One of the world’s rarest, most beautiful dogs faces extinction. When you scan the starkly beautiful landscape of Ethiopia’s highlands, one of the first things you notice is the vegetation. Howling winds ensure that few plants grow high off the ground here, with giant (familiar from gardens around the world) among the few exceptions. In […]
Tag: hyenas
It may look like a dog, but don’t be fooled – Africa’s most efficient killer, which can travel up to a staggering 72km/h, is neither a wolf nor a dog
Often overshadowed by lions, leopards and hyenas, the African wild dog is one of the continent’s most extraordinary predators. With its striking patchwork coat, oversized ears and remarkable teamwork, this endangered hunter boasts one of the highest success rates of any large carnivore on Earth Are African wild dogs wolves or dogs? African wild dogs […]
Herculean Effort to Restore Mozambique’s Rhino Population Succeeds with 61 Animals Moved There
9 female white rhino have been reintroduced to one of Mozambique’s southern national parks as part of a mammoth undertaking to bring back species the country has lost. Mozambique was the victim of one of Africa’s worst post-colonial power struggles, during which time they lost virtually all of several large animals during a civil war […]
A gobsmacking 500,000 babies born at one time in one place… That’s one colossal delivery room
The plains of the Serengeti turn into nature’s largest maternity ward every year between January and March, when up to 500,000 wildebeest calves are born over a period of just two to three weeks. In February, during the peak of the calving season, as many as 8,000 calves can be born in a single day—equivalent to a […]
“Females can afford to be choosier in their social relationships because of their higher ranking…”
One of the four species highlighted in David Attenborough‘s Dynasties II series, female spotted hyenas are one of nature’s most interesting matriarchal societies. Back in 2018, scientists from Michigan State University studied a group in the Masai Mara, Kenya and found that spotted hyenas practise a group dynamic that’s as complicated as many primate species. The sex and rank of […]
‘The leopard was crouched 3m away, its golden eyes locked on mine. What happened next is still a blur’
We took the bridge over the River Khwai. A phalanx of firewood rattled in the back of the beat-up Land Rover. Sardined beside it, my siblings nattered and quibbled. It was 2012 and we were a full-house family – two adults, three children – eight weeks and two breakdowns into a self-drive safari sabbatical. Travelling […]
“Staring menacingly, the buffaloes encircled our vehicle.” My close encounter with a mega-stampede
We’re parked up in our Land Cruiser on the golden grasslands of Botswana’s Mababe Depression, surrounded by Cape buffaloes caked in mud. “There must be 3,000 of them here,” our guide Jonah Seboko says quietly, scanning the scene with his binoculars. “Beautiful, just beautiful.” That’s not a word I’d ever really associated with the notoriously […]
“It has huge back legs armed with dagger-like claws that can reach 12cm long.” 10 bonkers birds that break the rules of nature
While there are plenty of weird birds to be found in the natural world, this avian selection is particularly extraordinary. From the only bird that hibernates, to the bird that can kick a human to death, here are 10 birds that defy the norms of nature. Birds that break nature’s rules Livingstone’s turaco The bird with metal […]