| Elephant |
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Swahili Name:
Tembo or Ndovu Species: Loxodonta africana Lifespan: 60-70 years Weight: up to 7 tons |
| Elephant |
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Swahili Name:
Tembo or Ndovu Species: Loxodonta africana Lifespan: 60-70 years Weight: up to 7 tons |
| Serengeti |
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| The very first elephants we saw was a large herd galloping along quickly. It was our first morning out in the Western Arm of the Serengeti, and our excitement levels were high. We'd later see them close-up- much closer up. But we were excited first to see them, and then to see this many hurriedly making their way from Point A to Point B. | |
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| Here were a few elephants trailing up the rear of the same grouping- mothers and babies. | |
| Elephants are the biggest land animals on Earth. Weighing in at up to 7 tons, they eat about 500 lbs (220kg) of food a day, mostly by stripping vegetation off trees, and eating fallen fruit. This elephant was trudging through a stand of thorny acacias. | 
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This group of six were seeking the meager shade of a lone acacia tree, just off the left side of the picture. Afternoons can get pretty hot in the Serengeti, even in the wintertime. |
| On another drive this fellow appeared suddenly from the bush- our driver quickly turning off the vehicle so as not to bother it- they can be temperamental. |  |
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This is the same fellow a few minutes later. We stayed put until he was safely in the distance. |
| On our second day, we ran into a large group of elephants that would not go away. We were stuck for close to half an hour while they meandered on either side of the road, eating tree bark and leaves. |  |
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There were several families out and about- these were on the side of the road while others were blocking us on the road (above). We saw many young elephants. |
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These were two of the babies- the one on the right was the smallest one. They stayed pretty close to mom, for the most part. And the presence of young makes the elephants more unpredictable and dangerous- they are fiercely protective of their young. |  |
| Here was a lovely parting shot- the family of elephants were finally leaving us to get on with our safari (of course, seeing the elephants was part of the safari, but after half an hour of sitting and having to answer the call of nature ourselves, we were happy to get on at that point :). |  |
| Hyrax |
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Swahili Name:
Tembo or Ndovu Species: See below Lifespan: 12 years Weight: 5 to 9 lbs (2.5-4 kg) |
| Yellow-Spotted Hyrax Species: Heterohyrax brucei At first I though this was just a rodent. Our guide told us it was a hyrax. I later found out that the hyrax is quite isolated as a group, and not related to rodents at all. They share some characteristics with elephants and sea cows, and share a distant common ancestor, so in that regard, they are a distant relative of the elephant, but probably the closest relative living today besides the sea cow. In common with the elephant are teeth, leg and foot bones, reproductive similarities, etc... There are three hyrax species in Africa, and can be difficult to tell apart. From all the information I gathered, I believe I spotted all three, as they do live amongst each other, even if they don't interbreed. |
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| Rock Hyrax Species: Procavia capensis This fellow, seen on the ground, seems to resemble most the Rock Hyrax. Although the Tree Hyrax can also have the yellow dorsal spot (which covers a scent gland), there were quite a few of these, and they were all on the ground. Two of them were fighting briefly. |
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Tree Hyrax Species: Dendrohyrax dorsalis This fellow was up in the trees above the picnic area at the Serengeti park headquarters. A lot of tourists stop here and eat box lunches, so a lot of food is dropped or purposefully fed to them, so they hang around and have the easy life.
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