Introducing a New Baby Elephant – Day 85 | Safari Live

today X is malaria thankfully that is
the best in the home B of course and I
do excuse the shadows on my face but you
will notice that when I turn my face to
the Sun I’m unable to open my eyes that
is because it is so very bright so let’s
not look at me let’s look at the dogs
while I tell you that of course we would
love to hear from you throughout the
course of the show as I’m sure Ralph and
Brent have told you already and you can
talk to us using the hashtag Safari live
now for those of you who have not been
with us over the last few days we’ve
been doing a few experiments with Ronald
the rover to see how animals respond to
him now we’ve done it with Hasan of the
male leopard we’ve done with the sticks
pride both of those cats reacted in very
similar ways well the adult Lions
couldn’t have been less interested the
Cubs and the young horse owner walked up
to him I’m not sure why they stood up
there it’s not because I moved Ronald
and they kind of looked at him smelt him
and then they disappear within a lay
down and relaxed again now the dogs when
we put him down here they did get up
straight away as soon as he moved
towards them and now they’ve settled
again in the shade so we’ll see what
happens I was a little bit surprised by
the slightly startled reaction so I’m
not sure that we’re gonna get the same
result that we have with the cats
alrighty that’s it down to the other end
of the juma end of this Drive let’s go
down to Tristan Dix who’s sitting with
to where you are sitting mr. Henry and
so these elephants all around Japan
which is just a little bit south of
where James is as James mentioned my
name is pricilla on camera today I do
have a VM the wildebeest there we go
there’s a little thumb from Veeam this
is live it is interactive which of
course means that you can actually ask
questions and get hold of us so hashtags
for life or YouTube chat if you would
like to get hold of us now we have a
beautiful herd of elephants
come down towards Telepan which is in a
way really cool and in another way not
so cool because we were hoping that we’d
find young hasanah just sleeping and
resting in this area but he seems to
have moved on although the way these
elephants are all kind of fronting up
I think asana might be lying somewhere
close by kind of looking towards the
[Music]
shady spots just the way that they’re
all kind of you see how they all tightly
packed together I thought maybe just
maybe there was a little lipids
injection which could be very possible
we’ll have to just look nicely it also
could be because there’s a tiny baby in
amongst this so there’s a very wobbly
baby maybe a baby that was born at some
stage yesterday it could be or even last
nights because it’s really quite wobbly
on its feet the way that it’s standing
you can see those little legs are
buckling and moving quite a bit and the
fact that everybody’s bunched around it
could potentially mean that it’s a
failing newborn the other thing that we
have here is some really big bull
elephants elephants in the background
and so that’s causing a bit of a ruckus
in the herd so from Israel you think
that’s why they’re anxious is that
they’re protecting the baby well I think
it’s twofold I think not only protecting
the baby maybe they smell a leopard here
and maybe they know that husana was
around in this section but I think more
than anything is that these big bulls
are causing a bit of a ruckus so there
are a number of big boys around here and
they keep chasing some of the females
and you can see look as the male leaves
now look at how this herd has disbanded
arson so the little one is now a lot
more exposed than what it was but
they’re all sort of sniffing at it it is
very small that little one so that is a
tiny new baby that is around which is
very cool and so maybe
the female it’s in heat and the boys are
causing a bit of panic and that’s why
everybody is sort of trying to protect
this little baby in case one of those
big males comes close now you can see
two of the male’s just squaring off
there those are the two smaller ones is
the third is a really large male which I
don’t quite know the areas he’s just on
the right there behind that bush so
maybe he’ll come out just now as well
insanity you’re wondering if the
matriarch elephant is always the biggest
no not necessarily sometimes you will
find that there will be bigger females
within the herd structure but she might
just be sort of from a different limit
or she might have joined from a
different reason
and so she’s maybe not the matriarch of
that particular herd or you will have a
situation where genetically there’s a
female that’s is the matriarch and
another female that grows up underneath
that female gets slightly larger but yet
she’s not as experienced and not as it’s
sort of in tune with what’s going on
inside they oh no it fell down when did
you just fall I think this one must be
newer than we think maybe a matter of
hours old given that it’s look hard
struggling to stand up oh no come on to
your feet
maybe I see mom look look how mom is
picking it up see mom is using its trunk
to try and pick it up look at that isn’t
that incredible see all of them so they
wrapped their trunk around its body like
a little harness and they lift it so
that it can get to its feet to get the
strength to be able to stand
I wonder if this baby is not even newer
than we even think maybe during the day
today maybe in the last few hours it’s
incredibly hot today so it would dry
very fast if it was born recently I mean
the time for it to dry would be like I
say very quick so maybe it was born late
or this afternoon or around lunchtime
area it’s difficult to know but it would
explain why the herd is sticking around
because you would expect like this to
move and not to stand right in the Sun
like they are at the moment but for some
reason they sticking around the baby is
very wobbly so maybe that’s the reason
why it’s very very cool to see either
way see it’s trying to move away I’m
sure this herd is gonna try and find
some semblance of shade it must be
incredibly hot for naught
them but the little baby as well now the
interesting thing about this whole
process is that those females that are
standing there all feel young females
none of those are particularly big you
can see here comes a much larger female
who’s actually got much bigger teeth so
mammary glands and so I wonder if she’s
not the one that is actually the mother
and she just went for a quick cooling
down in the siblings have just protected
around it I don’t see any other females
there that are lactating at the moment
but I could be wrong
now look comes the big male you see how
much bigger he is then the females he’s
gonna come towards them and look at how
the females are wrapping around that
little calf isn’t this just the most
phenomenal behavior from these elephants
and look at the size difference he
towers way over those females he is
massive in comparison to them in that
little baby is hard to think that it’s
going to go from that small if it’s a
male all the way to that massive
individual like you see there now we can
definitely confirm that the female that
is in front that’s poses to us isn’t the
mum so that little one is sucking from
it so amazing to see that the other
members of the herd looked after it
while the female winches to go cool down
she’s probably been in the Sun she’s
probably had a little exerted a lot of
energy if she’s given birth recently and
so while she went to go and cool down
slightly the others looks after and just
wrapped around her and made sure that
they’re looking after this little cough
but how cool is that
you’ve got from absolutely tiny from you
all the way up to you as big as males
can be I mean you can see the height of
his shoulders in comparison to those
females gives you a really good idea is
amazing it just shows you that male
elephants are really not small animals
at all you always see females you think
they’ve massive and then you see these
males in comparison you can realise just
how big they are at the shoulder in
particular and look at the size of his
head in comparison to those females
heads his head is almost double the size
you can imagine how much strength and
power is inside they’re absolutely
incredible how cool is this what a way
to start our safari is it really is the
best way to start is a big herd of
elephants the prospect of a lipid
sitting somewhere here watching all of
this going on it really is a good good
like I say a good omen for a successful
afternoon that we should have
so I believe a lot of you are a bit
concerned worried that this ball will
the cough will elephants are insanely
intelligent animals and while the bull
might be you know close to the coffin
and Mike represents some sort of danger
in terms of he could knock that cough
over you can see what these others are
doing so the adults females and the
sensibly of that little calf have
