Safari Live – Day 11 | National Geographic

[Music]
well we are trying to see if we can’t
find a Terrapin once again but suppose
we should say hello at first good
afternoon everybody and welcome to our
Sun set Safari we had a few technical
issues so we are now back with you guys
and hopefully everything will be sorted
for the rest of our afternoon our chair
it is a beautiful afternoon so we
hopefully are going to have a wonderful
time as we explore the northeastern
corner of South Africa my name is Justin
and on camera today I’ve got Sebastian
and as I was saying we are going to be
exploring and it is live which means
that we would love to hear from all of
you so hashtag Safari live on Twitter or
on the YouTube chat if you want to get
hold of us I did say it was a warm hot
day it almost feels as though it’s
summer so he came down towards we asked
them to see if there wasn’t anything
lurking and there is a hippo if you can
believe it somewhere in this dam but
unfortunately it seems to be very shy
there its nostrils are just a little
nose sticking out so a very shy hippo
it’s getting a breath and under it goes
again it doesn’t want anything to do
with us at this stage so it’s being a
little bit of a terror when it comes to
that also the Terrapins seems to be
giving Seb a hard time I can actually
see one floating within the distance
they serve in the dark green part of the
reflection you’ll see that there is a
head just on the left side there it is
so there’s some Terrapins that I have
the best possible place today they are
enjoying a bit of sunshine and the pool
basically and I think they have
definitely got it right this afternoon
now I’m going to explore all of the
water holes because it is a warm
afternoon but dr. tarah is back in a
familiar territory and she’s decided
that she’s going to teach us all the
wonderful and weird things that we have
our chair from the confines of the tent
back in the office
so yes welcome my name is Tara and join
me on camera this afternoon is Senzo and
James I promise I won’t break anything
well I’ll try not to break anything so
I’m very excited to be in the tent and
do it well I’m calling it the Aladdin’s
cave is amazing so we’ll have a look in
there shortly but
those you weren’t on safari we picked
this up this morning this was from a
lappet-faced vulture absolutely
fantastic look at the size of it so we
did go and have a look at the carcass
and we thought we would go and see what
the vultures were doing and the
lappet-faced vulture was sat there on
the tree and he
toileted which tends to suggest they’re
about to take off he didn’t take off
while we were live so as we cross to
went across the Tristan he then took off
as we drove underneath and this fell out
now that’s very normal so don’t worry
that’s not losing its feathers just
willy-nilly
it’s very very normal from Toulouse
feathers even the primaries like this
during a molt and what they normally do
is molt the same feather on both wings
so that they actually balanced but look
at the size of it so this lappet-faced
vulture this is its primary feather and
one of the outermost primaries and
that’s the ones that you see when the
birds are actually soaring it’s the ones
you see that look like fingers but look
at the size of that it’s just absolutely
incredible I just can’t get over the
size of this and then you can see the
part that will actually go into the bird
I mean look at that it’s pretty thick
isn’t it I mean that’s almost half the
width of my finger that is just crazy
now I know this is a primary feather
because we can actually see it’s very
uneven either side and I was actually
correct this morning I got myself all
muddled so I was calling this ratchet
and I was thinking no it’s not the
ratchet but it actually is so this is
the ratchet the middle section and then
these are the veins but you can see it’s
very uneven so we’ve got the very thin
leading edge just like that as a plain
wing and then you’ve got the trailing
edge which is much longer and if you’ve
sat on a plane which I’m sure many
people across the world have done so I’m
usually behind
I’m usually this side of the wing so you
can see it is exactly the same shape as
an airplanes wing so you have the
leading edge which is quite steep and
that forces the air over the top and
then you’ve got the trailing part
but as I say it takes quite a while for
the air to flow over the top and not was
quick not as a long time to actually
have the air flowing underneath so it’s
that that provides the lift because
there’s a difference in the pressure
above and below the wing basically so
this goes over and the air underneath
and as I say it can actually provide the
lift so if I actually demonstrate where
these promises are so if I was a vulture
it would actually stick out like fingers
and so I’d have a few of those and this
provides the thrust so if we can
actually if I can sort of waft it to you
hopefully you picking up just from one
feather the sound that is actually
creating hopefully you’re picking that
up so if you can imagine that the
vultures are actually about eight kilos
in weight the lappet-faced so it’s got
to take quite a lot of thrust to get off
the ground so can you imagine having
quite a number of these primaries to
actually provide that lift so when
they’re doing that it’s just lifting
them off the ground and then we have all
the secondaries on this part of the arm
or wing and I think Paula and Willow are
actually asking what the wingspan of a
vulture actually is so it’s about 2.8
meters so pretty impressive I mean I’m
feeling like a Roger right now with this
primary wing but then we say we do have
the secondaries which provide the lift
so once the bird gets into the sky with
the primaries doing the thrust then you
have the secondaries on this section of
the arm or wing to provide the lift and
they just saw and the primaries will all
be spread out again like little airplane
wings just to stop them from stalling
because that if they don’t have that
then it becomes a little bit turbulent
and I’m sure everyone’s experience the
turbulence in the airplane and that just
because you lose this differential
difference in the wind flowing over the
wing and under the wing and that’s what
stalls and they could actually drop out
the sky so they just adjust it and have
the primaries out and that keeps them
from stalling same as in the airplanes
the pilots actually
the wing flaps and things like that just
to regain that that thrust so yeah
pretty impressive anyway so I am gonna
add this James to your little Aladdin’s
cave so I hope you enjoy this just watch
the bone behind you there and yeah we’re
gonna see what else we’ve got in here
which I’m very very excited about and so
we are live so if you do have any
questions just like Paula sent through
just now and please do send them through
cuz it’s always great to hear from you
guys and as I say welcome to the
Aladdin’s cave perhaps you amazing I’m
so excited so I’m gonna put this up here
so just for you James that is my
contribution so I’m hoping it’s going to
stay there and it doesn’t sneak off in
anybody’s bags so we’re gonna say take a
ride with Tristan now and when we come
back I’ll tell you a bit about about the
schools I find in here well I’m sure tar
is going to have lots of fun in that
tent there’s so many little things to
look at and I remember the first time I
was in the tents it was difficult to
actually think about what you wanted to
talk about because there’s so many cool
things that we don’t get to see that
often on Drive that it was nice to
actually be in there I’m short tire with
all of her wealth of knowledge should be
very interesting and very entertaining
in the tent so I’m looking forward to
the next few hours with her there and
I’m glad that all of you get to see it’s
a bit jealous actually add that I can’t
watch and see all of the information
that she’s going to part in part on to
all of you so should be very cool to see
now we’ve got a bit sidetracked that she
asked them we were watching a few birds
coming down and having a bath and just
having a bit of a laugh it’s our hippo
who decided we are no good it’s no
reason for him to see us at all and he’s
been hiding ever since we last saw you
guys has not helped at all but we are
now leaving treehouse dam and slowly
making our way towards twin dams to see
if there isn’t any sign of any Eddie’s
or
anything that could potentially be
drinking and I was saying to sip that
the molarity is probably a really good
place to spend a bit of time this
afternoon being that it’s quite warm I
would imagine that the shady banks of
the Mallo Artie are going to be a
perfect place if you are an animal it
will be a nice place to kind of rest and
take it easy and also to be able to feed
so and that’s our plan I reckon and when
it gets a bit cooler then I’m going to
try and see if I can’t go and search in
that area which shadow and cupboards and
see if there isn’t any sign of them
around that side so that’s my plan for
the afternoon hopefully it will be a
successful and seven I should show you
some spots that would certainly make my
day they’ll be great exactly but it is a
beautiful day there must be a cold front
coming because it feels like we’ve just
finished with winter and it’s now going
straight into summer it’s beautiful
temperature actually think it must be
about 28 29 degrees somewhere around
there
maybe Chantal can give me an exact
temperature for the afternoon but I
would imagine it would be in that area
there we go 28 degrees and 82 Fahrenheit
you see I should be a weather man I’ve
missed my calling I feel like a weather
man would be an interesting job I feel
like Oh awesome look at that there’s a
monitor lizard on the roads well done
sample spotted I wasn’t even looking but
that’s a rock monitor that we’ve got
crossing the road it’s not a very big
monitor lizard he’s rather sport you can
see froze in panic in the hope that I
wouldn’t come driving over him which
we’ve luckily spotted him in time and
he’s going to make his way towards a
tree where he’ll go and hide out these
rock monitors love to be in dead trees
in the holes and trees and they
camouflage so well when they get on
there but I don’t know if you noticed we
normally see the Nile monitors and they
have the sharp pointy noses and are very
yellow in color whereas this guy was
very gray and had a blunt nose so that’s
super cool I haven’t seen one of these
guys in a long time and it just actually
goes to show how warm it is today if we
seeing monitor lizards hmm where did you
go buddy
there you are sir bees rapture the
kekulé this is are you gonna stay there
for us hopefully is going to stay there
for us I’m gonna try not to move too
much but he’s just sitting in the grass
there we go look at that isn’t that cool
so you can see the nostrils the eyes and
even the ear holes on the face and I was
talking about that very bland turd
rounded head and you can see it clearly
now in comparison to the water monitors
sir soccer shark who’s a new viewer
welcome soccer shark to the family and
to the largest Safari vehicle and you
want to know how big in one of these
lizards gets well they can get close to
2 meters long so 2 meters would be about
6 foot their tails get really really big
you’ll find that the tail is probably
most of the body on those really large
guys and then they do have quite a big
body as well so can get absolutely
massive and for a lizard that’s very
very large and unfortunately they do
come frogs very well too so once they
get into the grass they disappear but
that’s an exciting start to the day
certainly very cool to see deer watch
are you wondering if the rock come on
it’s they can get into the water and be
similar to what the water monitor is yes
they’ll be able to get into water and
still be able to maneuver through water
but they just don’t like it it’s not
their preferred habitat they prefer to
be in places where is solid ground
underfoot so they’re much like some
people some people don’t really like the
water much and will stay away from it
and others absolutely love it so it’s a
bit similar to that but if they have to
and they have to say in a time of flood
or rain and they’ve got to get through
water they most certainly will do that
they’re not going to just you know avoid
it and try and go around a river they
will go over and through the rocks and
all kinds of things if they have to so
they not completely phobic of water but
they’re a big problem for squirrels and
