| MammalMAP: |
|
3458 |
| Province: |
|
|
| Country: |
|
Botswana |
| Locus: |
|
1823DA |
| Observer: |
|
Kennedy David; Photos by Dave Kennedy, Anne Kennedy, Tina Kennedy, Samantha Kennedy |
| Date of record: |
|
2012-04-21 |
| Number of photos: |
|
3 |
| Notes: |
|
This young elephant had hardly begun to drink when a Burchell’s Starling flew down to the water’s edge. This annoyed the youngster, which went into his dominance routine, with much flapping and dust and chucking water about. I’d seen this before, many years ago at Savuti Camp, when an elephant nearly ran himself stupid trying to prevent a Cape Turtle Dove from drinking from the same pool. But it seemed that the starling knew what it was doing. Not only was the elephant chucking litres of water about the place, he was sucking up poor wee frogs/tadpoles as well, which got splattered around the edge of the waterhole only to be snatched up by the grateful starling. It set me thinking about small water creatures and elephants in general. If there are ± 130 000 elephants wandering about Botswana, drinking every day, how many small water creatures disappear inside elephants? Fanciful or reality? I would like to know. |
| Last updated: |
|
2020-12-03 13:24:54 |
| Sp. code: |
|
107520 |
| Species name: |
|
Loxodonta africana |
| Common name: |
|
African Bush Elephant -- African Elephant |
| Family: |
|
Elephantidae |
| Record status: |
|
ACCEPTED |
| Collector's species id: |
|
African Elephant - Loxodonta africana |
| Institution: |
|
ADU-UCT |
| Record URL: |
|
https://vmus.adu.org.za/?vm=MammalMAP-3458 |
| Links: |
|
• Locus: Summary | Records • Species: Records | Distribution map |
|
