Please send in your good wildlife photos, folks. The tank is dropping at a disturbing rate.
Today we’ll feature the second half of Daniel Shockes’s photos from Africa (part 1 is here). His narration is indented, and you can click on the photos to enlarge them. Here’s his original introduction:
Here are photos from our trip to Africa. Started in Livingstone Zambia, traveled through Zimbabwe, and into Botswana.
Honey Badger (rare sighting!!! The Honey Badger Don’t Care YouTube video now has 101 million views):
Leopard up a tree:
Baboon transportation:
Male Lion after a kill. This group had just taken down a baby elephant and was methodically eating it. I do have pictures of them eating the carcass but even dispassionate scientific readers might find it a bit disturbing. Happy to share more if you want (also have great video):
Male Kudu:
Male and Female Ostriches:
African Wild Dog and pack of dogs. Very rare sighting! These are vicious. The only predators that eat their prey alive rather than killing it first:
Male Impala having a drink:
Juvenile African Harrier-Hawk:
Very exciting photos! You saw some amazing animals. Great photo of the African Wild Dog. That must have been pretty thrilling to see that and the Leopard.
Thanks!
Beautiful! And that Honey Badger video is nuts!
Great pictures! You got just about everything there. What an amazing trip!
That must have been a great trip! I have enjoyed both of the picture sets. The hyena caught my eye—a really beautiful picture of an often maligned animal.
“African Wild Dog and pack of dogs. Very rare sighting! These are vicious. The only predators that eat their prey alive rather than killing it first:”
I believe bears do this as well (shudder).
Should have clarified that they are the only predators In Botswana that eat their prey alive according to our guide that day
I’m glad you didn’t post the baby elephant as fodder, but lions gotta eat! Thanks for sharing your fabulous photos of Africa; they were all very enjoyable.
Lovely photos, but with respect, I’d take issue with a couple of points in the commentary on wild dogs. I don’t think it’s accurate to describe them as “vicious”.To my mind, that pejorative term can justly be applied to conscious human behaviour but it has no meaning in the natural world. The dogs are just doing what millions of years of evolution has “designed” them to do, i.e. catching prey to feed themselves and their young, using the physical tools at their disposal. The statement that they’re the only predators to eat their prey alive, without first killing it, is also shaky. Many predators, including wolves, hyenas, lions, tigers, komodo dragons and others, will start to feed as soon as their prey is immobilised and helpless, irrespective of whether it happens still to be alive and conscious. A cursory search of safari videos posted on YouTube will bring up many examples of this. This is often uncomfortable to watch but again, there’s no moral dimension to it. A predator gains no benefit from killing its prey, only from eating it. A prey animal is just a big lump of food, and if food is hard to come by (as it usually is), and rival predators are around, then it’s imperative to eat as quickly as possible before someone else arrives to steal your prize. Otherwise, all the time and effort you’ve expended in making that kill has been wasted.
Nice pics, but the “Common Reedbuck” is actually a Steenbok (it has no English name), while the bird of prey is an immature Bateleur Eagle (the adult looks completely different).
Thanks. I was trying to type as fast as I could while the guide was talking and I’m sure any errors are mine rather than the highly trained guide’s
If anyone is interested in the video, I’ve posted it “unlisted” on youtube: https://youtu.be/fk-fbvpIfwY