birds and those kind of things like I
said they spend a lot more time in the
trees so they’re far more arboreal than
what you’ll see with all the water
monitors and they’ll find holes where
they’ll live but then they’ll also go
and Scout will not scavenge but hunt for
food items so they’ll go look for eggs
and they’ll look for birds baby birds
and baby squirrels and feed
those David you wondering if other
animals to mistake it for a snake mmm I
don’t know David it’s an interesting one
that you don’t really hear the birds
alarm calling quite as much as we watch
your words for a snake itself but what
you will find is that things like the
snake eagles fish eagles
Marshall eagle in particular will
actually go after these monitor lizards
quite regularly so maybe from a long way
away they see that slinking motion and
they do come down and have a go at it
but I’d imagine I’d like to give animals
more credits than what we think and that
they’re actually clever enough to know
that it’s something different then a
snake that it’s got legs and but it will
still get hunted quite effectively and
and it will give be treated with respect
because even though it doesn’t have
venom and it’s not able to bite you it’s
got a jaw that just clamps and it will
stay on you and it’s really difficult to
get them off I remember training with
somebody that got bitten by one and we
had to use pliers to actually open the
jaw so that it could get it off the sky
which I didn’t really feel sorry for him
because he shouldn’t have picked it up
in the first place but they have an
incredible powerful jaw that’s also full
of bacteria and it’s not gonna be a
great bite to have and on top of that
that very long tail that they will use
to whip out and try and keep predators
at bay so even though they might not
have the fangs they still a adversary –
even predators and you’ll find the
Predators will try and sort of keep them
at bay or try and treat them with a bit
of respect
now just checking Janet Jackson’s hole
quickly and to see if any sign of Janet
Jackson but again nothing and like I was
saying yesterday I think we’re gonna
have to pretty much resign ourselves to
the fact that Janet Jackson is found a
new house on the hills somewhere and
we’ll just have to keep looking and try
and find a new one but while we look
let’s go back to tyre in the tent and
see what she is busy playing with and
whether or not she’s got anything under
the microscope yet
totally I have been having a look around
what is here so we’ve got quite a few
skulls which are so interesting so I’m
going to be showing you a few but we’ve
got a few of the carnivore skulls here
we’ve got a few leg bones femurs things
like that this guy here I wonder if
anybody can guess what that is or maybe
you know already but yeah if there’s any
new views hashtag Safari Live or YouTube
what skull does this belong to but it
looks like we’ve got a buffalo up here
we’ve got a ville de BS so there’s some
pretty amazing things in here that’s
just absolutely wonderful I do I just
feel like I’m in an Aladdin’s cave but
yeah we got a few tortoises down here
we’ve got a baboon school down here he’s
hiding down here but aBSI amazing I’m do
I just don’t know where to start but I
think what we’re gonna do we’re gonna
start with these two here I’ve already
picked them out because I did actually
get asked a question a few days ago or
what the difference was between a cat
and a dog and there’s mainly its to do
with the skull so what I’m gonna do is
maybe grab these and we can have a look
because I was trying to explain it and
unfortunately it’s very difficult to
explain so if I grab them they will be
able to explain us a little bit more but
this one is the catskill and I believe
this is a serval nice big eye sockets
there and this one I believe is a wild
dog so those are the two you can see
there’s not too much sort of outwardly
it doesn’t look like that’s there how
much difference really but what is
really amazing me is how short the that
the wild dog skull actually is and yeah
apparently that is quite quite normal so
there’s it does seem to be a wild dog
school because I was wondering if it was
right or not but yep it looks like it
could well be but yeah so let’s grab
these then I’ll pick this one up I’ll
come around and grab the other but the
Rove out so we’re gonna see if we can
have a play with that as well so that’s
what the joystick is doing here so if we
can get that working because when we
started talking about with doing the
tent everyone started saying oh yeah
we’ve got this and we’ve got that so why
don’t why don’t we try it because
obviously Connor is the drone flier as
well so he’s out and about so we’ve got
a couple of things lined up hopefully I
will be able to cut to him as well so
maybe when we come back we can see if
he’s out and ready to for us to come to
him and say yeah we would like to try
and catch up with maybe the vultures at
the carcass which I didn’t get chance to
do and there’s also been some monkeys
calling just just about two hours two
and a half hours ago no going and
they’re really intense on the drainage
line now a lot of you of OC heard is
talking about the drainage line behind
final control and they were all looking
in there and we’re wondering if maybe
the little oh what’s her name again
it’s just popped out mad gorillas curb
and hey welcome to me thank you very
much it was Sean Gilly that’s funny he
just popped out my head but I’m
wondering if she’s actually around that
drainage line cos Karuna love that
drainage line most of her curbs would
have been brought up in that drainage
line and I’m sure these latest two and
no exception so there was definitely
something moving around my money is on a
leopard in there so we’re gonna see if
we can maybe put the drone out it would
be great to see that drainage line from
the air because I say we’ve always
talked about it the bush is very thick
there so we didn’t we could never really
get a vehicle in there so that’s really
exciting as well so I’m gonna see if
if we can get this now I have been
having a little play but this is going
to be interesting to see if I can
actually get it working I want the other
skull as well so being very very careful
not to drop these gems so yeah so we’ve
had a look at the eye sockets so the
serval it stands probably about that
sort of height off the ground so quite a
tall cat very slender legs because it
does usually go through the thick grass
and then the eye sockets for obviously
detecting prey but it’s also got very
large ears for detecting rodents running
through the grass as well so that is the
serval and I believe a wild dog with
quite a short short nose really for a
canine so that that’s really the first
thing the cats do have these very short
slender sorry short stubby faces whereas
the dogs tend to have that long nose and
muzzle but the main things are actually
underneath so there’s three things that
differentiate cats and dogs now
apparently so this is really exciting
for me to actually have the two side by
side so this is the parrot occipital
process which actually attaches muscles
that help to open the jaw and this
attachment here is where it happens so
that’s the dogs now that’s not
independent from this temporal ball a or
the auditory bullae whereas in the cats
it is can you see there’s actually a
little ridge there and I’m just
wondering if I can actually get the
microscope out and see if we can see
that a little bit closer so I’m just
going to shift that so I’m not going to
pull the lead out too far and just see
if we can work that one out
thank there we go let’s go to the
microscope and let’s see so there we go
so if I’m actually able to hold it
steady so this here that Ridge there so
that’s the para tosse a butyl process so
I do need to come over a little bit
whoo wow this is like flying a drone
there we go
okay so and then we’ve got temporalis
ball a here if you want to bring the
camera back in so you be able to see
that again so hopefully we’ll be able to
get a nice view of that so yeah so that
Ridge so that that’s separate to the
ball a basically now inside the ball a
the cats actually have a dividing wall
so it separates the front and the back
parts internally so that’s separated by
it’s called a septum basically so that’s
just the dividing wall and there we go
yep
so of course we can’t see that and the
dogs don’t have that dividing wall so in
inside they don’t have this what they
call anterior and posterior chamber and
then the last thing and then my Oh
actually that does work nicely so you
can see this is the ear meters here and
that’s circular there we go and on the
dogs it’s actually a tube so I might
need to use the oh you might be able to
see it if I turn it that way towards you
there we go
so it’s actually a tube in the dogs
so those are the three main differences
with the schools between the cats and
the dogs so there you go so hopefully
not too sick with my little wobbly hand
there but yeah so really interesting
recited I’m so glad I could actually
show it to you it’s so much easier to
point them out on the school rather than
trying to describe it so yeah so let’s
see what Tristan has and we’ll see what
else we can find in this Aladdin’s cave
to show you well Tara I’ve got something
that’s been a point of contention
between all of us and we have been
discussing it a few times as weekers to
the weight of the kudu horn so these are
what we were talking about and we’ve had
a few conversations and I’m alluded to
it earlier this morning while I think
yesterday afternoon as to what I thought
they weighed but we we have this
discussion in camp now as to what we do
horns would weigh now I said to Tara
this morning because I forgot to ask her
are we talking about just the two horns
or the horns attached to the skull
because that’s all going to affect the
weight of them in the end either way
they are seriously impressive sets of
horns you can see that male in
particular has beautiful horns and
they’ve out in that big V and I love
when kudos get quite widespread horn
some will have narrows spread horns like
the one in the middle these are quite
narrow and close together but others get
these very widespread ones and those are
my favourites always like when they go
quite wide and when they get really long
it just looks so impressive but they
keep staring really close to where we
are and I’ve looked around I can’t see
any sign of anything and they’re not
alarm calling in any way but maybe
there’s a couple of Franklin’s that are
busy rooting about in the grass there
that’s keeping their attention because
they keep turning and looking towards
our direction well not our direction but
a little bit north of us and pushing
their ears and kind of staring so I
wonder if it isn’t sore something
walking around in there that making a
little bit of noise that they’re picking
up but I can tell you one thing is we’ve
been sitting with these guys for the
last ten minutes and it is so peaceful
here we’ve got these canoes that are
just sitting under the shades of the
tree there’s some birds chirping and
other than that it’s just quiet and
still and it really feels like a Sunday
afternoon
the bush it feels like all the other
animals have decided to take it easy
this afternoon too
Paulette you’re wondering if the horn
stopped growing when they reach a
certain length
well Paulette no they don’t they will
continue to grow but there is genetics
that are involved so that will limit
some sizes of horns summer will have
bigger than others and also you will
find that there’s a nutrient aspect to
it as well so the more nutrients they
get typically the more the boat the bone
grows on the head and the horns getting
big and strong in they are able to last
so those are two sides of it and also
once it gets to the third turn the rate
of growth starts to slow down
exponentially you’ll find in the first
few turns their growth is quite quick so
the kudu goes from a tiny baby to sort
of two three years and it’s really got
its first turn and approaching its
second turn and then after that it
really starts to slow down from about
five years the growth rate is very much
slower but they do continue to grow
throughout this is much like most
animals horns they don’t stop growing
this constantly calcification of the
skull or of the bone on the skull and
that causes the extra length to develop
in the case of things like Buffalo just
makes the boss a lot larger but with
