Animal Facts Flashcards
Black Backed Jackal
Activity
Nocturnal
Mainly nocturnal but often active during the day too
Blue Duiker
Habitat
Most widespread of all the first duikers. Comparatively little undergrowth to obstruct vision or movement.
Eland
Antipredator Behavior
- Defend calves alone or with a group (of moms)
- Adults cannot or do not flee
- Cooperative maternal defense
- Their size acts as a deterrant
Eland
Activity
Variable
Depends on temperatures, season, etc.
May feed mostly at night
Eland
Diet
Browser
Primarily browse but also fruits, pods, seeds, herbs, tubers, and grasses when they are green and tender.
Eland
Water Dependence
Water Independent
Greater Kudu
Antipredator Behavior
(2)
“Crypsis”
They rely primarily on concealment. A person can come within 40 feet of a Kudu before they’ll flee.
During flight, they can clear obstacles up to 8.2 feet.
Roan
Diet
Selective grazer on perineal grasses.
They brose some 10-20% on forbs, leaves, and pods.
Roan
Water Dependence
Water Dependent
Caracal
Predatory Behavior
Kills medium sized antelope up to twice it’s size by using the same techniques as bigger cats: suffocation with a neck bite.
Uses jumping and climbing ability to catch Rock Hyrax, takes sleeping birds from their nests including martial and tawny eagles. Sandgrouse, doves, pigeons, etc. are vulnerable when they’re drinking at a watering hole with nearby cover.
Has killed hares by pinning them to the ground and kicking / clawing with hindfeet if the prey struggles.
Usually leaves some meat uneaten and avoids eating hair by shearing meat closely. They do not eat meat that has started to go bad though they do often return to kills. Some small kills may be cached in tree forks.
Genets
Habitat
Can survive almost anywhere there is sufficient cover to hide and food to eat
Equally at home in the trees and on the ground
Bat-Eared Fox
Habitat
Can be found above the Letaba River in Kruger–they prefer Mopane Shrubveld and can be found in grasslands in the east.
Gray Mongoose
Predatory Behavior
General Behavior
How do they attack snakes?
Another specific example of what they eat and how they acquire it.
When they stumble upon prey or flush it from hiding, they lunge suddenly. If it misses, may “Continue restless quartering” but will more often lie tense on the ground or stand immobile before rushing and grabbing its prey.
Attacks snakes from the rear and retreats
Digs out crocodile eggs.
Black-Backed Jackal
Habitat
Arid Zone, absent from Miombo Woodland Zone. About equally common. In longer grassland and along woodland edge.
In Southern Africa they inhabit a wide range of habitat including more open and arid but still prefer areas with scattered bush.
Blue Duiker
Habitat
Most widespread of the forest duikers.
Comparatively little undergrowth to obstruct vision or movement.
Blue Duiker
Antipredator Behavior
- Snorting (short range)
- Whistling (High intensity Alarm)
- Stamping with hindfeet (High intensity alarm)
Respond to alarm signals by running into cover and hiding. They also respond to alarm signals from other species.
Louder snorting or whistling = higher urgency of alarm.
Buffalo
Habitat
Lowland rainforest, arid biomes wherever there are rivers, lakes, and swamps.
Well watered savannas. Dense cover such as thickets and reeds. May also live in open woodland.
Buffalo
Diet
Bulk grazers, can subsist on tall coarse grasses and are less partial to short young grasses.
Buffalo
Activity
Mainly Nocturnal
Herds which are not subjected to human predation are equally active day and night. Herds which are subjected to herd predation are more active at night.
Main day grazing hours may be from 3-6 pm
Main night grazing hours may be from 10 pm - 3:30 am
Ruminating period often exists between 3:30 am to sunrise.
Buffalo
Antipredator Behavior
- Alert Posture
- Advancing to Investigate
- Head-Tossing
- Wheeling and Flight
- Stampeding
- Individual and Group Attack
Mobbing is usually triggered by a calf’s distress call.
Giraffe
Antipredator Behavior
- Size
- Superior Vision during the night and day
- Formidable hooves.
Mostly invulnerable to predators.
Lions can occasionally kill grown giraffes.
Giraffes hide and stand over their young to protect them.
Bushbuck
Activity
May enter the open at night and retreats into cover soon before dawn.
Bushbuck
Diet
Eats tender new grass but is primarily a browser. Herbs and shrubbery, leguminous plants.
Fond of flowers, figs and other fruits. Frequently found beneath feeding baboons and other monkeys
Bushbuck
Habitat
Montane
Not found anywhere open without sufficient cover to conceal it.
Forest-edge antelope
Usually found near water and in ravines and along watercourses.
Bushbuck
Antipredator
- Freezing
- Running to Cover
Almost invisible standing in thicket as long as it is still. Hyenas and Lions have passed as close as 33 feet without seeing them.
Bushpig
Diet
(8)
Omnivorous
Roots, bulbs, and fallen fruits.
Leaves, carrion, excrement, and small mammals and birds.
Roan
Activity
Diurnal
Late risers, especially on cool mornings when grass is covered in dew.
May rest until 9am grazing from 10-11 am with a resting peak at 2 pm.
Feeding peak in the last hour before sunset.
Roan
Antipredator Behavior
- Alert Posture
- Alarm Snort
- Self-Defense
- Flight
Tendency towards aggressive and effective self-defense
Genets
Activity
Nocturnal
Most active in the first part of the night and also unusually active by bright moonlight.
Lion
Diet
Eats a variety of animal food and will scavenge a meal instead of hunting if they can.
Lion
Activity
Usually spends 20-21 hours a day resting. More likely to become active in the late afternoon. Suckling, play, etc. happen early or late at night.
Lions hunt at night and early morning most of the time but will seize opportunities to capture prey at any time, even if they are gorged.
Prides in woodland habitat with plenty of cover hunt during the day more often.
Lion
Habitat
Plains and savanna habitat where large herbivores are around.
Some live in denser woodland.
Leopard
Predatory Behavior
Leopards are an ambush and stalking predator. Leopards sneak up on prey and pounce before its prey can react. Sneaks to within 16-66 feet from its prey before it pounces, preferably 16 feet
Leopards seldomly chase if it misses and if it does, for no more than 165 feet. Even though its estimated top speed is 37 mph.
