Safari Live - Day 7 | National Geographic

Well, the clouds have broken apart. We have Sapphire Skies and a golden African sun. The siesta is over. This is Safari Live, ready and standing by. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, you are live! You are [Music] live!

Well, good afternoon, everybody! And a warm welcome from Juma Game Reserve here in South Africa with Safari Live. My name's Tara. Joining me on camera is Craig, and we also have Byron out on the other vehicle along with Senzo. Back in front of control, we do have Alice and Chantel. We also have a special guest appearance all the way from Mara, James, and he's going to be looking for lions for you this afternoon. So exciting!

It is absolutely wonderful to be out this afternoon. As I said, it is beautiful temperatures here, 25.5° (77°F). It is lovely, but I think it's definitely time that the animals need to stop resting now and let's get heading out there and seeing what we can find in the African bush today.

If you'd like to join us, please do! This is a live Safari, so we have no idea what's going to happen. It all unfolds right in front of us, and if you would like to join in, ask any questions or answer any of ours, then it's #SafariLive on Twitter or the feed on Facebook and YouTube as well. So there's plenty of ways to get in touch. Please do! It's always great to hear from you.

Let's see what we can find now. We have actually taken a look around the hyena den just behind me here to see if we've got any movement. We came by yesterday, and there was actually the female with the cub out, but it looks like they're not showing their faces today. I was really hoping they might be out, just enjoying the sunshine, having a nice snooze before they head out later on this afternoon to go and find food.

But I'm not giving up hope completely. We are going to take a little drive around the termite mound on our way out just in case they are sleeping around the back or they might even be just on the ground in some of the shade. So I’m hoping, keeping my fingers crossed for us that we can maybe see a hyena.

Then we're going to head out down towards the dams and the drainage line to see if we can scratch around for any signs of cats this afternoon. I think we're going to head to Byron. Apparently, he has found something quite unusual this time of day, so enjoy that!

We have indeed! And look, it's moving, everyone—a beautiful scops owl! Now this is such a wonderful surprise. The smallest owl in the region, or in this area, or actually in Africa, I believe, the scops owl is a very tiny little owl, similar in size to the Pearl-spotted owl, but a little bit smaller and very well camouflaged.

But it's so nice to see these little owls during the day! It was calling earlier, but we cheated a little bit because we actually saw this owl earlier during the drive. He hasn't moved, so I thought I’d come and have a look and see if he's still sitting, and he is indeed, fortunately for us! I thought it would be wonderful to show you the owl.

Rose, you say, "A day owl"? See, what they do is they perch themselves on trees, they sit and rest, and then get active at night. But they do occasionally call during the day, as I said. We did hear him calling, and that's how we found him. This scops owl, and also the Pearl-spotted owl, will also do that at times.

This is one of my favorite little owls; I always really enjoy seeing these owls. Patty, you're a new viewer! Good afternoon, Patty! Wonderful of you to join us, and you said what an amazing owl it is. And it is tiny! Everyone, that owl is very small. It's only about 17 cm tall, so about the size of my hand—not very big at all, maybe a little bit bigger, but very, very small. The smallest owl that we have in the area.

See how he just turned his head? He's obviously resting and dozing off a little bit, and later will probably go off and look for food. Alright, Snazzy, you can see the little talons of this owl too! Yeah, you can see them holding on to that branch.

Oh they [Music], oh there we go! That's a nice look at those. You can see those little talons of the owl. So well camouflaged! Doesn't it blend in perfectly with that bark of the dead tree? Now this little bird, when it flies around at night, will try to catch insects, maybe even during the day, too— insects and little rodents, perhaps, maybe frogs and geckos. Well, frogs in summer, obviously. There are no frogs out at the moment, but you can see how well camouflaged it is!

Look at that! Wonderful, wonderful view of it, and it's actually very close to one of the houses. So what a great start! My name is Byron, and on camera with me this afternoon is Senzo, and it's great to have all of you with us now.

As I said, we're very close to, we're actually right next to the wine house, but as I said, it's been sitting here for most of the day, didn't move. So I thought we have to show you that even when we're not on Drive, we're still having a lookout for interesting birds and interesting little creatures to show you! Always listening to the bush, and hopefully we find something that we can show you. Now this morning I was not very lucky; I didn't find much at all, so I'm hoping my luck changes.

I’m going to head towards some of the dams. It's quite a warm afternoon. It was cool and chilly this morning, but it's warmed up beautifully! A very, very nice temperature currently! There’s a beautiful apple leaf tree. Maybe do a few trees. I know Tara was doing some trees earlier today, but this is a beautiful apple leaf.

You get the name apple leaf from? Well, apparently, if you crunch the leaves or bend the leaves in half, it sounds almost like biting into an apple! I do think you need a bit of an imagination for it, but that’s apparently where the name apple leaf comes from, the crunchiness of those leaves.

