More African Ground Squirrel… Kalahari Gemsbok Park.

These little fellows called on us very soon after watching us unpack the vehicle and move into the tent… Now I know feeding animals in parks is frowned upon, but how can you resist the visitation of such a cute animal with the look of “what have you to offer?”

My son is no better than me, as our hearts go out to all animals, and so often one wants to interfere in nature taking it’s course. Yet these animals have used their natural God given gift to appeal to you for a snack, and why not… these little fellows entertained us for a good few hours…

Their tails are used as a shade cover as well as a camouflage… looking at this top view of the squirrel, from above, to an eagle, he could so easily be a leaf..

They obviously enjoyed our company and started to dig in… or maybe it was just to cool themselves off with sand….

The cutest of little animals….

African ground squirrel… in Kathu..(25)

African ground squirrels (genus Xerus)

The squirrels live in open woodlands, grasslands, or rocky country. They are diurnal and terrestrial, living in burrows. Their diet is roots, seeds, fruits, pods, grains, insects, small vertebrates and bird eggs. They live in colonies similar to North American prairie dogs, and have similar behaviour.

Their home range is shared with other groups which is actually quite a surprising thing, since in case of most of the mammals there is generally an extremely tough competition to get the female. The group-living instinct of this species gives it a survival opportunity from predators overweighing the disadvantage of breeding opportunities which come from competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the 300 post of the Bulldog, and we thought we should add one more photo just to celebrate this fact…

Lion close ups.. Kalahari Lions.

A few more photos of the lion.. a bit of photo cropping..

More Lion of the Kalahari.. Road Hogs..

This pride we came across lying on the road… in no hurry to make way for traffic…

We waited for this vehicle to pass and we moved up next to them to get a few close up photos… My son was on that side of the vehicle and was the closest.. Linda in the back .. she chirped like a chicken calling her chicks.. “close the window, lets move, that lion is going to come through the window.” We took the photos and generally ignored her…

They pretty well ignored us .. and the cameras continued to click.. it’s not that often that such an opportunity arises….

More Kalahari Lion.. Photos I took..

These two big males where obviously following the scent of the females we knew to be in the area… we had seen their spoor as well and this had included the spoor of cubs. Now this could have been their offspring, or not, in which case the cubs may have been in danger as new males will often kill the cubs to ensure the females come into heat again sooner than they would have…

These two seemed far to at ease for this to be the case… I think they had been separated and were trying to catch up with their mates, a much need aid for capturing their food for the day… and males being what they are… these two would probably prefer to sit back with a beer and wait for the females to do all the work, before entering the feeding circle to take over the meal…

Their behaviour of tree scratching .. sniffing of grass for ID scent, as well as marking the territory themselves, tell me these were not displaced males or new encroaching males, but rather males in their own area wondering where the wives were….