Black Rhinoceros

The hook-lipped black rhino of Etosha National Park is a frequenter of dry land. Adults are bulky, large and intimidating, with a height at the shoulder of about 1, 7 metres and with a weight of about 1000 kgs. However, do not be fooled by their lumbering appearance. Black rhinos can charge at top speeds of about 50 km an hour and, in spite of their weight, can make sharp turns without slowing down.

At one time, rhinos had an extensive range all the way from Namibia to Table Mountain at Cape Town in South Africa. Amongst other places, they were found in the Waterberg area in Namibia, were they have been reintroduced and have started increasing in numbers. The endangered status of these animals is illustrated by the fact that in the 1970s there were about 65,000 in Africa, whereas only about 3,000 existed about 20 years later. Of this number, about 350 were found in the Etosha Park.

These endangered animals are the prey of poachers, who kill them for their horns, which are used as trophies by hunters, as dagger handles in the Arab world, and as powdered aphrodisiacs in Asia. Unfortunately, at present the high prices paid for horns encourages poaching. As a strategy to prevent poaching, radio transmitters have been introduced at the base of the horns. There are also efforts to educate the populations in countries that are markets for horns to get them to understand that the rhino is endangered, as well as informing them that the scientific tests show that a rhino horn has no medical qualities.

Namibia is well known for having free-ranging rhinos, which are found in the arid ranges of western Kaokoveld. They prefer the mountainous escarpment but will follow river courses after a good rainy season. They cover a large range, walking and eating at night, when it is cool and resting during the day. It is interesting that they are one of the few animals that eat the leaves of the unappetising-looking and rather forbidding welwitschia plant.

Courting and mating rituals are complex. The male will approach the female cautiously, swinging his head from side to side and sweeping his horn to the ground, making snorting sounds. The reason for his caution is that the female, enjoying solitude as do all rhinos, is liable to attack the male which, in view of her size and weight, could do him considerable injury. In fact, they are so solitary that they only come together for the mating. The calf will stay with the mother until the next calf is born.

Their pointed upper lips are well adapted for browsing, and they eat twigs, leaves, herbs and shoots. All rhinos enjoy bathing as well as a good roll in mud, so although they are grey in colour, often they will appear to be the same colour as the earth.

In spite of the names, the main difference between black and white rhinos is not colour but the size and shape of their lips. In fact, ‘white’ is actually said to be an English corruption of the Afrikaans word ‘wyd’, which means ‘wide’ and refers to the shape and size of the lips. Another way to tell them apart is by the fact that the black rhino is the smaller of the two.

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Brown Hyena

There are only about 1,200 brown hyenas in Namibia. It is a territorial animal and lives in clans. In the interior of Namibia their territory covers about 1,400 square kms, but those found in the Sperrgebiet have a much smaller range. They are usually found in mountains, dry riverbeds, and salt pans. This rare and little-seen animal, which weighs between 35 and 45 kgs, is shaggy with striped legs.

The hyenas which live in the Namib Desert have had to adapt their eating habits in order to survive. For instance, they have taken to eating wild fruits to quench their thirst. Their favourites are !nara fruit, tsamma melons, and gemsbok cucumbers. It is thought that while feeding her young, more than half of the female brown hyena’s diet will consist of tsamma melons and gemsbok cucumbers. On the coast around seal colonies, the brown hyena and black-backed jackal will live almost entirely off seal pups and after-births.

Cheetah

At one time this beautiful animal was widespread in Asia and Africa but nowadays it is only found in Iran and in a few sub-Saharan African countries. World-wide, there are only about 15 000 cheetah still living in the wild. A great threat to the existence of the cheetah is the fact that they are very susceptible to disease and the birth rate is dropping because their genetic pool is so small.

Namibia is known as the cheetah capital of the world, as it is home to the largest population of these animals. Most cheetahs in Namibia live on private farms in the north-central area, with only a small population to be found in Etosha, the Kalahari and Kaokoveld. There are also a number of cheetah conservation projects. The greatest threat to the cheetah’s existence comes from the fact that its co-existence with farmers is sometimes a precarious one, because farmers, in a natural endeavour to protect their investments, will destroy cheetahs if they think that they are killing their livestock. Nowadays, in recognition of the beauty and unique characteristics of these animals, there are a number of conservancies where cheetahs are protected and are encouraged to breed. These sites also give the public the opportunity to view and learn more about these remarkable animals.

One of the best known fact about the cheetah is that it is the world’s fastest land animal, able to sprint at 110 kilometres and hour. Its slender body and long thin legs contribute to its speed. However, it is not generally known that cheetahs tend to sprint for only relatively short periods. For instance, a chase seldom lasts as long as one minute.

While untrained observers sometimes confuse cheetahs with leopards, a characteristic that makes a cheetah easy to identify is the black tear mark under the eye, which help to keep the sun out of the eyes during hunting.

An adult cheetah has a body length of about 112-135 cm with a comparatively long tail that is 68-84 cm long. Its height at the shoulder is about 73 cm and it weighs 34-54 kgs. The male is slightly bigger than the female.

In Namibia the home range for a male is about 1500 square kilometres while a female ranges up to 3000 square kilometres. The females live alone and bring up the cubs which stay with them for about 18 months, after which the cubs stay together for about a further 6 months. Cheetahs are aggressive toward their own kind as they often fight over territory and kill or maim each other.

They become sexually mature at about 20-23 months. The gestation period is 95 days and they produce a litter of between 4-5 cubs. In captivity, only about 30% of cubs survive and it is thought to be the same in the wild. The cubs are smoky-grey with a long mane of hair running down their backs, which probably serves as camouflage. In captivity, adults live for 8-12 years.

Damara Dik dik

The Damara Dik Dik, the only dik dik found in Southern Africa, is only found in northern Namibia around Otjiwarongo and in the north-western areas of Damaraland and the Kaokoveld. They are an endemic subspecies of a dwarf antelope – in fact, it is the smallest antelope - and are about the size of a fox terrier dog. The adult male weights about 5kgs and is about 400mm in height at the shoulder.

Dik-diks take one mate for life and they are usually seen in pairs or in small units. They are blue-grey on the back to the middle, becoming red-brown towards the belly. Only the male has horns, which can grow to long as 2.70 cm. Their habitat is dense undergrowth and all of the carnivores prey on them.

Black-faced Impala.

The Black-faced Impala is one of six subspecies of the impala and is on the endangered list of the IUCN. This sub-species, which is only found in Namibia and southern Angola, has a black blaze on the face that distinguishes it from the other subspecies. They are also bigger than the others.