They are green throughout the year. Some cultures refer to it as the rain tree and the reason for that is the locals would often sit under these trees for shade and they would feel little droplets of water dropping down on them, and they called it the rain tree. But what it was, is the spittle bugs. You get little spittle bugs that draw moisture out of the leaves, and what happens is these spittle bugs then— the moisture passes through, the liquid passes through the spittle bugs very, very quickly, and they then secrete it, and it drops down little droplets of secretion or water, really, and that's basically what it's made up of.

These little droplets then felt like rain, and the locals would refer to it as the rain tree, but it's from the spittle bugs that sit on the apple leaf. Oh wow! It sounds like Tara's in luck already; she's got a hyena at the den! Let's go have a look.

Oh hopefully, we're going to have a lucky streak, and hopefully starting with the hyena. So we've come to the back of where we were; we're literally on the opposite side to where we were of the hyena den, and sharp-eyed Craig actually spotted a little cub, which is just in the thick bush and definitely the height helped. There was no way I could see! I was literally trying to see, just somewhere in the bush there. She—she is popping her head up every so often, but I don't want to get too close and disturb her.

But then we do have mother, who I can see why we couldn't see her from the other side, because she's very flat, and there's actually a little ridge of the termite mound just in front of her that would have hidden her, because I was trying to work out how we weren’t able to see her from there! But that's obviously why. So definitely worth checking around the back of the hyena den, and you can see the hyena den this side is in shadows.

It's quite possible that the hyena den was actually in shadows where the female was lying, but I see as the sun has crept over the sky, the female is now exposed. So obviously, she's enjoying the rays, sunbathing. It's not too hot for her at the moment; there’s a nice lack of breeze coming through, and you can see the golden fur of our hyena.

I think she's actually not too old in a hyena, because they do tend to get lighter with age, and they do tend to get shorter fur with age as well. So I think she's probably middle-aged, but as I say, I haven't really had a good look at her yet. So I’m just taking from what I'm seeing at the moment.

Now for these guys, nocturnal activity is the norm, but like I was saying, they do like to sleep and enjoy the sun as well. Lisa Lisa, thinking it was a snake to begin with! Oh, not a good place to land, buddy! Franklin gives an alarm call and actually flying straight over to where the hyenas are. I really thought that would actually wake them up!

I wonder what actually disturbed—yeah, hello, good morning! Lady, she's looking up now over her shoulder to see what was all the commotion. Nah, not worth my bother. So I wonder what did disturb the Franklin? Apparently, nothing too much! See as the Franklin decided to have a bit of a dust bath. That's the first time she's lifted up her head since we've actually been here!

So I wonder if she was in a very deep sleep? Oh, it is absolutely delightful! Dear Tamara soaking in the sun! Tamara also wishes she could be doing that, and it is! It's one of the best things in the world soaking in the African rays! I did wonder if she was going to get up and reposition herself, and there goes the little one to go and join her.

Oh, we might be lucky! She might go and suckle! Shall we go around to the front? It looks like they've gone around to the front of the den! We might be in luck! Looked like the cub was hungry, so we're going to reposition ourselves to see if we can get a better view—slightly more open around the front as well! They are, aren't they, Snazzy? Hyenas are super pretty!

Unfortunately, I think hyenas get a bit of a bad press. A lot of people don't like hyenas, but you know what? A lot of documentaries—and I think The Lion King added to it as well—that yes, hyenas are scavengers and they will steal kills, but hyenas are actually very good predators in their own right, and lions will often steal kills from hyenas. Quite often, what's been missed is the hyenas are actually trying to get their kill back off the lions.

They are absolutely beautiful, especially when they're younger! They can look a little bit moth-eaten when they're a bit older, bless them! So we came in on that bit, so yes, if we had come in on the other side we would have seen her! There she is! There’s the little one! Hello!

But yeah, I think we're going to just keep pulling around. Oh, she’s going to go there? Okay, just in case she disappears! Now it is quite difficult to determine male and female hyenas, especially at such a young age. Generally speaking, females are a bit more boisterous than males.

Females have a lot of testosterone in their body, which actually helps them to outcompete the males, and because of that, their genitalia actually looks like that of a male, which is very unusual, obviously, in the mammal world. Oh, yeah! And nice resting spot! You can see that's one of the favorites. That's actually where we saw them yesterday! A nice little pillow and a very nice shadow!

I missed the name—de de de Gus, oh, Geeker Beth! Great name! Geeky Beth! So nocturnal love, sleep sleeping and loving the sun! Geeky Beth thinks that she's a hyena as well! I wonder if you could hear the whistle of the bird that was just calling? Any sharped people, if you could hear it, #SafariLive, what bird was just calling?

