WILDLIFE JOURNAL SINGITA SABI SAND, SOUTH AFRICA for the Month of December, Two Thousand and Twenty

WILDLIFE JOURNAL SINGITA SABI SAND, SOUTH AFRICA For the month of December, Two Thousand and Twenty Temperature Rainfall Recorded Sunrise & Sunset Average minimum: 21.4˚C (70.52˚F) For the month: 246.4 mm Sunrise: 05:00 Average maximum: 31.8˚C (89.24˚F) For the season to date: 411.35 mm Sunset: 18:41 Minimum recorded: 17˚C (62.6˚F) Maximum recorded: 41˚C (105.8˚F) Amidst the thunder and torrential downpours, brilliant new life bursts from the bushveld. We have had an incredible month of rain, with our 100 mm rain gauge overflowing at one point. Eruptions of yellows, bright oranges and violets splatter the ground and trees and the ever anticipated marula fruit begin their growth. It’s been an exciting month for game viewing, with many predators taking advantage of the stormy weather to hunt. A successful hunt does however draw the attention of numerous scavengers and the competition between leopards, wild dogs and spotted hyenas continues its saga. Here’s a Sightings Snapshot for December: Lions • A wonderful month viewing the Mhangene Pride. Comprising of six females, four cubs and the Othawa male, these lions have been seen throughout the property from the Sand River all the way down to the southern grassland regions. Youngest member of the Mhangene Pride, photographed by Damin Dallas. • The Othawa sub-adults made a brief appearance on the western parts of the property, but the pride haven’t been a prominent feature in December. • One of the most unexpected and exciting finds was locating the Styx and Nkuhuma male lions on a young giraffe calf kill just to the east of the lodges. The males, now at four years old, are each looking in great health. We look forward to watching their progress as they transition from nomadic to territorial. The Othawa male lion, photographed by Damin Dallas. Elephants • With the immense amount of rain we’ve had in December, elephant sightings have been plentiful this month. Seen throughout the varying terrain, we have enjoyed some spectacular viewings from big bulls, through to wandering breeding herds. Being water dependant, these large land mammals have lapped up the opportunity to visit new mud wallows, carving the shallow depths and reshaping the wet landscape. Wild dogs • The Othawa pack were seen at the very start and end of the month, with the latest sighting including an unfortunate event where a lioness killed one of the pups. The pack are now down to 13, comprising of four youngsters and nine adults. Leopards • The Schotia female’s cub is now a year old and fast approaching his mother’s size. With a very efficient and dedicated parent, this cub has been spoilt with meals this month. Taking advantage of the dramatic bushveld thunderstorms and windy weather, the Schotia female has made some spectacular kills. Unfortunately though, being lambing season, many of these kills have been impala. • The Misava male, a leopard not usually seen on a regular basis, has surprised us with fairly regular viewing throughout the month. One particular sighting saw him kill and hoist an impala at our airstrip, only to drop it minutes later to a few patiently waiting hyena. • Sightings of the Mobeni female have greatly increased this month and we have also seen her cub. The youngster is very shy and always a treat to view, even for just a few seconds. • The Nyeleti male leopard offers consistently great game viewing, patrolling his territory around the lodges. With the rain washing away much of his territorial scent, he has spent much time patrolling, calling and renewing his dominant pheromone. The Shangwa male leopard, photographed by Gareth Poole. Cheetah • This month began with a couple of sightings of a male cheetah in the south of the reserve. Much of the month has been quiet with this animal, however, in the last few days, he has remerged, as well as a female and two cubs. It is extremely exciting to find these animals and we’re looking forward to their progress in the new year. Mother and two cubs, photographed by Gareth Poole. Bird List The bird list for December includes seven new bird species, bringing our yearly total to 290. Special bird species include: Dwarf bittern, Eurasian hobby, lesser moorhen and a striped crake. Above, a dwarf bitten with a foam nest frog, photographed by Paul Josop. The Butterfly Effect Article by Kirsten Tinkler They say that the small beating of a butterfly’s wings can cause hurricanes on the other side of the world. But what would happen if that beat suddenly stopped? Would chaos unfold? Would life, as we know it carry on? Or would the Butterfly Effect transpire? The Butterfly Effect can be described as "sensitive dependence on initial conditions", or in other words, the tiniest of actions in a big system