created a protective barrier so even if
that bull comes they all almost
sacrifice themselves in a way so they’ll
get hit by that bull long before that
little car fall and so the Bulls not
going to be interested in hurting its in
any way they are not like lion and
lipids where they’ll come around and
they’ll try and kill the baby to bring
their female into Easter’s male
elephants are not like that at all so
he’s just curious
he’ll snuff that little elephant and
then now you see he’s just walked off
he’s no longer even not interested in
what’s going on here he knows that
there’s no female to mate with your
teens are looking for the female that
isn’t Easter say sniffing the ground
sniffing all that done looking around
trying to see which is the female that
they are picking up the scene for that
is an Easter so that little cough
perfectly safe at this stage and then he
needs to worry too much and mom and and
siblings almost there isn’t he ticked it
as much as well well keep it as safe as
they can over the next little bit but
this is so cool we’re watching an
amazing sort of thing unfold and in
elephants they are such intelligent
animals that to sit and spend time with
them in a situation like this way you’ve
got the females and the males and these
little tiny calf and see the social
interactions between them is just
absolutely fascinating right well we’re
going to stay with our elephant herd
because I don’t really want to go
anywhere there’s so much that’s
potentially could happen here with big
bulls and little babies and like I say
potential of a lipid making appearance
so while we sit yeah I believe James is
out and about with his toys once again
and I think Ronald is now making another
predator acquaintance for the week
he certainly is he’s making friends and
he’s making friends with that dog that’s
fast asleep there look how close he’s
got the dogs are completely
disinterested in his presence and I
don’t know can we go to his pictures at
possible it’s possible to go to his
picture now we have got Ronald’s picture
that is the reason or existence the dogs
are not going business ignoring in
tougher packs just kind of water behind
that they none of them have been
flopping down into the getting out of
here’s everybody I’m not sure what
happened there but well we’re still
sitting here with the ever-present hyena
and the little Cubs and they’ve been
getting more and more curious smelling
the air smelling what we’re all about
and it’s lovely to watch the nature of
wanting to explore the world around them
and there’s something new comes into the
little world I obviously I really want
to see what it’s all about
let the youngsters that those ones
starting to get the little color love
the adults on the on their faces and
look at that little bit of sibling love
maybe not often too much love shine
between hyenas probably a little bit of
dominance and that’s amazing to see that
we’ve been watching these youngsters and
even at this young age
they’re already marking and putting
little anal pay stings on the grass as
they move around so and that’s also for
each other to sniff and smell it’s not
for really for other animals they’re
already at such a young age establishing
and maintaining their position in the
hierarchy and it’s fascinating that one
still got his prize of the warthog tusks
and it looks like he’s keeping it and
the others were been trying to get it
away from him but he’s quite happy with
it now Aaron you’re wondering how you
tell the sexes now that is an extremely
good question because with hyenas in
tans gone by people really believed that
they were meredith’s meaning that they
are both male and female and now I don’t
mean to make anybody uncomfortable but
we want to talk about sixes of animals
and we’re talking male or female
and generally how we tell that is is
whether there is a penis or an Alva or
vagina but with hyenas there is no
external vagina
so they both male and female have
penises with the female it’s obviously a
pseudo penis which is an enlarged
clitoris so it’s very difficult to tell
between male and female the only thing
that you really need to look at is the
size and so the females are much bigger
than the males but it’s rather difficult
when there are little youngsters like
this because both male and female have
penis but it does seem from my
observations and that the females have a
larger pseudo penis than the males
actual penis so that’s that’s how I have
been on my deciding between how to
decide if it’s a male or female so I
know it’s a difficult subject to deal
with and not everybody too comfortable
with those kind of conversations but
well it’s it’s a reality so that’s what
makes and sits hyena part right folks
now from one group of small little
babies let’s send you on over to Tristan
who’s still with that lovely little
elephant calf
well indeed it’s always a which is cuter
in terms of the baby animal world they
all I suppose a very cute is not very
many ugly babies out there that’s for
sure but the little one as you can see
is being very well sheltered not only
from the big rampaging males that are
around ya but also from a perspective of
this harsh Sun that we’ve got this
afternoon it is incredibly warm and so
for a little baby like that it’s going
to dehydrate and it’s ears are very
sensitive still to the Sun that they
could get sunburned and so it’s
important that it stays in the shade of
these siblings and adults and make sure
that the Sun doesn’t get on it too much
and so you can see it’s perfectly
positioned and there’s a little Sun
hitting it every now and then but for
the most part it’s nice and shady and
denieth all of those tummies and it can
fit in very well as mom has a little
dust bath and all of the other sittin
allow it to regain its strength as it
tries to work out how to use these legs
now the male is seems to be coming back
again this looks like the cheekier one
of the three he’s not the biggest but
he’s quite cheeky this individual I
think he might get a rough welcome if he
comes too close look at how these guys
will tighten their ranks and they’ll
make sure that they keep that bull at
bay there will also be a lot of
communication taking place between them
a lot of it we won’t be able to hear one
ninth of it we’re not going to be able
to hear it we’ll set very low frequency
sound that basically will tell that bull
don’t come here there’s a little baby
you need to be careful and keep him at
bay as much as possible you can see now
he’s stopped to feed and it’s not very
perturbed at all now interestingly
enough sorry now that I look at that big
boy elephant you might notice just above
him is actually a bird that’s sitting
there and I didn’t notice it very well
earlier but it’s sitting and it’s just
perched and I’m surprised because this
time of the day in the heat that we’ve
got you would expect most of the birds
of prey to be riding the thermals and to
be arts and about but this yellow bull
kite and is just sitting here and I
wonder if it maybe didn’t see an
opportunity to feed off some of the
afterbirth of this elephant because what
they will do is even though yellow bull
kites are able to catch their own food
and they’ll hunt termites and they’ll
hunt various other small insects and
birds so what they are known for is also
coming down onto roadkill and also in
bits of carrion
if behind and so the afterbirth of a
elephant might be the perfect snack for
a yellow bull kite and that’s why it
could be sitting here is because of that
reason is there after birth might have
been post by and it’s now just flown up
into the tree waiting for the Early’s to
move off it can then come down and feed
off its or it’s going to feed off the
way the elephants have difficut ‘add and
there are a number of insects that might
be around that as well so interesting
though that this bird is in sort of even
though it’s not related to the elephants
in any way it’s using the elephants for
a food source by the looks of things
that might be wrong but it might just be
a coincidence but I doubt that that bird
would be sitting for that long in the
bright hot Sun exposed like that if it
wasn’t for a reason that it was waiting
for these elephants to move off or
trying to follow them along as they
defecating and using their dung
basically as a distraction but look at
the power of these animals it is
absolutely amazing to watch when they
move those trees hope that you having a
wonderful weekend you want to know do
elephants like to play elephants love to
play Billy they are one of the most
playful animals that we get our chair
you’ll find if it’s a nice cool morning
and it’s overcast and there’s not too
much wind
then little baby elephants are a joy to
watch they’ll go up and down and round
and round and they change tree chase off
to birds and warden Zen parlors and all
these other animals it’s out as they try
and work out how to use the trunk and
how to run nicely and so they’re very
playful the adults not so much you don’t
