Spiky Mice

For me the Cape Spiny Mouse was a new find at Berg River Dam. They get their name from their coat of sharp bristles that is harsh to the touch. The spiny hair on the back seems darker, witch then fades into the yellow brown on the flanks and white on the chin and belly.

Cape Spiny Mouse (Kaapse Stekelmuis - Acomys subspinosus) turning on the cute at Berg River Dam

As can be seen from the camera trap photographs these mice like to hang out near rocky areas. They are mostly nocturnal (active at night) and live alone or in small groups that may share a rock crevice called home.

Notice the darker spiky bristles on it's back

They are omnivores and feed an seeds, berries, insects and other invertebrates. They can be seen as a true Fynbos endemic, occurring only in the mountainous Fynbos region in the south-western corner of the South Africa.

Snack time! Check out that long tail

I was surprised to find images of wasps triggering the camera during the day. I did some digging and it turns out these large wasps where somehow introduced into the Western Cape from Europe.

They usually nest underground or in cavities close to the ground. They construct paper nests that can contain up to 3000 wasps. Most colonies live only one year, with only the new queens surviving the winter to start a new colony.

German Yellow Jacket (Geelbaadjie Perdeby - Vespula germanica) triggering the camera trap

Although the adults feed mostly on sugar, such as nectar, they feed insects and other animal matter to their larva. In turn the larva secrete a sugary substance for the workers in exchange for the protein.

A lot of the photographs seems to show wasps fighting

During the time my cameras where at Berg River Dam a veld fire started on the slope on the far end of the dam. I'm not sure whether the flames somehow managed to trigger the camera, or the wind, or maybe just an animal that isn't in the field of view, but it resulted in some interesting photographs.

Veld fire at Berg River Dam

Dozens Of Duiker

I seem to do a lot of camera trapping at places with berg (Afrikaans for mountain) in the name... Maybe it is because most natural areas that remain are situated around areas where human development has been reduced, such as "mountainous terrain".

Earlier this year I hooked up with fellow camera trapper and blogger Jeremy Bolton to place some cameras in his "back yard", the mountains around the Berg River Dam. You can find Jeremy's blog over here. He also offers unique camera trap safaris, of which you can find out more over here.

Berg River Dam near Franschhoek in the Western Cape province of South Africa

In recent history the area has been disturbed by pine plantations and the development of the dam. I always find camera trapping in such areas interesting, to see what species are still around, or have moved back into the area as the natural vegetation returns.

Berg River Dam near Franschhoek

I was pleased to get some photographs of Common Duiker. Common Duiker are widely distributed throughout South Africa, and they differ somewhat in appearance throughout their range. So I always enjoy getting a good photograph of one in a new location.

(1) Common/Grey Duiker (Gewone Duiker - Sylvicapra grimmia) at Berg River Dam in the greater Cape Town area

Nearby (about 80 km away) on the West Coast, just outside Cape Town I photographed a male looking very much the same at the Koeberg Nature Reserve. (Where? Oops, spoiler alert!)

(2) At Koeberg, also in the greater Cape Town area, this male looks very similar to his friend above

About 800 km along the coast in the Eastern Cape province this individual might have a slightly richer colour with darker legs. This photo is from the same camera as the first animal, so that helps the comparison somewhat.

(3) Common Duiker at the Woody Cape near the coast in the Eastern Cape

You can really see the difference when comparing the three coastal specimens in the South to the this daytime photograph taken about 850-1200 km further North and inland from the three previous animals. In the Gauteng province their other common name Grey Duiker now starts to make more sense.

(4) Far away at Suikerbosrand near Johannesburg this individual looks very different

The Duiker in Kruger National Park looks much more like their Gauteng counterparts which are only about 400km way. These Duiker are now over 1 600 km away as the crow flies (in a straight line) from the initial animal near Cape Town. It might be that the Kruger Duikers sport, on average, a longer hairdo but since the length is know to differ I'll need to get my hands on more photographs from both locations to compare.




(5) This dashing lady looks much more similar to the previous animal than the first one

Below is a map of the approximate locations where the above animals were photographed. The numbers correspond with the number given in each photo's caption.

