They Came In Twos

One animal that always seems to pop up wherever I camera trap is our good old friend the Porcupine and Suikerbosrand was no exception. The Sony s600 homebrew camera snapped a photograph of two Porcupine walking though a section of the reserve with many trees and denser vegetation.

Two Porcupine (Ystervark - Hystrix africaeaustralis) on their nightly wanderings

My main focus at Suikerbosrand was to photograph some more "grassland/bush veld" species, but this location was just to good to pass up, and it paid off. I was hoping for some Common Duiker here.

Common Duiker (Duiker - Sylvicapra grimmia) at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve

I placed the camera higher up a tree than usual for a different angle and I think it turned out well.

I'm wonder why he is wagging his tail...

By comparing their horns I would guess these photographs are of 3 males. The females don't have horns.

A Duiker visits the camera trap during the day

With so much male activity around one would have expected to see a female in the area, but I didn't photograph any females during the short time camera trapping over Christmas.

Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve

I'm behind on posting, so there is still plenty to come. I'll be wrapping up Suikerbosrand soon, and then I'll finally share some statistics from my Tygerberg camera trapping.

Jackal At Suikerbosrand

Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve in the Gauteng province of South Africa

When I'm camera trapping at a new location I always check what animals might be present. One of the top animals on my wish list is the Black-Backed Jackal.

Black-Backed Jackal (Rooijakkals - Canis mesomelas) looking towards the camera

I'm not sure whether it is because they are (distantly) related to dogs, but there is just something I admire about them. Unfortunately not everybody feels the same way about them, but they manage to survive outside the large protected areas despite being persecuted extensively.

Zipping past the camera

Jackals are omnivores and eat a wide variety of food from young antelope and rodents to insects and wild fruit.

Strolling past the camera

All of the photographs I got of Jackal, in the short time camera trapping at Suikerbosrand, where at night. However, we did see one during the day when we went to collect the cameras. Jackal aren't strictly nocturnal and can be active during the day in areas where they are not disturbed by humans.

Another Jackal trotting past the camera

I'm not sure how many individuals I photographed, but I have a feeling there are quite a lot of them in the reserve. Some of the images seemed to be of younger individuals.

Youngster tip-toeing past the camera

Historically Black-Backed Jackal can be found throughout South Africa. They are still present in many parts of the country and I'm hoping to keep on running into them as I camera trap and visit other areas.

Youngster stepping into view

More Herbivores At Suikerbosrand

A cloudy Suikerbosrand

A couple of other herbivores also visited the cameras over Christmas at Suikerbosrand. One of them was a familiar face, or was it...?

Blesbok (Blesbok - Damaliscus dorcas phillipsi) walking past the camera trap

These are Blesbok, close relatives of the Bontebok found in the south-west of the country and frequently photographed at Tygerberg (and regulars on this blog). For those of you wondering how to distinguish between Blesbok and Bontebok check out a previous post I did over here.

Another relative of the Blesbok, although not as close, is the Red Hartbeest. They have a similar build as the Blesbok, but have less striking colours.

Red Hartbeest (Rooihartbees - Alcelaphus buselaphus) a little to close to the camera

Strangely enough my best photographs of these guys were at night. Fortunately the Cuddeback Capture's photographs are particularly good at night (for a out-of-the-box commercial camera).

Not the best photograth ever, but at least you can see its face

The reserve is also home to some Plains Zebra. These guys have the normal colouration and not the Quagga-like pattern often seen in the south-western parts of South Africa.

Plains Zebra (Bontsebra - Equus quagga burchelli) at night at Suikerbosrand

One of the camera traps was placed on a well used zebra trail and got many images of them streaming past the Bushnell Trophy Cam trail camera.

If they were cyclist they would insist that traveling in single file reduces drag and is more energy efficient, they would also shave their legs and wear arguably the ugliest sports gear on earth, but lucky for us they are normal Zebra's and can't ride a bicycle

There is more to come from Suikerbosrand soon.

