesel generators were noisy, emitted carbon emissions and were labour- and fuel-intensive in that they needed staff to drive to, check, repair and refuel them regularly, the new solar systems are quiet, clean and require minimal maintenance. Added to that, the Park’s spending on diesel to run the generators has considerably decreased”.
The Park’s new biofiltration system plant is already recycling most of the grey water from Main Camp, which in turn gets fed to a nearby waterhole and the bird hide. The R8 million plant is designed to supply water for the flushing of toilets at eight new family accommodation units currently being built.