The numbers on the map corresponds to the number given in each of the previous photographs

And now to throw a spanner in the works, I'll wrap up with a photograph of a Cape Grysbok from Berg River Dam. The Cape Grysbok was also a common visitor to the camera traps. They are mostly active at night, but now and again one goes for a stroll during the day.



Cape Grysbok (Kaapse Grysbok - Raphicerus melanotis) looking somewhat sleepy during the day

It's Been A While

I haven't done a blog post in quite a while, hopefully I can still remember how to slap something together... The die hard followers (if there are any left) will be glad to hear that I plan to get a couple of camera trapping posts out before the December holiday season kicks off, so here goes...

About two months ago, while going through some old holiday photographs, I decided that I would like to do a post on the African Wild Dog. Now, being the rarest carnivore in Southern Africa I've never camera trapped one, in fact I've only ever seen them once in the wild. I'm worried that based on what I saw, I might have used up all of my luck! The African Wild Dog is Africa's largest Canid species, and world wide second only to the Grey Wolf.

This was back in 2008. I managed to take some photographs and video clips using my trusty old digital camera, a model well known to many camera trappers, the Sony CyberShot S600. The video quality isn't that great, but it's better than nothing. This is a "real world" sighting and not some footage from a documentary happening in front of the camera in ideal habitat where everything can be seen perfectly. I tried to upload the videos to YouTube for better quality, but unfortunately it still seems to have lost a lot of the detail from the original (bad) video clips. OK with that out of the way lets get on with it :)

African Wild Dog (Wildehond - Lycaon pictus) in Kruger National Park

The pack was first encountered at 6:25am on 1 Jan 2008, near Skukuza in the Kruger National Park. Over here in South Africa, Kruger is the last "strong"-hold of these incredible animals. You are looking at the rarest carnivore in Southern Africa. There were once estimated to be over 500 000 in 39 countries throughout Africa, with packs 100 or more strong not uncommon! This pack was one of the largest in the park at the time and numbered only about 20.

Today there are about 5 000 (that is 1%) animals left throughout Africa, most of which are in only a handful of large protected areas. The South African population is balancing on a knife edge, with the only viable population occurring in Kruger National Park, and even there their numbers aren't what it should be. There are only about 450 left in the entire country, some people have more Facebook friends than that...

Video: Wild Dog pack on the move

The pack was moving down the road towards a T-junction. All the while getting more and more serious as they went along. In the video clip it appears as if one of the older dogs are "scolding" a careless youngster that absentmindedly drifted into the open. The pack trots off with renewed purpose.

The 11 youngsters were by now old enough to join on the hunt, although the adults still took the lead.
An alpha female usually has around 10 pups at a time, but it can range from 2-19!

As we got closer to the T-junction they started to cut the corner and we lost them in the vegetation. We decided to carry on and turn at the T-junction to see whether we can spot them again.

Video: Wild Dog pack hunting, unfortunately the footage isn't very clear

The video clip opens with the adult dogs emerging from where they cut the corner of the T-junction. They spotted some Impala across the road and the adults started the hunt, fanning out along the road and studying the herd of Impala a short distance away amongst the trees. The video quality isn't that great, but the small patch of red pixels amongst the trees are some Impala.

The rest of the pack then emerges from the grass. I absolutely love this scene! The youngsters join in, but soon get bored and lose some of the tension and intent they had moments before. Luckily the adult dogs are taking care of things. I think some adult dogs passed behind us to flank the Impala and drive the hunt from behind towards the rest of the fanned out pack.

Suddenly the Impala herd burst into panic and the adult dog closest to the car darts off after them. The white tails of the dogs really help to keep track of them in the video.

At first the youngsters seemed to have been caught snoozing and are late to join the hunt. They came running after the adult, popping up to look over the grass to find the action, but then the action finds them. An Impala darts past them, pursued by some adult dogs, towards the other adults that fanned out earlier across the road. Most of the youngsters then join the chase, but some darted off in the other direction.

They pulled down their prey where the fanned out adults where waiting. The pack briefly called to let the rest of the pack know that they have made a kill. Except for these chirping calls right after the kill, the whole affair was very silent, not even the Impala wasted their time calling, they just ran.

