Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
Nearly an hour after I took the previous post’s photo, “our” boat was still at anchor, the sun had recently set, and everyone on board was looking skywards.
Thousands of fruit bats roost on the nearby small island of Mios Kon.
We were watching them set off on their nightly foraging/hunting “expedition”.
Leave a Comment
The Karakoram Highway is surely the most visually spectacular major road, anywhere.
On 20 May 2024, we were proceeding along part of it, en route from Gilgit to the Hunza Valley.
At 11.26 am – circa one hour out of Gilgit – the pictured sign welcomed us to the “home” of Pakistan’s national animal.
The markhor is often described as the world’s largest wild goat.
In terms of average body mass and length, that claim is probably incorrect.
However, an “average” male markhor’s shoulder height exceeds all other goats’ “average” shoulders
So, Capra falconeri probably is the world’s most imposing goat.
Comments closed
For Australian followers of Test Matches across two “major” sporting codes, this post’s subtitle will recall at least several decades of all-too-familiar, unwelcome headlines
The actual Springbok – Antidorcas marsupialis – is South Africa’s heraldic beast.
However, this charismatic antelope is similarly abundant in Namibia and Botswana, and its range extends into the drier, southwest corner of Angola.
(Namibia’s emblematic mammal returns the compliment; gemsbok also thrive in South Africa and Botswana)
Comments closed
Baboons thrive in many different kinds of environment, across most of Namibia.
However, all of Namibia’s baboons belong to just one species: Papio cynocephalus ursinis, known as Chacma baboons, or Cape baboons.
Click here to discover more.
If you think that there are only two baboons in this post’s image, you are not looking closely enough!
Comments closed
This post’s heroes are superbly adapted to life in a very demanding, arid environment.
Oryx gazella – known locally as “gemsbok”, but labelled as “South African oryx” by many non-African English-speakers – is Namibia’s heraldic beast.
It is the largest oryx species.
Gemsbok are remarkably water-efficient.
Few, if any, other mammals can survive for so long, “between drinks”.
They can also reach/withstand amazingly high body temperatures – temperatures that would prove fatal to other mammals. (this ability reduces water needs and energy expenditure).
The pictured individuals are doing it “very easy”, in a place that offers green grass and mostly-moderate temperatures.
Comments closed
It was late afternoon, on our final “full” day in and around Nagarhole Tiger Reserve.
We were midway through the eighth of our nine Nagarhole wildlife “drives”.
Tiger-wise, time was running out.
We had enjoyed many “close encounters of the wildlife kind”, including one with a very healthy leopard.
On two occasions we had seen a tiger…just, fleetingly.
On more than two other occasions our ears had provided unmistakable evidence that a leopard or tiger was “on the prowl”, nearby.
However, at 4.52 pm on 07 March it appeared likely that we were not going to experience any 2023-vintage, visual “close encounter of the tiger kind”.
I took the featured photo – above – at 4.58 pm.
Comments closed
Imagine an English-speaking tiger, asked to describe the deer in this post’s featured image.
”Delicious”, might be the tiger’s reply.
You are looking at #1 and #2 on the list of species most preyed on by India’s tigers – respectively, sambar and chital/spotted deer.
As you can see, all five deer are definitely not relaxed.
Drinking and having “a good look around” are not simultaneously-possible; the pictured chital are in “eyes down” mode.
The sambar calf is looking at its mother.
However, you can see that the ears of all five deer are open, alert.
If you wish to see tigers (or leopards) in the wild, your ears are your most useful organs.
Big cats’ hunting success is stealth-dependent; they are highly unlikely to make sounds that betray their presence.
Your very quiet self should be focused on hearing the alarm calls which “prey” animals make whenever they notice a predator.
Comments closedIf you wish to see tigers “in the wild”, India is your best destination.
It contains circa 25% of the world’s remaining tiger habitat, but India is currently home to around 75% of “our” globe’s wild tigers.
There is no such thing as a reliable estimate of India’s wild tiger population, let alone the world’s.
The likely-best available figures come from the Global Tiger Forum.
On 10 September 2023, Global Tiger Forum published its latest global estimate: 5,574.
That is 74% higher than their 2010 figure. (click here for more detail)
It is impossible to know how much of the apparent increase reflects better monitoring rather than actual increase.
That said, there are grounds for believing that in some nations – India, especially – wild tiger numbers really are rising, after many years of steep decline towards seemingly-inevitable extinction.
This little series looks at Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, south India.
The featured image and the one immediately below show what the local tiger habitat looks like.
Comments closed
As you can see, the featured image shows a young primate, looking very relaxed, on a rooftop.
Obviously, the pictured individual was well aware of my (very close) presence.
At the time – 9.26 am on 28 February 2023 – the relevant two species had a couple of dozen mutually-visible members present, in a village near Coonoor in the Nilgiri Hills, south India.
Yours truly belongs to the world’s most abundant primate species.
My photo’s subject is a wild member of one of the rarest, most endangered primate species.
Its rapidly-vanishing natural rainforest habitat is confined to small, scattered locations in India’s Western Ghats.
Allegedly, that species’ members are elusive creatures (who) usually occupy the tallest, shadowy rainforest canopies, far from human sight.
However much I loved my experience of the “endearing moment” pictured above, it was in fact a moment that should never happen – a symptom of how very desperate has become the plight of Macaca silenus, the lion-tailed macacque.
Comments closed
If you are a Pelican Yoga regular, you have already seen Barbara Cartland’s and Barbie’s avian avatars. (in #10 of the “quirky moments” series)
This post’s “punkish” cub is a member of Africa’s most oft-misrepresented mammal species.
His kind are very much smarter and much more “social” than most humans realise.
Contrary to common human belief, spotted hyenas are primarily predators rather than scavengers.
Lions are much more likely to “steal” from hyenas than vice versa, and spotted hyenas are much the more efficient hunters.
Over the last several thousand years hyenas have had rotten “press”, but they are not rotters.
Nonetheless, the young hero of this post’s appearance and demeanour were decidedly “Rottenesque”.
Comments closed
