Reg.
No. 98/18384/08 (a Section 21 Co. not for gain)
"In
Custody of Our Natural Heritage" 
"Subject" links at bottom of page
"In
Custody of Our Natural Heritage" "Subject" links at bottom of page |
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| WILDLIFE IN MARLOTH PARK Why is walking not recommended in Marloth Park? We appeal to Property owners not to walk or cycle in Marloth Park, especially after 18h00 or before 06h00. Apart from our resident lions, other wild animals, including visiting lions, enter on a regular basis. These animals do not disappear during the day but could be sleeping under the next bush. It is known that the Marloth Park lions sleep, in Lionspruit or next to the river, during the daytime. What is unknown is where the "visitors" camp down for the day!. Buffalo's are known to circle a person before attacking and by the time you see these massive bovids it will be too late. Please be careful as there has already been incidents of this kind. The fences are still down and Property Owners are urgently requested to take the necessary precautions, people have been observed swimming and fishing in the Crocodile River. PLEASE let us not, through our actions, give the impression that we are irresponsible and incapable of the Management of our wildlife. This responsibility can not be left to others. Let us work and stand together, for only then can we reap the benefits of our investment. INTERESTING FACTS Please keep the following in mind: You can never outrun a potential dangerous animal !
DID YOU KNOW..... WARTHOG? "Warts"
are outgrowths of thickened skin. Males having two pairs (One beneath the
side of eyes, for the protection of eyes during fighting, with a smaller pair
lower down on his snout) Females have one pair below their eyes, smaller than
males. Click photo below..! "Tusks" are enlarged upper & lower canines with a self sharpening action. (Lower pair rubs against the base of the upper ones, wearing it into sharp pointed weapons) Unborn fetus
has callouses on it's knees, developing into pads later in life. Hyenas & warthogs as roommates? It has been recorded that these "roommates" live with a type of "truce", which is aggressively enforced by the warthog when meeting, the hyena, at dawn & dusk. Shared burrows do, however, have to meet special requirements such as having several entrances and chambers. Mainly a grazer, it also browses for herbaceous plants, fruit, seeds and flowering grass. The tough muscular snout is used to grub up rhizomes, earthworms and roots. The tough, mobile rhinarium (the flat disc containing the nostrils, at the end of the snout) expose the short green grass underneath. When eating it kneels to get a better leverage as its neck is short and thick. Warthogs will occasionally take carrion and will chase animals like cheetahs of their kills. Piglets eat the mother’s dung to inoculate their guts with the necessary bacteria. Two sows often live together and suckle each others piglets ensuring the survival of the litter should one cow die. Warthogs fall under the swine family and are even-toed ungulates. Pigs are the only hoofed mammals that have multiple young. Birth weight is 1% of the mother’s mass, compared to 10% in antelopes. DID
YOU KNOW..... SPOTLIGHTS? After shining a spotlight on an animal, it takes 30-40 minutes to re-adapt to the dark. Why do the eyes glow? A layer of reflective crystals (tapetum), situated at the back of mammals eyes, bounces light back to sensitive cells in the retina, increasing the triggering of nerve impulses. The reflected light causes the eyes to shine. Although spotlights do no real damage to the eyes of an animal it does effect the outcome of the prey / predator situation. Spotlights do however irritate sleeping Property owners who are/were sleeping. Remember spot lights are not allowed in Marloth Park and should you, urgently, really, need to use one, do not shine onto the face of any animal, rather on it's feet. DID YOU KNOW..... HIPPO? When overheating, hippo's look like they are sweating "blood", but glands in the skin secretes a bright red, sticky fluid that acts as a natural sunscreen to prevent the skin from cracking. Hippo's can eat up to 200kg of grass per night. The Hippo's heart beat slows down in water to 20 beats per minute compared to the 90 beats per minute on land. It is generally believed that more Hippo's kill humans than any other animal
Territorial males fighting : Marloth Park - July 2000 A hippo’s hide, with fatty tissue, is about 50mm thick, comprising 16% of it’s body weight. The Hippo has four toes which makes it an even toed ungulate with each sheathed in a confide hoof. Therefore the hippo stands on his 2nd to 5th toes. The average life span of a hippo is 40-45 years. Similar to other ruminants, hippo’s have four chambered stomachs but they do not chew cud. Their stomachs are so large that food can be stored long enough for fermentation to be effective. A Hippo society is usually a basic unit of a dominant male, whose dominance was obtained by combat, a group of females and young. The groups are territorial and the territory includes a stretch of water and feeding area. The herd bull, marks his territory by splattering dung, onto rocks and bushes by wagging his short, flat, and bristle fringed tail as he defecates. Mothers & young do not "dung-splatter". The tusk-like canine, the lower pair, rubs against the base of the upper tusks in a self-sharpening action, similiar to the warthog. Hippo's incisors and canines grow continuously. They show great interest in carcasses but it is not quite clear if they do anything else but nibbling. Various strange behaviors have been recorded and filmed, such as rescue attempts and even Hippo’s killing an Eland, chewing and tossing it around. Matting occurs in water with the female completely submerged, only coming up occasionally for breath. The are only three African mammals that mate in water, the Hippo, Dolphins and Whales. Females give birth to a 25 to 55kg calve, after a short, compared with its size, gestation period of approx. 8 months, in shallow water or secluded densely covered land areas. Infanticide by dominant bulls does occur.
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Hippo’s can do a lot of damage to the
environment through the lack of vegetation but all in all the positive
outnumbers the negative. The large quantities of droppings fertilize pastures
and in water supports aquatic life; Fish thrive, water birds and crocodiles
thrive in the presence of fish. Egrets feed on the parasites on the skin of
hippo’s while fish feed on matter that clings to the hippos skin. Water
channels are created and this is important for the flow of water and travel ways
for fish when laying their eggs.