During the hunt individual antelope would suddenly appear running over the road in panic, both in front of and behind the car, sometimes pursued by a lone Wild Dog. There were no alarm calls or attempts to spot the predator ambushing them. This was not an ambush, it was a trap, and they knew it. The Impala knew these were Wild Dog chasing them and some Impala were going to die.

I believe there are hunting roles in the pack, some give chase disrupting the herd, some try to direct the antelope towards the others and some fan out to ambush antelope chased towards them. The dogs definitely keep an eye and ear on one another. The Wild Dogs could often be seen rearing up to lift their heads over the tall grass before darting off in a new direction. I'm sure the fact that all Wild Dog have unique colour patterns helps. They also all have a black nose and white tail, making it much easier to see in what direction a dog is running.

Not all of the pack came towards the first kill, and it soon became clear why. The youngsters that split off earlier managed to bring down a second Impala, with the help of some of the other adults. Wild Dog truly are one of the most successful large predators on the planet. The combination of intelligence, team work and endurance seems to pay off with 80% or more of their hunts ending in a kill, a much better success rate than Lion or Leopards.

It only took 11 minutes from the moment the chase started to the point when the two carcasses were consumed! Afterwards some individuals decided to carry off legs and bones to chew on at leisure.

Wild Dog have to work fast to prevent the larger Lion or Spotted Hyena from taking over their kills. While a large pack can stand up to any Lion pride, a smaller pack can't and Lion will actively try to kill as many animals as they can, especially pups at the breeding den.

Notice the large ears, black muzzles and white tails which all Wild Dogs have

My heart always hoes out to the African Wild Dog. Not only is it our rarest carnivore, but they face a modern world so different to what they where born and bred for that their future can only bring harder times.

Wild Dogs exhibit some peculiar behaviour that makes them difficult to protect in small fenced in areas. They were born to roam a continent, and very few protected areas remain that are big enough to support them. As it stands Kruger might be barely large enough to sustain its dwindling population. There are estimated to be only 370 animals left in Kruger. (Their unique colour patterns makes them easy to count.) For a long time they were killed on sight, even in Kruger.

Maybe part of the problem is with their name. The name has never seemed to match the animal, and even today many variations are floating around, most containing combinations of Hunting, Painted, Wild, Dog and Wolf. Based on those names you won't be blamed to think they are just some kind of wild domestic dog, but that would be a very wrong assumption to make. You might get away with calling an American Grey Wolf a wild domestic dog, they are at least part of the same genus, heck they are even the same species. While the African Wild Dog is still part of the Canidae (dog) family, they are an entirely different beast and is grouped into their own genus. In fact they are the only living species in that genus, so they definitely are not dogs, nor wolves, nor jackals, nor foxes, etc.

Wild Dog tend to wonder over huge territories in search of prey. Because of this roaming tendency they seem to either escape from fenced parks, or learn to drive antelope into the fences for an easy kill. This makes it very difficult to protect a single pack in a small reserve. On the other hand Lion, for example, pose no such problem and can be fairly easily introduced into smaller reserves.

I will always have a special place in my heart for these gems of an age now past. They have been polished to shine in a wild Africa, what will the future hold for them? I often find myself wondering whether the Wild Dog can survive in today's world of protected patches. They were shaped for a world without fences. To roam in packs, 40 or more strong, over the face of South Africa. Striking fear into the hearts of medium to large sized antelope wherever they go.

They have complex social structures designed for a survival of large packs in large open spaces. I don't recall ever hearing about it, since little is know of the Trekbok migrations of old, but I wonder what part they might have played in hunting the huge herds of Springbok that used to crisscross the heart of South Africa, or the large herds of antelope roaming the South African veld. I sometimes fear that, like the well know example of the American Passenger Pigeon, Wild Dog populations won't be able to recover if their population falls below a certain level. Large populations need very large areas of wilderness, something that just doesn't exists any more in large enough quantities, anywhere on earth, even Africa.