these guys you get a little bit of extra
length as they go sokka shock they will
use their horns to clash with one
another and in fact kudu have a real big
problem because of the shape of their
horns they often get into a situation
where they get entangled and they cannot
get out of it so what happens with a
kudu horn and I’m sure our feet are all
built
you could have horns in the tent and
she’ll be able to show you what I’m
talking about but they have this screw
shape and there’s actually a little line
that runs up the horn almost like a
ridge and what happens is these horns go
together and that Ridge almost locks
into the horns of the other kudu and
they can’t get them out for anything and
it then ends up that maybe one of them
either breaks their neck or they can’t
get untangled and they then can’t feed
and drink and they die like that’s all
predators find them and kill them so
it’s a big problem with kuru this
happens quite regularly I’ve seen a
number of different scale carcasses
where Cudas horns are attached like that
and in fact when I was doing some walks
in the lebombo concession in the eastern
side of Kruger if there was a skull
there was two skulls of cádiz
the horns are interlocked and the guys
were telling me that they had been there
for many many years and you could pull
as hard as you wanted to those horns
could not come out even with us as
people with dexterous hands and and
poseable thumbs to try and pry and
wrench we could not get those horns
apart until such time as the carotene
sheath which is that dark sheath over
the top of the bone had rotted away and
had been eaten by these horn boring
moths that that loosened up and the
connective tissue disappeared and that
then it slipped off that’s a sheath and
then the bones came apart but it was
really quite something to feel just how
tight that his horns had been pulled in
they struggle to get free it’s almost as
though once it gets entangled a little
bit the struggle to get themselves free
causes them to actually pull tighter and
tighter and then unfortunately they it
gets a little bit of a problem so they
do use them to fight with one another
they won’t really use them to protect
themselves all that much from things
like lions lions tend to be able to deal
with it but things like wild dog hyena I
have seen kudu standing their ground and
using those horns to try and impale
those animals particularly because
there’s quite a few of them and they
often entangle him there is an
absolutely massive kudu that’s on its
way now hopefully it’s going to come out
just now so it’s just behind the thicket
and it’s coming from our right-hand side
moving towards this bull in picture and
hopefully will come out now you
wondering if the horns can break most
definitely as they fight with one
another those horns there’s a lot of
pressure that’s applied on them and
every now and then you will find a horn
breaks and sometimes you’ll find kudu
with one horn or one and a half horns
and we see it with impalas as well when
they fight so it does happen from time
to time if the horn does break you’ll
find a situation where it will not
regrow so you’ll never get that whole
horn coming back arts again remember
it’s not a cartilage like what we see in
the northern hemisphere antelope it is a
bone structure so once it’s broke that’s
the end of it it’s like imagine cutting
off your arm your arm is not going to
come back again and just because you
want it to unfortunately so that’s a bit
of a problem when it comes to having
really big and beautiful horns the lucky
thing with cuckoos is that it’s very
seldom that they really go at each other
so any if there’s a female in Heaton’s
two evenly matched Bulls will you find
that situation I want to try go forward
a bit because I want to try to see if we
can’t find this other kudu bull that
should be coming in
fact I can see him now say Busey he’s
gonna come out close to where those
impalas were so sip show Jim parlors
just now so that male Impala is coming
over and and the kudu should be behind
him shortly and he looks as though he’s
a really impressive specimen from far he
was dark dark gray in coloration and
generally the older Bulls get that much
dark hair appearance you can see a bit
of movement there he comes and look at
the size of his horns look at that isn’t
that magnificent that just oozes wow
that’s an incredible specimen of a kudu
hopefully he’s gonna just break that
cover again and we’ll get him in the
beautiful light oh is he going to just
stick to the thicket but you see how
much darker he is than the others I know
he’s in the shade but he is a lot more
gray in coloration than the others
now catch you wondering if this horn
size matters to the females now kept the
thing about the horn size is what it’s
going to happen I bring along and you
can see very similar spiraled horn and
brown coloration with that white
striping they have a very similar look
to them in what they could you do is
just slightly more hairy on the Nuala’s
and a lot smaller now cats I was saying
you’re asking about the horns and
whether they matter in terms of females
so yet the thing about the horns is that
it’s going to impress other males more
than anything else which means they’re
going to be able to dominate other males
and therefore be able to mate with
females more often so it’s more that
that gets them into a stage where they
can actually dominate other males and
that allows them to mate more than the
females actually wanting to mate with
them because their horns are bigger
ideally the females do see this larger
animal larger horns and they know that
he’s more impressive and if he can push
out all the competition then he’s
definitely an individual that they want
to mate with now I’m gonna go around
because these guys are heading straight
towards trails dam for a drink and I’m
gonna try see if I can’t get them
drinking and while we do that let’s go
back to Tara who I believe does have a
set of spiraled horns that she can show
you a little bit closer
yes that was so impressive sure I mean
that ball with the spread that really
was very impressive that we’re
definitely gonna have a play with the
kudu horns and we’ll see if we can try
and guesstimate the weight there but I
believe corps commander comrade is ready
and waiting with the drones so I think
we should definitely check test that out
and see if we can get some fantastic
views so corno if you ready definitely
make that pretty fly
so definitely excited to see that so
there we go are right above the carcass
now I was hoping we might see some
vultures on that car because it looks
like this maybe one or two there so yeah
it looks like the could be maybe one one
or two on the ground there and oh that
looks like a hornbill just to the left
of your screen so that’s all that’s left
so that’s the that’s all that’s left of
the buffalo carcass I mean that’s three
days that is just incredible
absolutely incredible there’s a guy I
forget was so high it is actually the
voltage is on the ground now it it’s
funny to see the bush from this height
it doesn’t look that thick but believe
me when you’re driving through it in the
vehicle it is very very does feel very
thick but that is absolutely stunning
that spectacular view ride across the
sabi sands there now the lines did
actually drag the buffalo a little bit
so it was lying up to the left of your
screen now and they might drag it to the
next bush so yet you can see that the
track that we were coming in on and
going around to the right
so most lionesses were there was a
little island actually that you
c-minuses Rahl lying up there now we
were very privileged we went out to take
some of the staff last night can have a
look at the Lions and the males started
crawling and there was actually a male
behind the termite mound that’s just to
the right of the screen now he was
calling from behind there and it was
really quite epic so we were hoping
maybe the boys were going to be around
there the Birmingham boys for there you
go you can see the to track just to the
left of the screen that we were using to
come in high in a road just in the
distance it just comes into view every
so often but it’s amazing how dry go
butch actually looks from up here sure
really is quite amazing you can see
actually there’s quite a few trees you
might be able to work out quite a few
green trees where the river line or that
the riverbed is actually again that’s
just cutting across the the top portion
of the screen so hopefully you can
actually work out that that quite dark
line of trees that still there’s one or
two green there because there’s still a
little bit of water underneath so there
is still able to stay green but that
really is quite amazing
not too many vultures around in the
trees there’s one or two ah this is just
absolutely epic really fantastic views
we’re really hoping that perhaps we were
going to see some vultures in flight but
maybe they are still just around the
carcass maybe just feeding where we
couldn’t see them but yeah absolutely
incredible wasn’t it I mean just to see
it from that height you just don’t you
really don’t realise that the scale when
you’re driving around but to see it and
just the expanse I mean it’s quite low
lying here I think it’s around 200
metres above sea level
not too many mountains in this area but
when we get to a slightly higher point
you can actually look across – I believe
it’s the lebombo mountains towards
Mozambique way so yeah so
it’s a few few places you can see that
but he quite amazing I say it’s it’s you
don’t really realize how dry the bush is
until you see it like that absolutely
incredible so let’s have a look at these
these are not as impressive I fear as
the ones we’ve just been seeing with
Tristan but they are pretty weighty now
as I say we will kind of sort of
debating and where we take the the
weight of the horns unfortunately I
would say I think someone did feed me
through some slightly wrong information
and to be honest I totally forgot really
what 20 or 30 kilos actually feels like
a nice new realized you know that’s
actually a drum of petrol or when I was
actually working in the captive with the
captive animals it would be a 20 gram
bags of food that we used to put on the
shoulders are still pretty weighty so
perhaps not so not really on the 30 kilo
side I think I got told 23 kilos but
perhaps we’re still maybe not quite
there with that and there was a
gentleman who then said that he worked
for border control and they’ve actually
seized the keratin so this is this part
here so the outer sheath and actually if
I turn it around and you can see the
keratin actually coming away from the
bone there so there’s the bone and this
is the keratin so that’s basically
finger nail that’s all that is it’s the
same substance just very very tough and
he said probably for one horn it’s about
2.5 kilos for the actual keratin layer
so for including the bone I mean this is
still pretty weighty it does have part
of the skull on it so maybe maybe about
ten kilos I mean for some of the bigger
balls perhaps 15 kilos but we think
possibly not as weight is what we’re
kind of thinking so maybe at the 10 kilo
side but I still try and do some digging
see if we can find it we were hoping to
find some scales but apparently no one
has any scales around here but it would
be quite nice to actually weigh these
now the other thing I wanted to show you
ah so actually Connors got an elephant
their commander Connor so let’s have a
look at the elephant
because this is not going anywhere but
the elephant mind so let’s have a look
how exciting and I’m really I’m just
loving these toys it’s amazing I’m so
excited so there we go oh look at that
so we’re actually the sudden side of
Gary down by the looks of it and the
elephant is he just came out of the Noir
tea so he’s pointing towards where the
lodge is now so the the camera is
actually on the tree just at the top of
the suit of the screen so if you want to
try and orientate yourself with the dam
cam so he’s actually heading west I
wonder what he would make of the drone
he’s got his head held high so I’m
wondering if he’s actually hearing the
drone cuz remember yeah and he’s got
these got his trunk oh look at that I
wonder who’s trying to smell where the
drone is it’s quite interesting but
obviously they’ve got very good hearing
there we go we’ve got some more
elephants there so very good hearing the
outer ear does act like a big satellite
dish and apparently elephants can hear –
