h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A VISIT TO POLOKWANE MUNICIPAL GAME RESERVE PART TWO

1. Soon the giraffes were posing out in the open! Chewing with their mouths open too. And if you look closely you can see something else … tick birds! Actually they’re called red-billed oxpeckers. There’s one on the rump of the closest giraffe and another on the neck behind the ears of the next one.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Giraffes2_zpsc8fa6dd8.jpg

2. This giraffe posed nicely for me. What I love about giraffes is how relaxed they are … most of the time! Not frightened of humans, not jittery or spooked, they let you get close and watched you serenely from on high.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Giraffes3_zps347c9e5b.jpg

3. This is a bull I think. They are bigger than cows but also get darker … sometimes their spots can be black and the skin in between so dark grey that from a distance they look entirely black.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Giraffes5_zpsb5e1c68b.jpg

4. Giraffe showing a nice profile pose. This one has two tick birds, one on the lower hump of the neck and one up just behind the ears.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Giraffe4_zps5d56742e.jpg

5. A young giraffe lying down under a Silky Thorn tree! This one looked so peaceful. Silky thorns, Acacia rehmanniana, is a specialty of the reserve and the Polokwane region, they are rare or absent elsewhere in South Africa. They can be very handsome specimens. Their leaves and twigs are covered in soft, dense hairs.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Giraffe6_zpse2d62d58.jpg

6. Two giraffes browsing the same small thorn tree. As you can see giraffes don’t need to be as tall as they are, there are plenty of leaves well within reach, they don’t need to stretch up to get it. At present science still doesn’t exactly know why giraffes have such long necks.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Giraffes9_zpscc5432c0.jpg

7. A crested barbet! Sorry for the poor photo but at least I caught it! With my ancient camera with low resolution and no zoom it’s hard to photograph birds. I’ll put a link with a better photo after this. Crested barbets are relatives of woodpeckers, but are mostly fruit and invertebrate eaters and don’t hammer into trees. They still excavate their nests in soft wood. This one had caught a thingy in the road and then flew into a bush and ate it and watched me while I took its photo.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/CrestedBarbet_zpsd7ba3535.jpg

Here is a better photo (not by me!) of this species:

http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/crested-barbet-photo-1766.html

8. Another termite hill, this one with two holes dug in it! These were made by aardvarks. There are plenty of those in the reserve, judging by the evidence, but I’ve never seen one yet! Also note the soil here is different in colour, not as reddish as the previous termite hill. The nature reserve has a number of different geological features. There are sands and rock in places that are very rich in silicon … there is a silicon mine not far from the reserve, which along with the platinum mine is what Polokwane’s economy is based on.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/TermiteHill2_zpsca2b6fc8.jpg

9. Grassland. The reserve has a number of different kinds of vegetation, some with more trees, and some like this region primarily tall grass with trees and bushes very widely spread. A major kind of grass in the reserve is Themeda triandra, red grass, named after its tendency to turn red after the growing season.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Grassland_zps3db443c3.jpg

10. A magpie shrike, Corvinella melanoleuca! Again I’ll soon provide a better photo. These are the largest local true shrikes, their long tails making them look even larger. They live in groups and perch prominently on trees and bushes, their long tails rippling in the wind, calling their lovely far-carrying liquid whistles to each other.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/MagpieShrike_zps2b3ab826.jpg

Better photos:

http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/laniidae/corvinella_melanoleuca.htm

11. A plant that I haven’t seen before! It was scrambling through a spike-thorn bush. The spiky things you see here are not the spike-thorn’s spikes, they are the climber’s seed pods! They are long, straight and sharp-pointed but not as hard as spines. They grow in pairs set at an almost 180-degree angle. These kind of seed pods are called follicles, and they indicate that this is a member of the Asclepiadaceae, or the closely related Periploaceae. The follicles split at an upper seam to release the seeds which have fluffy white tufts to allow the wind to carry them away. This climber has round and rather fleshy leaves. Now my goal is to try and see its flowers which ought to help me identify it.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/ClimbingAsclepiad_zps6749ca39.jpg

12. A rocky ridge in the reserve. The region is mostly flat, with only a few rising hills and rock outcrops; this is the most extensive one. The huge boulders are rich in fairly clear quartz. On these ridges there grow trees and plants not found in the open savannah and grassland. There are also wonderful lizards called flat lizards, the males of which have beautiful colours … I have yet to succeed in taking a good photo of them. They shelter in cracks between the rocks.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Rocks1_zpsf737538b.jpg

13. A special plant growing next to the rocky ridge: a Carrot Tree, Steganotaenia araliacea! This is the only large specimen I know of in our region, but not far from here there are many, such as in the Soutpansberg Mountains. This is a craggy character and I think it is quite an old tree already. Carrot trees have delicate, freshly fragrant leaves smelling somewhat of carrot leaves.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/CarrotTree2_zps5042b8d8.jpg

14. A close-up of the trunk of the carrot tree. Young trees have bark that peel off in thin, papery flakes, but in this old tree the bark has become very thick and corky.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/CarrotTree3_zps747c414e.jpg

All right, that’s that for this installment! Please stay tuned for Part Three.

No question about staying tuned Willem. You are so lucky, and it is no wonder you are so knowledgeable and fascinated by wildlife with all this around you.

Websailor

*stays tuned*

The giraffes are wonderful!

I love the way the Crested Barbet is looking at you,well done for snapping it.

Going to listen to the Magpie Shrike later

Thanks for posting these Willem, I have really enjoyed the virtual tour

*stays tuned for part three*

I really liked this one of the bull giraffe

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Giraffes3_zps347c9e5b.jpg

with trees up to his shoulders and neck and head 'in the sky', if you see what I mean

made me feel titchy-tiny

Hi folks, I'm glad you liked those! Peanut, here is a video of the call of the magpie shrike... but in the wild it sounds different, it sounds more melodious and is very far-carrying:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67EXAy1DeZo

Interesting call.

I can hear how that would carry.

Scratchy sat up and paid attention