Items of Interest to Members

Obituary It is with much sadness that we learned of the very recent passing of three of our members Geoff Twycross Unit 20 George Thomas Unit 15 Barry Flowers Unit 23 Our deepest sympathy to all the families and friends of the persons above they will certainly be missed by all the Olifants Members. For sale Protect Birds from flying into your windows or glass sliding doors with this simple but effective product click here for more details Toilet Habits and toileting etiquette in the Bush Interesting story from Klasserie posted 02.03.10 http://living-in-kruger.blogspot.com/2009/11/fine-line.html Interesting URL on Scorpions. http://www.scorpions.co.za/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=61 " Olifants"."The River run's through it" by Mario Cesare" Contact Meagan Cesare at Olifants office for your copy. See country life March issue, for a write up on the book A novel and fun way to get to Olifants click here Wild dogs click here other items of interest EWT Events for 2010       Posted 17 Aug 09 Interesting article on the wild dogs that were released into Drifters a few years back. http://www.researchcam.com/the_wild_dog_story.html

Posted 18 Feb 2010 Herewith rainfall for the season so far - Jan 195 mm Feb 111 mm March 29 mm April 3mm May 25mls July 15mls Aug 12mls Oct 05mls Nov 184 mls Dec 101 mls which fell in the first two weeks of Dec January 153mls Feb 12.5mls to date March 19mls April 35mls fell on the 3rd of April another 36mls fell 4th of April & 9mm 20.April 28 April 30ml = 110mls for April to date 03.05.10   Year so far 640mm mean average for area is 400mm     Useful telephone numbers for members printable version click here   Wild animal welfare news regular updates click here http://scorerjanineblog.blogspot.com/ .

 

Fun & informative snippets

Figs (ref Figs of Southern Africa – John and Sandra Burrows) All figs are perennial evergreen though some are briefly deciduous  3 forms -         rock splitters                         stranglers                        free standing Rock splitters start life from seed lodged in crevice, root extending to soil Not fire resistant because they have protection from the rocks. Stranglers are from seed dropped by birds or bats into crotches or bark of tree and roots also extending to soil. Syconium – the fruit which is also the flower (inflorescence – many ‘flowers/ florets’ making up the flower) Syconium produces a scent that attracts a unique per fig specie of wasp.  This maintains the specific integrity of the tree specie. Other wasp species do not respond to the scent of its non-host tree specie. Male wasps tend to be flightless, serving only to mate with females and burrow the hole through which she can escape to pollinate and lay eggs in another fruit.  Figs are produced year round to ensure survival of the wasp species.

Dung Beetles – (National geographic/ Wikipedia) Photo J Scorer Photo H Pownal 3 types:             Rollers – roll a ball away to bury it as sustenance for eggs/ hatchlings             Dwellers – live in the dung             Tunnellers – tunnel under the dung to bury as with rollers They are found on every continent other than Antarctica Rollers mate underground. The young feed on solids while adults feed on liquids Rollers roll backwards with hind legs, head down One dung beetle can bury up to 250 times its own weight in a day The largest group of dung beetles, Scarabaeinae, alone accounts for more than 5 000 species (Wikipedia) and all together over 30 000 species have been identified (encyclopaedia.com) They feed on the dung of herbivores, predominantly, also omnivores but not carnivores, and some on decaying vegetation.

 

Wild dogs

Morning Janine Firstly, just got to say I really enjoy your website and the game drive updates - seems like quite a productive piece of land you guys have there!!!  I have been going to Ingwelala since 1984, and now I work as a guide at Motswari Game Lodge in the Timbavati, and your general game seems great there – has not been as good in the Timbavati since the fences came down in the early 90's....anyway, we never used to see lions and leopards like we do now, some consolation I guess.... I was reading about the wild dogs that were seen last week at Olifants, and immediately when I read of a pack of 16 dogs I got a bit intrigued...I went and looked at my photo's i had taken of what I assumed were 'our' 'resident pack'...it seems that are not that resident as it is the same group of dogs from the Timbavati!!!!!!  they denned in the north eastern corner of Umbabat, then moved to a property adjoining Ingwelala in august.  They spent most of December and January in the Timbavati, and departed in the first week of February, and have not returned since...I now know why as they are miles and miles away - it is absolutely amazing how far they travel! There were 7 adults, and then 12 pups, surprisingly in 2 different litters, 3 about 4-months older than the 9 which must have been born in the end of June 2008.  they returned in December with 18 dogs, but one was killed by a hyena and they left as a pack of 17....it is amazing that they have done so well to keep the pack at 16 dogs!  Suppose that also explains why they move so far to get enough food.... i have attached a photo of the one dog i used to identify the pack, it is the same dog as standing in the image on the top left on the game drive page... Well that’s about it, hope you get to see the dogs again, for your sake, (for ours, I hope they return soon to the Timbavati! LOL) Regards Chad Cocking

