Carnivores in Zambia

After much trial (and error), I've identified this beast as a Genet, just like the one we saw in Tanzania. However, at night and at a distance, our nighttime safari guide mistakenly identified this as a leopard.

Once I examined my own pictures, at first I mistook this for a Serval, only later to re-identify it as a Genet- the markings are just like the one in Tanzania. Having not seen a Genet prior to this trip, I'm not the best at identifying all species at first sight.

Thought they look like a cat, and groom themselves and purr like a cat, they are more closely related to Civets and Mongooses.

Unfortunately, we didn't see any lions while in Zambia. This photo was taken by my brother-in-law on one of his trips to Zambia. Thanks, Larry!

The slender mongoose is one of many descendents of the civet/genet family. This particular one is one of the smaller of the family. They mostly eat insects, worms, lizards, rodents and snakes, along with the occasional piece of fruit or carrion.

This fellow was scurrying pretty fast, so the picture is a little blurry. The bird in front is a white-browed sparrow-weaver, obviously not on the list of snacks for the mongoose.

We looked in vain in Zambia for the big cats, but saw none. We did see this leopard footprint on our walking safari, so at least we know they live in the area (South Luangwa National Park).

Hyena

Species: Crocuta crocuta
Weight: 90-190lbs (40-85 kg)

We also did not see any of the canine carnivores. On the same walking safari in South Luangwa National Park, we saw this hyena footprint, again confirming their existence, but alas, we never actually saw the culprit.

Hyenas eat nearly all of their prey, including the bones, crushing them with powerful jaws. As a result, their droppings are chalky white. They are also very social, keeping to their clan and defending it from other clans.