Ah, nothing better than lazing around with a full belly

We were the only ones to witness the hunt, but about an hour later we found the pack again, this time they were lazing around on the side of the road to the delight of other visitors to the park.

Video: Wild Dog youngsters checking out my car

May we always be fortunate enough to have these magnificent animals with us. The world is changing, and a lot of what was good has been lost. Some might think we have more now, but I wonder whether the price we are paying is worth it. If you are ever lucky enough to see a Wild Dog in the wild, try to spare a though a time gone by and an uncertain future ahead, for such is life.

Small Wonders

Four-Striped Grass Mouse (Streepmuis - Rhabdomys pumilio) munshing away on a sunflower seed

It is fun setting out a camera in an attempt to capture small animals. My Birdcam 2.0 does a decent job of getting colour closeups of small mammals. My biggest problem with the camera is that it has a slow and temperamental trigger mechanism. The camera works best when used as advertised: add some bait in front of the camera to keep the little critters in the area for longer. In fact the company went as far as to call the camera the Birdcam, to make sure people understand the camera was designed to be placed on a bird feeder. However, I've found it can do a decent job at photographing small mammals as well.

Four mice sharing in the feast

These little mice are common throughout large parts of South Africa and are easily noticed since they are one of the few species of rodent that are active during the day.

Youngster busy looking cute

The Birdcam was placed on the same spot where a Bushnell Trophy Cam had been snapping away the previous week. Compared to the Bushnell the Birdcam misses a lot of action, but the image quality makes up for it in my opinion, especially the colour night photographs. As long as you play to the strengths of the Birdcam it can be a pretty rewarding camera.

Cape Girdle Lizard (Kaapse Gordelakkedis - Cordylus cordylus) triggering the Birdcam 2.0 camera trap

It is always fun to get something totally new on your camera traps. I've had a few unidentifiable lizards in the foreground/background of photographs before, but those were accidental captures. This time around I can be sure of the species and what's more this fellow triggered the camera himself.

I've been lucky enough to see one of these guys recently in person and was able to snap a photo with by handheld camera.

What are you looking at?

As I got closer it ran for cover, protecting itself with its spiny tail

The main reason why I placed the camera at this location was for some good colour photographs of a Vlei Rat and if I was lucky a Pygmy Mouse. In secret I wished for a Shrew as well, but it is seldom that the Camera Trap Goddess gives in to all your desires at once. But I'm not complaining about not getting the Shrew, since I got good shots of both my target species.

Pygmy Mouse (Dwergmuis - Mus minutoides) scavenging for some sunflower seeds that might have been missed by the mice during the day

There wasn't much bait left by the time the Vlei Rat (Vleirot - Otomys irroratus) passed through, so it didn't stay long

Camera trapping reptiles aren't all that uncommon and I've been fortunate enough recently to get a couple of tortoises on the other cameras as well.

Angulate Tortoise (Rooipens Skilpad - Chersina angulata) snapping a photograph of itself

Even the small and flat Padloper was able to trigger the Bushnell Trophy Cam.

Parrot-Beaked Padloper (Gewone Padloper - Homopus areolatus) navigating the obstacle course of grass, twigs and pebbles

If any Shrews are reading this, I would love to get a good mugshot of one of you tricky bastards soon!

My First Skull

One of the benefits of regular camera trapping trips is that you end up spending a lot of time in the field looking for good camera locations, and as a result you are bound to stumble upon some interesting things.

This skull was found amongst some other bigger bones that was damaged by a fire

When I saw this skull a new world opened up to me. Suddenly I could see myself as an Amateur Skull Collector. This is the first time I've found such an interesting and well preserved skull and as a result I'm very excited about it.

Now, I'm no skull expert and some of my terminology might be wrong, but I hope my general interpretation is correct. Please feel free to correct me in the comments section below.

One of the first thoughts to pop into my mind was: What species could it be?

The business end of the skull, notice the well developed teeth, jaw and nasal opening

The first thing I noticed was the formidable teeth. Clearly this is a coldblooded killer. With large canines to kill with and the rest of the teeth designed to cut through flesh, I knew that I was dealing with a strict carnivore.

The next clue was its size...