Leopards aren’t often successful hunting during the day, missing 61 out of 64 attempts in one Serengeti study.
May sometimes hunt cooperatively in pairs but it’s uncommon except with their young.
Leopard
Activity
Nocturnal
Spend days and part of nights inactive, usually lounges in a tree or in dense thicket.
½ hour before dark, they start moving up to a couple of hours after dawn.
May rarely rest in the same place 2 nights in a row.
Bushpig
Antipredator Behavior
- Alarm Grunts
- Flight
- Concealment
- Distress Sequeals
- Threat Grunts
- Threats and Actual Attack (Including Mobbing)
Leopards and hyenas are their most important predators.
Warthog
Antipredator Behavior
- Trotting with tail vertical
- Alarm grunt
- Distress squeal
- Growl Grunt
- Woomph Call
- Mock and Real attack
- Flight to underground refuge and defense of.
Bushpig
Activity
Mostly Nocturnal
Less nocturnal when protected.
Leopard
Habitat
Occurs throughout Africa where ever there is sufficient cover for concealment.
Ranges in Montane Forests
Wildebeest
Habitat
Plains and acacia savannas. Favor plains covered by colonial grasses that regrow rapidly
Hartebeest
Habitat
Plains antelope but enters open woodland more readily than Wildebeest and topi. Found on the edge more often than the plains.
Hippopotamus
Diet
Eats grasses at night. Short grasses are preferred over longer, coarser grassland.
Hippopotamus
Activity
Feed at night on land and rest and digest during the day in the water.
Begin to commute to inland pastures shortly before dark along branching paths.
Return to water before dawn walking 3-5 kms
Hippopotamus
Habitat
Requires water deep enough to submerge in and nearby grassland. A gently sloping firm bottom is preferred and rapids are avoided.
Leopard
Diet
eats a variety of small to medium sized mammals. Will consume protein in almost any form, from beetles to antelope twice its own weight.
Readily eats carrion and caches sizable kills in trees. Medium sized antelopes and young, large ones most common. Also eats smaller carnivores such as birds, reptiles, small mammals, baboons.
Wildebeest
Antipredator Behavior
- Powerful alarm snorts
- Stamping
- Bunching together
- Alert Posture
- Style-Trot
Usually the preferred prey of lions and spotted hyenas.
Wildebeest mothers defend their calves with considerable success including against lone hunting hyena.
Savanna Baboon
Habitat
Grassland, savanna, and arid biomes. Wherever trees, water, and cliffs occur.
Availability of water and secure sleeping sites in trees and cliffs.
Savanna Baboon
Activity
Diurnal
Usually becomes active well after dawn.
Savanna Baboon
Diet
Use almost all accessible edible plants supplemented with animal foods.
Grasses, flowers, fruit, seeds, buds, leaves, shoots, twigs, bark, sap, roots, tubers, bulbs, aquatic plants, mushrooms, lichens.
Grasshoppers, Spiders, Scorpions, Others.
Vertebrates are rarely sought but readily taken.
Vervet Monkey
Antipredator Behavior
Vulnerable to more predators than any other African Primate. Two largest eagles, leopards, and serval, lions, and cheetahs are the most dangerous.
Use different alarm calls fro ground and air predators and for snakes.
Rarely leave more than a few 100 meters from cover\trees. Respond to other animals alarm calls too.
Vervet Monkey
Diet
Omnivore
Opportunistic omnivore. Fruits, seeds, seedpods, leaves, buds, sap, flowers, various herbs, grasses, invertebrates, occasionally vertebrates.
Vervet Monkey
Habitat
Savanna adapted to almost all wooded habitats outside of rain forests.
Cannot afford to venture far from trees. They are also more dependent on trees for food.
Edge species usually associated with riverine vegetation, savanna, fever trees.
Sykes Monkey
Antipredator Behavior
- Alarm Calls
- Threat Displays
- Mobbing
- Hiding
Little predation other than man, though crowned hawk eagles elicit intense alarm calls.
Sykes Monkey
Activity
Typically Spend ⅓ day eating, ⅓ resting. 16.5% of their days is spent moving, 6% grooming, and 6% other.
Ranges may be 4-10 ha.
Moved most from 7-8 am and 5-6 pm. Least active from 1-2 pm. Rain inhibits movement. Extensive grooming after rain.
Sleeps in trees.
Sykes Monkey
Diet
Omnivore
More folivorous than most. Fruits and leaves. Invertebrates and flowers, seeds, nectar, galls, and unidentified plant balance. Each month they focus on 1-2 specific foods. Foliage most common from March to May.
Sykes Monkey
Water Dependence
May drink from the tree hole after it rains but is water independent.
Sykes Monkey
Habitat
Various evergreen forests, including rain forest, montane forest, coastal mangrove forest, southern savanna wherever there are patches of forest.
Highly arboreal frequenting the middle zone at 39-66 feet in primary forest and is intolerant of strong sunlight.
Greater Bush Baby
Foraging Behavior
Spends several hours in a fruiting tree. They keep returning as long as ripe fruit lasts.
Ficus trees. Diospyrus acacia are mainstays.
Doesn’t pursue interests.
Greater Bush Baby
Antipredator Behavior
- Alarm Calls
Little reason to fear arboreal predators like Genets, Palm Civets, and any anything other than the largest bird of prey.
Slow movements while foraging and concealment avoid attracting predators.
They are, however, vulnerable while they are on the ground.
Greater Bush Baby
Activity
Nocturnal
Wake at twilight, departs sleeping place for individual foraging.
Peak activity and calling early and late at night, returning to sleeping site before dawn.
Greater Bush Baby
Diet
Mainly eats fruits and gums supplemented by
- nectar
- seeds
- insects
- fruit
- flower secretions
- seeds
- insects
Greater Bush Baby
Habitat
Largely confined to dense evergreen forest and riparian bush. Can live in many man-made habitats.
Available fruit is the main limiting factor in distribution.
