Jun

15

A Tall Tale – June 2010

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Shot of the Month – June 2010

Last month I talked about the leopard.  This month we will discuss the camelopard — the 14th-century term used by the English for 500 years for the creature we know as the giraffe.  In fact, the scientific name for the giraffe, camelopardalis, comes from the early Roman name for the beast that they thought resembled a cross between a camel (general size and look) and a leopard (the spotting).

Giraffe Fun Facts:

Funny Looking Cows:  Did you know that giraffes were the largest ruminants in the world?  Yep, just like cows, giraffes have four stomachs and they regurgitate each mouthful several times to process it.  Giraffes can often be seen chewing their cud, just like Bessie the cow on your local farm.

Neck and Neck:  The six-foot neck found on your typical giraffe helps make it the tallest mammal in the world.  You might imagine that they have quite a few vertebrae to keep that neck going but like all mammals, including us, they only have seven vertebrae in their neck.  Seven very e-l-o-n-g-a-t-e-d vertebrae!

Big-Hearted:  Literally.  Pushing blood up that lengthy neck requires a powerful pump.  The giraffe’s heart weighs 22 pounds and is about 2 feet long.

That First Step is a Doozy:  Mother giraffes give birth standing up so newborns fall six feet, head first, to the ground.  Ouch.

We Need a Bigger Crib:  At birth, giraffes are 6 feet tall.

Light Sleepers: Giraffes require the least sleep of any mammal and on a given day they doze a maximum of 2 hours and may sleep as little as 10 minutes in a 24-hour period.  Periods of sleep rarely last longer than five minutes at a time.  Yes, they do sit on the ground to do this, resting their head on their rump.

Big Eaters:  Giraffes prefer the leaves and twigs of Acacia trees.  When times are good they can eat 65 pounds of the stuff in a day.  If water is plentiful giraffes can drink 10 gallons at a time.  When water is scarce, giraffes can go for long periods without water due to the high water content of acacia leaves.

Just Plain Big:  Male giraffes can reach 18 feet in height (meaning he can look in your second-story window without stretching) and can weigh from 1,800 to 4,300 pounds.  The females stand 13 to 15 feet in height and can weigh 1,200 to 2,600 pounds.

Kiss at your Peril:  Giraffes have tongues that are 18 inches long to help reach far away leaves and twigs.

Cute but Deadly:  The giraffe has six-foot-long legs with saucer-plate size hooves that deliver a kick that can crush the skull of a lion.

 

Ok, now you have all the basics on our favorite even-toed ungulate, the star previously known as camelopard.

May

15

Formidable Feline – May 2010

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Shot of the Month – May 2010

Although it is the smallest of the “Big Cats”, the leopard, shown here, may be the most successful of the group.  Informally, the “big cats” are the four members of the genus Panthera and include the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard.

Fun fact for your next party conversation:  These are the only four cats that can roar.

The leopard is the ultimate survivor and is highly adaptable.  Leopards have the widest distribution of any big cat and can live in jungles, woodlands, and open savannahs in sub-Saharan Africa, northeast Africa, Central Asia, India, and China.  Leopards are so adaptable they are even found in the temperate forests in the Russian Far East where they endure temperatures as low as -13° F in the winter.  Although rarely seen scientists believe that the global leopard population may be greater than the population of lions and cheetahs combined.  Despite their relative success, most leopard populations outside of Africa are endangered due to loss of habitat.

Leopards prefer mid-size antelope as their main food source, though depending on the situation, they can survive on dung beetles, monkeys, rodents, reptiles, birds, fish, and well, you get the idea, just about anything they can catch.  Correspondingly, leopard size can vary greatly depending on the nature of its diet.  Males are typically 30% larger than females and can weigh from 65 to 200 pounds.  Females can weigh from 50 to 130 pounds.

Leopards are the decathlon athletes of the natural world:  they can reach speeds of 36 mph, have a vertical leap of 10 feet, have a horizontal leap of more than 20 feet, and are strong swimmers.  Their primary hunting style is based on stealth as they move quietly through the bush and pounce on prey from a short distance.  They also hunt from trees surprising their prey from above.  Leopards are very muscular and pound for pound are the strongest of any cat.  A leopard can carry prey 3x times its body weight into a tree.

As you can see, the diminutive leopard is in many regards the biggest of the big cats…

Apr

15

Kurly Ku(du) – April 2010

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Shot of the Month – April 2010

 

What can weigh up to 600 pounds and has a mane?

No, try again.  The male lion only weighs up to 400 pounds.

The picture is a big clue.  It is the Greater Kudu.

Believe it or not, these massive antelopes are only the 2nd largest antelopes in the world.  For those of you keeping score at home the largest antelope is the Eland, weighing in at up to 1,500 pounds.  But that is a story for another month.

Greater Kudu can be found across a wide range of Africa.  In the east, they live in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Eritrea, and Kenya.  In the south, they live in Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and in Botswana, where this photo was taken.