I'll try and point it out again if it does call again! So yes, I believe the bold nature of this cub—and incidentally, you can call the offspring a pup or a cub. It's one of those funny ones that you can use either, because originally, hyenas were in the dog order, or suborder, and they got changed over into the cat suborder in the whole taxonomic grouping. So I think that's why you can actually call them pups or cubs, but suppose technically now they're in the cat order, suborder, it would be better to call them cubs.

But yeah, Z is saying such a cute cub! It really is! But as I say, I think possibly the personality of this little one may make people believe that it's a female, and that could possibly be. It will also depend on the rank of the mother. So if the mother's a very high-ranking female, then her offspring are more likely to be a lot more boisterous with other cubs because they are higher ranking.

Even males will be quite boisterous towards the other cubs! But yeah, as I say, if you can get two cubs together and you can see if one's more boisterous than the other, then that's a possibility that it's a female. But it's very, very difficult to sex a hyena.

Hi Raphael, and good afternoon to you! Raphael wanting to know how old the cub actually is. So it's nice and fluffy, and it does have its spots, so they're actually born black, and they're usually quite small little black creatures like this! They're so cute! And they start gaining their spots when they're about 4 months old, so this one's got quite a lot of spots, as you can see, and it's started to go a bit lighter around the neck. So I would say it's probably around the six or seven month old area.

So still very much reliant on mom's milk! They only really get weaned or start getting weaned after a year. It can be up to 18 months, so it's quite a long time that they will actually suckle milk from the mother. Very rarely will hyenas bring anything back meat-wise to the den, so this little one will actually stay around the den! It won't join mum until it's over a year old out on the scavenging missions, so it's going to be keeping nice and safe close to those holes.

So this is an old termite mound—originally, aardvarks would most likely have made those holes, because they are the excavators of the bush. They've got huge claws, and they can build these holes; they can actually dig something like a meter in 10 minutes! They are just absolutely amazing animals, and they can dig 6m down to make themselves a bed chamber.

Then they dig holes into termite mounds to get at the termites. Once the termites have been extinguished from that mound, then other animals can actually take over those holes, and that's why you get the hyenas using the termite mounds and the holes. So they're going to be having quite a nice cool area in that hole, but also, the cubs will actually make a little area—scrape it away—so only they can fit in there, so if there are any predators around, they can actually retreat back into the right at the back of that hole and hopefully keep nice and safe from predators while mum is away.

So did we have anybody coming back with the whistle? Orange in the door, sorry! I think I preempted your question there about hyenas making the holes themselves. So not really. They actually don't have very long claws. Really, they have claws like dogs, and that's one of the reasons why they got placed in the dog suborder because they do look like a dog! Especially with the claws, a lot of the members of the cat order are able to retract their claws, especially the true cats, or at least have nice sharp claws, but not the hyena! But it's all to do with differences in the skull between the dogs and the cats.

I wonder if that Franklin's making its way around, and that's possibly what little hyena is hearing? Ah man, soup! There is a chin spot B that is calling, but that wasn't the bird, so I'm wondering if it was just a little bit too far.

But chin spot BT says 'three blind mice'—nice chin swapi BT! So do listen out for that one as well! But this one was more like a whistle-like a—let's see if I can actually do it! No! That was rubbish! So it was actually a grey hornbill sounding like an admiral's whistle! So I think we're going to head to Byron! I think he's actually found something!

So good luck, enjoy! And I think it's a mammal this time. It is indeed, Tara! A beautiful big male giraffe who is now moving away from us. We're actually down in a drainage line, and look, we're looking up at him, but he's now moving off through the thicket.

Well, thank goodness you got a brief view of a giraffe with us! So we found something! We have found a mammal! So far, it’s a bit better than this morning—a better start! Fortunately, he's not interested in hanging around! Now, how am I going to get out of this drainage line?

I'm going to try to reverse here quickly. Just get back out! Senzo, let me know when I hit something! Janine, you asked, is it a cat day? And you asked who is roaming the neighborhood that we should look out for? Well, this morning we had tracks of a mating pair of leopards. They were around yesterday morning. We didn't get to see them, though, because we weren't out, and the mara show was on!

But then yesterday afternoon, no one could find them, and last night, we heard them right outside camp. They were very close to camp. They walked and drank at Gary Dam or Vuyela Dam. We found tracks of them this morning, but we couldn't find them! They crossed into Arathusa. Unfortunately, no lions were found this morning! So we don't know!

I’m going to try to see, maybe we find some leopard tracks a little bit later. That would be great! But for the moment, as we know, there were no cats on Juma this morning! But it does change, and they do move around, and especially during the day in winter, the cats do move around a lot more than usual. So maybe we're lucky, and lions or leopards arrive sometime during the day!

So we'll see and keep a lookout for fresh tracks! Bo Zella, you asked if most animals have a routine that they follow? No, not necessarily! I don't think so at all! I think the animals will go and drink when they are thirsty, not necessarily at specific times of the day!