Some overlap with lesser bush babies. Greater bush babies usually live in denser, wetter habitats. Average densities are 72/km2 in lowveld riparian bush and savanna and up to 110/km2 in mixed woodland.
Lesser Bush Baby
Antipredator Behavior
Vulnerable to almost all aviary and arboreal predators.
They rely on concealment during the day and agility and jumping at night.
Easily captured on the ground.
Alarm calls, mobbing, and maternal transport of young.
Lesser Bush Baby
Foraging Behavior
Insects are caught by leaping and grabbing them often as they take flight. Prey is always taken by hand and not by mouth
Once it catches its prey it bites their head to kill it.
Lesser Bush Baby
Activity
Nocturnal
Peak activity occurs in the first two hours of the night. Secondary peak is in the hour before dawn.
Weather has little effect on activity. Move around even during heavy rain and thunderstorms.
On an average night they may travel 2 km and visit up to 500 different trees.
in primary forest they are extremely reluctant and seldomly need to descend to the ground. In open country with scattered trees and bushes they are more likely to cross the ground.
Lesser Bush Baby
Sleeping Sites
Nesting
In nests or on branches 13-20 feet off the ground in dense vegetation such as bush acacia. 52% in nests, 40% huddled in branches and 6% in hollows.
Nests are platforms constructed of broad soft fresh leaves. Size relative to the number of occupants.
Hyrax
Habitat
Wherever there are rocky cliffs, boulder screes, or rock outcrops with cavities sufficient enough to shelter colonies.
Must have some tree or bush cover with multiple cavities too small for most predators, facing away from prevailing winds within a few kms of another cliff.
Impala
Antipredator
- Alert Posture
- Alarm Snorting
- Flight Intention Movement
- Flight & Height Jumping
Unusually alert and quick to take flight if they can’t identify something, moves their head up and down and sideways.
Impala are a staple prey for most predators and martial eagles can carry off fawns.
Lesser Bush Baby
Habitat
Found in all types of wooded habitat outside of main forest blocks. Peak abundance in savanna habitat, especially acacia savanna and Miombo Woodland.
Perfectly at home in thorny thickets where few others venture.
Mainly on tree gum.
Lesser Bush Baby
Diet
Survives mainly on tree gum and various insects, acacia gum and arthropods.
No interest in vegetation or small vertebrates.
At least in the wild, they’ve never been seen drinking water but will in captivity.
Lesser Bush Baby
Water Dependence
Water-Independent
Clawless Otter
Predatory Behavior
Dive to hunt and prefer things easier to grasp. Frogs versus fish they ate while treading water. When pursuing fish they choose the first one to break rank.
Average duration of dives is 18 seconds. Typical variation is 14-24 seconds.
Almost all prey is caught with their hands and they can eat with it’s head underwater, but usually tilts head back while eating
After hunting, cleans it’s face and feet in the water in an elaborate ritual
Klipspringer
Antipredator Behavior
- Male sentry duty
- Alert Stance
- Fixed Stare
- Stamping
- Alarm-Whistling (Most often male and female in synchrony)
- Bounding Flight
- Jumping in Place
Usually a single alarm call and flight for 30-50 meters to a higher place.
Nyala
Habitat
Closely corresponds to the area of Mozambique coastal plain and the valleys of nearby major rivers.
Distribution is spotty but Kruger National Park is one of the best places to find them in the world.
Low-Lying densely wooded habitats generally near water.
Overlap with Kudu, Common and Red Duiker, Bushpig, and Bushbuck.
Clawless Otter
Activity
Day or Night
More active in the late afternoon and early evening, sometimes early morning
active all night until 7 am with a peak at 8-10 pm. (Coastal Otter)
Occasionally they come out even on the hottest of days.
Clawless Otter
Diet
Fish are a small portion. Other prey includes insects, snakes, waterbirds, and mollusks.
Clawless Otter
Habitat
Small and large streams, lakes, ponds and swamps. Is frequently absent from large river including parts of the Limpompo.
Less aquatic.
Wildebeest
Water Dependence
Water Dependent
Needs to drink daily to every other day during the dry season
Wildebeest
Diet
Prefer colonial grasses that regrow rapidly.
Wildebeest
Activity
Active night and during the day.
Move to daytime pastures and water during the heat of the day when predators are least active.
White Rhino
Antipredator Behavior
Few reports of predation, though only calves are vulnerable to hyenas and lions.
When alarmed, companions press their hindquarters together and face opposite directions.
White Rhino
Habitat
Good habitat includes trees, ample water, and open grassland.
White Rhino
Water Dependence
Water Dependent
Often drinks twice daily but can go 2-4 days without drinking if water is distant.
White Rhino
Diet
Pure grazer. Lips are flat to help it eat short green grass more efficiently.
Waterbuck
Antipredator Behavior
- Alert Posture
- Snorting
- Stotting
- Trotting
- Running into Cover
- Lying out
- Self-Defense in Males only
Waterbuck
Habitat
Limited to grassland within a few km from water. Requires cover, open grassland, and water.
Distribution along drainage lines and valleys
Frequents woodland in the wet season.
Warthog
Habitat
Only pig adapted for grazing and savanna habitats. Avoids forest and dense undergrowth.
Zorilla
Predatory Behavior
Quarters at a trot, nose to the ground with sudden stops to poke its nose into litter or dung for insect prey.
Sense of smell and sight well developed with primary importance on smelling. Makes no attempt to catch flying prey.
Prey is usually stalked then grabbed with mouth or forefeet, then bitten in the head or neck.
Very large rats were killed with a throat bite. Rarely rolls and bites
Attacks snakes like mongoose do. Bites and retreats then eventually bites and shakes vigorously.
Zorilla
Activity
Strictly Nocturnal
Rarely seen before 10pm and retires before dawn.
One of the more strictly nocturnal carnivores.
Zorilla
Habitat
Savanna and arid zones. Absent forest.
Scarce but dense woodland and savanna with thick cover and can subsist in coastal sand dunes. Most common on relatively open rangeland where ungulates keep grass short.
Zorilla
Water Dependence
Water Independent
Can subsist on water derived from food. But they will drink water sparingly.