Kudus prefer to live in thick, wooded areas, rocky hillsides, dry river beds, and areas with lots of water.  Turns out that kudu are vulnerable on the open plains as they do not run very fast and they do not have much stamina —  ergo with nowhere to hide they can be easily run down by lions, leopards, and wild dogs.  However, among the thick bush kudu have a better chance of success.  Despite their size, kudu are excellent jumpers and a male can easily leap 8 feet or more (Picture a 600 lb antelope jumping clean over your head with a couple of feet to spare!)  When pursued they simply leap over rocks and bushes that predators have a hard time navigating.  And for the kudu, the best defense is a good offense, of sorts.  Amongst the thick vegetation, their colorations and markings make them very difficult to see – so if they remain perfectly still they can often go undetected by carnivores on the prowl.

Despite their wide range kudu numbers are declining.  Much of their habitat is disappearing as humans cut down the forests to make farmland.  Hunting is also a big problem as trophy hunters prize those amazing cork-screw horns that are found only on males.  At full maturity, the horns make a complete 2 ½ twist.

Alas, if humanity continues its relentless encroachment the kudu will soon have no place left to hide, and then, ironically, we will truly never see them again.

Mar

15

Gracious Goliath – March 2010

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Shot of the Month – March 2010

A few years ago while living in Kenya took advantage of a long weekend to explore a couple of lakes that I had never found time to visit previously.

We first stopped at Lake Bogoria which is famous for its hot springs.  We had hoped to find the lake brimming with flamingos but there were few to be found and although the springs were interesting, overall we were underwhelmed.  Matters got worse when a large group of college students descended on the site.  Our goal of communing with nature suddenly disappeared as we became bit actors in a scene of the movie Animal House.  After one night we pulled up tent in search of more tranquil pastures.  Next stop – Lake Baringo.

Lake Baringois an ornithological wonder and is home to over 400 types of birds.  Each morning and afternoon we hired a canoe with a “captain” and patrolled the shoreline in search of wildlife.  Late one afternoon we discovered this majestic Goliath Heron standing on an outcropping.  The Goliath Heron is aptly named given that it is the largest heron in the world and can reach 5 feet in height with a wingspan of close to 8 feet across and these birds can weigh up to 11 pounds.

Herons typically stand perfectly still by the water’s edge with seemingly endless patience waiting for a meal to come by.  The Goliath Heron feeds primarily on large fish using that long bill as a deadly spear though it will also feast on small mammals, frogs, and insects.

Often, serene images of nature belie a frenzy of activity taking place behind the camera.  Upon finding “the shot” the photographer springs into action feverishly setting up the tripod or support system.  Next s/he has to ensure that all of the camera settings are correct for the given type of scene.  Then s/he must adjust the lens and compose the image.  All this must take place before the subject moves or flees, or before the perfect light fades, or before some other calamity befalls that perfect moment.  Often that special something is gone in an instant and the photographer didn’t really get a chance to be a part of it, to really experience it, being too caught up in the details of the craft.

In this case, you couldn’t have asked for a more accommodating subject.  The heron stood patiently as we moved the boat around in search of the perfect angle and as I changed lenses trying different perspectives.  In this exceptional case, I managed to get the shot and then put the camera down, sit back, and soak it all in.

Ahhhhh, nature…………

Feb

15

Built for Speed – February 2010

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Shot of the Month – February 2010

Ok, you guessed it, this month we are going to talk about cheetahs.  This is a glamour shot of a healthy cheetah that I found on the plains of Kenya, Africa.  The allure is a bit dampened by that bit of drool, uh, just there, yeah, there on the right.  At the time of this shot the cheetah and I were surrounded by thousands of zebra –perhaps this fellow was contemplating the dining bonanza before us.

Attacking an adult zebra is a daydream at best.  Adult zebra can weigh from 450 to 1,000 lbs – far outside the weight class of our speedy cat.  A full-grown cheetah weighs from 80 to 140 lbs and focuses on smaller prey that usually weighs less than 90 lbs often preferring Thomson’s Gazelle, Grant’s Gazelle, springbok, or the Impala.  On a good day, a cheetah might go after a baby zebra or wildebeest.

No creature in the world can run as fast – cheetahs can reach speeds of 75 mph in 3 seconds flat and can cover 24 feet in a single stride.  That means a cheetah can accelerate faster than any Ferrari, Porsche, or Lamborghini made today.

Virtually every aspect of the cheetah’s body has been transformed to maximize speed.  They have a slender, long-legged torso very similar to that of a greyhound dog.  They have semi-retractable claws – claws that cannot be fully withdrawn.  The claws are therefore always in contact with the ground ensuring excellent traction acting much like a good set of track cleats. Cheetahs have large nostrils to improve oxygen intake and they have an enlarged heart, liver, and lungs to efficiently circulate oxygen throughout the body.  They have small heads to lower wind resistance.  An unusually flexible spine acts like a giant spring that can produce explosive surges of speed and long strides.  Black “tear marks” that run from the inside corner of each eye down the side of the nose help reduce glare from the sun and improve vision (think football players with black makeup on their cheeks).  Finally, cheetahs have especially long tails which act like rudders that enable them to make exceptionally sharp turns and outflank fleeing prey.

Basically, a cheetah is a supercar on paws.  But so many words…. as they say, a picture is worth a thousand of ‘em…

 

(Source)

Now.  That’s.  Fast.

 

Until next month…:-)