I think predators will hunt when they are hungry, not necessarily at specific times of the day! I don't think there's a routine at all! Not at all! If it was, it would probably be a lot easier to find these animals! But it's not, so no, I don't think there is a routine!

I think the only certainty out here is that at the moment, our drives are from 3:00 in the afternoon to 6:00 in the afternoon and the mornings from 6:00 in the morning to 9:00 in the morning! That's the only certainty!

Alright, well, I'm going to scan these drainage lines a little bit. Maybe we find a herd of elephant moving through the area—that would be great! Let’s head back to Tara with those hyenas at the den.

It is so true, Byron! The only certainty is the drive going out, 'cause it is live! We have absolutely no idea what is going to happen now. We were hoping to find the hyena snoozing. Some days you can come here and then there's no movement, and some days you can hit it lucky like we have done now!

So there’s mom! So you can see she is fairly light in color, but she still has quite a bit of fur on her. And sometimes they almost look bald once they're very old! Hi, Orange in the door! Another question from you, which is great to hear, asking how big the hyena packs can get!

It depends on the area that you work in! And this is one of the things that I absolutely love about Safari live is that we have a lot of different guides who have guided all over the different reserves and across the country in different countries as well! Because what can be true for one animal in one area can be completely different for the same animal in a different area!

Because there's different things that are actually influencing them! So whether it's the weather, the seasons, the vegetation, or the different animals that might be there, some individuals can obviously be different and have different characteristics! So there's a lot of things that can change from one area to the next.

So that's really important, you know, sort of answering these types of questions! And that's why it's really good to hear other people's stories and experiences! Because the books that are out there were usually written by one or two people, and that's their experience!

As I say, it's not necessarily taken into consideration what happens elsewhere! So a lot of us have obviously guided here in the sands, and then some of us have actually guided in smaller reserves, larger reserves, and that is going to have that impact! So here in the Sai Sands, we don't tend to see the clans that big!

I think the largest clan number that I know of here in the sands—and maybe Byron can actually correct me 'cause I know he's done some time here in the sands in the southern side—so they could even be slightly different there. But certainly around this area, I’ve not seen more than sort of 10 adults or so, maybe 15 in the clan, something like that!

In the Mara, I believe they do actually have much larger clans! I think they could get up to 60. But again, the Mara does actually have the numbers of animals to support the clan size! Now here, there is a lot of animals, but not to the extent of the Mara!

So the clan size is not going to be able to support that sort of size, so that’s why it’s going to be quite small still! So it would be interesting to hear how many Byron has actually seen! So I wonder if we can bounce that over to him as well?

But as I say, I remember there being a floppy ear. Some viewers might actually remember her. We believe she was actually the matriarch, the high-ranking female, but I'm not sure what's going on with the clan members now. I believe this is like a mid-ranking female.

So I'm sure the guys would have seen the interactions, and that's how you can tell where they are in the rank! It's the interactions with other hyenas. If they're submissive, or if they're the dominant ones, if other hyenas come up to them and sniff them—if they are the dominant, as I say, the others come up to sniff! If they're submissive, they go to the higher-ranking to smell them!

So I think Byron has maybe got something in his sight. I'm hoping for you! I was trying to have a look, everyone! Now often, you get these little bird parties where a bird party is basically a number of little birds fly in in a group and they'll go and look for food and move together. Now, a southern black tit is a great indication of a bird party!

They'll always be in or with a number of other birds! Now this is a beautiful beautiful knob thorn that the birds are actually flying in at the moment! There's a lot of birds around here! And let’s see what that is on the left there!

That is the southern black—two of them! Here they are, black and white and the wings! But there are a number of birds in with all these flowers around at the moment! A lot of birds looking for food in there!

But look at that beautiful yellow flowers! As I was saying, it’s hard to see all the birds around there! But we saw black-headed oriole, a bar-throated appalis! Taylor! Hello, Taylor! Tara's watching, and she's on leave! Taylor said she's missing all the animals already! Well, Taylor, so am I because I haven't been able to find anything!

Well, this morning, there we go! What have we got jumping around? There it looks like…uh, a long-billed crumb? No, not that one! The other one, that is the bar-throated appalis, everyone! That little one that is jumping and moving around there! Just see if we can see it!

Ah, we just need some light on the front! You’ll see very yellow and a black bar! Very clear! Black bar across the chest! There we go! Come on out into the open for us! And you can just see the yellow! Look this way! Come on! Well done, Senzo! It's very difficult to keep up with these little birds jumping around!

Come on, one more! We just need him to jump out into the open! He's hiding behind the branches a little bit there! There it is! There it is! Let me try! I'm actually just trying to have a look! You know what that might have been? It might have been the yellow breasted appalis just jumping around there!

Ree, you asking what they feed on? So mainly insects! Little insects! Sometimes fruit and nectar! I just wish we could see it again! Whoever it’s jumping around, but as you saw, it’s so difficult to get a good view of them while they’re jumping around in these thick trees! They are tiny, tiny little birds!