This photograph shows the size of the skull which is about 2x5cm

It is a small sturdy scull. The small size narrowed it down considerably. Of all the small carnivores found at Tygerberg, this surely had to be an African Striped Weasel. Fortunately for you, and me, I camera trapped another one of these little weasels just a week before finding the skull.

African Striped Weasel (Slangmuishond - Poecilogale albinucha) camera trapped at Tygerberg Nature Reserve in Cape Town, Western Cape

I took the skull home to try and clean it. I also wanted to examine it in more detail. What truck me was just how tightly the lower jaw slides into the upper jaw. The photograph doesn't do it justice.

Scissor like teeth and cracked "cheekbone" clearly visible

The presence of these little rodent killers in Cape Town is still not know by many people. Recent discoveries of African Striped Weasels in the Cederberg area has filtered through to the biological community, but most of the updated distribution maps I've seen are still reluctant to adjust the distribution all the way down to Cape Town, yet I now have three records, spanning over two years, of African Striped Weasels at Tygerberg Nature Reserve.

Sub-Saharan Africa has a relative shortage of species from the Weasel (Mustelidae) family. One theory is that the Mongoose (Herpestidae) and Genet (Viverridea) families already occupies most of the habitat niches leaving little room for the weasels to claim for their own. Specializing in hunting rodents in their burrows obviously gave this weasel it's edge.

It is also interesting to compare the three terrestrial species of Mustelidea found in South Africa: African Striped Weasel, Striped Polecat and Honey Badger. They have surprisingly many things in common, for instance they all have similar black and white warning colouration, they can secrete a foul smelling substance when threatened, they are also awkward movers that aren't particularly agile or swift, they are all hardy and tough with thick loose fitting skins and (in particular two of the species) have a great knack for digging and are keen underground hunters. In a sense the biggest difference between these species is their size.

The remaining two species of Mustelidea found in this part of the world part of the Otter subfamily, and again we find ourselves dealing with habitat specialists.

The jaw is strikingly compact and powerful, opening up for a surprisingly large gape

Another interesting thing about this weasel is that the tooth at the back of the mouth on the top jaw is turned 90 degrees and creates another cutting surface with the tooth on the lower jaw.

Closeup of the eye socket and top of the upper jaw

The eye-socket isn't encircled by bone, as is the case in most mongooses. Maybe this is as a result of their burrowing lifestyle. They hunt rodents in their burrows and I'm guessing protruding bones around the eye might be a liability. It is said that the African Striped Weasel can turn around in any burrow that is wide enough to allow its head to turn.

You can also see how the roots of some teeth actually protrude through the upper jaw.

They rely heavily on smell to find food, since it is the best way to hunt in the dark tunnels for rodents. It is said that these weasels will pass within 5 cm of a mouse without reacting if it can't smell it.

Skull showing damage that might have been related to the cause of death

So, how did this individual die? Well, the left hand side of the skull clearly shows some damage. Two cracks on the cheekbone and some damage to the cavity at the base of the skull can clearly be observed in the photographs. My guess is that it was killed by a bigger predator. Maybe the fact that I could not find the rest of the skeleton in the area is a clue? Maybe a bird of prey, possibly and owl, caught it and the bird's talons damaged the skull, or maybe it was taken out by one of the Caracal. I'm not sure.

Finding a skull is great and all, but how do you go about cleaning it? Luckily I recalled a recent post by Trailblazer (over here) that got me started. In the end I soaked the skull in roughly 4% Peroxide for about 10 minutes. I then rinsed it well with tap water and left it to dry.

The skull happily bubbling away in a jar full of Peroxide

I then secured the teeth with Superglue. The skull seemed a little brittle and I decided to go with one coating of spray-on Polyurethane to seal it. The end product looks decent enough, although some of the very fine texture is lost by the Polyurethane. I'm also not very fond of the semi-glossy look, but it isn't too bad and might fade a bit over time. I hope the Polyurethane will help to preserve the skull over time. If there are any experts out there with some advice, then please feel free to post a comment below.

The final product

I can't wait to find another skull. I'd love to build up a collection of small mammal skulls. Now if only I can get my hands on a mongoose skull to compare this one with...