On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
We are back in Serengeti National Park today with Albatrossity! We head to Colonial Williamsburg with Betsy, and take in some more sights in Paris with Am in NC. Then we take a hike with BigJimSlade, and we close out the week with a haiku post from Munira.
Albatrossity
It had rained all night and was still pretty overcast when we left the lodge for a half-day in the crater and then a half-day traveling to Serengeti National Park. We had not noticed the rain, ensconced as we were in our comfortable crater rim accommodations. But there had been plenty of action below on that rainy night.
The first thing our guide pointed out was a Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta), and then another, and another. This is a very social animal, so these sightings were not too surprising, but he also pointed out that they were all focused on one thing. A pride of lions (Panthera leo) with a fresh kill from the previous night’s hunting. This was the first (but definitely not the last) of our experiences watching the actions and interactions of all the critters who wanted to share in this largesse. Click here for larger image.
Another interested carnivore at the scene was a Black-backed Jackal (Lupulella mesomelas). As all Balloon Juice readers know, this animal is renowned as being wily and wise in various myths and legends from Africa and Asia. It also appeals to BJ readers because it looks like a friendly dog. But despite its strong resemblance to your family dogs, it is not closely related to any critters in the genus known as Canis (wolves, coyotes, and domestic dogs). It does, however, retain that keen dog-like interest in food. Click here for larger image.
It soon became clear that the prey item (or at least one of the prey items; there were a lot of lions in this pride) was a wildebeest, and that this group of lions had pretty much devoured it already. Here is a scruffy young male lion with his prize, wildebeest leg bones. It does not appear that there is very much left for him to eat, and it was even less likely that the hyenas and jackals were going to get much for breakfast here. Click here for larger image.
This adult male lion, on the other hand, looked to be pretty well-fed, as did others in the pride (video of this majestic male and some of the adult females was also obtained). Click here for larger image.
Interestingly, there were no vultures waiting for tidbits at the kill site; perhaps their sharp eyesight and keen intellects helped them figure out that the pickings were going to be pretty slim. Once we left the scene of the crime, however, we did find this bird, which had me stumped at first. It turns out that it was a first-year Augur Buzzard (Buteo augur). The resemblance of these birds to the familiar North American buteo, the Red-tailed Hawk, is quite striking. Click here for larger image.
We also found a small flock of Lesser Flamingoes (Phoeniconaias minor); unfortunately, they were not in their high pink breeding plumage yet. Their black and white plumage reflected the color palette of the zebras in the background. Click here for larger image.
Similarly, the huge white wing patches on these Egyptian Geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca) made them visible at a great distance as they winged their way toward us on the way to some other appointment. Click here for larger image.
The sky was beginning to lighten up, and the patterns of light and shadow on the floor and wall of the crater were nearly as mesmerizing as the animals we were seeing. Click here for larger image.
All morning long we watched, usually at a great distance, this male Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) working his way, grazing all the time, across the floor of the crater. Eventually he got close enough for a decent picture, grazing past this small herd of Thomson’s Gazelles (Eudorcas thomsonii) and attracting the attention of a couple of male Ostriches (Struthio camelis). There is also a 30-second video where you can see a feature of these gazelles that does not show up in still images, their constant tail-twitching. Click here for larger image.
As we were heading to our lunch spot near the road that we would drive to get to the Serengeti, we stopped to watch this rhinoceros mom and calf. They started out on one side of the road and made a bold move to cross in front of our vehicles, with the mom keeping her body between us and the calf for that short jaunt. Once across the road, however, junior was emboldened enough to come out from behind her and look back at the strange creatures in this strange metal contraptions. Click here for larger image.
Baud
I did not know this. Fascinating.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: The question tho, is when did the Balloon Juice Jackal split off from the Black Backed Jackal.
Chris T.
I was going to comment on the unique anatomy of the female spotted hyena, but decided this might be TMI, especially the birthing aspect. (Ow.)
Chris T.
@OzarkHillbilly:
45 million years ago? No, wait, it’s “internet years”, which are just seconds long.
montanareddog
The Egyptian goose is not actually a goose, being more closely-related to the shelduck family. There is a well-established feral population around here (the usual story, escaped ornamental birds) but they are not a nuisance at all (unlike the pesky feral parakeet population) .
Albatrossity
@montanareddog: Yeah, they look a lot like shelducks, now that you mention it.
They are definitely capable of living around humans; there are feral populations in many countries. When my daughter was living in Germany (Frankfort area), she told me that there was a well-established population of Egyptian Geese in the ponds and canals there
Tdjr
Are you sure those are black rhinos? They look like white rhinos with the wide mouth.