see big bull elephants playing so much
when they get really large like the male
that we have here then you’re going to
see that they’re going to be a little
bit more serious but when they’re young
bull elephants and young females then
they play a lot they push each other as
well and they’ll try and taste each
other’s strengths so lots of playing
that goes on when you’re a baby elephant
or when you’re an elephant in general
actually and then when they go down to
water Billy they absolutely love water
so in a day like today you’ll find that
they’ll go into the mud and they’ll
throw them a Don all over themselves and
they’ll roll around in it and they’ll
lied
then they’ll get up and then they’ll
live back down in it and so it becomes a
big game when there’s a lot of mud
around as well so they are animals that
love to play a lot you can actually see
that a lot of them are actually covered
in mud at the moment and that’s because
it’s a warm day beliefs are they even
the adults I think I’ve gone for a
little mad you wallow to try and keep
nice and cool on a hot day it’s like if
you are very hot maybe you go and jump
into the swimming pool and try and cool
down I don’t know where you’re from
believe it if you’re in the United
States I’m sure that you are not very
hot at all at the moment particularly on
the eastern side of the United States
that believe it is very very cold that
side of the world at the moment but look
at that little face isn’t that the
sweetest thing is your tongue hanging
out it does look like it’s tongues
hanging out doesn’t it no you HOT little
one shame because a little hot all right
it will be okay the fact is is that the
adults are protecting its nicely and
making sure that it is well sheltered
and if it needs water they will guide it
to the to the breast into the mammary
gland to allow it to suckle and to drink
mother elephant so incredibly good with
that sigh I’ve seen elephants give birth
before and and watch the whole process
and when they would need that first bit
of milk they’ll actually guide them
using the trunk straight towards their
teats and allow them to then suckle from
this pretty incredible right well we’re
not gonna go anywhere there’s no reason
to it’s amazing to have the alias back
one and two to have a little baby and
amongst him so while we sit here and
enjoy these big pachyderms let’s go
across to James and his beautiful
painted dogs repented augs have managed
to get up slightly now and they’re
having a little bit of a greeting
ceremony because they keep getting up to
go off and have a drink and then they
come back to the shade here Ronald
unfortunately has got no signal in this
area and so he is unfortunately probably
not going to be able to show you his
pictures of the wild dogs
still he got a couple of good ones and
will try and broadcast those at some
time in the meantime I think I’ll bring
it to back now Melissa you’ve been
watching hyenas with Ralph of course and
you say who’s got bigger ears I think
that was the question well the answer is
that the wild dogs have got much bigger
ears let’s move slightly so we can get a
bit of view they have got enormous ears
wild dogs and it’s because well we think
because their communication during a
hunt is so crucial and what happens when
their hunt is that they can really sort
of bombshell or shotgun if you like out
into the wilderness they can lose each
other very quickly and then they need to
find each other very quickly so they
have these sort of satellite dish ears
that help them to find each other they
listen to the sounds they can swivel and
pick up probably the smallest wild dog
sound there are and that helps them to
maintain contact during a hunt for a
hyena yes their ears are certainly far
far better than ours but they don’t have
the same need to communicate during a
hunt they’ll hunt visually with each
other if they hunt together at all I
don’t know Ron got a picture at the
moment
I’ll just quickly find out from Louise
if we’ve got a wrong old picture
but I don’t think we do no we don’t
anyway
beautiful shots here of them just trying
desperately to stay cool in the Sun like
I say a very very hot day indeed I don’t
think these chaps are going to get up
until well at least half past six or so
and that on account of the fact that it
is well it’s pretty cold at Knot’s not
pretty cold what did I say no account of
the fact that it is so very hot and I
think they ate very well today earlier
on they look pretty full this morning as
blood covering the heads of them and so
I think that although there may try and
kill something this evening it’s unusual
it would be unusual all right we’re
gonna go and have a quick look at
Ronald’s picture now he’s got got a
picture of one dog who’s got his back to
him it’s not the best picture Ronald’s
managed to get to that but I’m not going
to move him and leave him
he heard you asked a very good question
you asked him to wild dogs live now I’ve
taken the last time I check something do
you like 18 scent of dogs in the Kruger
National or less
yes well everybody it seems like when
these problems elsewhere what do we do
we come back to the hyena den and it is
still buzzing with the youngsters so
that’s not such a problem is it I
wouldn’t say so because I’m really
enjoying sitting here these youngsters
are up to all sorts and they’ve been
greeting each other and marking and
trying to get the adults to play with
him and then getting in trouble and then
going back to lying down but this never
stops that one stall with his little
warthog tusks he’s got his little trophy
and he’s working it nicely and working
into on these teeth it’s probably quite
good for him as little Cubs and puppies
do they need to chew on lots of things
to help strict strengthen their teeth
and and also sometimes they do teeth so
they drop the the mock teeth and then
they get the adult teeth it’s quite
interesting and that one slightly older
one – it’s got its permanent teeth comes
through already the teeth did look quite
sturdy so I think so the other really
black Cubs look like they’ve got those
really fine sharp teeth and when we do
get to see them the ones that are
becoming a little bit lighter a little
bit older but it doesn’t matter it
doesn’t put you in a different position
in the hierarchy depending on your age
it it all depends on the position of
your mother and very difficult to go up
in the pecking order with with hyenas
they can be very slight changes within
the in the matriarchy and in the pyramid
and look at that that’s a lovely view of
this little track and there if you had
to see baby hyena tracks in the bush he
would be very confused because you don’t
often see that
and we always see adults moving around
but if we had to see a little one like
that I’m sure there would be lots of
trackers and that would be confused
having seen only one little baby hyena
trek right folks we are going to keep on
sitting here it is so exciting and I’m
sure the later it gets the more that
might happen but in the meantime we’re
gonna send you on back to James with
those painted dogs we’re still here with
the wild dogs we think we figured out
why you keep having to crash cut away
from us
it’s Ronald’s fall to apparently so
we’ll avoid using him for a little while
and try and sort that up now Lady Bird
we were talking about the ages of wild
dogs and how long they live I don’t know
how far into my answer or got or you got
but basically something I like 80% of
the dogs in the Kruger or less than 8000
less than five years old they have
potential lifespan probably around ten
and unfortunately out here of course
there are lions and hyenas and there are
all sorts of other predators that will
try and kill them from time to time and
there are also difficulties with coming
into contact with domestic dog diseases
like canine distemper and rabies now in
the absence of all of that yes they
probably do live for about ten years but
in these very difficult conditions
despite their very high breathing rate
really they will probably find that they
are seldom live beyond five years out
here
I’m just trying to find the exact
reference for that
and I can’t at the moment anyway we will
try and find it to some stage it is
quite interesting though that they
should live such short lives despite the
fact that there are such successful
hunters
hello amazed man you are a new viewer
today and I hope you remain as amazed as
your name suggests you should is
wonderful to have you with us and thank
you for giving us of your time and of
your intellect of course you’ve asked
how fast they can run well it’s
difficult to record her AHS runs the
figure I’ve just the six kilometres an
hour which is about call of 45 miles per
hour they can sustain a speed like that
for some time the big thing with wild
dogs is their ability to maintain as for
a long period an opening like a cheetah
for example which must catch within the
first sort of quarter mile or so will