about ten kilometres away but you know
they’re doing a lot of research and the
more they learning about the
communication the more complicated it
gets they also believe they can feel the
vibrations through their feet in the
ground and yeah it’s bad she believed
they could tell individual elephants up
to about a kilometer away how there’s a
few youngsters there as well oh this is
absolutely fantastic and this is all
live folks this is completely live so
Connor is out there right now is that
Connor I think I can see him the
elephants are heading towards you Connor
I think I see the vehicle part this is
absolutely fantastic again just to see
it from a different viewpoint really is
quite amazing
I thought they were going to be it’s not
as noisy as what I thought it’s going to
be as well but it does look like a
little book hanging in the air it’s it’s
quite amazing I’ll say little it’s a lot
bigger than I thought it was going to be
but this is a small family group and it
looks like there’s one youngster there
and some teenagers and possibly that
bull right at the back you can see he’s
still putting up his trunk incredibly
good sense of smell we’ve got the
quarantine just at the top and we have
had cheater on there before now and some
of you might remember we came out of FC
which would be to the right of the
screen just coming on to the quarantine
and we had the uncle humor
female lions just that dominant on that
side northern side and then actually
what’s on your screen now and we had
cooler actually taking out this is what
a leopard first of the newer viewers she
was actually taking out an Impala and
it’s almost like it was right under the
noses of the Lions quite amazing look at
this this really is just so exciting and
again it just looks so open there but
once you get down to the ground it’s
actually not as open as what it seems
you can see one of the elephants
actually doing that foot rocking not
sure what to make of it it’s very
typical behavior there you can see them
flapping the ears as they go and that
again is very typical as it’s not
aggression it’s just trying to keep cool
and as Tristan said it’s extremely hot
at the moment it feels like summer it
really does is really quite amazing how
these temperatures are soaring at the
moment and yet this morning it was still
fairly chilly so it goes from one
extreme to the other and that’s really
one of the things the animals have to
deal with you know that the extremes in
temperature
and that would be quite an interesting
study using drone footage to see the
pattern of movement of the elephants I’d
be pretty pretty amazing obviously
there’s a very nice tree it’s possibly
an acacia they’re all feeding off of it
perhaps it’s amazing isn’t it sure so
unfortunately we are going to be saying
goodbye to Connor his last day is today
so these are going to be some of his
last flight so I’m really hoping we’ll
carry on finding some more animals for
you as he flies the drone and thus say
hopefully we’ll be able to fly it over
that that drainage line that we keep
referring to behind me at FC say I had
some leopards come out of there I was
actually directing one day and we
actually had a little ship in Z walking
underneath the the window which was
really quite incredible apparently
Karuna herself has come to this tent I
believe somebody was just sitting
outside just chilling and cruda came up
and checked them out as well so he
really quite amazing
and oh we were going to go into the kudu
horns so just to show you excited I
believe there was a young viewer who
wanted to see what actually grows or
lives on horns once the animals died so
if I turn this around for you so you can
see all the this mess here now this is
the excrement from their horn boring
moth and you might be able to see some
holes so they’ve actually found their
way into the horn if I do you want me to
turn it around or can you see some of
the holes yeah see oh there we go on
this side here that’s possibly easier so
the holes here so some of the smaller
holes and then once the once the
caterpillar goes in there they’ll
actually be feeding on the keratin now
believe me it’s a strangest thing I’ve
actually been sat underneath a set of
horns like this that were mounted on the
wall and you can actually hear these
caterpillars eating the keratin it’s
really quite a creepy sound and then as
they’re eating it the excrement comes
out in these tubes so that’s what you’re
seeing there now
these moths they’re not able to actually
burrow into living antelope horns so
don’t worry they won’t they won’t be
able to settle in there and I think it’s
you know if there’s anything like that
on those horns the animals actually just
sort of either brush them off with the
vegetation or they actually you know
sort of rub them on the ground things
like that so they’re not able to
actually take hold until the animals
actually dead really quite amazing as I
say very if I get maybe I can actually
make the sound I don’t know if you want
to try and put the microphone close but
sounds like that so hopefully that came
through but that that’s pretty much what
it sounds like
hi Shiva Shiva wanting to know can you
age the kudu by judging by the the color
of the horns and their fight of the
horns and yes you can to a certain
degree certainly
how many twists on the horn so it would
actually be the twist would be counted
from here so if you kind of have that in
mind the one twist would be two there so
that’s coming back to where’s that that
one cook if you like part this corkscrew
so then it’ll does another twist up to
here so he’s got two two and a bit
twists on the horns some of the very old
kudu can get to three twists on the
horns and they are absolutely incredible
so they could maybe be getting up to
what we believe may be fifteen kilos but
as I say I think well we’ll have to try
and weigh these maybe one day we’ll find
a set of horns that are fairly fresh so
see these are all dried out as well so
it’d be nice to actually try and weigh a
set of horns so we can actually answer
this question I think Tristan actually
mentioned the rich in the horn as well
and this is the ridge here you can see
so they’re all part of it and on this
side as well so yet pretty amazing and
the older haul and the older males
actually have the slightly worn tips at
the top so they quite light and color
and quite often you see the older males
with those lighter whiter parts of the
horn so I think Tristan’s actually got
something else for you so I am going to
have another rummage around and see what
else I can find the next time you come
back to the tent
I do indeed we’ve just come towards the
dam and thanks to Connor we now get to
spend some time with some Indies which
always makes me very happy
yes hello to you too he getting stuffed
at the moment we had a trunk out and was
just saying I love creaky so hello
everybody in how he is being rather on
the friendly side there’s quite a few of
them
actually here see there’s another three
up further closer towards where Connors
I can actually see Connor Connors on the
top up there and so it’s very cool to
see and I’m really glad that Connors
flying the drone is such an incredible
view when you see these animals from the
top it just looks so different and I’m
sure tar is loving seeing the images
from the drone itself she was saying to
me she’s super excited to see what it
looks like from up there so I’m sure
she’s really enjoying it it’s it really
is quite something in Connors skill with
the drone is always really good to see
as well look at look how this ileus
smelling so that wind is blowing from
the camp towards where this elephant is
and I’m pretty sure that elephant can
pick up the scent of people around the
camp little carts lifting its trunk just
to get a bit more of the center on the
wind and work out exactly what’s going
on very cool so from that that elephant
will know okay there’s people somewhere
here doesn’t have to worry too much
because they’re not too close and it can
then just take it easy the trunk will
move around a little bit and once it
figures out exactly where things are
it will then move off and carry on with
its day now it looks like a young male
that we’ve got over there and then
there’s a couple females around as well
and this is a completely different
grouping than what we’ve been seeing
over the last few days they’re not the
same Ellie’s so I’d imagine these are
coming from Buffalo up there was some
elephants up in Buffalo this morning
that might have come now Soph from
tambour tedium area towards the dam
itself and typical elephant at this time
of the afternoon is still feeding I
don’t know if they’ve been to the water
already maybe Connor will know if they
came from the water side it doesn’t look
like they’re quite water around their
legs or on their ears we’ll find when
it’s warm like this often when elephants
will do is go down to a water source
they’ll suck up big trunk full of water
and they’ll then spray it up against
their ears so as the ear opens out they
spray it on those veins behind the ears
and that cools the blood much faster
then them actually having to flap so
they can save a bit of energy doing it
so when they’ve been to water on a day
like this you can often see it because
of the spray that is on the back of that
year and you can see where they’ve
actually been drinking from so it seems
as though they haven’t quite gotten to
the water or they were at the water
earlier much earlier and they’ve now
dried out
a little bit so remember with elephant
skin is that they do absorb water so if
they spray water on them it doesn’t just
run off
they actually absorb it and so it takes
quite a long time for them to appear dry
they’ve they’ve been near water they’ll
often appear a lot darker than what they
do now but this elephant in France
shouldn’t be very easy to identify not
this one said the one to the right at
the back there so you can see yesterday
or two days ago we had a bull elephant
of the massive you in his yeah now this
particular ad has got a really big V on
the right ear so that will be an easy
way to ideate and when you comes to
Ellie’s yes
there’s nothing us now as well so when
it comes to Ellie’s and identifying them
this is how you do it is you use ears
predominantly and in tusks shapes and
that will be able to show you exactly
what’s going on with it with these guys
so that will be one for the future if we
ever see these guys again we’ll be able
to add ear just from that V Katherine
you say every day is any day to you or
Katherine I agree the Ellie’s are so
spectacular I always enjoy spending time
with them and we were so lucky to have
had Ellie’s back in this area as much as
we’ve had I remember going to cycles
without seeing any elephants now we’ve
got Enys pretty much I’ve had them every
day since I’ve been back so I’m super
happy that they’re around and super glad
to be seeing them so I’m glad you are –
Katherine I think Ellie’s I’ve got to be
one of my favorite animals to spend long
periods of time with and especially out
in big open areas like this you know so
sölden we get to see them in open
sections I know in the Mara they’ve seen
a lot and there’s big grassy areas and
they get to see this sort of big animal
roaming through the grass since but
here’s a little bit more dense and thick
and so we don’t see it nearly as often
so I always enjoy these sightings near
quarantine around the dam yes hello
so you see the posturing that’s going on
typical of a young male that’s trying to
impose himself on us what are you going
to do hmm
leopard lover you wondering if the trunk
of an elephant grows throughout its
lifetime
well yes it’ll grows with its body so
you’ll find that the enemy’s legs its
body its head everything scrolls and so
the trunk does as well think oh it’s
going down off towards the nest camp so
quickly before she goes over the
boundary which is really excellent news
so I’m going to try and get there and
leave these alias to themselves and see
if we can’t get there quite quickly
because like I say it is going to cross
over there is a likelihood and we don’t
want to end up losing her and we’ll come
back to the alias later if that’s the
case I just need to get all the text
attack some on my way there now just
confirmed triple-n’s the best approach
and there’s Connor our drone pilots
so one cool cat with his drone watching
the elephants and thoroughly enjoying
himself now while I race quickly to get
