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Elephant family on their dusty journey to the waterholes
Amboseli - Kenya
All rights reserved. © Uli Assmann
Aus der Ferne kann man sich kaum vorstellen, wie kraftvoll ein Leopard sein kann.
Er wirkt fast zierlich.
Erst aus der Nähe betrachtet, wird einem klar, welche Muskelkraft in dieser schönen Katze steckt.
Voll ausgewachsen bringt dieses Tier eigentlich nur ca. 70 kg auf die Waage, kann aber locker mehr als das eigene Gewicht an Beute in höchste Baumkronen vor anderen Fressfeinden in Sicherheit bringen.
Im Anschleichmodus - Leopardin in der Masai Mara - Kenia
Powerpack
From a distance, one can hardly imagine how powerful a leopard can be.
He seems almost dainty.
Only up close, you realize what muscle power is in this beautiful cat.
Fully grown, this animal actually weighs only about 70 kg, but can easily bring more than its own weight of prey to safety in the highest treetops from other predators.
In creeping mode - Leopardess in the Masai Mara - Kenya
All rights reserved. © Uli Assmann
A family group of African elephants on the open plains of Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Amboseli is renowned for having some of Africa's last great tuskers, and the dominant bull's magnificent ivory speaks to decades of survival in one of the continent's most iconic wildlife reserves. The protective clustering of adults around the younger animals captures the deep family bonds that make elephants one of the most emotionally complex species on the planet.
Male Lion in northern Botswana. He and his brother had killed a baby elephant recently and now he´s observing what the herd is doing.
All rights reserved.
© Thomas Retterath 2016
Young male Leopard posing nicely in the Khwai Private Reserve, Okavango Delta, Botswana
All animals in Africa bite, but the safari bug is the worst.
I take pictures because I like it, not because I am good at it.
The world is like a book and those, who do not travel, only read the first page.
If you only visit 2 continents in your lifetime, visit Africa, twice.
All rights reserved. © Thomas Retterath 2024
Löwen im Savuti Game Reserve (Chobe-Nationalpark, Botswana).
Lions in the Savuti Game Reserve (Chobe National Park, Botswana).
Herd of Elephants strolling through a channel in the Kwando river area of Botswana.
Lebala Concession
All rights reserved.
© Thomas Retterath 2016
Eye to eye encounter with a beautiful lioness and mother.
Maasai Mara - Kenya
All rights reserved. © Uli Assmann
Nicht umsonst haben diese Königinnen unter den Raubtieren einen besonderen Charakter. Stolz und Würde sind nur einige ihrer Attribute.
Kenia - Samburu
Portrait of a lioness
It is not for nothing that these queens among predators have a special character. Pride and dignity are only some of their attributes.
Kenya - Samburu
All rights reserved. © Uli Assmann
Die Leopardendame Kaboso in ihrem natürlichen Lebensraum anzutreffen, ist immer wieder ein Highlight. Schließlich gehört sie und ihre Artgenossen zu den am schwierigsten auffindbaren der BigFive!
Gern ziehen sie sich auf Bäume zurück, meist unentdeckt - wo sie stundenlang zubringen können.
Kaboso zeigte sich hier jedoch ausnahmsweise mal in ihrem Loft in luftiger Höhe und war schon von weitem gut zu erkennen
Masai Mara - Kenia
Kaboso's Lofthouse
Meeting the leopard lady Kaboso in her natural habitat is always a highlight. After all, she and her conspecifics are among the most difficult of the BigFive to find!
They like to retreat to trees, mostly undiscovered - where they can spend hours.
Kaboso, however, showed up here for once in her loft in airy heights and was already well recognizable from afar.
Masai Mara - Kenya
All rights reserved. © Uli Assmann
This elephant was minding its own business in the distance, unaware of us—until our whispers and the click of the camera caught its attention. Then, it looked over... and slowly began to approach... cautiously...
• African Elephant / African bush elephant / African savanna elephant
• Elefante Africano / elefante africano de sabana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Proboscidea
Family:Elephantidae
Genus:Loxodonta
Species:L. africana
Pilanesberg National Park, North West Province, South Africa
The African bush elephant is the largest living land animal, with males reaching up to 4 meters at the shoulder and weighing as much as 6,000 kg. Both males and females typically grow tusks, which are elongated incisors used for digging, stripping bark, and fighting. Their trunk contains over 40,000 muscles and functions as a hand, snorkel, and communication tool all at once.
Highly social and intelligent, African elephants live in matriarchal herds led by the oldest female, who guides the group to food, water, and safety based on decades of accumulated memory. They can consume up to 150 kg of vegetation a day and play a critical role as "ecosystem engineers," shaping the landscape by uprooting trees and dispersing seeds across vast distances.
• African Elephant, African bush elephant, African savanna elephant
• Elefante Africano, elefante africano de sabana
Scientific classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Genus: Loxodonta
Species: L. africana
Pilanesberg National Park, North West Province, South Africa
The 'legend' of the elephant graveyard:
As a child, I remember hearing or reading about a place where elephants would go to spend their final days until death — the famous elephant 'graveyards.' Science doesn't support this legend: there's no evidence that elephants instinctively travel to a specific place to die.
