"K" is for Kudu!

CCF has carried out a number of camera trapping surveys, and also maintains a network of cameras positioned for ongoing monitoring of the wildlife on our land.  While we are mainly focussed on cheetahs, there are many other species out there, and the cameras will trigger no matter what passes them by.  In this series of weekly blog entries, I will use these pictures to illustrate some of the wealth of animal life in Namibia - one species per week.  I hope you will enjoy seeing a little more of our world here in the bush.

This week we have a magnificent giant, the Greater Kudu.  Standing up to 150cm at the shoulder and weighing in at 315kg, with males mounting horns of over a meter, this is one of our larger and most distinctive animals.  Kudu's can jump fences from a standing start, and have ears sensitive enough to hear our supposedly silent camera traps triggering.

Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, there are close to half a million greater kudu spread across 17 countries from Ethiopia and Chad in the north, down to South Africa. Nearly two-thirds of the population exists on private land, where it is highly valued as a trophy animal - indeed, without this demand the population today would undoubtedly be much lower.

Kudus are browsers, and eat a considerable range including many herbs, fruits, succulents, and foliage, with acacia being a major staple. Providing their diet is sufficiently moist they have no need to visit waterholes for additional fluids, although in the parched environment at CCF, they are a frequent visitor at our dams. 

Over the last few years many of Namibia's kudu have succumbed to an ongoing rabies epidemic.  More research is needed on the topic, but it's believed they are particularly susceptible to spreading this disease because of the way multiple animals often chew on the same spiny branches of the acacias, thus passing the disease via their bloodied lips and tongues.  Numbers still appear to be high however, especially where populations are actively managed.

"I" is for Impala

CCF has carried out a number of camera trapping surveys, and also maintains a network of cameras positioned for ongoing monitoring of the wildlife on our land.  While we are mainly focussed on cheetahs, there are many other species out there, and the cameras will trigger no matter what passes them by.  In this series of weekly blog entries, I will use these pictures to illustrate some of the wealth of animal life in Namibia - one species per week.  I hope you will enjoy seeing a little more of our world here in the bush.

This time I have the chance to talk about a rare visitor to CCF.  Given that Namibia (aside from the far NW) is not part of their range, we were rather surprised to spot Common Impala on our camera traps.  There have been just enough sightings to convince us that they seem to have settled, but we think it's probably quite a small group.  We've no real idea where they originated, but given that the species has been introduced to numerous game farms in Namibia, it's probably safe to assume that they escaped from one of those.

The IUCN lists Impala as Least Concern, since their population is large (approx. 2 million) and stable.  More usually they are found much further east ranging from Kenya in the north to Botswana, and north-western South Africa in the south, and all the way across to the Indian Ocean.  A numerically smaller sub-species, the Black-Faced Impala is resident in Namibia's Etosha National Park.

A mixed browser and grazer, the impala can usually be found in areas with both woodland and open grasslands.  They seem to prefer grass in the wet season, and bushes in the dry season, although many exceptions occur.  Impala are about 150cm (59") long and stand 90cm (35") at the shoulder, with gracefully curving horns on males only. Unique to impalas are scent glands on the fetlocks thought to aid lost members of a herd by laying 'trail markers' as the group moves. 

Males can be extremely aggressive to each-other while competing for females, and deaths do occur.  Courtship displays also involve both long and high jumps, with members of a herd often becoming so involved in what they are doing that they become oblivious to everything else.  Barring accidents impala will live to around 15 years, although 50% of calves are lost to carnivores within a few weeks of birth.

H is for Honey Badger

CCF has carried out a number of camera trapping surveys, and also maintains a network of cameras positioned for ongoing monitoring of the wildlife on our land.  While we are mainly focussed on cheetahs, there are many other species out there, and the cameras will trigger no matter what passes them by.  In this series of weekly blog entries,we use these pictures to illustrate some of the wealth of animal life in Namibia - one species per week.  We hope you will enjoy seeing a little more of our world here in the bush.

This week we're introducing one of our favourite carnivores, the Honey Badger.

Found throughout sub-Saharan and north-western Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian sub-continent, and even up in Turkmenistan, the Honey Badger has a huge range and possibly a multitude of sub-species, although there has been insufficient research done for anyone to be sure.  They can live almost anywhere from arid deserts, to dense rain-forests, and from sea-level to the dizzy 4000m heights of the Bale National Park in Ethiopia.  Despite this vast range, they nonetheless appear to exist in a very low population density throughout.  Unfortunately, there are no reliable estimates for their population size either now, or in the past, but it appears that this is likely always to have been the case. 

The Honey Badger is a small and cute looking carnivore, but that soft exterior masks a ferocious temperament that is backed up by a powerful body and sharp claws.  Males measure up to 75cm (30") with a 30cm (12") tail and weigh around 16kg (35 lbs), with the females up to 20% smaller.  They feed on a wide variety of prey, from insects, through snakes (many of them extremely venomous)  all the way up to sub-adult antelope, but are also known to have a sweet tooth, and can often be found stealing honey straight out of bee hives… and eating the bees too.  They will aggressively defend their territory against all comers, including much larger animals such as lions or cape buffalo, and small groups have been known to chase equal numbers of sub-adult lions off of a kill before stealing the meat.

Little is known about Honey Badger reproduction, but they appear to have between 1-4 young after a six month gestation period.  In captivity they have been known to live up to twenty-six years.  At CCF Honey Badgers are only rarely seen in person, although a number of staff have been lucky enough to see them seemingly unconcernedly strolling along the middle of roads pointedly ignoring the large vehicle following them.  On camera traps they are usually seen in pairs, but even here, the sightings are infrequent.