will have profound, unexplained and even complex consequences. The idea behind this is known as Chaos Theory, developed by meteorology professor Edward Lorenz in 1963. In nature, we see these consequences every day, from the eruption of alates in their nuptial flight post the perfect summer rain, to nests made in tree cavities, once holding a branch which an elephant broke off to feed on. Small changes can alter our entire ecosystem and sometimes it’s the smallest of changes that have the biggest impact. Artwork by Kirsten Tinkler In South Africa there are over 660 species of butterflies, many of which are endemic. Unique members of the order Lepidoptera, we can easily ID these flying insects for their colourful wings which are held together at rest. But there’s more to these colourful creatures than first meets the eye. Microscopic scales cover the butterfly’s wings and it’s these scales that form the structure for the patterns that provide the bright and dull colours used for attraction and deception. The Latin name Lepidoptera actually means scale [Lepido] and wing [pteron]. Delving further into the science of these scales, we’ve learnt that certain colours are not actually made from colourful cells, rather with special pigments which absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others. The wavelengths reflected are what gives the butterfly its colour and black absorbs all wavelengths. For example, a butterfly that looks green has scales that soak up the blue and red wavelengths, reflecting green. These incredibly complex fluttering beauties start off as more basic beasts in the form of a larva (caterpillar). When fully grown and at nearly 3 000 times their original size these creatures begin their journey for change. Finding a branch or leaf to hang up-side-down, they form a protective covering called a chrysalis. Within this delicate structure the caterpillars body effectively breaks down, metamorphizing into a completely new creature – a butterfly. I would imagine an incredibly complicated instruction manual is needed to deliver the precise changes needed to re-make this insect. New complex eyes, a new respiratory system that can handle the rigors of flying and a brand- new heart. Butterflies have been a symbol for change and transformation for many decades, however very specific climatic and environmental conditions are needed for them to survive. Butterflies are also responsible for many genetic variations in plant species. Travelling across the country (some even migrating out of South Africa) means that nectar collected from various flowers is transmitted far and wide to plant species far away. With the global decline of our bee population, butterflies have become even more key in the collection and delivery of pollen in plants. A decline in butterflies could cause catastrophic effects throughout the ecosystem, rippling through the world. It’s the choices we make that have an impact on the future. Global warming, pesticides and habitat loss are the biggest threats to butterfly population. But what would happen if butterflies vanished? What if a small change in decision caused a huge chain of events? Even if you are standing still, change will happen. Every choice you ever made has led you to right now, reading this. While you exist, every moment matters; those bad choices you made have led you to the best days of your life. So stay, for the bad choices and for the great ones. Stay. Cause a few hurricanes. Between science and fairy tales Article by Quentin Swanevelder For those of you who grew up having read Lewis Carrol’s, “Through the Looking Glass – and What Alice Found There” would have met one of the characters called the Red Queen. The meaning of the term Hypothesis is (in a simple term) an idea that one can test through experimentation, or a guess rather than a known theory. How the two paragraphs can be used in the same statement, and in Nature for that matter, I will try and explain in a simple manner. The theory was first put forward by a professor Van Valen, and proposed the co-evolution of species in order to survive because of the evolution of a co-existing competing species. This is also sometimes referred to as the intra species battle for survival. Without boring you with too much science, as promised, I will give an example of this hypothesis between one of the most iconic animals in Africa, the giraffe, and a type of thorn tree. These two species have evolved on a linear timeline in an attempt to outdo each other for survival. If we look back on the evolutionary time scale, we would find the predecessor of the modern giraffe feeding on the predecessor of the thorn tree. The tree, realizing it was constantly under attack started modifying some of its leaves into thorns.

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