they run out of steam they run much
faster of course so those are the two
crossing predators of Africa the wild
dogs and cheetah and these chaps have a
very different sort of burn strategy for
catching and it relies a lot on their
stamina
all righty I think we’re going to just
move around a bit here see if we can
retrieve Ronald while we do that we’re
going to get back to Tristan and his
rather fascinating a small elephant
sighting well it is fascinating James it
is really interesting to watch I think
that this elephant was born during the
day today so we know that Steve was here
this morning there were no elephants
here and I have a funny feeling that it
was born right here and that’s why it’s
still learning how to move around I can
just see it coming out of this wall of
sort of elephants that are around us
these some big bulls are really large
male has just arrived now as well a
massive individual that is slowly
starting to come this way and they all
sniffing around that area so I want to
go and have a little look there just now
I went to wait until that massive male
very is you see look at the size of him
he’s got big tusks he’s bigger than the
other bull that we had just now so he’s
old and wrinkly and massive Tassimo Chi
sniffing in the air he’s got his trunk
up just smelling around and he sat for a
very long time very close to where those
other elephants are and he was sniffing
the ground and I wonder if that wasn’t
where it gave birth that maybe just
could be that situation Julie I think
I’m getting this right is Megan correct
me if I’m wrong but you are asking if
lots of elephants would be more
protective of a young one than a few
elephants is that the correct way I
think so I’m not 100% sure I’d broke up
a little bit as you were coming through
but if that is the case then the more
elephants you know at the end of the day
the bit is going to be but you are a
young male elephant would be as
protective something wrong with that
little calf did you see that sorry Judy
I’ll get into your question now but it
looks like it’s mass there’s a split you
see that between its trunk and its mass
almost like it’s got a cliff palate
that’s really interesting I’ve never
seen that in my life before it’s not its
mouth its mouth is lowered down by the
looks of things and just now there was a
funny sound coming from in amongst him
and I thought maybe its trunk sounded
like it was blocks and it seems as
though there might be a little issue
there you see that that’s doesn’t look
like its mouth its mouth looks like it’s
lower than that always it’s its mouth
just could be a funny angle no it is its
mouth sorry it’s just the folds of skin
it looks okay at this stage now back to
what you are asking Gina you’re asking a
young elephant would he be as protective
yes a young elephant if he’s part of
that family and he’s part of if he was
born to the same mother he’s going to be
very very protective of that little one
he’s going to come to its defense and
some of these elephants that are around
that little baby as well look how fluffy
its tummy is super fluffy another
elephant came along he protects it and
try and make sure that it is looked
after and it is made to you kind of feel
safe and if there is a boundary between
it and everybody else you’ll find the
situation that no matter if it’s a young
male or a female if they are part of
that family unit and it’s the same
mother they will be highly protective of
this sibling and make sure that the
little one is safe and you can see look
as a little one takes a step so the rest
of them take a step and no one takes in
the risk guys so they all try to kind of
keep it as safe as possible the whole
grouping of them and so even though some
of those will probably not be this
females offspring they are trying to
kind of make sure that they protect it
as much as possible but there you go see
it’s trying to suckle every now and then
shame nipple one you are brand new I
think you only a few hours old if that
maybe even an hour or two this is so
cool to see we have been so so spoilt
and humor the last few months we’ve had
so many amazing baby animal sightings
we’ve had attendees cab Footloose the
Valda bees Scott’s little baby
wildebeest that was born we’ve got this
one we’ve got all kind of the little
Lapwing chicks I mean clever chicks that
we had we’ve had a lot of baby animals
that we’ve been able to see take their
first few steps in life and so amazing
to be a part of this and I’m 99.9% sure
now bat that kite
he’s here for the afterbirth and that
they gave birth right you the fact that
this herd is also sitting for as long as
it is in this area would definitely mean
that they are probably just waiting for
this little one to start kind of being
able to move and start trying to
actually kind of be able to be on its
feet and solid and after that they can
go and get out of the hot Sun but until
then is everybody’s going to be struck
as stay stationary as possible you can
see there’s a bit of arching RG bhaji
that’s going on you see that you see and
look at how the female reaction gets
involved very quickly she says they’re
coming to investigate what’s going on
who needs protection they all gonna come
in and try and just huddle around make
sure that everything’s okay little ones
squashed into the middle now hopefully
they don’t think that I’m the cause of
all of this because I had we’ve done
nothing wrong we’ve just been sitting
here there was just one cheeky little
male that tried to go and investigate in
look how that an adult female that just
came in she’s coming to investigate as
well so she’s one of the older females
within the herd and she’s just coming
sniffing this new little calf making
sure everything’s okay working out who
this new member is and it’s amazing to
me that vocalizing you can see even
though that female is not related to
that they’ve all come running in to try
and just the most amazing very often
having to stay stationary and wait for
it to start moving is not an everyday
occurrence with is actually the mother
is gonna be quite easy to recognize
because she’s put these kind of stood up
so you can see this all along elephants
elephants I would say the touching up
towards the tusks is probably maybe
about six foot and that’s completely
from ground to the tusks and that’s not
actually stretched out you can see the
rest of the trunk is coiled at the
bottom is his trunk will probably easily
be about eight feet if it was really
stretched which is really long if you
think about it it is absolutely
fascinating to see how they’re able to
manipulate that trunk but big bull
elephant like at between 750 about seven
and a half feet probably maximum on a
trunk like that absolutely incredible
now just the size difference of these
animals is phenomenal there’s a massive
female the one behind him so it looks
like a young animal that’s coming up
behind that big bull see if you saw her
by herself you would think that that is
a really large female a big massive
matriarchal female but she is dwarfed by
the massive males she looks just like a
little one in comparison in fact both
these males that we’ve got yeah while
huge they almost look like pillars on
either side of her protecting her at the
moment
you’ll get that so you see these two
tall kind of animals they’re facing in
the same way and almost looks as though
they are this in keeping everybody safe
and enjoy issues
how amazing is this and also just to see
the dynamics of having the big bulls
Janna I’m sure the Bulls have been
attracted because of the birth so they
would have heard vocalizing they would
have heard a commotion and they
interested they know that there’s
something going on and so they come in
to check there might also be a female in
heat but it’s my case of that these
dailies were giving and so these big
males have come and they’ve smelt
hormones and they’ve smelt that there’s
a female it’s discharging and so they’re
coming to try and investigate what’s
going on incredible to witness though
and amazing how these aliases form this
barrier between Timmy’s he’s gonna lie
down he looks like he might be lying
down he’s stretching his legs out are
you going to sit down boy no nothing
he’s just giving his back legs a nice
big stretch he’s an old boy you can see
on his hips
they sinking in a little bit there so
that’s a sign of age I would say he’s
probably easily in his late 40s maybe
even starting to approach 50 and
remember that the elephants in this area
most of them won’t to live past 55
because of the type of terrain we’re in
and the diet that they have very
abrasive towards their teeth and so
their lifespan is factly shorted in
those elephants that you’ll find in the
Maasai Mara and even in other parts of
Africa so I would say he’s a very old
boy that and still massive though he’s
intimidating I can tell you that when he
comes towards you he’s very intimidating
right now we’re going to like I say just
carry on sitting here and why not