Zorilla
Diet
Carnivorous
All kinds of small vertebrates. Small hares, mostly hunts insects, rats, and ,mice.
Will hunt lizards, snakes, scorpions, dung beetles, grubs, grasshoppers, crickets.
Refused toads, snails, slugs, millipedes, and stinkbugs.
Will not eat fruit.
Striped Weasel
Habitat
Southern Savanna, often seen in open savanna but probably more common in closed habitats with more rainfall.
Probably only common where rodent populations are perennially dense. Good grass cover that aren’t burned every year.
Striped Weasel
Predatory Behavior
Carnivorous
Relies on scent, could pass within 5cm of a mouse and not see it. Once it finds one, it darts to catch it, preferably by the neck then rolls repeatedly. All food is carried to den before eaten and extra food is hoarded.
Can eat 3-4 rats in a single night.
Striped Weasel
Activity
Nocturnal
Sometimes seen sunning or moving early or late.
Usually emerges 2 hours after sunset. Usually returned to nests before sunrise.
Striped Weasel
Diet
Specialized predator on mice and rats.
Natural diet is largely unknown, seems they’re pretty carnivorous but aren’t likely to kill anything larger than a rat.
Might eat some birds or take eggs.
Will not Accept:
- Eggs
- Toads
- Lizards
- Fruits
Wild Dog
Predatory Behavior
(Maybe Skip This One)
Runs their prey down to exhaustion with superior endurance, they can maintain a pace of 35 mph for several kilometers. Can maintain 48 km / hr pace for 5 km. Most prey is overtaken within 1.5 to 3 km.
1 dog runs in the lead and the rest of the pack streams behind it. Weak and young may straggle 1 km or more behind.
Once prey is caught they knock it down and disembowel it. It takes them longer to take down and kill prey because they are smaller. They begin to eat prey alive less than one minute after it falls. It may take more than 5 minutes to take down
Specifically choose weak, sick prey when they are larger.
Pack may mob hyena who stole their kill to steal it back.
Wild Dog
Activity
Diurnal
Pack moves an average of 10 km a day.
They can move up to 40 km a day.
Wild Dog
Diet
Carnivore
Specialized as a pack hunter of medium sized antelopes.
Impala, reedbuck, kob, lechwe, and springbok. Hares, fawns, zebra are sometimes taken too.
Tend to choose a few of the commonest antelopes within 14-45 km range. In Kruger National Park, impalas are 87% of kills. Rarely eats carrion. Rarely returns to kills or caches them.
Wild Dog
Habitat
Savanna and arid zones. Avoids forest but ranges through dense scrub, woodland, and montane habitats wherever suitable prey occurs.
Side-Striped Jackal
Predatory Behavior
More sluggish, nocturnal, omnivorous and less predatory. Not often seen during the day.
Foraging animals move at a walk or slow trot. Digs up worms, millepedes, crickets, pounced on grasshoppers and winged termites and dashed at small birds, rodents and safari ants.
Doesn’t run or chase down prey.
Ate all kinds of frozen fruit. Almost always took its food to cover before eating
May trail other predators when they go hunting.
Side-Striped Jackal
Activity
Not fully understood
Definitely night active but also seen during the day.
Side-Striped Jackal
Diet
Omnivorous
Wild fruits, small mammals–mice rats and hare. insects-grasshopper, beetles, and termites.
Black-Backed Jackal
Predatory Behavior
Almost as effective hunting solo as in pairs.
Sometimes hunts in packs and kills much larger prey.
May behave strangely to bring prey close enough to grab.
Black-Backed Jackal
Diet
Omnivorous
Diet is determined by the type of habitat and what kinds of food are there, not preference.
- Beetles
- Grasshoppers
- Crickets
- Termites
- Spiders
- Millipedes
- Scorpions
- Rodents
- hares
- Concealed Young Antelopes
- Carrion
- Lizards
- Snakes
- Various Fruits and Berries
Lion
Predatory Behavior
Lions hunting cooperatively are often successful. Single lions can still bring down prey 2x its size.
Max speeds of 30-37 mph. Which they can maintain for only about 330 feet. Experienced Lions rarely charge unless they are within 100 feet or less of their quarry or facing away.
To get close enough lions rely on stalking using cover and even using moving vehicles to cover approach.
ambushes happen most often during the day and usually at water holes.
During group hunts, males will usually linger behind and rarely participate.
Will often circle prey, sometimes openly while a couple hide as others choke off the preys escape routes.
Blue Duiker
Diet
Forest Furgivore
Will eat fruits, leaves, shoots, herbs, flowers, animal matter and fungi. Animal matter is mostly ants and other insects.
Blue Duiker
Water Dependence
Probably gets enough water from food and rarely needs to drink but they’re occasionally seen licking rainwater off foliage.
Black Rhino
Antipredator Behavior
- Puffing Snorts
- Distress Squealing
- Mock and Real Charges with Stabbing
- Flight with Tail Raised
May defend and even kill to protect calves.
Chirring oxpeckers sometimes provides advanced warning.
Black Rhino
Activity
Most active in the early and late day. Least active midday.
They move and eat at night but also sleep.
Black Rhino
Water Dependence
Semi Water Dependent
Can go 4-5 days without drinking by eating succulents and may travel 8-25 km / day to water.
Black Rhino
Diet
Nearly a pure browser with a marked preference for legumous herbs and shrubs. Eats over 200 plants in more than 50 families.
Aardwolf
Antipredator Behavior
Deliberately mimics the striped hyena.
Threat Display
Not very fast, but is very agile.
Aardwolf
Foraging Behavior
Walks quietly across grassland at 1 km / hour at a 3-4 km/ hour pace with abrupt changes in direction
Locates termites primarily by hearing. Stops hunting the moment it starts raining.
Aardwolf
Habitat
Discontinuous Grassland and tree savanna. Absent from miombo woodland zone.
Aardwolf
Diet
Very specialized carnivore. Dines almost exclusively on harvester termites. They (termites) leave their mounds at night by the 1000’s. Will eat other termite species.
A few reliable reports of them eating small rodents, eggs, birds, carrion, and baby tortoises.