to Triple Aim foreshadow let’s go back
to Tyra in the tenth and we’ll see you
all in a little bit
hi everybody and I’m going to see
Tristan drive past actually we should be
able to see him driving past there so I
found a couple more schools I’d like to
show you and share a few things with you
so this is the hyena skull and pretty
impressive I would say look at that look
at those canine teeth so so if you’re
not sure what each tooth is so these are
the incisors so they’re your front teeth
so if you think of the flat front teeth
that you have that’s that’s those teeth
the incisors then we have the canines
and we also have canines so they’re the
ones that have the very sharp point and
then we have the molars and the premotor
so the premolars are these ones and then
the molars are the grinding teeth right
at the back
so if I open it up we can see there’s
quite a large one here and just opposite
us on the upper jaw is the other one so
this is actually you might have heard me
talking about the cornice your shearing
teeth so that’s the pair there and when
they actually when their jaw actually
closes they they actually close very
closely together if I can actually line
it up properly again it’s like a jigsaw
this thing so yeah if I can there we go
so if I actually get it to close
properly okay so you can see they they
come very close together so it actually
sharpens each tooth as it keeps on
opening now I’m got that right yet hold
on let me have a play hold on there we
go that feels better
so yeah so when when they actually
closes there we go that’s better
yep so when it actually closes you can
see they just closed right on top of
each other and that action just helped
yeah let’s see if I can try and move my
hand
so that action there keeps them nice and
sharp so that’s the upper premolar and
the lower molar that you’ve seen there
so look at that so that’s the that’s the
side teeth that you’re seeing them
trying to share the meat from the bone
hive a via a via asking if this is a
model or a real skull and this is
actually a real skull I believe these
were donated by people and but I might
be able to get confirmation on that so
yeah so this is the hyena as I say now
one of the main things that points
points to it being the high note is this
Ridge at the back of the skull here so
this is the such sagittal crest and this
is really the peak the key piece of
evidence that how strong these jaws
actually are now behind it we’ve
actually got a leopard school just to
compare it with so you can see there’s
actually a lack of that such a sagittal
crest I can’t get statute or crest so
yeah you can see this Ridge here really
quite large and let’s say this one’s
actually lacking it so this is
increasing the area where the bone where
the muscles are going to attach to which
gives them such a powerful bites now for
a hyena it’s actually thought they have
about 1,500 psi or pounds per square
inch pressure with the leopard it’s not
strong as that around maybe the 300-400
mark so it’s actually quite weak
compared to the the hyena and yet they
roughly say that the height is a little
bit larger than the leopard but I mean
the school-wise they’re roughly about
the same size so quite quite a
difference and as I say it’s because of
this surgical such a tall black being
and then nme all over again I can’t say
that one either sagittal crest and as I
say this area here it just it’s
increased for the muscle to attach now
this is the zygomatic arch so this is
the cheekbone so this is also very
for giving the muscle more area to
actually attach to and those animals
that have a really strong chew I have
quite wide zygomatic arches so again if
I actually hold it that way for you can
see it’s pretty wide and obviously these
animals need very strong jaws to be able
to bite through bone and that’s why they
have that so the muscles that actually
open the jaw like that are going to be
going over the top of the zygomatic arch
and then the muscles actually close the
jaw as you go underneath so really quite
an impressive school say there is the
leopard as well also quite impressive hi
Shiva asking how we identify male and
female hyena schools and that one I
actually don’t know I don’t think
there’s much difference to be honest and
I might have to do a bit of digging see
if there is any way but as I say they
they do look very similar even the
genitalia looks very similar and that’s
because of the testosterone that’s in
their body because the females may have
had to become very competitive against
the male’s of food as possible the
testosterone levels actually increase
because of that and they sometimes
larger than the males find quite a large
Highness school then that is possible
that it is actually a female but other
than that I don’t think there is any any
way you can tell it’s male or female
and same goes with the leopard as well I
think with the zebra you could you could
because the zebra the canine teeth on
the zebra males are larger than those of
the females but yeah I have to do maybe
a little bit of digging but certainly
check out the canines on the leopard I
mean they actually a lot larger than
those of the heiner
they’re pretty impressive those
and I’m wondering actually if I can grab
the hyena skull would be I’ll see not
the hiring at the baboon I grabbed him
you can actually see how big those
canine teeth are so look at that
that’s the baboon skull there so they
have canine teeth that pretty much the
same size if not larger than those of a
lion so baboons definitely also not an
animal to be messed with look at the
half that’s quite scary that for you
there looks may be something from our o
film as well
yeah now what would be really
interesting if we could get hands on a
cheetah skull and you’ll be able to see
the differences with a cheetah with the
cheetah the nasal opening is much larger
and the teeth are much smaller so I’m
thinking this one might have fallen off
the shelf or something because he’s a
little bit cracked but if actually
sitting nicely and there we go so yeah
so they need a lot of air flow into
their muscle so obviously a lot of
oxygen to keep keep those muscles nice
and well oxygenated for running after
the prey so they’ve kind of given up
some of the area that would be given
over to the teeth so they have slightly
smaller teeth than the leopard and a
larger nasal opening so there we go
hopefully some interesting things about
the schools that you name didn’t know
before but we’re gonna head over to see
how Tristan is doing with his search for
life thing with shadow and hopefully her
curb fingers crossed
well it’s not us that sum all the work
it’s been taxes managed to pull a rabbit
out the Hat somehow and find it in quite
a dense thick area so I’m just trying to
get in here quickly and I’m going to
position I don’t see any sign of the
little one yet
it’s just her on the mound and there we
go so we belated birthday present that I
owed Ellie not my ally as in Ellie that
guides with us and presents with that
but there’s Ellie a viewer who asked me
very nicely to find shadow on her
birthday there we go finally we have
managed to find out about two weeks
later and you can see she is resting
really nicely in the shade of the mount
I wonder if the little one will come out
maybe a little bit later within once all
the cars have settled that their little
tracks will come all the little cub will
come and bound out towards mom on the
mound but isn’t that a sight for sore
eyes long time since we’ve seen shed and
there’s been so much activity of hers
around this area that I’m surprised that
we haven’t actually seen her more often
we keep finding tracks for bits now at
least we get to spin some really quality
time with our leopard she’s still
looking ever so pretty she’s a little
bit on the skinnier side now that I
couldn’t see her stomach nicely so it
would be good for her to grab a meal
hopefully she’ll get something in the
next few days or even tonight there’s
lots and lots of prey animals on our way
to get here from where those elephants
were we had some kudu we had Steinbach
we had a car we had zebras so there’s
lots of food are and impalas lots of
food items in this general vicinity so
I’m hoping that she’s going to be able
to find something this evening and at
least fill that billion hopefully the
big guy in Ghana is not around that
actually then steals it from her she can
see she’s just watching what’s going on
I’m sure she’s going to fall asleep
shortly once all the vehicles settled
down a little bit you’re gonna find that
it’s quite a warm afternoon still and so
being up on a man like this she’s not
got him on to the side where the shade
is and she’s going to be perfectly
situated to have a really good afternoon
now
so they can see how shady it is on the
side of the man so she’s chosen very
well and from up there she’s also gonna
be able to see what’s going on around
you if they are any signs of Steinbach
or dijkers or in parlors she’s gonna be
able to see them really nicely from here
but she’s just watching me coming and
going some what’s happening sir Texas
just trying to position himself bit it’s
a difficult area that we’re in because
of the amount of vegetation there is
yeah it’s tough to get three vehicles
kind of situated in one place so we’re
just waiting for text just to sort out
and then I’m sure she’s going to start
getting a little bit more sleepy in then
here Tom you want to know how old her
current cub is well her current cub is
just over eight months old so the first
time we saw any sign of shadow giving
birth was around new years we had a
sighting of her on some amelie where she
had a lipid when she had a Impala
carcass and she was feeding and all of a
sudden she got up and started running
from the carcass and she was heavy heavy
pregnant at that stage she ran and she
went towards a drainage line and the
guys found her the next morning and she
was no longer pregnant so we know that
she gave birth around New Year’s it was
I think was the first or second of
January and then that cub was born or
two cubs were born unfortunately one was
lost so it’s now just over eight months
old which his means that it’s getting to
the age where the likelihood of it being
more independent is being able to
survive is better so it’s able to climb
trees now it’s able to move her around
and that means that it’s really going to
have a much better chance of living
we know that’s with Shawn Gillian husana
they were abandoned at one-year-old or
unfortunately orphaned or whichever way
you want to look at it and they were
able to survive so that little cub is
getting to that age now where the
chances of survival are getting better
and better as the days go on so looking
forward to seeing that cub more often
and hopefully getting a lot more
sightings of it it’s difficult because
she spends a lot of time will far
traverse she spends time south of the
boundary and Hoffman’s which is very
little traverse for many people at all
and so it’s not seeing as many cars and
that’s why it’s still a little bit on
the nervous side so what I’m hoping is
eye shadow is gonna spend a lot more
time here over the next few months and
we’ll be able to actually then see
the cabin spend a lot more time with the
cub in the cub will be able to relax
around the vehicles in fact the last
sighting I had with her in the cub was
very special we had the cub was super
relaxed around us and we had some great
sightings Toby you want to know how big
shadow is well not sure if you’re asking
in terms of weight or in terms of just
in relation to some of the other lipids
that we see here but I mean in terms of
relating to the other lipids that we see
like Tandy and and the varying others
she’s smaller female which so is Tandy
they’re very similar in size remember
they are sisters so they’re not the
biggest females Archer but make no
mistake they still pack a serious punch
these two females the two sisters have
I’ve seen them both bring down very
large animals and they might be on the
smaller side but they make up for that
with their attitude they are pretty good
at being keeping things at bay and
bringing down quite large items so even
though she’s a little on the smaller
side she’s still definitely capable to
hold her own she obviously didn’t like
her dust too much you can see a little
tail touch it a little bit right well
he’s definitely going to spend probably
the majority of our day with shadow now
that she’s relaxing on the mound and so
