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Kwando 2004 - 2007


mvecht

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@@michael-ibk

The Lioness was startled and made a little jump. So did I!

However the Lioness had no idea what happened and quickly relaxed again. Probably quicker than I did <_<

 

@@optig Have a wonderful trip to Botswana. I have loved every minute I spent there.

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Thanks for another great trip down memory lane @@mvecht. Reading you & @@Big_Dog's retrospectives make me think I'll have to dust off the photo's & try and post a look back of our visit in 2007 - don't hold you breath waiting though!!

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@Africlan

 

A TR will be highly appreciated. we are patient ;)

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@@mvecht

Great photos! I wanted to "Like" more of them... but aparently there is a quota on how many things I can "like" in a day... and I have exceeded that quota!! I didn't realise that appreciation was rationed on this site! :huh:

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The lion fart "reaction shot" was priceless...truly a Safaritalk original!

You've captured some superb hippo action, as well.

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@@Marks

Trust me, even from a distance the smell was overwhelming!

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  • 3 weeks later...

~ @@mvecht

 

From carefully looking at your fine photographs, it seems as though both the lions and elephants you encountered were large.

In the images their size stands out relative to other visual elements.

The elephant you saw on the boat trip is an especially nice photograph, with the vegetation as a backdrop.

What a wonderful experience you had.

Thank you for sharing it with us on Safaritalk with lively commentary.

Tom K.

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@@Tom Kellie

 

I believe that the Elephants in Botswana and Namibia are some of the largest in Africa. However they rarely develop sizeable tusks, probably due to lack of certain minerals. As for the Lions I dont know. Lions in Botswana normally go for larger prey than the Lions in Eastern Africa. The staple diet in Botswana is Buffalo and Elephant, Giraffe and Hippo are common prey for some prides. The pride males are very active hunters and this may be why the are (if they are?) larger than normal.

Anyone out there that can give a more scientific view on the above?

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@@mvecht - It has been reported that lions, hyaenas and wild dogs in southern africa are smaller than their east african counterparts. Afraid I don't have the sources on me though! Not sure on elephants though.
Fantastic pictures also!

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@@mvecht - It has been reported that lions, hyaenas and wild dogs in southern africa are smaller than their east african counterparts. Afraid I don't have the sources on me though! Not sure on elephants though.

Fantastic pictures also!

 

@@Big_Dog I don't believe that. The lions in Botswana (for example) are massive creatures.

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@@mvecht - It has been reported that lions, hyaenas and wild dogs in southern africa are smaller than their east african counterparts. Afraid I don't have the sources on me though! Not sure on elephants though.

Fantastic pictures also!

 

@@Big_Dog I don't believe that. The lions in Botswana (for example) are massive creatures.

 

 

~ @@Geoff

 

From your observations and experience, are most major African wildlife species more or less the same size wherever they occur, unless they've been classified as a separate subspecies?

In other words, are adult ostriches, impala, warthogs, leopards, hippos, lions, rhinos, cheetah, giraffe, vervet monkeys, lesser kudu, crocodiles and the like generally within the same size range, give or take outliers of unusual size or exceptionally small?

I've wondered this for the past couple of years but never read or heard anything clearcut about it.

Tom K.

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@@Tom Kellie Yes, pretty much so. There are larger or smaller individuals but the are still in the 'normal' size range.

 

The one exception is perhaps the elephant population in the Luangwa. They do tend to be smaller than other areas (as well as many being tuskless) but that probably has something to do with the rampant poaching that occurred and the population probably has many younger animals, especially when you consider that an elephant bull isn't in his prime until he is 50 years old.

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@@Tom Kellie Yes, pretty much so. There are larger or smaller individuals but the are still in the 'normal' size range.

 

The one exception is perhaps the elephant population in the Luangwa. They do tend to be smaller than other areas (as well as many being tuskless) but that probably has something to do with the rampant poaching that occurred and the population probably has many younger animals, especially when you consider that an elephant bull isn't in his prime until he is 50 years old.

 

~ @@Geoff

 

This makes good sense. I'd wondered why living at different latitudes would affect overall mass.

Concerning the Luangwa elephants and tusklessness, in a couple of recent postings in Safaritalk I've noticed photos and comments related to this.

Does that mean that due to the young chronological age of many Luangwa elephants, their tusks haven't yet appeared?

Or is there another factor in play? I ask because a recent image posted showed what appeared to be juvenile Luangwa elephants yet I wasn't able to spot their tusks.

I had the impression that elephant tusks typically appear at somewhere between 18 and 24 months of age. Is that estimate misleading or off?

Thus if a number of Luangwa elephants lack visible tusks, does it necessarily imply that they're under 24 months of age...or...not necessarily?

BTW: I'd like to think that I was indeed in my prime at 50, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Then again, I'm not an elephant.

Tom K.

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Oh hell, my mistake @@Geoff! I got east and south mixed up, you're right, southern lions ARE bigger than eastern ones!
Botswanan lions are said to be big, possibly the biggest, especially those that hunt large amounts of buffalo...just how big is unknown as I know no studies that have gone on in anywhere like Duba sadly.

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