Aardwolf
Activity
Nocturnal
Might emerge 1.5 hours before sunset in very cold weather. Occasionally sun themselves in the den entrance.
Bat-Eared Fox
Foraging Behavior
Rely mainly on ears and noses, secondarily on eyes to locate food.
When eating harvester termites, keeps head low and licks them. Pursuing grasshoppers and winged termites they leap like an acrobat. For lizards, birds, gerbils, and rodents they hunt with a quick dash.
Great diggers. Use ears to locate larvae and other sub-terranean invertebrates and dig them up effectively. A searching fox will move erratically, its head turning from side to side with ears cocked. It stops, moves its ears back and forth. It’ll stand with ears cupped just above the spot then it will start digging, making a narrow trench.
Foraging is an individual activity and they don’t share food except with inexperienced cubs.
Attempts to approach a digging / eating animal is met with growls and flattened ears. Hunt separately but will keep the same direction and pace.
Bat-Eared Fox
Antipredator Behavior
Small carnivore is vulnerable to predators as small as eagles and jackals, even adults. They rely not only on speed but also dodging ability, earning it the nickname the turning jackal.
Flicks its tail and changes direction without losing speed. They run in zigzags from flying predators.
Bat-Eared Fox
Activity
Primarily Nocturnal
85% Night, 15% Day
Start leaving their holes and thickets between 430-5 pm. Then they lie in the open until night after socializing the pair or family begin foraging.
They feed until midnight then they break. They forage more and return to den at dawn.
Mainly active during the day when it’s cold.
Caracal
Activity
Mainly Nocturnal
May be active at twilight and also by day.
Caracal
Diet
Rock Hyrax, Mountain Reedbuck, Springbok, Steenbok, Gray Duiker, Hares, Rabbits, Springhares, Small Rodents, Cape Gray Mongooses, Birds & Reptiles.
Caracal
Habitat
Arid zones and dry savannas. Equally at home on the plains, rocky hills and mountains. most probably live in arid bush country.
May venture into open grassland at night to hunt but seem to need woods for cover. Avoids dense evergreen forest.
Serval
Antipredator Behavior
Behaves very fearfully when they encounter spotted hyena-immediately crouching and ducking into cover and waiting.
If a hyena comes close, cat flees with tail raised in leaps and bounds.
Without tall grasses, would be highly vulnerable to hyenas and wild dogs.
Serval
Predatory Behavior
Locate and stalk a rat concealed in the grass. Serval leaps into air and comes down with both front feet on prey. Usually move on after a miss.
Can juimp high and far and can change direction at full speed. Can catch birds mid-flight.
Also reach deep into holes to catch mole rats and hole-nesting birds
Readily enter water to catch wading birds and water fowl.
May play with its food for up to 10 minutes, throwing it 6 feet in the air. May eat in the open or carry it to a concealed spot.
Slightly more efficient at hunting at night than during the day.
Serval
Activity
More diurnal than most cats
Very active early morning until 10-11 am and again after 4-5 pm
On cool overcast days they’re active even longer.
Also active 10-11 pm and 4-5 am.
During the heat of the day they doze and groom themselves in the shade of a bush or grass clump.
Serval
Diet
Catching mice, rats, rodents, birds, that live in tall grass. Grass rats, mole rats, birds up to the size of flamingos and storks, snakes, lizards, frogs, fish, insects.
Serval
Habitat
All kinds of african savanna where grass grows, especially along edges of gallery forest, marshland and montane grassland and forest glades, usually near water.
Also found in or near abandoned cultivation.
African Wild Cat
Activity
Nocturnal
African Wild Cat
Diet
Very similar to a common housecat
They eat rodents, small birds, lizards, snakes, frogs, beetles, grasshoppers, winged termites, centipedes, spiders, springhares, Africans hares.
African Wild Cat
Habitat
Pan-African outside the lowland rain forest and the savanna
Can be found almost everywhere rats and mice are present including villages and towns.
Treeless open grassland relying on holes dug by other animals.
Cheetah
Habitat
Savanna and arid zones
Harder to get within sprinting range on plains with no cover, ideal habitat includes cover in the form of bushes, medium grasses, trees and broken ground.
Side-Striped Jackal
Habitat
Dominates woodlands in more humid regions, miombo woodland zone, forest savanna, also bush, grassland and marshes with good ground cover.
Warthog
Diet
Grazes in the wet season, in dry, specializes in underground rhizomes of perineal grasses and sedges, bulbs, and tubers.
Warthog
Activity
Diurnal
Females and young go underground before dark.
Warthogs emerge later on cold or rainy days.
Early mornings and late afternoon feeding peaks.
Blue Duiker
Activity
Strictly Diurnal
Activity Peaks at 6-8 am and 4-6 pm. Usually resting (in a Gabon study) from 9 am - 2 pm
Lie in the open or at the base of a tree 40% of the time
Klipspringer
Habitat
Steep rocky terrain where it can find refuge from predators and adequate food supply
Inselbergs, open screes of loose rock, a cinder cone, recent lava flows
Most abundant in mountain ranges deeply dissected plains, steep cliffs.
Hyrax
Diet
Grazers ventures up to 60 m to reach a pasture.
They eat rapidly and spend less than an hour a day feeding. They feed in the morning and afternoon.
Eats foliage and may browse if grass is scarce or unpalatable
Hyrax
Activity
Diurnal
Most active in the morning and afternoon. Stops feeding in the rain and will feed during moonlit nights.
Males often stand guard on the nearest elevation. If he or a bird sounds an alarm, all will retreat for the rocks.
They bask around sunrise and feed from 730-930 am and 330-630 pm
Gray Duiker
Activity
Active Day and Night
Active almost exclusively at night where they’re heavily hunted.
Daytime activity peaks early and late and may extend on overcast and cool days
Gray Duiker
Diet
Lots of fruits and seeds flowers, herbs, foliage, shrubs, bushes, grass, vegetables.
Sometimes eats tree resin, lizards, ants, birds and mice
Gray Duiker
Water Dependence
Water Independent
Klipspringer
Activity
Active Day and Night
Feeding peaks in ,morning and mid-afternoon, early and late afternoon.
