In Touch With Nature – the difference between African and Asian Elephants #Elephants #wildlife
Posted: August 28, 2024 Filed under: Africa, Animals, In Touch With Nature, Nature, Wildlife | Tags: African Wildlife, Elephants, In Touch With Nature, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, South Africa, Writing to be Read 49 Comments
A couple of years ago, my family visited an elephant sanctuary near the Cradle of Humankind. For those of you who don’t know the Cradle of Humankind, it is an area in South Africa where many fossils, tools, and other traces of early humans have been found.
We also visited the Sterkfontein Caves where the 2.3 million year old fossil of Mrs Ples is on display, but this post is about the elephants.
We participated in a guided tour of the elephant sanctuary and one of the discussions with the guide revolved around the differences between African and Asian elephants. I thought it was quite interesting.
The above photograph is of African elephants. There are two species of African elephants, the larger being the African bush elephant (or African savannah elephant) which is the one I’m most familiar with, and the smaller being the African forest elephant. The above picture is of African savannah elephants.
Can you spot the differences. They are as follows:
Size: African elephants are much bigger than Asian elephants. African savannah elephants weigh approximately 8,000 kg or 9 tons and are between 3 and 4 metres tall (10 and 13 feet) at the shoulder. Asian elephants weigh approximately 5,500 kg or 6 tons and are not taller than 3,5 metres at the shoulder.
Ears: African elephants have much bigger ears and they are shaped like the continent of Africa. Asian elephants have smaller, round ears. African elephants have larger ears because they dissipate heat through their ears and Africa is hotter than Asia.
Head shape: African elephants have rounded heads and Asian elephants have a twin-domed head.
Tusks: Both male and female African elephants can have tusks, but only Asian male elephants have them. Not all elephants grow tusks.
A lot of people have romanticised ideas about elephants and think they are cute like Dumbo. This is not true. African elephants are very territorial and highly protective of their young. They can be exceptionally dangerous. I wrote a poem about this recently which you can read here: https://roberta-writes.com/2024/08/17/roberta-writes-song-parody-for-dverse-open-link-night-dverse-elephants-poetry-art/
Elephants playing in the river at Madikwe (this is at Thakadu Tented Camp)
A very grubby elephant (taken at Makikwe Game Reserve – Madikwe Hills Lodge)
I adore this video of a herd of elephants walking in line:
About Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Roberta Eaton Cheadle, is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.
Roberta has two published novels and a collection of short stories and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories included in several anthologies. She is also a contributor to the Ask the Authors 2022 (WordCrafter Writing Reference series).
Roberta is also the author and illustrator of sixteen children’s books, illustrator to a further three children’s books, and the author and illustrator of three poetry books published under the name of Robbie Cheadle, and has poems and short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
Roberta’s blog features discussions about classic books, book reviews, poetry, and photography. https://roberta-writes.com/.
Find Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Blog: https://wordpress.com/view/robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobertaEaton17
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Roberta-Eaton-Cheadle/e/B08RSNJQZ5
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In Touch With Nature – The vulnerable life of male lions #wildlife #lions
Posted: February 28, 2024 Filed under: Animals, In Touch With Nature, Poetry, Wildlife | Tags: Animals, In Touch With Nature, Lions, Robbie Cheadle, South Africa, Wildlife, Writing to be Read 74 Comments
Lions live in groups called prides. Each pride is comprised of related lionesses and one or more adult male lions will also be present with the dominant male being the pride leader. Female lionesses are loyal to their pride and not to their family members, and this often means that they don’t keep related males in their pride.
Male lion cubs are frequent victims of snake bits, hunting hyenas, and male lions that aren’t their father or uncle. One in two male lion cubs will die in their first year of life. The greatest single cause of male lion mortality in the first year of life is infanticide by unrelated male lions.
At approximately three years of age, male lions are pushed out of their pride by their fathers. Alternatively, they may be forced to leave the pride when a new coalition of male lions takes over the pride. For a period of two or three years after leaving their prides, young male lions wander on their own, trying to avoid confrontation with older, stronger male lions. Frequently, single males find other males of a similar age and join them to form a coalition. Coalitions typically comprise of two to four male lions and are often made up of brothers or cousins although some include unrelated males. The main purpose for male lions forming coalitions is to compete with other male lions for mates.
When the males in a coalition reach four to five years of age, they will challenge other male coalitions for access to a pride of lionesses. When a new coalition takes over a pride, the new males seek out and kill the cubs of other males or drive them away. The purpose of the killing of cubs is to accelerate the return of the lionesses to a reproductive state thereby allowing the new males to raise their own cubs. The dominant male or pride leader generally gets first mating rights but lionesses do mate with other pride males. The lesser males usually get their opportunity when several females are in heat at the same time and if the dominant male losses interest while the lionesses are still in heat.
The dominant male is usually the largest, strongest male lion. Dominant males usually only retain that position for a few years and then they are challenged by a younger male or an outside coalition. During their time as pride leader, the male is responsible for defending the females and their cubs from predators such as hyenas.
When a battle for leadership takes place within an existing pride, the battle is usually fierce but not deadly. If an outside coalition challenges the leader, the battle will be to the death.
Brothers, a 99-sylable Double Ennead poem by Robbie Cheadle
Dry, yellow grass stretches
To the horizon
Just there, under a scrub tree, lie two brothers
Within slumbers embrace
They soak up the sun
***
The colour of ripe wheat
They blend with the bush
Male lions resting peacefully
Enjoying blissful dreams
Concerning fat buck
***
One starts gently stirring
Rolls over and sighs
His underbelly unintimidating
But then he yawns widely
Showing great long teeth
This poem is included in Lion Scream, Syllabic Poetry About Southern African Wildlife
Lion brothers walking on the road:
About Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.
Roberta has two published novels and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories included in several anthologies. She is also a contributor to the Ask the Authors 2022 (WordCrafter Writing Reference series).
Roberta also has thirteen children’s books and two poetry books published under the name of Robbie Cheadle, and has poems and short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
Roberta’s blog features discussions about classic books, book reviews, poetry, and photography. https://roberta-writes.com/.
Find Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Blog: https://wordpress.com/view/robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobertaEaton17
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Roberta-Eaton-Cheadle/e/B08RSNJQZ5
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Want to be sure not to miss any of Robbie’s “In Touch With Nature” segments? Subscribe to Writing to be Read for e-mail notifications whenever new content is posted or follow WtbR on WordPress. If you found it interesting or entertaining, please share.
