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Moremi Game Reserve
Okavango Delta
Botswana
Southern Africa
Click On Image To Enlarge.
Botswana has the largest elephant population on the continent due to tight protection and civil unrest in neighbouring countries. The relative difficulty in accessing the wildlife areas coupled with the military threat to poachers has allowed the elephant population in Botswana to grow.
The Chobe River front was once only a part of the ancient elephant migration routes but with civil war in Angola and the war of liberation in Namibia the elephants fell victim to mass poaching.
Rival armies were killing elephants for target practice and to sell ivory for weapons. The elephants reacted to this threat by not crossing Chobe River, instead the Chobe then became the dry season refuge for the herds and over the years the numbers built up and the reputation of Chobe grew.
There have been incidents of poaching in Botswana, mainly rhino, but the government decided to set up a military task force in the fight against the scourge. Poachers were ruthlessly dealt with and the task force became a full-time anti-poaching unit.
The end of the war in Namibia, and relative peace having returned to Angola, the elephants have slowly but surely started moving across the Chobe River again. There are many elephants that have not had the experience of the migration routes and still see Chobe as a dry season refuge.
The Linyanti area of Botswana was once a hunting concession but in the past 10 years, with only photographic tourism being offered, the elephants are starting to return en masse to the region and Linyanti today is being touted as equal to Chobe when it comes to elephant experience.
Other areas of Botswana such as the Okavango Delta also see high concentrations of elephant due to the permanent water source.
Information Taken From - www.botswana.co.za/Botswana_Wildlife_Behaviour-travel/ele...
Elephants in musth often discharge a thick tar-like secretion called temporin from the temporal ducts on the sides of the head. Musth is linked to sexual arousal or establishing dominance, but this relationship is far from clear. Wild bulls in musth often produce a characteristic low, pulsating rumbling noise (known as "musth rumble") which can be heard by other elephants for considerable distances. The rumble has been shown to prompt attraction and reply vocalizations from cows in heat, but silent avoidance behaviour from other bulls (particularly juveniles) and non-receptive females, suggesting an evolutionary benefit to advertising the musth state.
Info source URL: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musth
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Photo capture date & Location: 2017-02 Bushtime at Mabula
A montage to show you courtship behaviour with Sminthurides nr. penicillifer, as with all Sminthurides species the male and female Springtail perform a courtship ritual. The male which is quite a bit smaller than the female will approach a female and attempt to link its antennae with the female (If the female lets him). The male has specially adapted antennae with long setae on it, it uses these setae to lock its antennae around the females antennae. The female will often carry the male around like this for some time, I'm not sure if this is to exhaust her or if there is some pheromone at play here. The male will then unlock itself and deposit spermatophores that the female will walk over.
In these images the male is the smaller of the linked pair, the females being a lot larger with the distinctive white abdominal and facial band :o)
The females are about 1mm in length and the males 0.6mm long, taken with the MP-E on a 1.4x teleconverter and some with an extra 36mm extension tube added between the lens and teleconverter.
I have included some extra images in the comments :o)
The mating behaviour of avocets is very elegant. Initially both birds can be seen preening vigorously, then the female lowers her head, stretches it low over the water and stands almost motionless..Having bred successfully they will be faithful to the site in subsequent years. Pair-bonds are maintained only for the duration of breeding season and break up by the time winter flocks gather.
Avocets nest in loose colonies of up to 150 pairs. Colony size and density are determined by availability of suitable nest sites, distance to water and risk of predation. The nest, built by both sexes, is a shallow scrape on bare mud or in sparse vegetation, even in shallow water, and is composed of short pieces of stems, roots, and leaves of marsh vegetation
Last month we had a few visits by a Hummingbird moth at dusk. Unfortunately poor light, but nevertheless reasonable shots imho. it showed only interest for these blue Verbena.
Macroglossum stellatarum, known as the Hummingbird Hawk-moth or sometimes the Hummingmoth, is a species of Sphingidae. Its long proboscis and its hovering behaviour, accompanied by an audible humming noise, make it look remarkably like a hummingbird while feeding on flowers. It should not be confused with the moths called hummingbird moths in North America, genus Hemaris, members of the same family and with similar appearance and behavior. The resemblance to hummingbirds is an example of convergent evolution. It flies during the day, especially in bright sunshine, but also at dusk, dawn, and even in the rain, which is unusual for even diurnal hawkmoths. Its visual abilities have been much studied, and it has been shown to have a relatively good ability to learn colours
If you’ve been the victim of abusive or threatening behaviour by someone near your home or when you're out and about it may be harassment. There are different things you can do if you’re being harassed.
Harassment is both a criminal offence and a civil action under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
This means that someone can be prosecuted in the criminal courts if they harass you. It also means you can take action against the person in the civil courts.
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/t...
If you’re being harassed and you feel you're in danger you can contact the police.
If you think you’re being harassed because of your disability, race, religion, transgender identity or sexual orientation, you can report the harassment to the police as a hate incident or crime.
You can find details of your local police station on the Police.UK
They love nettles and this little swarm of mini munchers has managed to strip a patch.
www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?species=io
Larva
The behaviour of the larva is very similar to that of the Small Tortoiseshell, the two species often being seen together. In the first instar, Peacock larvae are very similar to those of the Small Tortoiseshell. However, mature Peacock larvae are jet black for the most part, whereas Small Tortoiseshell larvae are typically dark green with a pair of yellow stripes running down the length of their sides.