Albatrossity
@Tdjr:
I’m not sure at all; I am a bird guy, not a mammal guy. But all I know is that black rhinos are the only species of rhino found in the crater, according to our guides, and I suspect that they would not only have been very excited to see a white rhino, they would have been able to ID them at a great distance!
Maxim
I thought jackals might be related to foxes, if not dogs and wolves, but this classification puts them in Canis: https://nhpbs.org/kn/vs/scilab6fa4hacarnivora2.asp
So I am confuzzled.
Albatrossity
@Maxim: Golden Jackals (the other common jackal) and Black-backed jackals are different phylogenetically, according to this 2022 publication.
“Phylogenetic research also indicates that the side-striped and black-backed jackals form a monophyletic group that branched earlier than Canis, Cuon and Lycaon, which should be reassigned to the genus Lupulella as L. adusta and L. mesomelas, respectively.”
So Black-backed Jackals are canids (members of the family Canidae), but they are not in the genus Canis that includes the family dog.
As the saying goes, it’s complicated.
Betty
The gazelles look like they ate equipped with backside wipers. To chase away insects?
J R in WV
Great work, as usual Albatrossity — thanks so much for sharing this with we few, proud jackals.
;~)
schrodingers_cat
@J R in WV: How are you holding up?
Tdjr
@Albatrossity: Sorry, my mistake. I am going to visit in February and haven’t done my homework yet. 🙃
Yutsano
The scenery picture: did you happen to look for a baboon holding up a lion cub in some weird ceremony? :P
Great pictures overall! But yeah the livery on the buzzard is strikingly familiar. I would have thought it a hawk myself.
WaterGirl
@Albatrossity: A food fight thread in which we argue about which kind of jackals we are – would that be the most Balloon Juice thing ever?
CaseyL
Albatrossity, these are simply stunning. I think the rain may have helped, as it seems African critters like the rain and are more active when it rains.
@Chris T.: Kevin Richardson, “The Lion Whisperer,” has two hyena clans among his sanctuary residents, and has spent years watching them and sharing the videos (and observations) with his viewers. Hyenas are just plain fascinating, and their gender politics are, indeed, something you don’t see everyday. (Kevin mentioned that, for the longest time, researchers were convinced female hyenas had to be hiding somewhere, because every hyena they saw was “male.”)
Paul in KY
@Baud: Hyaenas are more closely related to cats.
Paul in KY
@Albatrossity: The absence of a prominent shoulder hump gives it away as a black rhino.
Albatrossity
@Yutsano: No, for the most part, I avoid ceremonies involving baboons ..
And that is a hawk, same genus as our redtails and roughlegs. Buzzard is a generic Old World term for hawks.
Chris
As a dog person the African animal that was always my favorite was the Cape hunting dog, a.k.a. the African wild dog, a.k.a. the African hunting dog. Actually got to see a pack of them on safari about a decade ago, when they were in the middle of a food dispute (which they won) against a pack of their longtime nemeses (spotted hyenas).
YY_Sima Qian
Nice photos of the rhinos! I am jealous!
My only sighting of a black rhino was also at Ngorongoro, but it was far off in the distance, a small speck in the photo even w/ my 400 mm telephoto.
I have also not seen any lions making off w/ part of a kill through my safaris in Tanzania & Botswana.
YY_Sima Qian
@Chris: African wild dogs are beautiful animals.
pieceofpeace
It must amaze to see in person all these animals, as I’m enjoying enormously only the photography of them. Reading about the Canis, it states they’re not known for speed but for endurance, keeping up a steady pace for long distances, as in running down their exhausted prey.
Thank you for these shots and descriptions.
BigJimSlade
Wonderful pictures. The lions are very impressive – they have massive heads. And those gazelles sure know how to keep the bugs off their hind quarters!
I’ve been to Kruger, but Ngorongoro really seems like the best place to go!
way2blue
@Chris:
I only ever saw African wild dog prints along the trail while in Tsavo. Not real interested in seeing them up close as we were on foot…
TriassicSands
@Tdjr:
They are definitely black rhinos. Enlarge the photo — you can see the upper lip of the young rhino.
Paul in KY
@pieceofpeace: Canids do have great endurance, but their way of chasing after prey is to sprint a bit, then walk a bit, the return to loping and then some more sprinting and then some walking. Never letting their prey get away in process.
They do not have the ability to maintain a steady pace for 15 or so miles (like people). You can kill a dog by taking the poor thing on that kind of run. They do not have the cooling mechanisms we have.
Chris T.
@pieceofpeace:
Yes: this makes them “cursorial” hunters, which is also true of humans. A “cursor” was (in Latin) a running messenger. This is also where we get the word for the blinky thingy you use when typing.
sab
Internet tells me jackals look like dogs but offspring are not always fertile (canine and jackal mules there.)
sab
@Chris T.: Since I am genetically one, why do I always lose my cursor on my computer?