What is real, though, is the reason behind the myth. Elephants go through six sets of molars over their lifetime. The final set erupts around age 30 and must last for the rest of their life. As this last set wears down — usually by their 60s — they seek out wetter areas with more water and softer, more succulent vegetation that's easier to chew.
They continue drinking as much as they can until they eventually die of starvation, often near water holes, since that's where they spend their final days trying to survive. This concentration of remains near water is likely the real origin of the "graveyard" myth.
This is the resident female Leopard of the Lebala concession in Northern Botswana. The guides call her Jane. We were lucky to follow her and her 11 month old cub for about an hour. She was taking the cub where she left an Impala carcass.
A leopard cub peers out from the safety of a tall tree where its mother has stashed an impala kill...
... my kid!
Leopard and cub in the africat foundation, Namibia
All rights reserved. © Thomas Retterath 2015
This beautiful lioness showed herself in the almost last fascinating light of the setting sun in Samburu NP, Kenya
All rights reserved. © Uli Assmann
I thought I should share just three of the many tracking shots I took of this cheetah and its sibling as they loped through the bush in the Kruger National Park. This is the final image, then, in the series, the cheetah at rest. What a magnificent, elegant creature, don’t you think?
PUBLISHED:
en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/File:Cape_Buffalo,_Maasai_Mara_-...
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The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a large sub-Saharan African bovine.There are five subspecies that are recognized as being valid. Syncerus caffer caffer, the Cape buffalo, is the nominotypical subspecies, and the largest one, found in Southern and East Africa. S. c. nanus (the forest buffalo) is the smallest subspecies, common in forest areas of Central and West Africa, while S. c. brachyceros is in West Africa and S. c. aequinoctialis is in the savannas of East Africa. The adult African buffalo's horns are its characteristic feature: they have fused bases, forming a continuous bone shield across the top of the head referred to as a "boss".
The African buffalo is more closely related to other buffalo species than it is to other bovids such as American bison or domestic cattle, with its closest living relative being the Asian water buffalo. Its unpredictable temperament may be part of the reason that the African buffalo has never been domesticated, which would also explain why the African buffalo has no domesticated descendants, unlike the wild yak which is an ancestor of the domestic yak. Natural predators of adult African buffaloes include lions, hyenas, and Nile crocodiles. As one of the Big Five game animals, the Cape buffalo is a sought-after trophy in hunting.
Der Nationalpark Amboseli, südlich von Nairobi an der Grenze zu Tansania und am Fuße des Kilimandscharo gelegen, ist bekannt für außergewöhnliche Elefanten-Populationen. Große stattliche Herden konnte ich hier immer wieder beobachten.
Um die Mittagszeit, wenn die Feuchtigkeit aus dem Boden gewichen ist, sieht man in der Ferne zunächst nur den aufgewirbelten Staub, bevor diese sanften Riesen plötzlich sichtbar werden und ein beeindruckendes Bild abgeben.
Kenia - Amboseli
Dust
Amboseli National Park, located south of Nairobi on the border with Tanzania and at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, is known for its extraordinary elephant populations. Large stately herds I could observe here again and again.
Around noon, when the moisture has left the ground, all you can see in the distance is the swirling dust before these gentle giants suddenly become visible and make an impressive sight.
Kenya - Amboseli
All rights reserved. © Uli Assmann
Lions roar. Tigers roar. Apparently Snow Leopards just meow. Ok, it's a big meow. A meow with heft. Bigger than Ziggy's meow, which some compare to a rusty gate.
But this day Sabu was meowing up a storm. Was he looking for Malaya his mate - the Illuminated Leopard?
Panthera Uncia at the Brookfield Zoo.
Le parc national des volcans se trouve dans le nord-ouest du Rwanda et borde le parc national des Virunga en République démocratique du Congo et le parc national des gorilles de Mgahinga en Ouganda. Le parc national est connu comme un refuge pour le gorille de montagne. Il abrite cinq des huit volcans des montagnes des Virunga (Karisimbi, Bisoke, Muhabura, Gahinga et Sabyinyo), qui sont couverts de forêt tropicale et de bambous. Le parc était la base de Diane Fossey.
One of the most attractive leopards the Masai Mara has ever had.
Bahati - Kenya - Maasai Mara
All rights reserved. © Uli Assmann
....to the lions kindergarten
Lioness with her playful offspring
Massai Mara - Kenya
All rights reserved. © Uli Assmann
up on a tree in the South Luangwa National Park, maybe the best spot to watch this elusive cat.
All rights reserved. © Thomas Retterath 2015
A young adult leopard sitting in the bushes ,staring intently through a small opening in the plains of Masai Mara, Kenya
Bei der Begegnung eines größeren Löwenrudels, welches zu diesem Zeitpunkt nur aus Müttern, Schwestern und Nachwuchs bestand, hatte sich diese stolze Löwin etwas abseits gelegt und überwachte genau ihre Umgebung. Ein würdevoller Blick zeigte mir, wer hier Chef ist.
Masai Mara - Kenia
Dignified encounter
Meeting a larger pride of lions, which at that time consisted only of mothers, sisters and offspring, this proud lioness had lain a little apart and was closely monitoring her surroundings. A dignified look showed me who is boss here.
Maasai Mara - Kenya
All rights reserved. © Uli Assmann