On emerging from their eggs, Peacock larvae build a communal web near the top of the plant and from which they emerge to bask and feed and are usually highly conspicuous. As the larvae grow, they move to new plants, building new webs along the way. Webs are decorated with shed larval skins and droppings and are easily found.
Larvae have several techniques to avoid predation. When disturbed, a group of larvae will often jerk their bodies from side to side in unison, which must be a formidable sight to any predator. The larvae will also regurgitate green fluid and will, if necessary, curl up in a ball and drop to the ground. Larvae feed both during the day and at night. There are 5 instars in total.
The primary larval foodplant is Common Nettle (Urtica dioica). Hop (Humulus lupulus) and Small Nettle (Urtica urens) are also used.
1st Instar
"The larva eats away the crown of the egg, and all hatch at once. Those at the bottom of the batch immediately start feeding through the leaf, and all live in a dense mass, spinning a web over the leaf. Directly after emergence the larva measures only 1.6 mm. long; the body is cylindrical; the head large, black and shining, beset with fine black hairs. On the body are four longitudinal rows of long, fine, black, simple hairs with bulbous bases; they are slightly curved and have the extreme tips very slightly clubbed and whitish. On the ventral surface and claspers are paler fine straight hairs; the spiracles are outlined with black. The surface is finely granular, with minute, raised, dark points. The colour is a very light ochreous-green, almost white-green." - Frohawk (1924)
2nd Instar
"The first moult was on June 5th, 1908, the first stage lasting six days. Before the second moult, nine days old, it measures 8 mm. in length. It is a good deal similar to the previous stage; the base of the longest hairs now form black conical tubercles, which are beset with bristles, and each terminates in a long, slightly serrated black hair. There are numerous black serrated hairs of different lengths, some extremely small, scattered over the body, which is granulated with fine black points. The head is shining black, with minute black bristles. The surface of the body is very shining, of a mottled olive-brown, blotched with pale ochreous round each of the largest tubercles. They live and feed in company. Preparatory to moulting they all assemble in a dense mass on a thick carpet of web spun over the eaten part of the plant, and thereon, packed together, undergo the second moult. When disturbed they all throw up the anterior half of their bodies in the form of a hook (thus c__) and remain so for a few minutes." - Frohawk (1924
3rd Instar
"The second moult occurred on June 9th, 1908, the second stage occupying four days. Before the third moult, thirteen days old, it measures from 12.7 mm. to 14.8 mm. long. In this stage a further development in the size of the tubercles is noticeable, especially the two dorsal rows, which are of considerable length and terminate, as all the shorter ones do, with long, slightly curved hairs. The ground colour is purplish-dark-brown, the longer hairs, which are scattered over the body, are placed on white dots. The head and other details of the surface are as in the previous stage; the claspers are pale olive-ochreous. They still live gregariously, and, as in the previous stage, prior to moulting they all assemble in a dense pack, forming a conspicuous black mass. In this stage they consume a great quantity of food; and when touched or irritated exude from the mouth a comparatively large drop of green liquid; and when slightly disturbed they throw up their heads and fore part of the body as in the last stage, and if still further annoyed or shaken they fall to the ground with much wriggling, at the same time lowering themselves by a silk thread." - Frohawk (1924)
4th Instar
"The third moult June 13th, 1908. The third stage also lasted four days. Before fourth moult, eighteen days old, the larva is 25.4 mm. in length; very similar to the previous stage. All the tubercles are well developed, the two dorsal rows being about twice the length of the sub-dorsal and lateral series. The white spots are now more distinct and numerous. The head and legs are shining black, as well as the anal pair of claspers. The ground colour is a purple-black; in other respects the details are the same as in the previous stage. Before moulting they again assemble in a dense mass." - Frohawk (1924)
5th Instar
"The fourth and last moult took place on June 18th, 1908, the fourth stage lasting five days. After fourth moult, fully grown, about twenty-eight days old, it averages in length about 41 .3 mm., some specimens as much as 44 mm. long. It is fairly cylindrical and comparatively slender; the first segment is much the smallest. There are six longitudinal rows of black shining spines from the fifth to eleventh segments inclusive; the second and third segments have each only two dorsal spines, which are longer than those on the other segments; the fourth and anal segments have each four spines; the first segment has no spines, but a transverse ridge of fine black hairs. The spines are sub-dorsal, super-spiracular and sub-spiracular. They are long and shining black, sharply pointed, and bear numerous bristles of various lengths; the body is densely covered with minute black bristles, which adds intensity to the rich velvety-black ground colour. At the segmental divisions the surface is smooth and of a dull leaden-black. Each segment is encircled with numerous pure white globular warts, each emitting a fine white hair; the largest are in front of the spiracles. On the first segment is a dorsal, shining, black, transverse disc, and two round ones on the anal segment; the first is small and adjoins the eleventh segment, the other forms a large rounded knob on the extremity. The head and legs are shining black and thickly studded with black bristles of varying lengths; the claspers are ochreous-brown at the base, the middle portion bright ochreous, the foot palest. Several of the larvae were fully grown on June 24th (the fifth stage occupying six days), making the larval period twenty-seven days: twenty-five days feeding and two days occupied in changing to pupa." - Frohawk (1924)
Two puffins (Fratercula arctica) are squabbling at the entrance of their cave.
Zwei Papageitaucher (Fratercula arctica) streiten am Eingang ihrere Höhle.
A small group of Oystercatchers flew overhead and were showing signs of coming in for a landing in this spot, yelling continuously. These two were having none of it, and responded by doing some yelling of their own, repeatedly alternating between holding their heads high and then bowing down. The small flock went away after much screeching and never did land here.