Top 20 Facts About the Big Five

Top 20 Facts About the Big Five

The big five is made up of two carnivores, the lion and leopard and three herbivores, rhino, elephant and buffalo. The term Big Five originates from game hunters who believed that these animals were the most dangerous to track and hunt on foot. They include the Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo and Leopard.

Here are the top 20 interesting facts about these big fives animals in Africa:

The African Elephant

The African elephant is the world’s largest land mammal that is commonly found in herds. However, older bull elephants will often roam independently. A distinguishing feature of the elephant is its trunk which has many uses.

1. Memory – Elephants are highly intelligent with well-developed memories. This allows them to return to seasonal watering holes, grieve for the dead, harbour grudges and welcome back long lost herd members after years apart.
2. Trunk dexterity – The African elephant has two finger like projections at the end of its trunk. These are so sensitive and dextrous that it can pick up a needle from a flat surface.
3. New born elephants – Elephants are born with a stunted trunk which rapidly elongates over a few days. However, it takes three months for the calf to master this complicated tool.
4. Elephant temperature regulation – Every 20 minutes all the blood in an elephant’s body is pumped through its ears. This plays an essential part in regulating its temperature as heat is lost from the blood vessels which lie just below the surface of the skin.
5. No sweat – Elephants do not have sweat glands but they do cool down when water evaporates off their body. In times of extreme conditions, they sometimes put their trunk down their throat and suck water up which they then squirt over their body.

The Lion

The lion is the apex predator of the African savannah. Males can weigh up to a quarter of a ton and move at 22.2 meters per second in one sharp burst. With excellent night vision they are active hunters at night.

6. The eye sight – Their eye sight matches that of a human during the day but at night it’s over six times better. They are aware of their competitive advantage, so much so that even when they are hungry they stay inactive when it is negated by a full moon.
7. Hunting – When a stalking lion is spotted by its prey it will sit up and act innocently.
8. Scavengers – Lions will not pass up the opportunity of a free meal and scavenge when they can. So much so they will follow up on hyena calls and vulture activity to see what it may offer. A male lion takes the opportunity of a free meal. Lions will scavenge at any opportunity and in many areas carrion is their main source of food.
9. Speed – They can run at a top speed of 22.2 meters per second which they can reach in five strides and maintain for up to 100 meters.

• Reproduction – A lioness goes through a period of infertility after the pride is taken over by incoming males. This may be an adaptation to see if the males are not just passing through.

African Buffalo

Buffalos have the appearance of a domestic cow. The main exception being that both males and females have a large set of horns. As herbivores they eat large amounts of grass and need access to water to aid digestion which is done through rumination.

• Buffalo diet – Because buffalo eat a large quantity of coarse material they need to drink regularly, up to twice a day managing as much as 34 liters in just 6 minutes.
• Rinderpest – Rinderpest was a disease in the 1890s which almost wiped out the buffalo, estimates say that for every buffalo that lived, 10,000 died.
• Buffalo horns – A buffalo bull horns can grow to be 100 cm wide, 141 cm along the curve.
• Dagha-boys – Older buffalo bulls may choose to drop out of the herd and wander alone or in small groups. These animals are known as “dagha-boys” referring to the Zulu word for mud given their preference for wallowing.
• Buffalo pathfinders – The movement of a herd is determined by individual buffalo called pathfinders. Despite this important role these animals do not have to be high ranking.

Rhinoceros

There are two species of rhinos native to Africa. They are the white rhino which is twice as bulky as the black rhino. These large herbivores with their iconic horns are under critical pressure from poaching.

• Hearing – A rhino’s hearing is very good. This is aided by ears which rotate independently of one another to detect sound. Even during sleep its ears will instinctively move in different directions to detect the sound of possible danger.
• Evolution of the horn – Horns first evolved in the dinosaurs and then in rhinos.
• Rhino poaching – In 2007 roughly 20 rhinos were poached for their horn. The following year this surged to 83 and in 2013 1,004 were killed.
• Parental care – When fleeing from danger a white rhino’s calf will often run ahead of its mother whereas a black rhino calf will usually follow behind.
• Rhino horn – Rhino horn is made of keratin, the same stuff as our finger and toe nails. This grows at between 2 and 7 cm a year. Like hair, rhino horn is not attached to the bone but grows from the skin.