What I'll do is, let me show you a photo quickly so you know what we're looking for! It's nice to see these little birds! So the bar-throated appalis is quite common in this area!

Yeah, so it was definitely not the bar-throated appalis! You can see—can you see that clearly? So this is very, very light in coloration, but with that black prominent bar! As I said, I think it might be the yellow. Hang on a second; I'll just find it for you! Yellow breasted! That's it!

Yellow breasted appalis or palis! Depending on how you want to say it! And that's what we saw! You could see a bit of the yellow jumping around and then that very prominent black bar down the front! So yellow breasted appalis or palis! It's a nice little one to see!

Sam, you asked how many kinds of birds live in Africa! Now, I'm not too sure of the total number in Africa! I know southern Africa—however, southern Africa has just over 900 species! I think it's—I think it's 924 or something like that! Allah! 968!

968 species recorded in southern Africa; that's what it is! So that's quite a number of bird species! Alright, looks like these birds have moved off, and I think I'm going to do the same!

But interesting to see when you are out on Safari, if you're driving around and you see a number of little birds around, especially that little southern black tit that black and white one, it's easy to then see that it is a bird party perhaps! So chances of seeing a lot of different bird species together!

Oh! Some impala running across the road in front of us! And it's nice to stop and have a look around and see how many different bird species you can see! Oh yes! Now, Tara was chatting about the hyena clans, and I don't know what the largest is in this area!

I haven't seen enough hyena around here! I don't know the largest clan I've seen! It's probably in about—I think it’s probably about 10 or 12 hyena!

But speaking of the hyena, let’s head back to Tara! Find out how those hyenas are doing at the den! Awesome! Thanks Byron! So yeah, around the 10 to 12 mark! The biggest one that he's seen here for the clan size! So yeah, that seems to be maybe around the sands then!

As I say, it is dependent on so many different things! So it would actually be interesting to hear James’ views when he joins us as well! Dear Watcher, hello again! Welcome on board this afternoon! Asking if there are any hyena—I'll try that one again, if there are any other hyenas!

So these are the spotted hyenas, obviously because of the spots on the coat! But there are brown hyenas which are about a similar size, actually! And they have long brown fur, and they are a lot more solitary! They also have a very different call to the spotted hyena!

So The Lion King was very spot on when they had the giggles of the hyenas! When they get excited, they do have a very high pitch giggle! And you can also hear them contact calling, which is what I was hearing a couple of nights ago outside my room!

They do have a little nosy around camp as well! We did have a female come to camp knocking over the bin, waking us up, so I had to go out and chase her off! But you tend to have the spotted hyenas sort of hunting together as a pack!

Sometimes they go off and forage by themselves, that's more the norm here in the Sai Sands! As I say, they are a very good hunter in their own right! But the brown hyena tends to be more solitary!

There's not been a whole lot of research done on the brown hyena, but I think there has been some more come through in the fairly recent years! So I think they can still—then together, but they will still go off and forage alone!

I’ve been lucky enough to have a few brown hyena sightings! And there was one, actually, on the old reserve I used to work at! We stopped for drinks, and there was a bunch of wildebeest in the distance!

And two sort of separated themselves, and it was just becoming dusk! I suddenly realized, "Hold on a minute, that's not two wildebeest! They're a little bit too small!" And the back is sloping even more so than the wildebeest and I actually realized it was two brown hyenas walking—so they must have been mating—which would have been really amazing to see!

But unfortunately, they're very secretive! They're probably even more secretive than the leopard, actually! So if you get to see a brown hyena—unless you're in the very special places like the Kalahari!

And I think Taylor was saying that she's seen quite a number of brown hyenas! And I believe Taylor's actually on board this afternoon! Missing the animals already! Hi Taylor! And I know the brown hyena was something that she really wanted to see here in the sands!

We've had one sighting a long time ago by Peter Borius! Some of you might remember joining him for that drive! And they actually have quite a strong pungent smell, and that's one of the smells for some reason I can pick up on very easily!

So I'm forever keeping a smell out for you guys! There’s also the striped hyena, which is a little bit smaller than the spotted and the brown! A nice silvery color with black stripes!

They tend to be found further north of the continent, so more centralized! But also quite a beautiful hyena! Hi David! Asking if clan takeovers are common amongst hyenas?

I'm kind of taking it as if a female tries to take over another clan; I'm kind of taking it as that—but not really! You tend again to—it depends! The clan members are going to be related!

So it’s going to be the mothers and the offspring, the aunts, the daughters, that sort of thing! The males will tend to be pushed out! They tend to be a little bit more solitary once they leave the clan after about 2 years of age!

Although the high-ranking female cubs—the cubs from the high-ranking female—can tend to stay for a little bit longer! Maybe until they're about three, and it's possible that gives them the edge when they're trying to approach other clans!