there’s so much happening there’s so
much amazing interaction to watch and so
while we enjoy these in ease let’s go
across to my friend Brent who for the
first time ever sounds like he is
struggling to find these 20 colored cat
in the Mara yes yes Tristan I think
you’re more intimidating than that big
elephant bull however we’ve actually
covered quite a lot of ground since you
last saw us we’re now on the edge of the
Mara River I’m hoping for a bit of luck
with a paradise pride all them all
musketeer male lion coalition however
none are being kind at the moment so
we’re not seeing anything
not much to eat around here as well
they’re gonna land hope you can catch up
with them so it’s quite a lot of nice
bird life though even in this really
windy woodenly conditions so even if you
have a look next to us is it’s hard
no they flew away darkness it’s Little
Red Birds okay they’ve all landed in
that tree and the same tree is the black
bird there that one there before my
finger oh no the black birds gone but
the little red ones are still there Oh
Guinea files on the other side so zoom
in right on my finger there we go isn’t
that really Ono if they go down the wind
is not good for birding there are
African fly finches and it was a yellow
mantled Widow as well we tried we tried
let’s go try find something that doesn’t
move around so much in the wind I have
seen two very good birds and in our
wonderings today Eurasian Marsh Harrier
and and a corncrake now you might want
to remember how excited I got about a
corncrake at one cheetah Plains but in
the Mara
corn cracks are not nearly as as rare
and actually you do flash them
reasonably often when you’re driving
through wet grassy areas oh we do have
one of my favorites though again
disappearing in the wind quite low at
the moment some other sound banks coming
out lots of hippos I think there’s gonna
be quite a bit of competition between
the different hippos as we head into
this dry spell so we could be seeing
quite a few more hippos fights and the
like he looks like a grumpy grumpy sod
that does now I asked you a little bit
earlier about if we deemed survival as
success what was the most successful
species in the history of the earth
we’ve got some really good guesses in
cockroaches sea sponges bacteria all
sorts of
sorts of guesses tortoises mosquitoes
frogs sharks but it looks like for the
first time in a very long time I gotcha
I gotcha all it is a bit of a trick
question so if we actually have to think
about it in terms of survival and the
living organism that has been exactly
the same for the longest period of time
and is survived through the age of the
dinosaurs the dawn of the mammals the
Great Sea Age the volcanic age is
blue-green algae
spirogyra pond scum we have 4.2 billion
years and change that’s the oldest
fossil that has been found of spirogyra
is 4.2 billion years old isn’t that
incredible absolutely fascinating well I
think it’s fascinating hippos they don’t
seem too impressed with spirogyra hey
they’re starting to get ready to head
out and in see they’re getting a bit
more mobile and heading out to go good
lays on the green grass there however
even though they share their kwatak
habitat with spirogyra don’t eat it any
strange thing that eats seaweed is I
mean while spirogyra is people LG
tablets how vile I think it’s got some
form of vitamin and whatnot that’s at
yes the end that’s not to talk about
spirogyra any longer
let’s go across to ralph with some very
very cute hyena Cubs yes indeed thanks
Brent well folks I still haven’t been
able to drag myself away from this hyena
den because there’s been all sorts going
on once more there was some kind of
smell that just came through to the sign
again because we didn’t hear anything it
must have been something in the breeze
that really made them all jump up and
take notice
and all the youngsters disappeared down
the hole and the adults were looking
very concerned now it seems to have
settled a little bit but there is still
a little bit of an edginess to them and
they do seem to be a little bit worried
about something I wonder what it could
have been whether it was the smell of a
of an a lion what I don’t know but there
was something that really worried them a
minute ago and I can promise you it
wasn’t us because we didn’t do anything
different to what we’ve been doing all
the time it was really strange but they
seem to have settled now and the ones
walking off with his trophy they instill
the same one with it he is not
relinquish that getting a lovely chew on
it
it’s absolutely wonderful so folks I
think we are going to leave shortly
however and because I do want just pop
it in at the river and see what’s
happening down there well let’s say
goodbye to these hyena for now but we
will be back with them in the next few
days tomorrow we’re going to be popping
across the river so we’re gonna give
these hyena a bit of space but in the
meantime let’s head on over to Tristan
all the way back in South Africa being
with all the little car with a little
cough in it and so there’s a bit of
chaos that is now starting to happen a
bit of pushing and shoving and
everybody’s getting a little upset with
each other at the moment I think it’s
such close proximity that when the Bulls
arrived then the females get a little
bit antsy and they try and kind of push
them away it’s really interesting if you
watch this bull on the right-hand side
he’s starting to come in now and wait
just now as he was coming in that’s when
the female started to push him and try
and get rid of him now the little one
he’s actually quite far from that male
so he’s probably gonna be alright at the
moment he’s not gonna have a situation
where the female will push him just yet
but if he starts coming from behind with
a female is she certainly will turn
around and try and push him away but
it’s amazing just to watch the
actions that are taking place in the way
that these males kind of engage with the
females and how it all kind of works
together in these females are highly
tolerant of each other but as soon as a
male comes in yet even the sub adult
males they’re getting a rough welcome
and he’s not a very warm reception at
all these do you look at a female she
can just come straight in no worries no
issues but the boys when they start
coming now look what this female is she
might start turning because the other
male is coming from the back now so he’s
coming towards now let’s see what
happens you see he’s just coming to you
I think he just wants to investigate
more than anything but the adult female
if she feels like he’s too close might
turn around and start to push him but
you see how they all sniffing each other
he’s sniffing at the genitals of the
female and just trying to work out
what’s going on why is everybody so kind
of interested in this tiny little being
and just trying to work out the exact
sort of reasoning for what’s happening
now here comes the big matriarch as well
she’s what I think is the matrix
certainly the largest and the oldest of
the elephants that we have here and look
at how that male backs away immediately
as that big female comes in now we’ve
got a standoff between the two of them
you see this
and in back he goes now the big bull is
coming now stall dribbling he’s an
absolute monster this will give you a
really good idea of just how large this
male is in comparison to everybody else
and you see him kind of walking towards
those females
older females chase that male away is
enough for you to close and I wonder
what this big males going to get a
reception from this older female as well
you see the herd is trying to just kind
of push the little calf away take it
away from these big boys the end of the
day they don’t want to really be too
close because if one of those big boys
pushes too hard
you can obviously hurt a number of them
so everybody’s just being a bit weary
fascinating to watch though unbelievable
I would love to see that tiny baby with
that male just to see how much bigger he
it’s actually quite scary how he’s
dwarfing the rest of them he is
monstrous that little baby’s the size of
his front foot just the round part of
his front foot you can see the little
baby in riding and underneath his legs
there so there it is then baby mother
and then male that could be the dad in
terms of the baby height so you can see
how the very heights different because
you could possibly ask for and he’s such
a gentleman from considering he’s in
must and there’s a lot of commotion you
can actually see he’s almost looks like
he’s sleeping you see his eyes are
closing
are you tired and hot and wondering why
everybody’s not paying attention to you
he’s probably seen this all before many
times a male of the size would certainly
have been through these kind of things
before and has probably seen it all
that’s why it’s not really that
interested compared to the younger males
that maybe this day really witnessing at
different it’s not with a young calf in