while we sit and admire the view let’s
go back to Terra in the tent
and see what she’s busy conjuring up in
her lab honestly I feel like a kid in a
candy shop this is amazing so we’ve
actually got the drone I thought it’d be
really cool to actually show you the
drone in flight so we’re ready and
waiting to send it out over that
notorious drainage line so Connor
commander Connor whenever you’re ready
show us that drainage line because I am
so excited to see it from the air
[Applause]
here we go okay perfect
so we’ve actually got the drainage line
just to the right of the screen and
that’s where as sake ruler used to drop
the cups and they would run around in
there and we actually had towels on the
line we had others there’s a little pool
that we were at just before we had some
tracks so there’s the Impala there and
then the drainage line is actually just
below so I’m just wondering if Connors
able just to turn the camera just
underneath it almost cuz that’s where
the drainage line is going to be as I
say we had the the Leopards there good
so the vervet monkeys actually calling
to say there might have been a cat
around there but you can see the trees
very green again because it’s in a
drainage line so there’s going to be
lots or more water there so there it is
look at that so that’s the drainage line
there that’s where the lepers have been
hanging out so whenever we’ve said that
lepers have stolen clothes from our
clothes line they went into that
drainage line it is beautiful Abigail
but as say the bush is very thick though
and actually from what I was saying
about the bush being thick round by the
carcass you can see how closely perhaps
those trees are so that’s really thick
enough to say we just can’t get vehicles
in there so whenever you think that the
leopard might be in there your heart
sinks but yeah and Corolla was the toy
she would actually take off white skirts
and linen and things like that and
actually take it off from all around in
it and I remember mission in Doudna
taking a towel off the line and actually
throwing it up in the air and according
to the chef of voya teller at the time
said all she saw was the birds the towel
actually she couldn’t see the leopards
at all but they were throwing it up in
the air and catching it and really
having a ball with it so that was the
drainage line but there is in Pilar look
pretty relaxed at the moment and say I’m
keeping my ears peeled just in case
there’s any alarm course and if there is
then we’re going to jump on
rusty and see if we can find anything
they are looking pretty chill but at
least we know where they are so if we do
hear any Impala calling then we can head
straight there as well really quite
amazing let’s say that drainage line
very very appealing to leopards so
hopefully it gives you that glimpse as I
say it’s just always notorious and I’m
hoping maybe if Shawn gilli is in there
she might actually pop out and let
somebody know about it as well so I
think I think oh yeah we’re still
getting a little bit of the drone
actually I’m seeing on the other screen
there oh yeah we could yeah we could see
the camp I’m hearing the drone just
flying over us so yes so there’s FC and
you can so that’s the building’s yellow
on the right of your screen and then
we’ve got the garage with the green roof
just to left and then we’ve actually got
voya teller lodge and gala go so voiture
to the right and gala go just at the
back this really is quite amazing but
look at all that green greenery around
the lodge those green trees so they can
see where that drainage line goes now
avoiding we can’t get the drone right
down to those the tree level we have to
keep above the tree level otherwise the
drone will get damaged so that’s why we
can’t go too low but quite amazing you
can still see that little pan that we
were having a look at the Impala just to
the left of the screen so yeah really
quite amazing and you might have just
seen the the mast just on the right of
the screen as we as we cut there as well
so yes so exciting I’m loving this drone
amazing they are hey take care that very
very cool drone shots so I’m hoping
commander Connors been enjoying his
afternoon so I thought just to help some
people out as obviously I’ve been doing
a lot of research my doctorate was
actually on leopard behavior ecology and
conservation
and for those who didn’t know I have
actually finished I did become a doctor
which was really cool last year so one
of the things that we actually found
during my research was this strawberry
leopard or a wreath ristic leopard so I
thought it might be quite nice to
actually show you what the whole
genetics thing is about so we’ve also
got black leopards and black jaguars
white lions white tigers and as I say
now this strawberry or wreath ristic
leopard so it’s we think they’re all
controlled by the same sort of thing
except for the Jaguar actually so a lot
of people ask you know where does the
Panther come into it well the black
leopard black Jaguar can be called
Panthers so it’s usually just a
melanistic animal so I’ve got some
pictures to show you quickly so we’ve
got a black leopard here and a black
Jaguar on the screen so I thought if you
could see them side by side now they
actually have just a quite a high amount
of melanin in their fur so the leopard
on the left so that is the leopard you
can still see the rosettes because it’s
it’s sat out in the Sun so you can still
see the rosettes just coming through
there and the rosettes are quite small
so the leopard is found in Africa and
Asia but if we have a look at the animal
on the right that is a black Jaguar you
can still see the rosettes but the
rosettes are much larger I’m hoping
that’s coming out clearly for you so
yeah they’re much larger and Jaguar tend
to have a spot in the middle of the
rosette which also you can’t see as
clearly on the black Jaguar so these are
you see in the rosettes because they’re
in the sunlight when you see them in the
shadow then they will look completely
black so it’s just a high level of
melanin this black pigment in their fur
now with the with the Jaguar
it’s believed it’s a dominant gene that
causes the the black Jaguar but in the
leopard it’s actually a recessive gene
now I’m just going to quickly show you
what I mean by that so I’m going to just
use the white board outside and just
show you a quick genetics lesson so it’s
some people turn into genetics but
basically if we just draw a square a
table if I stand this side that’ll be
easier so if we say the the yellow
leopard it has a dominant gene so that’s
the s so this is the the male so if I
hopefully draw a symbol of a male
everyone will know that that’s the
universal symbol for a male so that if
this is the father and he is a yellow
cat so he’s yellow
normal colored so he might have this s
so if I draw a large s that means it’s a
dominant gene and a small s means it’s
recessive so the dominant gets shown and
the recessive doesn’t so if he’s yellow
so this is what we call a carrier so
this is the dominant gene and this is
the recessive gene and males and females
will carry two genes for each thing all
the time so this this is the norm so
then if we have the female down here and
she’s also yellow and so she’s a carrier
so she’s got the big so I’m calling this
the spots I could call it yellow it’s
just it’s just a symbol basically so
she’s got this dominant gene and this
recessive gene so if they have cups then
they could have one cup that has this
dominant gene and this dominant gene
from the father and the mother so to
make a whole new animal you have to have
the – so that’s the dominance so they’re
going to be yellow they’re not a carrier
they’re just yellow and whatever they
pass on to that offspring will be either
one of those if we go across and we’ve
got still got this gene so it’s a big s
for the female and a little s from the
father this curb will still be yellow
but it will be a carrier because it’s
got a little s and the same with the
father here so if we if we take the
mother again so she so the mother gives
the little s and the father gives a big
s then this is the carrier but still a
yellow cats because we’ve got this big s
but the interesting one comes in when
the two little s is get together
and if there is to come together that
could be the black leopard because it’s
two recessive genes if it’s got a
dominant gene with it it gets masked so
that’s why we’ll still see the yellow so
that hopefully won’t might make a little
bit of sense when we talk about the
dominant and recessive gene
if both animals don’t have this so if
they have the big s is it will still be
so you can see big s big s big s big s
big s big s so you’ll constantly get
yellow cats and no carriers even if you
get one of the adults carrying so we
still have the big s is there so this
Cup will still be completely yellow and
this Cup will still be completely yellow
but this curb will be a big s and a
small s from the mum so that will be
yellow but will be carrying and the same
so big s and little s so that curb will
be carriers so it all depends on the
dominant gene and this recessive and
that’s where the black leopard comes in
so if they have the two recessive genes
one from the Father one from the mother
and it comes together then you get a
black leopard and we believe that’s how
we get the strawberry leopard so I’m
going to show you the strawberry leopard
because it’s quite amazing and to be
honest very very rare it could it could
have occurred because of a mutation in
the genes and possibly because the the
gene pool shrank then you might get more
carriers of this gene and that’s why we
might get more of this strawberry
leopard in a population so if I quickly
show you the picture of the strawberry
leopard there we go so there it is and
if I actually shrink that’s a little bit
and I’ll put put it against I’ve got to
bring up a normal leopard fail but
hopefully you’ve got the normal leopard
from shadow actually in your
sites then we have this sort of pale
coloring sort of a rusty orange and then
the black spots are actually brown so
these spots or the rosettes are actually
brown in color so it lacks black
pigmentation and because there’s only
eighteen animals in the world that we’ve
actually been now to find that is
possibly quite a rare color variant but
as I say interesting that’s actually
come out in so many numbers within my
study site in the Leiden burg and
Northwest that one population of
leopards so it is a bit worrying but we
can’t say for sure if it is recessive
but the mother did have the picture
there of the mother there she is so this
is the mother she’s actually normal curd
and I took forgot so that wasn’t another
fatal cuz I did actually have a yellow
leopard but there she is
so that is the mother there oh so she is
normal coloured I can get it bigger for
you so yellow with the black spots so
that’s why we believe it’s a recessive
gene because she is normal colored and
he has Tristan’s actually been out to
reposition himself so he can see our
normal colored leopard in the form of
shadow so enjoy
well we haven’t really repositioned
other than that shadow has walked she’s
moved quite far south from where we lost
had her so she’s now I put different
termite mound and all we’ve got is a
tail that’s all we can really see at
this stage she’s completely flat there
and the bad news is that she is not
walking very well at all so she looks
like she’s got a soft front paw that
she’s hobbling a little bit on so I
think that’s why she’s a little bit
skinny she’s probably had it would have
an issue the last few days hopefully
it’ll be okay I can’t see any sign of a
wound or anything like that but she
certainly doesn’t is not walking with
any comfort whatsoever so hopefully
it’ll just be something that will
eventually disappear and we won’t have
to worry about too much but she
certainly is tired cats now that she’s
up on the mound she’s taking it very
easy and you can see she’s gone flat
there’s a head on the other side they’re
just having a little bit of a nap the
thing is is that even though her front
paw is is so and the way that she’s
walking looks horrific it doesn’t look
good
she actually managed to scale this mound
as though she was a normal leopard so I
think it’s more affect that maybe she’s
got a thorn inside there or something
that’s causing a little bit of distress
and it’ll eventually go away and she’ll
be okay because if this if I tell you
this mound is very tall it’s not a small