They actually are a little bit bolder! 'Cause unfortunately, male hyenas have a bit of a hard time! Because the females have so much testosterone in their body, they’re actually a lot larger than the males generally!

So they have quite a lot of aggression as well! So a male has to approach a female very cautiously! So if he gets on the wrong side of her—believe me! Those jaws are extremely powerful!

I think they've actually been measured at like 1,500 PSI or pounds per square inch! So they're actually one of the strongest bites of the mammal Kingdom! They really are quite astonishingly strong!

So if they go on the wrong side of the female, they hold no punches! They will tell that male she is definitely not interested! So they almost have to go through this ritual of sort of bowing to her and then creeping forward, then bowing again!

So it can be quite intimidating! So if the males have actually built up their courage—and especially, as I say, if they're from a high-ranking female—they've built up that courage! They tend to be a little bit bolder, and it’s more likely they get the matings as well!

Because they do have that edge! But, in terms of clan takeover, if the high-ranking female dies, then it's going to be the next higher-ranking female that takes over, really! And again, that's generally already established!

Because of the ranks and all the rituals of coming up and showing dominance and some submissive behavior! And lovely Lori! Welcome on board this afternoon, lovely Lori! Wanting to know if males actually make coalitions or groups of males!

So obviously with the lions and the cheetahs—hopefully you've heard that term before, the coalition, and that's just the brothers basically banding together! It’s generally related males! In terms of hyenas, I don't—I’ve not really heard of males doing that!

I'm just—I’m wondering if maybe to hunt! I wonder if that happens in the Mara! I say with the larger clan sizes there! But I'm not really remembering that males do here!

I might have to do a little bit of digging just to remind myself about that! But at this stage, I’m saying, I’m pretty sure they don't! Again, because there's a lot of competition between individuals!

But I'm willing to be corrected on that one! If anybody wants to check up for us, just to remind me, then please do so! #SafariLive, but I'm pretty sure they don't! So I think we—oh! We've got another question coming through! Oh, new viewer! Lion! Welcome on board this afternoon!

I hope you're enjoying your first live safari! And Lion wants to know, are hyenas dangerous to humans? Well, they can be! And this, again, anything in the bush has the ability to be dangerous to humans if you lose the respect for the bush, and hyenas are no exception!

If you turn your back on a hyena at night, a hyena can actually do some damage! And there's been the odd story where people have left their doors open to their rooms at night, and the hyenas have actually come in and taken them off the bed and dragged them away and killed them!

So you do have to treat these animals with respect! But again, as I say, I chased one out at the camp the other day or the other night! I was still close to my room, so I wasn't making any silly moves, but I had to tell her, "You know what? This is my territory! Get out!"

And again, there's that respect there! She knew she was in the wrong, and she ran out of to the cesta because, as I said before, the siesta is over! So we're going to carry on our search for other animals! See what Byron has got for you while we do that!

Oh, nothing just yet! There's a bird soaring above us! Let's see if we can try to get on camera and see what it is! Oh, no, it's far! Do you see it, Sen? It is a bit far for us! In the center of the screen! I think it's even too far for the camera! Maybe... what do you think, Sen? No, like a Marshall Eagle?

I think it's a Marshall Eagle, everybody! I caught a glimpse of white underneath! Oh, sheesh, that is far! It's disappeared into the sky! Oh well! But I do think it was a Marshall Eagle soaring above us! I just caught a glimpse of white!

That brown! I may be just trying to convince myself, but I do think it was a Marshall Eagle! But just too far, unfortunately! I'm going to head down towards Chitwa Dam! Hopefully, we have some activity there of animals coming down to drink! Or animals in the area—some elephants or anything, 'cause for the moment, I haven't seen too much at least!

Ah! Let's try here! Let's see! Yeah, there we go! Oh! No, it can't be! There's a bird flying there! And a vulture! Which one are you focusing on first, Sen? Let’s have a look! That is a vulture! Looked like a white-backed vulture! Amazing to see them soaring above us like that!

Oh, there's some vulture! There was a bateleur above us too, but they're flying incredibly high today! I'm assuming the thermals are giving them a hand them soaring above us like that! It's actually nice to see birds of prey flying around! But it's just—unfortunately, they're so far, it’s very difficult to get them on camera!

James? Not at all! I have not seen any buds on any of the trees! The only thing showing signs of life really is the acacia, the knob thorn! The knob thorn is the only tree that is showing signs of life with those beautiful yellow flowers at the moment!

The rest of the trees I haven't seen any new buds, anything just yet! I think we need to wait another few more weeks before we start seeing anything! Chetty Chatti Meg, you say it’s hard to believe that those were actually flowers on the knob thorn!

Of course, they were, mate! What else would they be? They were beautiful yellow flowers that you see on those knob thorns this time of year! And every now and then, you can pick up that sweet smell of those flowers! Very, very sweet smell! I love [Laughter] flowers!