Spends more time feeding in the shade during the hottest hours.
The better quality food available, the more time they’ll spend eating
Klipspringer
Diet
Must be very adaptable in its diet. Maybe lush rich evergreen shrubs, succulents such as aloe, sansevieria, euphorbias, forbs.
Leaves, fruits, berries, seed pods, flowers, herbs and new green grass, feeds on recent burns
Klipspringer
Water Dependence
Water Independent
Steenbok
Activity
Active Days and Nights
feeds on lawns at night.
Usually have early morning and late afternoon activity peaks. They may move around feeding all day on cool and overcast days.
Mountain Reedbuck
Water Dependence
Water Dependent
Considered to be relatively water dependent
Common Reedbuck
Water Dependence
Water Dependent
Cannot survive more than a few days without drinking water late in the dry season.
Reedbuck
Activity
Nocturnal
While daytime activity has been studied, nighttime activity is most common.
Activity extends 1-2 hours before and after dark.
Rests in tall grass and shade from trees
Waterbuck
Water Dependence
Water Dependent
One of the most water dependent of all the antelopes.
Waterbuck
Diet
Wide variety of grasses, preferably short to medium length.
When grasses are low, will eat other herbage and browse such as dicots.
Waterbuck
Activity
Variable
Peak feeding times around dawn and dusk. Activity varies according to season and latitude.
Usually walks less than 1km a day except to reach water
Elephants
Antipredator Behavior
- Group Defense
- Threat Displays
- Demonstration and Real Charges
Group defense against all predators including humans.
Bull herds rarely make real charges.
Rocking motion is often the only warning
Nyala
Antipredator Behavior
- Concealment (Standing Still)
- Flight (Including high bounds)
- Alarm bark
Lion
Killing Behavior
2 Methods
Kill Method
Once close enough, must catch and overpower prey without getting hurt. impala or reedbuck brought down with slap on haunches, tripped or grabbed with both paws and then quickly killed with a bite to the throat.
Larger game is tackled from sides and pulled backwards. Once prey is down, lions lunge for the throat and maintain grip until movement stops for up to 13 minutes.
Stranglehold on prey protects lions from hooves and horns.
Nyala
Activity
Peak activity time
Cover locations
Time they drink water
Diurnal
Minimal activity between midnight and dawn. In hot spring and summer, they stay in cover between 10am and 2pm, standing motionless beside a tree
Usually drinks water sometime before 1pm
Gray Mongoose
Predatory Behavior
When they stumble upon prey or flush it from hiding they lunge suddenly. If they miss, they may “continue restless quartering” But will more often lie tense on the ground or stand immobile before running and grabbing the prey
Attacks snakes from the rear and retreats before snake retaliates.
Digs out crocodile eggs.
To catch birds which would normally be invulnerable (not ground nesters) they’ll act bizarrely such as chasing their tails. This seems to lure birds closer by making them curious. This behavior can also activate birds scolding or mobbing response which could bring them within striking distance.
May prefer to eat in dense shrubbery
Also willing to scavenge and eat carrion.
Gray Mongoose
Diet
Varied
- Insects
- Freshwater Crabs
- Crayfish
- Invertebrates
- Small Vertebrates
- Rodents
- Lizards
- Birds
- Frogs
- Fish
`Gray Mongoose
Habitat
Absent from deserts. Frequents dense vegetation such as riverine forest, reedbeds and thickets bordering rivers, lakes, and ponds.
Gray Mongoose
Activity
Diurnal
But usually only seen fleetingly in openings in dense undergrowth.
Hunts most actively in the early morning and late afternoon.
Withdrew into shrubbery when temperature went above 79 F or below 51 F
Often comes into the sun after storms.
They travel established routes like roads.
Gray Mongoose
Antipredator Behavior
- Concealment
- Bristling
- Lunging
- Backing Attack
- Cackling
- Screaming
- Hissing
- Spitting
Active defense by all family members including the father.
If surprised and caught in the open, may try to escape notice by lying prone.
White-Tailed Mongoose
Habitat
Widespread over most sub-Saharan Africa except high forest, mountains over 2,500 meters and the driest parts of South Africa.
Habitats range from desert to savanna.
White-Tailed Mongoose
Activity
Strictly Nocturnal
emerge from dens about 25 minutes after sunset. Return to ground before dawn.
More commonly out on overcast and moonless nights than on full moons.
Continue hunting in the rain and brief thunderstorms.
White-Tailed Mongoose
Antipredator Behavior
If disturbed while hunting, they initially freeze. They may stand tall to assess danger and then they run for cover.
They’re fast but if they are overtaken they will show a threat display with their hair erected and tail raised. Growls, grunts, and barks. Will discharge a foul-smelling anal sac.
Adults forage unconcerned near hyenas. Wild Dogs have successfully hunted them.
White-Tailed Mongoose
Diet
Sometimes takes small vertebrates, but mostly eats large insects and other invertebrates. May eat termites. Dung Beetles are another favorite.
Sometimes leaps and snaps at dung beetles, rarely captures flying insects. Might stalk and pounce or dig for food. Occasionally kills and eats poisonous snakes.
Slender Mongoose
Antipredator Behavior
6 + 1 animal they are afraid of and 1 animal they are not.
- Defensive Threats
- Bristling
- Wide-Mouthed Threat (Also seen in play)
- Mock Attack
- Alarm Call
- Growling
Fears eagles but very little fear of snakes. Has been known to fight snakes that are known predators.
Marsh Mongoose
Predatory Behavior
Rumored to swim almost as well as otters. Forages like a raccoon; wading and grouping in shallow muddy water.
Hurl mussels and clams down against rocks from a standing position.
Marsh Mongoose
Diet
- Snails
- Freshwater Crabs
- Mussels
- Frogs
- Aquatic Insects
- Fish
- Marsh Birds
- Eggs
- Reptiles
- Worms
- Crocodile Eggs
Marsh Mongoose
Habitat
Common near water and cover including papyrus and mangrove swamps.
Strictly terrestrial.
Marsh Mongoose
Activity
Nocturnal
Marsh mongoose are nocturnal but they are seen during the day fairly often.