it see his trunk up sniffing now that’s
the direction that we think husana was
left in so somewhere there so he’s just
sniffing the breeze from where Isana was
lying earlier
lemon you’re wondering if a nursing
mothers fee met what a nursing mother
dies would another member of the hood
come in and suck all that baby and take
over so no unfortunately not elephants
are very particular but they baby
suckling from them they try and make
sure that the nutrients that they
getting you’re giving is to their baby
and to give their baby the right sort of
up started and to give them the right
nutrients that they need remember that
that female even though she’s now well
there’s this youngster that is around
that female needs to breed to be
lactating and if she’s lactating she
needs to make sure that her calf is
surviving before she tries to look after
yeah this you might be able to possibly
produce enough milk for two but it would
be a very big risk that she would take
and she could theoretically you know
endanger her own offspring and so she’d
rather look after her own offspring
first and foremost before she does
anything else instead of no they don’t
adopt others it’s never been recorded as
far as I know and so unfortunately if
the mother were to die then normally the
calf also dies as well gets left behind
and unfortunately gets then Ponder’s or
various other now these have moved off a
little bit I want to go and check where
that kite is sitting because the kites
are still patient this I just want to go
back and have a look see if we can find
some semblance of this afterbirth it
might be really cool to go and have a
look Polly where rights at the back seat
is in the Sun we’ve been sitting in the
shade ever so nice DVM and I and kind of
forgot that there is this blazing
sunshine that’s right
it’s something that resembles after this
let’s go over there quickly and we’ll
come back to that just now he’s a
delightful because they were all
sniffing Hannah’s kite he’s still
sitting right there so I think maybe
this little calf was born somewhere in
this general little section let’s have a
look maybe even they’ve evolved you
right it looks very dark from already
from here
I just want to see this elephant dung
well this is definitely she gave birth
right there so you can see there’s after
birth right in the Sun it’s still fairly
wet so we must have missed this birth by
I don’t even know maybe an hour or two
if that I think that’s about as close as
where you must have been to be seeing an
elephant give birth and that’s why the
kite is here so that’s why the class has
being patient it’s waiting for the alias
to go and this is the best view will
ever get of a yellow bull kite look a
place that is isn’t that cool so for
those of you that some of you may have
never seen a yellow bull kite but it is
really cool to see and you can actually
see on the beak it looks as though
there’s some stuff on it so maybe it’s
already been feeding in the areas of
chase a little bit but definitely this
is where it gave birth and it must have
been like I say at some point early this
afternoon or maybe even around lunchtime
because it’s still very red and still
quite moist and in this heat that would
dry out incredibly quickly let’s that’s
after birth and you’d have a situation
where it would be a little bit more kind
of brown and drier than what you see
there obviously gave birth right here in
the section which is absolutely
phenomenal and it’s why that little one
is it is how cool is that so we would
have enjoyed documenting that that’s for
sure because the elephant birth I’ve
seen kind of happened and then maybe
some more over here maybe this was where
it started and then she eventually went
in there where it was a bit shady but
you can see what VM was talking about
here in front there’s a big dark patch
on the soil and you can see actually
where this sand has been kicked and
moved so maybe that’s where it started
and then she moved it along and it ended
up over there but that is so cool to see
monkey wondering where’s the peanut crew
and who is the cleanup crew so guide
monkey the cleanup crew would probably
be the form of this yellow bull kite
Tony Eagles Bettany Eagles vultures
hyenas even those wild dogs at James
Smith we’re not far from there maybe the
dogs come around the side and come and
have a look Kasana if he’s around and
they move off he might come and have a
little look at it at the end of the day
a free meal that he might be able to
clean up not sure if you’d eat it but
you never know in lipids sometimes I’m
full of most certainly would eat that if
he came across that given the state he’s
in so number of different things would
clean up and the number of different
things will be here but that kite is
gonna get first sort of go at it for now
as soon as other birds spot that kite
they’re like that’s an ears they’re
gonna come in and they’re gonna try and
keep you know that kites away than the
bigger then the bigger the animal that
is around will just dominate what’s
going on and if I mean it comes that
will be gone in all of about one second
it will just sort of gulp most of that
down very very quickly right just to see
if wasana is here those any’s are
starting to move off a little bit into
the bush they’re going into quite a
thicket at the moment and so the little
calf is kind of with them we can still
see them very nicely but they starting
to move into thickets a little bit and I
really don’t want to follow them through
thickets just do a little loop for for a
sauna see if we can find him if we can’t
find him maybe the aliens are out when
we get back and we’ll be able to the
negative another amazing visual of that
little cough but what a special sighting
now well we kind of look the person I
think that’s go back across to burnt
near Smith hopefully he’s going to have
some luck at some point this afternoon
otherwise he’s going to be a very grumpy
fella
here we go I’m always happy I’ve seen
birds yeah a black-headed heron stalking
through the grassland after manner of
insects grasshoppers mostly there are
such elegant birds now we’ve been
driving through the long grasses and
we’ve done a loop around the river with
no luck
but fortunately here on the topi Plains
we have some shorter grass and with the
shorter grass means this animals may be
topi living on the topi plains strangely
enough we got a nice big herd of Impala
the old little Tommy around there’s a
topi funny-looking beasties aren’t there
and we are hoping we get a bit of
lacquer and yeah so there’s food for
predators yeah so we can only hope that
there are some predators about a few
listen very carefully I’m gonna keep
quiet just go to the left a little bit
there
Edwin you see there’s that topi lifting
his nose to the left from the Impala
keep coming keep coming keep coming past
the Impala mmm bit more and here we go
now
that’s a nice big male topi in there
there are gonna be coming into the rut
quite soon and if you listen carefully
you will see how these funny little
grunts every now and then there’s a
little Tommy sleeping behind him so in
Gyptian geese in the foreground
very funny little bit bit
so it’s not quite taupey right yet but
it will be coming and then there can be
some particularly fierce battles between
the topi
you can hear some scaly spur files in
the distance as well we sound like
people chatting away to me
I’m for sure having the wind it might be
affecting what you can hear now we had a
question from oh no I’ve gone black now
Meg’s can you help me out quickly I had
a question from handicap which I can’t
remember the question either mix I’m so
sorry got distracted while the animals
around me ah yes
how far away is the closest city to the
Messiah Maya well and we’ve got lots of
villages close by but the closest city
or is no rock and on European and
American standards it’s not a city
adored via a small town but in Canyon
Standard is the city it is also the seat
of the county and government we are in
the Rock County the Masai Mara is within
the rock country and it is as the crow
flies if you can go straight in the
airplane over the mountains probably
only about 60 or 70 kilometers away to
drive probably around 150 however if I
say 150 kilometers did ago it’s just
down the road you know there’s a little
little toddle down the road in the car
however that will can take you that
portion can take you four hours five
hours due to the nature of the roads the
roads down to the Mara leave quite a lot
to be desired especially after its
rained a lot which it had just before we
came down and so yes it can be very very
a very sticky that right as some of you
know not this leave the leave before
when we’re coming back from Uganda
Batman Rebecca myself faith and Jamie
got stuck our in our car slid off the
road
we were not driving so there’s no
marshmallows for me I was not the driver
I was a passenger I had no control um
and we we left Nairobi at about 12:00
and we only got into camp at 1:00 a.m.
