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| 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...?
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| 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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 :)
You've got great subject matter down there. If any cyclists read this post they may go for zebra pattern lycras.
ReplyDeleteGood to see a new post from you. Coincidentally, I just did a post about Suikerbosrand on my own blog yesterday.
ReplyDeleteHi Henry. If you don't already know, the Mammal Atlas project at UCT has just been given a new fresh push and a new, very enthusiastic and competent project leader. Your excellent work and camera trapping is exactly the type of data that the project is trying to collect and I think your input would be invaluable to the success of the initiative.
ReplyDeleteIf you are interested in finding out more check out http://mammals.adu.org.za/ or email Tali Hoffman directly (Tali.Hoffman@uct.ac.za)