Marsh Mongoose
Antipredator Behavior
Has been known to bite dogs in the throat and nearly drown them.
When cornered and terrified, it urinates and exudes an anal-gland secretion. It tries to curl into a ball and turn around and around.
Escapes danger by taking to water, swims away, dives, or hides with just its nose out of water.
Banded Mongoose
Antipredator Behavior
- Low Sit and High Sit Alert Posture
- Hair Sleeked
- Alarm Chirping
- Rushing to Cover
- Mobbing Attack
Mobbing is so impressive, even predators as formidable as servals and large dogs may be intimidated. Been known to mob harmless animals such as bushbuck and geese.
Combination of close clustering and writhing while advancing and rearing heads while growling, churring, snapping, splitting. Young are kept at the center of the cluster.
Banded Mongoose
Activity
Emerges from den about an hour after dawn. Then they gather in groups and feed for 2-3 hours and then rest.
On hot days they will seek shade in a thicket, gulley, may rest until 4pm. Rain may delay leaving the den.
Banded Mongoose
Predatory Behavior
Follows a zig-zag course in open savanna. May cover up to 10 km / day. Juveniles play more and forage less.
Continuous churrs, chirps, and twitters are made while foraging.
Each mongoose resists attempts to share valuable resources such as an ant nest or large beetle. Jumping angrily and growling, angry squeals.
Banded Mongoose
Diet
- Beetles
- Larvae
- Millipedes
- Earwigs
- Ants
- Crickets
- Termites
- Spiders
- Mice
- Toads
- Nesting Birds
- Eggs
- Lizards
- Snakes
Banded Mongoose
Water Dependence
Water Independent
Drinks irregularly and sparingly by lapping or licking wetted forepaws
Banded Mongoose
Habitat
Wooded savanna and termite mounds are usually nearby, but sometimes distant from water. Avoids forests but likes undergrowth and rarely ventures far into open country.
Bat-Eared Fox
Habitat
Found above Letaba River in Kruger. Prefers Mopane Shrubveld and can be found in the grasslands in the east arid-zone.
Open grassland, likes short grass, light acacia woodland and overgrazed rangeland. Extensive bare ground. Sandy soils. Almost same range as harvester termites.
Bat-Eared Fox
Diet
10 + seasonal favorites.
- Primarily an Insectivore
- Harvester Termites
- Beetles
- Grasshoppers
- Scorpions
- Rodents
- Lizards
- Small Snails
- Spiders
- Millipedes
Late in the rains, insects are most common with fruits. when the dry season starts, mice become the dominant food.
May also eat eggs.
Bushpig
Habitat
Wooded habitats from lowland forest to 4,000 meters. In montane forest
Agricultural Pests
Almost any kind of habitat that affords concealment and food including marshes and swamps.
Cheetah
Predatory Behavior
Cheetah must overtake prey in less than 300m
When actively hunting, walks alertly utilizing termite mounds and trees with low branches as vantage points to spot prey.
Sprinting range is within 50 meters. Once in range, prey flight often triggers the chase and prey is sometimes ignored when it doesn’t run. May unbalance prey running fast.
Prey usually dies within 4 ½ minutes. Once prey is dead, cheetah drags it to nearby cover. Once it eats about 14kg in one sitting, then it may not eat again for 2-5 days. A cheetah with cubs hunts much more frequently.
Does not usually return to kills once they leave.
Cheetah
Activity
Diurnal
The most diurnal cat. Do almost all of their hunting during the day but does rest during the hottest hours.
Rarely, they’ll engage in short chases by moonlight.
Cheetah
Diet
Specialized to prey on the fleetest antelopes.
In bush and savanna woodlands, impala are their main prey, making up 68% of their kills in Kruger.
Miombo woodland zone: bush duiker, reedbuck, sable, roan, warthog. (Babies I imagine)
Rarely kills any animal larger than them.
Civet
Reproduction
Young are born early in the rains
Active exploration by the kittens outside the hole happens only after the 3rd week.
Civet
Diet
Omnivorous
- vegetables
- fruits
- insects
- invertebrates
- vertebrates up to the size of newborn antelope
- readily eats carrion
Civet
Habitat
Can usually be found where there is adequate cover, usually close to the water.
Excellent Climbers
Uses Pathways, especially roads.
Civet
Activity
Nocturnal
Shelter by day in holes or in dense undergrowth.
Rarely seen in daylight
Civet
Diet
Omnivorous
- lizards
- rodents
- ground-nesting birds
- tortoises
- large insects
Duiker
Habitat
Virtually all african forests and woodlands have at least 1 species of duiker
Dense cover often in recesses beneath logs or among roots.
Duiker
Diet
Frugivore
specializes in fallen fruit including fruit too large or hard for primates
can also eat:
- bark
- roots
- stripped foliage
- flowers
- rotting wood
- fungi
- insects
- ants
- sometimes birds
Dwarf Mongoose
Antipredator Behavior
- low sit and high sit alert attitudes
- alerting
- alarm calls
- defense of young
- flight to cover
- warning signals of associated birds
do not employ a bunching strategy when a pack is in danger in the open
too small to bluff most predators. they run and hide
cooperate to defend young.
Dwarf Mongoose
Predatory Behavior
Uncovers concealed invertebrates and does not stalk prey but will pursue moving prey then bite and pin with its forepaws. Prey that defends itself is pounced on. Then head bite and death shakes.
Dwarf Mongoose
Activity
Influenced by the weather. Dwarf Mongooses forage and maintain vocal communications
Dwarf Mongoose
Diet
Omnivorous
- adult and laval beetles
- termites
- crickets
- grasshoppers
- spiders
- scorpions
- some small vertebrates
- lizards
- snakes
- rodents
- birds
- fruits
- vegetables
Dwarf Mongoose
Water Dependence
Water Independent
Will drink but is water independent and inhabits waterless areas.
Dwarf Mongoose
Habitat
Savanna Habitat with numerous termite mounds for refuge
forages around logs and trees and in grass
Eland
Habitat
Very adaptable. Subdesert, acacia, savanna, miombo woodland, floodplain, mountains up to 4,600 meters.