mound at any stretch of the imagination
and it takes a lot of effort for anybody
to get up there it’s steep and so if she
can get up there then she’s still able
to move around when it can’t so she’ll
still be able to go after food if she
needs to and be able to hunt if she
needs to so it’s not that big an issue
just yet I don’t think but I’m warning
you if she does walk that it does
doesn’t look as good as it should she is
not even putting weight on that front
right leg at the moment so hopefully it
will just be a minor thing and
eventually it will dissipate and she’ll
be okay it’s never nice when you see
these kind of things and that’s always
something that Isis guides is this is
probably one of the hardest things about
being Archer when you see an animal
that’s in a little bit of discomfort but
it is nature she doesn’t like I say have
anything that’s on her foot or around
her leg or anything like that so the
interesting part about it is we were
chatting to some of the trackers that
were tracking her yesterday and they
were saying that her tracks
yesterday there was no sign of any
injury yesterday she wasn’t hobbling
because we’re late but hobbles if it
will drag one of its feet and it becomes
actually quite noticeable in the tracks
so there was no sign of that yesterday
which means that it either happened
during the day today or it happened last
night and so that’s why I think it must
be a potential thorn in the foot or
maybe she just sprained it slightly when
she was chasing after something in just
a little and so today is about resting
and keeping that foot up and not giving
too much pressure on it and then as it
starts to heal up she’ll be all right
again so hopefully that’s going to be
the case either way it took a lot of
effort for her to get up on top of this
mound and I’m hoping that she decides
just to rest up for the day and then
evening here and then starts again
tomorrow with a foot that hopefully is
feeling a little bit better
Toby you asking if the lipid ladies all
get along Toby not necessarily so you’ll
find that’s even a shadow if she comes
across Tandy who is her sister will most
certainly be aggressive towards her and
the reason why is because she’s now a
territorial animal that’s that bond
between her and her sister is broken
there’s no longer that bond anymore
she’s now severed that bond and so they
now compete for territory they fight
with one another they make sure that
they try and keep one another at bay
because they trying to protect resources
so den sites food items water
availability and so they will be highly
aggressive towards each other we saw it
the other day with Gyeonggi lariat in
Ghana and Tandy wintering Eli was there
we’re speaking to the guys at swords
that Dingaan and tandi’s presence
mention Gila feel very uncomfortable and
you’ll find that Tandy would have
probably been more aggressive towards
her than what ting gana would have been
and so females definitely will fight
with one another given the chance
it’s amazing the camouflage though and
you can see why sometimes these cats are
very difficult to spot if you are on a
road you would struggle to see that on
top of the mound it her spots blend in
absolutely perfectly and there’s that
long tail is the only thing that would
give it away otherwise you would have to
really look hard to see any sign of this
particular individual now a lot of you
are wondering where the Cubbies I’m not
under present sure the tracks where the
cab was inside here with her just no
sign of the cab she hasn’t contacted
course chosen contact called the cab yet
but there was fresh tracks this morning
of that cub so hopefully the cub is
around here some way and maybe as the
Sun starts to dip she’ll start calling
and the little cubby will come out and
will be able to spend some time with it
but she most certainly hasn’t called or
made any sort of vocalizing noises to to
bring the cub in and we certainly
haven’t seen any sign of the cub other
than the footprints that were around
this morning that were from last night
crossing into this area so the cub seems
to be in fine fettle because the tracks
that we had this morning was it running
all over the place up and down the road
and so that one seems to be fine I’m
sure it’s just lying down somewhere
enjoying a bit of shade and shadow
hopefully call it out a little bit later
be interesting to know just how big
shadows cub has gotten it’s been a few
weeks or months since we’ve seen that
kind and it will be interesting to see
the size difference between when we last
saw to now because if it’s really
getting close to eight months then it
means that that cub will be quite a lot
bigger than win region or so it’s in it
and it will go through a growth spurt
now towards a year we know that shangela
caught a massive growth spurt from her
sort of nine ten months to just over a
year she’s grown quite a lot since then
so I’m sure shadows little cub will also
do the same but there we go that’s
camouflage for you quite clean you
sir Xavier you wondering what the most
common prey item is for the lipids of
the sabi sands well in this area most
commonly they’re going off to impalas
that’s pretty much what they target
mostly just given that there’s a high
percentage of impalas here they will
also go frequently for de coeur and
Steinbach and then also Birds Mongoose
and varying other things but Impala
seems to be the top of the menu for when
it comes to a lipid and like I say it’s
because of the amount of impalas that
are here it just means that that’s the
easiest animal generally to find so
that’s why they spend a lot of time
hunting those now I think a lot of
people are struggling to be able to see
shadow there’s other vehicles and I’m
just listening to the guides trying to
explain where exactly she is but I don’t
think they can see her because she’s
lying in a way that if with the Sun is
very tough to actually see on top there
unless you’re at our angle where the
tail is easily visible
but that’s one sleepy cat that’s for
sure
oh wait it’s also a great place for it
to hide it’s got a little bit of grass
on top there it allows then to be sort
of hidden so even if there are animals
around she can see what’s going on and
be able to notice and still hide away on
top so it’s a perfect mound for a female
lipid – or a lipid in general to be
sitting there we go she’s just popped it
head up now that’s much better oh no
back down again are using the grass like
a pillow shadow you clear the girl
right now me sitting with shadow and
it’s all thing lipid II and so while we
sit with it let’s go back to Tara who I
believe is now engrossed in a very depth
conversation about genetics and well
lipids as a species currently I find it
so fascinating I think just because we
did find the strawberry or a wreath
ristic leopard as it’s actually known in
the scientific world the other thing I
want you to mention about the black
leopard is actually in the Malaysian
Peninsula the black leopard is a lot
more common than the yellow or the
normal colored leopard so it’s believed
that they went through the population
actually got isolated and went through
this little bottleneck so somewhere in
the line there was a few black leopards
that popped out because of the genetics
we’ve just spoken about so some of them
may have carried this black black
genetic black gene and somehow brought
about to the cubs and it seems like
because there’s jungle there there’s
obviously a lot of shadow and shade so
those Cubs may have actually fared
better because of them being black and
over the years they’ve actually done
better than the lighter colored leopards
so they seem to be a lot more prominent
in that area and as you move further
west so obviously Malaysia being right
on the eastern side of Asia so as you
move further west into India and then
obviously into Africa the black leopard
is I would see it becomes less and less
and it becomes obviously a lot more arid
so just like we’ve been seeing with the
drone footage how dry it is a black
leopard stick out like a sore thumb
so wouldn’t do that well so I missed who
that was from but there was a question
coming through about Allison hi Allison
they’re asking if black leopards black
jaguars are the same thing as Panthers
and yes they are you can use Panther for
a black leopard or a black Jaguar and I
think you can also use it for a mountain
lion as otherwise known as
as well or Puma I have heard them in
called Panthers
so that cat has four different names so
yeah so really fascinating stuff and as
I say the jungle sort of working to the
advantage of the black leopard but as I
say here not so much so I’m wondering if
the strawberry leopard could be having
the same thing maybe the lighter colors
or see sort of more beneficial in this
drier habitat so it’d be interesting to
see if that is a possibility why we’re
seeing a number of strawberry leopards
or a realistic leopards in my old study
area so yes I think we’re going to try
and show you a clip now for the new
viewers and for the old ones I think we
thought I thought we’d go down memory
lane and introduce you to Carrillo
because I think a lot of the new viewers
haven’t seen her unfortunately she
hasn’t been seen in the last six months
so it’s not boding well because
obviously there’s a lot of activity
guide wise out in the sabi sands so
someone should have seen her even when
her mother safari was around she was
sick fairly close to a lodge she only
had one eye she had this strange looking
bulging blue eye but she’s still fed
until 19 years old but she was still
being seen quite regularly and then all
of a sudden she stopped being seen so
it’s very difficult to actually know
exactly what happens to these cats or
see we see them a snapshot of their life
so we can’t just walk out into the bush
and stumble across them even when their
lives so it’s even more difficult if
they have perished so unfortunately it
does sound like me maybe she survived
maybe she’ll pop up somewhere it has
happened with other leopards but as I
say it doesn’t it’s not sounding great
for her but obviously she’s left behind
an amazing legacy and it’s been
fantastic to catch up with them so I
thought maybe let’s meet her for those
of you who have never met her to join on
one the dryers that was just absolutely
incredible and we actually wrote a paper
about this particular Drive and one that
Sebastian actually took so we might have
chance to see that clip as well because
we’re seeing
some of those interactions with members
of the family even now so I thought it’d
be quite interesting for the new viewers
to maybe see it so if we can queue the
clip hopefully you’ll be able to see and
what do you get my hat in the way right
at the beginning so sorry for that but
you do get to see for Leopards in one
shot so there we go so you get to see so
Karuna is actually at the top of the
screen the two cubs are the ones walking
and then gorillas made of choice at that
stage eunbi Leo Don is actually just
opposite her
unfortunately the footage is obviously
not the quality that it is nowadays and
that is obviously one of the big
improvements that we’ve had but there’s
Karuna and obviously so trying to entice
young beam yure down to partake in
possibly mating but yes quite quite
amazing so you can’t quite see the wild
cross a forehead but young B Leo Don has
the ring of spots around his eye and in
the Induna actually does have that ring
of sports I’m not sure if I’m doing is
still around I haven’t heard his name
but I think he got the ring of spots
above his height from his father but
there you go yeah you might be able to
work out the heart above the eyes on
young B D or Don and that’s young B D is
supposed to be a heart that’s where he
got his name from and he came from the
Jordan damn so that is who we believe
the father is of the second set of
curves and the third set of curves so
that will be mission in dune at the
third set of Cubs and then that will
also be let me think should be sure
Minzy and Shivan B’Elanna that was the
two curves that were actually on that
clip that was just playing there so
hopefully that puts a face to the name
who that makes sense and seeing kuru
there as well and I believe there’s a
little bit more of the cubs playing of
that clip as well but as I say we
actually we up until that we hadn’t
really
experienced the male actually
interacting with the kerbs and as I said
before we kind of think it’s because
there’s such a high density of leopards
in this area as we said before the