I must be honest; that's one thing that becomes difficult in summer is identifying all the little flowers around! It’s not easy, and often forget! I need to go back and refresh and try and remember all the names again of the different flowers!

Ah! Now we had some birds flying above us! It sounds like Tara is another bird that she'd like to show you! We actually said literally just as they're going to link to us it’s going to fly, and it did! But I'm just going to pull back 'cause I can still see him!

But because I—oh, there we go! Stay! Come on! This is your 5 Seconds Of Fame! Yes, you, I’m talking to you!

Um, okay, so just up! Yeah, just up! You've got him in the shot! Just a bit higher up! Uh, yeah, there you go! There we go!

So this was the bird who was whistling like an admiral! A little bit earlier! The grey hornbill! That shock of yellow on the bill! Other than that, completely grey!

Now the technical term for the hornbills—they're split off into two groups! We have the head-up whistlers and the head-down cluckers—believe me, that is actually a technical term! Amazing, isn't it?

So the head-up whistlers are the grey hornbills 'cause when they whistle, they put their head back, and as you might expect, the head-down cluckers, which include the southern red-billed and the southern yellow-billed hornbills put the heads down and they cluck!

It really is true! So next time you hear the hornbills, they kind of go “go back, go back, go back, go back, go back!” And they’re doing this with the wings and they're down like this! It's really cool to watch!

I'll see if I can find it for you! But yes, nice to see the grey hornbills! So apparently, someone has spotted some buffalo at the pan just over the way here, so we're going to see if we can catch up with them, 'cause I know you guys haven't seen buffalo for a wee while!

So it will be nice to catch up with the old boys! I'm sure it will be a small herd of duggar boys, or even just one duggar boy! So we'll see if anybody is still with them! Is there any station with Inati at Gallago waterhole, sorry?

Pan through there! Oh, there's a jackal! I thought I saw movement! Just disappeared through the bush! Let me just see if I can see him again! Side-striped jackal! How about that? I don't know if you're going to be able to see it!

I think he might have just disappeared into the thick bush! Some literally just—something caught my attention there! The corner of my eye! That's after me saying I've only seen jackal once on! But I'm afraid I think he has just disappeared through the bush!

Maybe he'll come out towards the watering hole? Maybe! Oh, lacer! Oh, you're in for a treat! Well done, Byron! I'm going to wait for him to show you what he's got!

Well, look at this! Yes, our plan has worked out! An elephant! And he's actually been swimming! You can see he's completely wet! He's been splashing around in the water down here at Chitwa Dam!

This is wonderful! Really wonderful! I'm hoping he goes back into the water! Let's have a look! Oh, this is always a very, very pleasant surprise! If we do get elephant down at the dam, for some reason they really enjoy coming down to swim and splash around in the water!

It's just a lone bull! I don't see any others around! It's not unusual to find a bull by himself! Sometimes you find the bulls in small groups, two, three, four of them moving around, especially the younger bulls! Watch! There he goes! Yes! Yes! Look at that! He's completely on his [Music] [Laughter] side!

This is my favorite, everyone! I promise you, I can watch this for hours! And he seems to be having a lot of fun! Look how beautiful those white tusks are in contrast to the body!

Now the body is very dark grey 'cause he is so wet! Yes! Wow! Look at that! We've got a breaching elephant, everyone! That's what's going on here! A breaching elephant! Seek truth, you say a duning elephant! Look how that elephant's enjoying that water!

That is wonderful! As I said, look at the contrast! Those beautiful tusks against that dark skin! The light is perfect! Now what words would you use? You don't really have to use words in sightings like this! It's just nice to sit and appreciate and watch!

I mean, this is special! This is one of my favorite things to see out in the bush when these elephants play and splash around in the water! Kim, good afternoon to you! You're a new viewer apparently, and you say it's almost like this elephant is performing just for us! It almost looks that way, doesn't it?

It just looks like he's having so much fun! Every now and then, he goes, and he tries to get a bit of food on the bank, and then jumps back into the water! KY, you asked if elephants ever get water in the ears? I don't know! I'm possibly—I've never seen an elephant get out of the water, though, and jump on the side on one leg or two legs to get the water out of the ears!

So I don't know! Probably not! Probably not! I doubt it! Have a look! This Fish Eagle just took off from the dam! I wonder—look! There it goes! That beautiful Fish Eagle! Well done, Senzo!

He's probably going to some trees to the back there! We may get another view of him later! I see where he landed! Carl, I'm watching our elephant for a while there! I think it's amazing!

Now in other parts of southern Africa, especially up in Botswana and Zambia, the elephants need to cross big rivers, deep rivers, so they're very used to swimming! You often see—I’ve seen elephants, herds of elephants, move through or across a river, just their trunks sticking out of the water! My entire herd—even the youngsters!