Gray Duiker
Habitat
Found everywhere in Kruger
Very adaptable. Needs cover for concealment. Greatest abundance in savanna and woodland often in suburbs or outskirts of town
Gray Duiker
Antipredator Behavior
- alarm snorts
- stamping
- skulking
- lying out
- running
- distress bleats
- attack
females will attack baboons and pythons that attack their babies.
Genet
Diet
- rodents
- bats
- bush babies
- chicken sized birds
- grasshoppers
- beetles
- spiders
- scorpions
- fruits
Greater Kudu
Habitat
Bush and thicket habitat. Can survive in setlled country
deciduous woodland, riverine, hillside base
Greater Kudu
Diet
Nearly a pure browser
- leaves of herbs
- fallen fruits
- vines
- succulents
- tubers
- flowers
- some new grass
Greater Kudu
Water Dependence
Water Independent
Drinks in dry season
Greater Kudu
Activity
Nocturnal
often emerges to feed only at night
about half of all foraging is done at night.
Hartebeest
Diet
Selectively grazes on leafy perineal grasses. They have a particular association with medium grasslands dominated by red-oat grasses and scrub acacia such as whistling thorn.
Short and well drained pasture in wet season and long in dry season.
Hartebeest
Water Dependence
Drinks regularly where water is available.
Hartebeest
Activity
Main activity peaks are early and late in the morning and evening.
Hartebeest
Antipredator Behavior
- alert posture
- snorting
- stamping
- style trotting
- stotting
Rhebok
Diet
- grasses
- herbs
- shoots
- leaves
Rhebok
Water Dependence
Water Independent
Can meet water needs by browsing
Rhebok
Activity
Diurnal
in wet season, spends about equal time foraging and resting
activity peak in the late afternoon
spent more time foraging in the winter dry season
Rhebok
Antipredator Behavior
- alert posture
- restless walking
- snorting
- stamping
- stotting
Large predators are absent in most places rheboks occur
flight distance is 150-200 meters/500-650 feet
Roan
Habitat
eastern transvaal in Kruger
wooded savanna, less woodland more grassland / tree savanna
tolerates taller grass and higher elevations.
Sable
Antipredator Behavior
- alert posture
- snorting
- style trotting
Leopards may be the primary predator and take a fair number of calves
low density of predators in the miombo biome
Sable
Habitat
Miombo woodland zone
prefers a mosaic arrangement of woodland and grassland woods must be open enough to support and understory of grasses.
Sable
Diet
- forbs
- foliage
termite mounds support many of their favorite plans and they frequent them as salt licks.
Sable
Water Dependence
Water Dependent
visit water holes regularly even in the wet season
Sable
Activity
activity peaks around dawn and dusk
often visits watering holes midday
will lie down on cool dewy mornings.
Slender Mongoose
Diet
efficient killer of small vertebrates such as
- rodents
- lziards
- snakes
- birds
- termintes
- crickets
- rarely eats fruit
Slender Mongoose
Habitat
found almost everywhere there is cover except the desert
sleeps in termite mounds, rock piles, crevices, holes in the ground and tree bases.
Slender Mongoose
Activity
Diurnal
often seen darting across roads. may spend lunch time sunning and resting
may remain covered on cool, rainy days
Slender Mongoose
Predatory Behavior
pouncing on or chasing small invertebrates
may kill with a single bite to the head. there was no killing shake observed though already dead prey may be thrown.
retires to a safe place to eat prey and eats prey from the head down.
Slender Mongoose
Prey Reactions
Birds and small mammals such as hyraxes, dwarf mongoose, squirrels react with alarm calls.
small birds mob and scold them
dwarf and banded mongoose may attack if a slender mongoose comes too close to a pack with young.
Spotted Hyena
Diet
Carnivorous
rarely eats fruits or vegetables. diet is mostly vertebrates, especially ungulates. eats virtually everything except the contents of the rumen and horns
Will eat rotting animals dead for months if food is lean to support cubs.
Spotted Hyena
Habitat
Can be found in most habitats except rainforest
Spotted Hyena
Activity
first 2 nightly activity peaks start from an hour before dark until 8pm. A second peak can last until about 2 hours after dawn.
Spotted Hyena
Hunting and Feeding Behavior
Scavenges what it can and hunts the easiest prey available. even a lone hyena is capable of running down healthy prey the size of a wildebeest.
they rely mainly on sight and smell. they will make their prey run by loping towards a heard. when the herd scatters they will locate the stragglers to hunt. most prey that relies on running as a defense can outrun a hyena but they often don’t run at full speed early, failing to account for hyenas endurance. the animal then runs to exhaustion in 1.5-5 km.
once prey is stopped, they bite legs, belly, and tail. there isn’t a specialized killing bite. prey is usually disemboweled and dies in under 5 minutes. the more hyenas hunting the faster the death is.
most cooperative hunts are spontaneous with one hyena starting and others nearby joining in. but they also deliberately stage pack hunts. groups are needed for zebras and they will pass other prey until they find what they want.
hyenas compete for food even when its caught cooperatively.
Steenbok
Antipredator Behavior
- close concealment
- dodging run
- alarm snorts
places primary reliance on concealment. lying prone until discovery is imminent then runs for more cover to hide. changes direction quickly and has a lot of stamina
Steenbok
Habitat
depends on cover for safety but is still often found in grassland dotted with bushes and light woodland.
benefits from the destruction of woodland, regenerating vegetation is ideal cover and browse.
associated with transitional and unstable conditions.
Yellow Mongoose
Diet
Insectivorous
- harvester termites
- beetles
- insects
- grasshoppers
- mice
- lizards
- snakes
- fruit in the winter when insects are scarce
Yellow Mongoose
Activity
weather conditions–temperature especially–greatly affect daily activity cycles. in summer they may emerge at 6am, on cold mornings at 630-7am
spend the hottest hours of the day inside or lying on loose sand. they sunbathe for about an hour a day.
foraging starts around 9am and they dig holes for beetle larvae in April and May
Yellow Mongoose
Habitat
Southern Africa in open sandy terrain on a variety of sandy soils including acacia scrub woodland, savanna, parkland, and floodplains.