leopards can actually commit infanticide
they look they’ll actually go and kill
other kerbs and that’s to basically get
the females back into East hrus a lot
sooner than what they would if the cubs
were were to stay with her and they
can’t stay with her for a year up to a
year and a half maybe longer remission
and in a state with Karuna for a good
couple of years before they moved on in
dune or actually stayed in the area
and I’m wondering actually if we could
maybe play that clip of Induna young BD
or Don and the two curves because I
think we’ve managed to find that clip as
well so we might be able to play that
for you but as I say I wanted to kind of
show you that it has been happening and
you know the legacy it’s here and we’re
seeing these interactions so yeah so I
think we can actually view that clip of
so it’ll be young BD all done again the
father who we believe is the father and
the three-year-old son in Doudna oh this
is the two cubs playing sorry this is
cheb in Z and chef Anne Burrell are
actually playing in the tree so that was
just following on from the other clip no
problem so yeah so we’ve got a very
unusual situation because the same male
leopards are supposed to once they’ve
grown up after about two year and a half
two years old they’re supposed to move
away and that’s supposed to avoid
inbreeding with their sisters their
mothers but as I say there’s not as many
territories around they’ve all been
taken and because we’ve got such a high
level density I’m wondering if they’re
being tolerated a lot longer because
they are family and as a Savin by the
father’s who we believe are the father’s
maybe the the male’s believe that their
father and that’s possibly why we’re
having this tolerance of the younger
males so I think we do have the right
clip this time
so we’ll see if we can actually see that
and the opening clip should be the male
that’s it so we’ve got young beat you’re
done that the father on the right of the
clip and we’ve got Induna
the three-year-old son on the left you
can see how close they are now I can’t
remember if he actually turns around to
look at us but you might be able to see
that ring of spots over his eye if he
does and as I say said was actually
driving that day and I was on camera and
we both were just going crazy so here we
go this is the youngster this is Siobhan
B’Elanna so this is the year-old Cup
coming in past his three-year-old
brother you can see his three operas not
so keen but you can see he doesn’t lash
out and I’m still I’m so intrigued at
why she van bellen I decided to come and
sit by him but it sa little bit having
his nose pushed out joint but then
you’ll see he actually sits back down
again catching us between them but
there’s no actual pause or anything like
that clashing really quite amazing so
again we actually added this to the
paper now in dune you might actually
notice
hosannah actually has that very heavy
makeup underneath his eye and I think I
was saying this T other day I think in
Doudna actually has similar markings to
his younger brother and the batwing
underneath his eye on the right that’s
how we used to ID him
hi Vicky a new viewer also saying
realizing how special these multi
leopard sightings actually are and it
really is as say leopards are thought to
be solitary but we’re proving that wrong
and so you can see they actually settled
down together there’s no more aggression
from them so yeah really
some bizarre behavior and that’s why we
thought you know what we need to get it
out there sightings as well because as I
say it’s not normal leopard behavior if
you read the books like as well I keep
saying these records don’t read the
books no animal reads the books they do
what they want to do and the problem is
obviously we’ve had a few tears yeah
there are a few tears from from a few
people and as I say is very sad but I
still think absolutely amazing that
we’ve got such a wonderful legacy to be
following and as I say they we are
seeing these interactions and that’s why
to actually share this with people and
maybe change what was known about the
leopards and as I say you guys are
actually on this journey with us this is
what I really love about safari life and
what we do we are changing what is known
about these animals by showing it live
you know we’re not cutting we’re not
editing it is all there as its as it’s a
like I keep saying as its unfolding
because that for me is something so
special because you really get to
understand why an animal has done
something when it’s edited and it’s
clipped you might not get there what
happened before what happened afterwards
you’re just seeing the bit in the middle
and seeing the the bits either side are
very very important and as I say just
we’ve actually had multiple leopard
sightings recently I believe I think
there was the that there’s been the kill
with I think Tandy tambour and hosana
actually on the same kill together and
again
hosana is the v curb of crooler Tandy is
the first curb so I think they obviously
have met we’ve seen them together
but maybe even previous to that they
might have met with Corolla you never
know and I’ll see Tambor interacting
with husana as well so knowing each
other they are cousins so perhaps
there’s that familiar smell amongst the
family group who knows but because this
is so new it’s still literally at the
cutting edge of science really quite
amazing so I think we going to cut back
to Tristan and see how shadow I think
possibly is oh we’re going to the joan
sorry we have the drone so I think
collar really enjoying himself with the
drone this afternoon so I think we’re
going to cut to the Joan and see there’s
the mast so that is what is broadcasting
this live feed from the African bush to
you right now and there is a herd of
elephants with actually caught up with
again so making their way just trying to
orientate myself so that’s just at the
back of the quarantine area I wonder if
they’re going to come up towards the
tents that’d be quite something having
the elephants around the tent now I’m
just hoping we don’t have any elephant
bones here because there is an
interesting story of elephants going up
to the olifants camp in Kruger and there
used to be two ivory tusks on the gates
and the elephants kept nicking off with
them so they had to replace them all
this two youngsters playing just under
the bush so I’m trying to work out who
that could be the lodge that we’re
flying over now that’s the poles of
osc that could well be yes there’s the
aerial yes I’m hearing the drone now
there we go again a nice tree to be
feeding on you can see all the termite
mounds dotted around and quite often
you’ll find trees around termite mounds
because there’s actually a lot of
nutrients there
so it’s the trees need a lot of
nutrients to grow so you find the trees
growing on or close to the turbo plants
and actually in the dry season you can
see a little ring of slightly green
grass and you can see that quite nice on
the right of your screen there’s that
circle of green grass you can see that
is where the nest is going to expand to
and then you’ve got that dry area and
the dry grass in between it’s really
amazing to be able to see that are there
we go we can got the gallery down just
in the background there if you Impala
between the elephants and the dam but
yeah that’s really amazing that really
jumps out at you you can see that quite
nicely and the elephant’s sticking the
trunks up in the air again trying to
have a good smell looks like some
possibly some niala just behind them now
and just in the shot but no sign of that
spotted cat who might be in the drainage
line we’ve seen the edge of the dam out
of the lodge sorry waiter Lodge on the
left of your screen there look at that
Oh
this is so special I’m so glad we’ve got
this drone as part of Safari live now
with Connor
commander Connor at the helm and
starting to have that beautiful golden
glow as the Sun starts setting over the
African bush this afternoon the
temperatures actually got to a nice
Pleasant temperature now I wonder if
they’re going to go down to the dam to
drink or if they’ve actually actually
looks like they’ve already possibly been
there Wow absolutely fantastic
I can hear crested barbers calling and
even the Cape Turtledove calling behind
me so giving their last call of the day
just to make sure everyone knows that
that’s their territories so I’m actually
thinking we could have a wander outside
and just have a closer look at the
acacia trees because that’s it looked
like that’s some of the trees that those
elephants were feeding on so if we take
a walk outside I think I did find one
I’ll show you the thorns out there oh I
might be able to have a play look the
ant line as well actually maybe we
should do that while we still have the
light because I can always take the
acacia in sight so if I find one of the
ant lines because this is something we
don’t really get chance to show you on
the drive because obviously it’s so
small I’m just trying to see where we
might not have been what there we go
there’s one over here so we’ve heard of
the big five but there is also the
little five so we do have some of them
here on Jimmy Game Reserve so we have
the Buffalo Weaver we have the ant lion
who is down here the elephant shrew the
Rhino beetle and the leopard tortoise so
I think we actually do get the Rhino
beetle here
as well so I’m pretty sure we have all
of the big for the little five so if we
have a look at this little funnel here
so it’s it’s almost like that if you can
imagine this is the surface the surface
of the sand so the triangle is beneath
the surface if you like and at the
bottom of that triangle the antlion
actually sits with its jaws open like
this waiting for an ant to come by now
I’m wondering if we can actually trick
this ant line into thinking that there
is an that actually there’s an ant
around so you might need to come a bit
closer to see because we want to see the
sand actually flicking up
so as the ant walks and it falls into
this flat into this cone if the antlion
thinks it’s an ant it’ll start flicking
sand to try and encourage the ant to
fall into the trap and then you might
even be able to see the jaws of the ant
lion coming out so let’s just see if we
can give it a go sometimes it doesn’t
work sometimes it they’re they’ve
already moved on might be a little bit
late to be playing with this so I’m a
little bit heavy-handed there been a
while since I’ve done this it’s known as
at home in that one and
it might have already gone to bed okay
there’s another one over here
I’m not ago this one looks a little bit
fresher
nope
I think he’s gone to bed as well so
while I fight try and find another ant
lion that’s active
I think Connor has got the sunset on the
drones I think let’s have a look at that
amazing
you
how that that looks like a sunset from
The Lion King hey that just doesn’t look
real perhaps see incredible sure okay so
let’s let’s go again and I think I think
I might have to give the line the
outline of a bad job I think it might
just be a little bit too late so we’ve
got another one now let’s try these ones
here if anybody is at home so you but
you have to you have to definitely
yeah
let’s say might just be doing it a
little bit late in the day didn’t think
of that because say you can see this Sam
just being flicked up yeah last two and
then we’ll go and have a look at an
acacia tree just watch my back how
wishing Guinea comes and jumps on my
back I want to see if she can get lit
but not that much not that close nope so
something to do in the morning perhaps
okay so let’s have a look I did find
there we go
[Applause]
and here the babblers IRA march of Babel
is just calling off in the distance and
the hornbills as well very cool so here
we go this is an acacia and if memory
serves me correctly this is a flakey
barked acacia and you should be able to
see these white spines here
now these spines are modified sleep so
the plaid has to do you get them behind
me Aldous flame is actually another
family just behind this here you wanting
center stage guys
it’s like two tribes go to war they make
one they carry on their little fight
well we’ll have a look at say at these
spines here or thorns so I’m just trying
to remember which way around it is I’m a
little bit actually on that one
but as they modified leaves so the plan
has to decide do I protect myself or do
I make food because with the leaves they
contain chlorophyll which can then using
sunlight