Image Courtesy of Chad Cocking inset images Neil Hulett from our latest game drive ....... click on game drive at top for that.

EWT events

none at the moment will update as soon as there are new events.

	Items of use and Interest to Members Hints and tips
Game viewers for sale or	if you need a Gameviewer or a ready built one see the site below
custom built	http://www.kebrapart.co.za/Gameviers%20For%20Africa/index.html
Hints and Tips	Tips for 4x4 vehicle use ... click here Bush Etiquette ... click here
Our neighbours	Dec 09 News letter Olifants North Jejane Nov news letter 09 Olifants North News Letter November 09 Jejane (see history on Hanglip) Parsons

Member Involvement :

Solar Panels required http://www.sanwild.com/

Spare solar panels donation to Sanwild animal rehabilitation centre required for the upgrading of their perimeter fence. If any one has installed electricity and is getting rid of their Solar Panels, and does not know what to do with them, please contact me Janine, at janine@yebo.co.za, as Sanwild rehab centre in Gravelott is in dire need of a donation of panels to assist with electrifying their new enclosure, they do incredible work on wild animal rehabilitation, their release rate compared to many other centres is also phenomenal they are not a petting zoo but a genuine rehab and release centre.

Ellie pics please ...	Request to all Members: Ellie Pic's please If you have any photographs of the elephant "Happiness" or her herd, would you please email them to me (Claire of Unit 56) – Claire@makare.com? Michelle and Steve Henley are doing elephant research for the APNR and are keen to get her into their elephant ID database. Photos of both ears and tusks are needed, plus associations with others in her herd help a lot. Most of the herds that we are seeing here at Olifants are known to Michelle and are also seen in the Timbavati. However, she does not know of an elephant with the aggressive behavior shown by Happiness. One thought is that perhaps she is relaxed when in other areas but runs into trouble as she moves about and so she arrives here unhappy. Since Michelle has limited email download speeds, I have volunteered to collect any photos we all have (mine all show Happiness with her ears pinned back as she charges us, so not the best for IDs!) and will get them to the research team. Thanks for your help. I'll send word around with any information we learn about Happiness. Best Regards, Claire Makare (Claire@makare.com) Unit 56 ORGR
Conservation Charity	My Acre of Africa
Hornbill Experiment	Ground Hornbill Research Project:The Greater Balule has agreed to assist the FitzPatrick Institute in the research of Ground Hornbills. It would be of great assistance to the FitzPatrick Institute if all members of Olifants who encounter Ground Hornbills take the time to fill in and fax the following forms: Ground Hornbill Sighting sheet Ground Hornbill Calling Data Sheet These forms will also be available from the Olifants Office.
Vulture Tagging	HAVE YOU SPOTTED A TAGGED VULTURE? Help us gather important research data by reporting your sightings of tagged vultures. We need the following information from you: date, time, locality, GPS coordinates (if available), species, habitat, condition of bird, and most importantly, the colour of the tag and its specific alpha-numeric code. The latter will provide us with an exact identification of the area where the bird was originally tagged. If you have a camera handy, we would love a picture of the bird! And don t forget your name and contact details, just in case we require further information from you. Report your sighting information to one of the following organisations: * South African Bird Ringing Unit Tel. no. (021) 650-2421/2; safring@adu.uct.ac.za * Endangered Wildlife Trust Birds of Prey Working Group Tel. no. (011) 486-1102; andreb@ewt.org.za; www.ewt.org.za

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