This filly was looking dreamily at the striped stallion heading her way

I have some cameras in the field again, so I'm hoping for some good results in about 3 week's time. The camera traps are in some thicket/wooded areas in the Eastern Cape, which present it's own set of challenges, but I'm hoping for the best :)

No Monkey Business

There was one animal at Suikerbosrand that haunted my dreams. I kept getting the random thought "will my cameras be safe". This animal has huge canine teeth! An inquisitive nature! Omnivorous appetite! Heck, they even have opposable thumbs! How would they react to my poor defenceless cameras (unless you count a powerful flash, or dim red glow, as an offencive advantage)!

Enter, the Chacma Baboon...

Chacma baboon (Kaapse Bobbejaan - Papio ursinus) at Suikerbosrand

Baboons live in groups of 15-100 animals and I feared that if the camera caught the eye of only one of them the whole group might take an interest... Although they can surely do serious damage biting on or beating the camera, my biggest fear was that they might carry it around. Moving the camera by only a short distance can make it almost impossible to find again. But in the end everything went smoothly and they barely payed the cameras any notice.

Sitting down for a family meal

In fact, the only camera trouble I had was with an Eland that pushed a camera over. The Baboons were content to focus on finding food on going by their daily activities.

One of my cameras was positioned up a tree, pointing down, and got a unique view of a Baboon trying to eat some Sunflower seeds I threw on the ground.

Slurping up some seeds? Why use your fingers if you can use your face?

This Baboon was photographed in a heavily wooded area. I'm used to seeing them in more open areas and didn't think they frequented areas like this often enough to show up on this short camera trapping trip. However, thinking back, we have encountered Baboons in some pretty thick forests in the past.

Typical landscape at Suikerbosrand in the Gauteng province of South Africa

There will most likely be many more encounters with Baboons in my camera trapping future and I hope all of them will be this, well, uneventful. And on that note the Baboons exited, stage left...

The rear end of the tale

The Big Guys

We are back from spending Christmas in Gauteng with the family and I managed to fit in 5 nights of camera trapping at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve.

First up, the biggest antelope in the world: the Eland.

An Eland (Eland - Tragelaphus oryx) smiling for the camera

Eland are usually found in herds of 20-60 animals, but they sometimes form temporary herds of more than 500 individuals. They have a fairly loose social system with animals freely joining herds. I'm not sure how many animals this nature reserve have, but we did see a herd of at least 150 animals.

A herd of Eland at Suikerbosrand of about 20 animals

These antelope are big. They weigh 450-700kg (up to 900kg) and stand 1.7m tall at the shoulders. A large bull walked past one of the camera traps. Unfortunately it was too close to photograph the entire animal.

A large bull walking past the camera in the rain

I've always found it difficult to see Eland up close. They seem to prefer keeping a safe distance from any possible threat. This is a wise move since they are high on the menu for most top predators and have been extensively hunted by humans for thousands of years.

The Khoisan people revered them greatly. The Eland is a common animal depicted on their rock paintings and formed part of many rituals and believes.

These guys are excellent jumpers

An Eland can easily clear a 2m fence, despite their huge size. They are prone to wander over large areas in search of better feeding grounds. They are primarily browsers (eating leaves, etc.), but they also eat grass, roots and bulbs. Access to water is not required, but they will drink if water is available.

Having a closer look at the camera

Despite their natural tendency to keep a safe distance from danger, they seem to be easily tamed. There has been attempts to domesticate the Eland by farmers in Southern Africa, USA and Russia (of all places) for milk and meat. However, the animals' jumping ability, wondering nature and social structure have proven problematic when trying to farm them in the same way as other domestic livestock.

On the last day of camera trapping this Eland decided to adjust the camera angle

Another interesting things about the Eland is that they make a clicking sound while walking. If you want to find out more I would highly recommend reading about Lynda's Eland encounters on her excellent blog called Mainly Mongoose over here.