and we were stuck for about five and a
half hours in the mad we had to find out
every little motorbike came past and he
had a friend who knew a friend who had a
friend who had a tractor so it’s a quite
part of organizing but eventually a
tractor pull this all out add a body
Livan ish and then we and then we had a
flat tire so we only wanted to camp at
about 1:20 in the morning
so it was quite quite an adventure a
long a long a long drive getting snacks
friend every now and then and but it’s
fun to get stuck every now and then but
not too often I prefer to just not get
stuck I leave the getting stuck to Ralph
who’s just to that west of me thanks
Brent yeah now I’m not I’m not that good
at getting stuck but I am good at trying
just want to just pull off the road here
because we want to just have a look at
this
group of birds that you do have building
the nests you have stopped job before
but it’s always lovely to see a lot of
masked Weaver’s and in the morning
they’ve been very busy at working on
those nests and they’ve chosen an
excellent site in this acacia or now as
they call it the chillier and it looks
like a sweet thorn the chillier or Casey
as we used to call it but a very good
site and now Haven here you’ve asked the
question is it easy for for humans or
people to contract sleeping sickness
from the city flies and well Haven it is
now quite known and I know the figures
in in the southern African region I need
to find out a little bit up here in
Kenya but in the southern African region
they used to have it very prevalent but
they got it under control with a lot of
the dips and spraying that they did and
so that set see flies have been really
reduced to very much no problem at all
but up high in Kenya I have heard people
saying that they’ve been bitten by a
tsetse flies I haven’t heard of anybody
getting sleeping sickness but I do need
to find out if there is any prevalence
of it here in Kenya now I don’t know if
you can hear these birds calling but for
me that is very much the sound of summer
let’s just listen a little bit
when I was growing up as a little
youngster we used to spend a lot of time
fishing on the river and we used to
really welcome the sound of weavers
because that meant that the fish were
going to start coming on the bottom for
me really brings joy to my heart always
wonderful how they do their dance at the
bottom of it yeah hang upside down
that’s a little bit of look at me
look how pretty I am and yellow and
bright and look at how well I spoke to
my little home he’s trying to attract
the female and that’s the message he’s
portraying in crayon top so he exposes
all these colors from underneath and he
hangs upside down and that’s mostly what
the colors are for with birds
lose all the colors in the non breeding
months females and a mate to show that
he’s the strongest the wisest and the
best house Boulder off the lot and you
can also do his dance the best there’s a
whole intricacy going on here natural
selection and it’s obviously hard at
work on the inside too
no are we giving it right now black cat
you’re saying that they sound like
tickety’s I think it was I’m not just
quite sure what that is but I’m assuming
it’s a bird chickadees no chickadees I
wonder is that small little is that
small little chickens or chickadees I’m
not quite sure what chickadees are that
is that a French word so you’re saying
we know okay so FC has just informed me
that it’s a little bird that they find
in North America part of the tete family
well that’s news to me
it seems as soon as one starts calling
then they all try to compete now Linda
you’re saying that the noise is putting
you to sleep well I’m glad that it is
Linda well not that we want you to fall
asleep while you’re watching our show
but if it’s soothing well then that’s
great but as I say it can bring out
emotions in all sorts of different
people and different emotions at that
and like I said so for you it’s making
you feel sleepy for me it makes me feel
excited for summer and wanting to go
down the river and catch some fish
now you’re wondering if both male and
female roost in the nest at night they
can do but generally the males they can
stay you see that’s why this is a lovely
tree for them because they can stay
outside it depends on the weather really
if it’s very cold
they will huddle up on the inside in
their little ball inside that nest and
so when they huddle together they then
save energy and weavers do this quite
regularly because when you shiver to
stay warm this is obviously a response
and it does assist the body in staying
warm and mammals will then shiver when
it’s very cold and that assists in in
survival but what the weavers do and
they huddled together and in so doing
keep their warmth together and then they
don’t need to shiver to stay warm
because they need to save their energy
for the work that that one is doing
right there and so if they spent the
night shivering they wouldn’t have any
energy in the morning to constantly work
on their house and do the little dances
that they’re doing and the ones that do
this the best are the sociable weavers
in Namibia which are the largest nest
builders in the world but they build a
massive communal nest with all different
entrances at the bottom so all the all
the different couples will still have
their little nests but as as part of the
greater nest and so when it’s very cold
they’re all huddled together and they
don’t need to shiver to stay warm and
when it’s very hot it’s very cool inside
so it all does interlink with
thermoregulation as well and you really
don’t want to waste your energy
shivering to keep warm all night
especially when you’ve got hard work to
do the next day such as building these
very elaborate nests and a tree Weaver
is defined by a bird that can tie a knot
and so not all Weaver’s or true Weaver’s
like the red bald Buffalo Weaver
is not a true either his nest is just an
array of sticks all over the place and
the white broad Sparrow Weaver similar
thing is just an array of grass pieces
all over the place but the true weavers
are the ones that can tie a knot and
they normally make a ball nest with some
kind of little tunnel coming into it and
that’s how you also tell from looking
just at the nest which kind of weave it
is these mosque weavers they don’t have
a real entrance or a tunnel into the
nest they’ve just got a very elaborate
hole but the other weavers
they make a very long tube which is all
down to assisting in stopping predators
and getting inside and eating their
chicks or they or their eggs and so it
does help to protect them and even when
the wind really blows hard they still
find inside that nest so it’s all
protected and it’s very very intricate
from the weavers SC in New York you’re
wondering how many chicks they can have
in the nest at one time it’s generally
up to about four but what I’ve seen the
most it’s normally between two and three
so the average I would say two or three
and they don’t always all survive
sometimes the wind can throw that little
nest all over the place and they can
fall out and they very often make the
nests over water which does also assist
in protecting against predators but when
they’re wind really blows and one of
them falls out they go plop into the
water and so we knew this as little kids
and we knew that they would be fish
waiting underneath them ready to catch
these little chicks and so we used to go
fishing underneath these nests and we
used to catch massive catfish
immediately below there because those
fish were waiting just for the little
chicks to plop into the water and we
only fish for sport so even though we
caught those big catfish that were
waiting for the
we’ve is to fall out the nest we had our
fun with the fish and then we let him go
to go and eat little chicks falling out
the nest and return them to the
murderous roles calling once again
fabulous look at the little dance once
more really makes you feel part of their
little gang and this means that they
call have you had a dance goes with the
cool as well alrighty folks I think
we’ve set yeah with these wheelers for
long enough it was a lovely little
encounter that and if you never pass up
even just the small little things that
we can see it just makes for a more
complete bush experience doesn’t it but
we’ve got other things to find and see
so let’s start up and it’s head on out
see what else we can find by Weaver’s
good luck in attracting the females so
they’re all sitting in the background
mining about your building good luck
[Applause]
facts so you’re gonna go along this road
here the hitting sort of towards the
river a little bit and then along the
River Road and then from there we’ll
stop with whatever nice wild animal or
organism or whatever else we can find
but what if while we’re doing that let’s
send you on back to South Africa with
James who I believe is driving around
one of my favorite here is in chat with
them
I’d suggest what he does of course is go
home because of these quarters after
hospice fix he may be arrested and found
in jail tomorrow now we have a
hippopotamus over there he just appeared
Oh exciting Ralph has muscari and has
been to the objects for a while this
evening is quite exciting okay good we
have a very peaceful scene now I was
actually quite jealous as I was sitting
there listening to Ralph’s society more
bits and pieces of it I love weavers as
well and they make me feel like summer
also so I got an exact feeling from the
sighting you had there of those weavers
we’ve left the wild dogs we’re going to
go back to them as it cools down a bit
but for now we’re going to enjoy the
hippopotamus and some Egyptian gooses
they are swimming gently towards him a
Sunday afternoon swim they are having
looks like a very leisurely stately swim
across the water and despite what you
might think they are not looking for
fish they’re looking for algae and
greenery but I will tell you that they
do eat fish but I’ve seen them eating
fish in this very waterhole
very peaceful nice little breeze coming
up giving us a bit of couthe and I will
tell you unfortunately that Ronald is
out of action for the rest of the day he
is apparently the reason you kept having
to leave us and the wild dogs he created
a bit of a blockage with the signal oh
and a lovely woodland Kingfisher coming
