Wateringhole Chat - Thursday 27 March, 2008

Thanks for the new day.  Giraffe at NK waterhole again 12:37 am CAT

They don't usually travel alone do they?  I thought they stayed with their families...

Robin

Just got here to see the giraffe.  How cool is this!  Can hear him drinking.  Great night sighting!!!

Robin, I don't know if this is strange.  I have never seen a giraffe alone at night at the WH.

Marsha

There was a giraffe alone at night a few months ago and very nervous to drink like this one is.

Suzanne

Thanks Suszanne.  I think their only worry would be lions, don't you?  I wonder if there are more giraffe in the bush.

Had giraffe and zebras pay a visit about an hour or two ago which was also great.  My first time to see the giraffe at night here.  One problem with the night cam and no zoomie is that there could be a whole herd of giraffe just off to the right out of sight and sound without our knowing it lol.  But I have only seen them with others during the day and would think that it would be much more dangerous to be out and about at night alone when lions are more likely to be out on hunts.

About a half hour ago the giraffe was here also and there were 2 zebras there with him

It is nice to know that the critters are out and about tonight.

You know what is amazing to me is that it is pitch dark out there to them.  They can't see the infra-red light, and they are wandering around!!!!

Giraffes may be seen in 'herds' or alone - the only time that you can guarantee seeing more than one giraffe is when there is a mother with her baby - although you may often see several together at times because they just happen to be feeding in the same area.

From the Wildlifecampus Field Guiding Course:

The only time they are seen in close association is when they are feeding from the same tree. They group loosely and a herd of a dozen feeding giraffe may be spread over an area of a 1 - 2 Km or more.

and

Giraffe are gregarious, although when together they don't behave like members of the same herd.

Giraffe are very often seen alone in the bush but they are also seen in close association with others

Good evening fellow cammers!  Looks like we are on our way to a splendid evening at the WH.

Tabs, hope you're enjoying my soothing pumpkin text!

Edited to add:  Is EP down or is it me?

Roger, this looks like a good start to the night!

Thanks for the educational info Tabs.  I was too lazy to try to look it up lol.

Something is lurking near.

Prey animals, including giraffes, rely mostly upon smells to detect danger at night - but their eyesight is also more attuned to darkness than our is.  This gives them a small window in which to try to escape - but giraffes, in general, rely upon their size (and their kicking abilities) as it would take a largish pride of adult lions to be successful in taking an adult raffie down.

Lions which are alone or in pairs/threesomes think twice about tackling a giraffe as they would be putting themselves at unneccessary risk - individual or small groups of lions prefer to take the easier option of making more frequent kills on  imala/wildebeest/whatever bucks they come across than trying to tackle larger mammals which could seriously injure them by a well aimed kick or horn etc... and a kick from a raffie can dislocate a lion's jaw which would lead to starvation of the lion.

Only larger prides of lions will, normally, tackle a full grown raffie - and some exceptionally large (and determined) lion prides in some African countries have even been known to specialise in taking adult elephants as prey!

Thanks Tabs.  Very interesting info.  I guess that hyena would never attempt a giraffe for dinner?

Marsha

I cannot see the EP or WH cams today; are they down or am I having problems?  Thanks

Brad

I have never heard any stories of hyaena deliberately targetting giraffes - but hyaenas are very opportunistic and, if there was a raffie that was sick/old/injured and unable to fight off a large group of hyaena - or if the hyeanas could isolate a baby from it's mother, then I am sure that a kill would ensue.

The same goes for lions - if a small group of lions come across a sick or otherwise incapacitated raffie, or can isolate a baby, they will take the opportunity for an easy meal and will take the chance that the (adult) raffie is too weak to escape and will not, therefore, be able to cause potentially life-threatening injury to themselves.

The dynamics of the interactions between prey and predator animals are fascinating; if only because there are so many factors involved which can affect their chances of survival - or their ultimate demise - depending upon the conditions at the time.

Speaking of Hyenas, there were a couple there at NK who just stopped by for a quick drink and at the finger area now.

How are you trying to view the cam's?  What link on the site are you using and what browser?  There has been some changes made but most are able to view the cams ok it seems. 

evening all,
lion roaring at EP.

babs wound up at EP, heard a hyaena little bit ago too.

my firefox notified me of the update so took the chance and updated it to the .13 version from the .12 I had and glad to say both of the pop up cams still work for me :)  Haven't tried other links since those are the main ones I use anway.  But the point being the update of FF most likely wasn't the cause of the problem for some not able to view the cams today.

thanks for sharing on FF Updating not causing you any problems T-man. I have been letting it update on it's own for a few months now and KNOCK ON WOOD, it hasn't caused any problems for me that I have been able to notice...sheeeeew.

We do know that some that have upgraded their Windows Media Players have had issues here and there, since the embedded players used for both cams are with WMP(usually version 9).
I don't know much about Vista or Mac type computers, but do know some have shared having other different problems using them too.

EDITED TO ADD: I have WMP 10 and understand that WMP 11 is not all that user friendly with some different types of things.

lion at it again at EP.

I have WMP ver 11 and have had no problems with it once it got installed, updated and did what ever it was doing when I first updated it that took a while.  I think it was reading my hard drive for all media files to see how many were downloaded illegally lol.

lol @ T-man. Glad to hear that WMP 11 works good for you then.

I just found this thread that one of the viewers has shared and has helped her/him with the latest viewing of cams issues. Thanks for sharing Accola.

Firefox will work with cams with Add-on ... HERE

It looks like something in the back to 3:00 clock at NK...

It is / was  a Whitetail Mongoose ..he has a drink at the finger thetwent off into right  field