down to have a drink that’s disappeared
now don’t worry about it Sebastian I’m
sorry I threw you clean under the bus
there he did he did sort of go across
over there can you see in there
anyway let’s go back to the hippo now SC
from New York you’re wondering about
hippopotamus and their primary diet well
you see they are largely eaters of grass
they will eat aquatic vegetation from
time to time but they mostly feed on
grass at night so they spend their days
in the water doing not very much at all
except sort of fouling the water with
their dung which this fellow did as we
arrived and then they move out as the
Sun Goes Down and they graze which is
why around water holes especially in
sort of grassland rather than woodland
areas you’ll find lawns all around water
holes and John riverbanks and that’s
from the hippos that graze them into
these wonderful sort of golf course like
lawns when you’ll find patches of that
here you find it mostly on the banks of
the Mara River of course lots and lots
of hippos there
hippos not even an anomaly
yeah it’s always nice to have one
because they occur singly quite often
than this we are near a river and we
don’t really have a river like that yeah
it’s a Juma we have these water holes
where young bulls like this fellow come
to eke out their days until they are big
and strong enough to take a pod or get
into a pod all where old fellows come to
retire and spend their dotage in peace
in amongst the egyptian geese
blacksmith lapwings three-banded
plumbers sip can you see in that Bank
there there’s a white thing shining can
you see this any idea what do you think
that is it looks like an eggy but I’m
not sure what would have put an egg in
there very strange I might have to go
investigate that find out what it is
anyway that’s what’s going on here
now I have prevailed upon the greatest
French Japanese air force pilot to put
his drone in the air and so that is what
we are going to do while we investigate
that eggy so while we do that I think
we’ll hand you over to Brent Leo Smith
who I believe is an and I quote bundling
about the plains of the Mara
hello welcome back well it seems like
the big cats are avoiding us
I think Adrian I tomorrow are gonna have
to head deep south towards Tanzania I
see if we any luck with some cheetah
down there now I’ve got a question from
handicap is that has climate change
affected the Mara now our climate change
is always a bit of a controversial topic
I like a good controversial topic as
much as the next one so the earth has
had climate changes far more drastic
over its old history there is no doubt
that human beings are having effect on
the climate and and and on on the earth
itself as an immediate effect but in
terms of actually seeing climate change
effect
50 or 60 years even a hundred years with
an area like this that those changes are
not going to be as apparent as there
would be somewhere as stark as the polar
icecaps for example way it’s very easy
to see I’ll notice a change where here
you might have a graduate gradual drying
out or gradual whittling but you would
need to take a lot longer time to really
see and look at some very nitty-gritty
data and go on mean averages of moles
per year so it’s very difficult to say
that or see that there has been in any
at all change in the Mara some people
are saying it’s a bit drier than it used
to be but I’ve learned after being the
bush for a long time it was it was
always hotter last year or it’s always
the hottest year this year the driest
year this year and there’s a lot of pub
talk so to speak and until you can
actually get hold of some proper data
and facts
it’s very impossible it is impossible to
tell and I don’t like guessing so I
would say there’s been a very minimal
effect but as I say until you can
actually rather than listening to to pub
talk and you must remember a lot of
stuff posted on social media is an
absolute load of nonsense there’s very
good things about that how connective
the world is at the moment there’s also
very bad things and there’s a lot of
very bad articles that haven’t been
researched very well that I just popped
out there now taken as gospel a traffic
jam so you got to be very careful when
you broach subjects and stuff like that
I so it is and this is a very
controversial one there is no doubt that
human beings are having an effect
whether the earth is warming in a
natural cycle or or not that that
we’ll take a lot more sort of they’re
very in-depth research had to find out I
mean if you think about it the earth was
so much warmer a couple hundred thousand
years ago that the sea was up to 50
metres over a hundred feet higher New
York Manhattan would be underwater with
the old sea levels where I mean and the
same would go for Cape Town and Durban
when you end
people tend to focus in on their one
tiny little fact factoid about something
somewhere where there’s when you gotta
look at it from the whole earth you
can’t just take one little area so yes
we are having an effect is the earth
warming itself possibly as well as
combined with us as is quite bad but it
is as I say it’s it’s not it’s not an
it’s not a yes or no answer
it’s it’s something that needs a lot of
thought and and discussion but while I
ponder the warming of the earth and
whether that’s talking so much on drive
has got anything to do with it let’s go
back across to Ralph with some beautiful
birds thanks Brent and yes beautiful
they are now these are the gray crowned
cranes but so we were watching the
little Weaver’s earlier and and they
were doing a little dance trying to
attract a mate but now what these two
are doing they have obviously already
established their they bond but there
are constantly maintaining it and it’s
very much like a couple holding hands
walking into the sunset and chatting
about life and things in general but
these two are doing a little dance you
see how they take if you step a little
bit the same and then you’ll watch and
they put their heads up and they do a
little bit of a bob so this is really
keeping and establishing the bond
between them very important as there’s a
couple that are going to be bringing up
some chicks and looking after them they
need to know each other inside out and
and these dances and courtship and ways
that they move together it’s all
reestablishing those bonds so I think I
think it was coming from
punk punk rock and something your
question was about if we get punk rock
and music there we go thank you if see
music you were wondering if we get
cuckoos that come through here in Kenya
absolutely we’ve got the Emerald spotted
cuckoo which is a very special one for
me I’ve never seen it we’ve got the
black cuckoo which says I’m so sad he
does a that’s the way that I remember at
times I said we’ve got the classes
cuckoo as well he does a Mikey Mikey
Mikey that’s his call we’ve also got the
dear durricks cuckoo we’ve got the
jacobins cuckoo as well and so there is
a number I think the love islands as
well in French la vie Yong so there are
a number of cuckoos that do come through
Kenya to answer your question but folks
I just want to show you this lovely
scenery that we are sitting watching
here we’ve got type B in the front and
we’ve got water back and there is a lot
of water back in fact a lot of the fossa
water back moving through their grazing
and there are some elephants in the
background and then as we pan and move
across there is a few more elephant and
there’s some Impala and in the
background there is a wonderful well
we trying to actually watch it but the
sunset is a little bit nondescript today
it is however making for lovely colors
and so that’s a lovely sight there and
we’ve got some crickets calling next to
us it’s making for a wonderful sitting
here and what I can hear in front of us
as well I think is some European
bee-eaters it’s a bit difficult because
they’re far off I can’t even see them
but they’re going it’s another sign of
summer for me one of the things like the
Impala giving birth the woodland
Kingfisher arriving and the European
bee-eaters as well as the masked Weaver
calls all signs of summer for me and
but here in Kenya it seems that we do
get a little bit of all round or all
year these kind of dropping of the of
the young and it’s calling because it’s
a lot more tropical up here sorry this
elephants just getting a little bit
irritated with something that’s what I’m
keep looking over there he’s just
trumpeted and stuck his ears out I don’t
know what he’s bothered but sometimes
they can just get a little bit irritated
with the enter lights that are around
him and just throwing their weight
around sometimes a little bit bossy
maybe they thinking you a bunch of
minions just move off I’m taking this
water for myself maybe he just wants to
be alone
oh that’s a young type II I thought that
might have been a lot and moving through
the grass day I’m sure there would have
been some animals running off if that
was true
there’s a lovely set of horns on that
Impala still amazes me the size of the
horns on the Impala here in the Maasai
Mara they are much bigger than that of
the ones down in the low felt or in
South Africa I’ve never seen an Impala
with horns that size until I came here
in in Kenya so that’s something new to
me it’s a lovely sitting yes I’m at the
Frog starting to kick off the calls as
well very tranquil and you can see that
type he’s got a little bit of mud on his
horns he’s obviously been trying to show
off the European beat is calling again
wonderful theme
and also here at virtuals kuku it might
be a birch also definitely a cuckoo
might be a white proud or even a
synagogue cuckoo
doing is very indicative of rain I’m not
quite sure if we’re gonna get rain
anytime soon maybe he’s just calling for
the sake of it nearly all of the law
escarpment in the background and it
seems the birds still calling a little
bit I wonder when the night birds are
going to start to call I’m sure we’ll
hear some of the night jars and owls as
we on our way back towards the
escarpment but folks it’s been a
wonderful day and it’s nearly time for
us to say goodbye because we’re gonna
start making our way back towards camp
and so thank you for joining us today it
has really been a wonderful morning and
afternoon game drive please join us once
again tomorrow for the kenyan part of
the game drive but in the meantime good
night