There's quite a breeze coming off this dam at the moment. Very cool! Cool breeze! Has he had enough? Is he going to move off? Chetty Chatti Meg, you said that was just too cute! Yeah, it was indeed, mate! I hope you enjoyed that!

He’s definitely behaving quite boisterous, this elephant! I wonder if he isn't in a bit of must! Obviously, we can't see now because he's completely wet, so we can't see if he's sweating from his—possibly in must! I'm not sure!

As I said, we can't tell now because he's completely wet! Look at that elephant swagger when they walk downhill! I enjoy seeing all right! Now I think we're going to leave this elephant and his wonderful swagger and let's head across to somebody who also has bit of a swagger: my friend James in the Mara!

Good morning, everybody! No, that's a ridiculous thing to say! Good afternoon! Hello! Welcome to the Sunday Sunset Safari from the Masa Mara! My name is James Henry! Fergus is on camera! Grubby hand that has been a dusty day! Dusty day it has! We are in amongst the wildebeest here! We are as live as Byron!

Of course, some might say more alive than Byron! #SafariLive is how you get hold of us! Now you may notice from the flapping of my hat that there's quite a lot of wind at the moment and that's because over there there's a large storm! There it is! And I think it's moving up the escarpment! So I think we'll be alright—we are getting the odd spattering of rain!

But what we have around us, of course, is a huge number of wildebeest! In the tree over there, we've got some vultures, and down in the valley, where there is no signal, there are some lions, and those lions are not far from here, and they seem to be heading up this way! We can't really go any further down from where we are now, so what I will attempt to do is show you where they are from here!

Well, that won't be hard because there are two vehicles there, but I'm going to pick up my binoculars and let's look down there together and we'll see if we can't. I saw one of them get up and move towards this area here, and they keep making sort of gentle movements in this direction!

Re, you want to know how many wildebeests I think there are here? Approximately? I would hesitate to guess, but I'd say 4 or 5,000 maybe! You know, I don't know! I think it would be very interesting to put me into this area, get an answer out of me, and then do the same with Brent and the same with Scott and the same with Jamie and see without us knowing what each other had said and then get some kind of an indication because I think you'll find that it would be very different for every one of us!

I don't know! I would say about a few thousand! Yes! Now that shot that you have there is what we call a slightly compressed shot in that the lioness is not quite as close to the vista as she looks there! We use that technique sometimes when we're on bushwalk!

And you come to us and suddenly it looks like we're standing underneath an elephant! Some sort of trick of the trade, if you like! And so although I have almost no doubt that those lions, who don't look very fat, are thinking about hunting these wildebeest, I'm not sure obviously when they're going to do that!

We've seen Brent in this area a few times with lions watching them on the hunt, and they have been startlingly impatient about it! Some might say to the point of incompetence—sort of just run into the middle of them and seeing what they could find and seeing if they couldn't catch one that tripped over its own feet! And we've yet to see these chaps be successful!

But we might be lucky here! I think it's definitely going to be worth us sitting here and waiting to find out if these lions aren't going to come up here and hunt one of these wildebeest! So in case you're wondering, I'm just going to tell you our plan out here in the Mara for the duration of the time that the wildebeest and Thompson's gazelle, of course, and zebra are here, is going to be to try and find them and the predators that are hunting them!

And see if we can't, well, first of all, make some sort of prediction about what's going to happen and then watch the hunts, failed or otherwise! Most of them will inevitably be failures, and of course, many of us, myself included, don't mind the failed hunts!

They're good fun to watch! And it's always quite nice to end your day without death! But some of them will be inevitably successful! And so while, hi everybody, it sounds like you've had some wonderful views from the Mara with a herd of wildebeest and some lions sitting behind them! That sounds like something might happen there, something interesting!

So I'm sure James is going to keep us updated on what's happening there! The wonders of technology, hey! From the Mara up in Kenya back down here to South Africa in the blink of an eye—absolutely fantastic!

So we have two nyala bulls, and one of them is displaying! Oh, that is one of the best things to see! Look at that! I'm saying one of them is displaying!

Can you see the male at the back? He's got the silver mane erect! He's being very deliberate at where he's placing his feet, and the other male is not even—but oh! That's why there is another male! There's a third male! It's going to say this younger male in front is kind of saying, "No, you're the winner!"

But there is the rival! So they are slowly dancing around each other! They're sizing each other up trying to work out who is going to be the winner! They're going to do everything they can to avoid a direct confrontation, 'cause if they get injured during that confrontation! I'm going to move a bit further along the wall, 'cause we're going to lose them behind the bush there!

The dance of dominance! Very much so! I think we might be better! This should be a nice view! There’s actually a fourth male there! That is amazing! Oh, maybe we were better back there!

I thought we were going to see them through there, but definitely coined the phrase there: dance of dominance! So I’m wondering if he has decided that maybe he's not going to be the winner! He has stopped his dance!

So there we go! He's starting again! So animals go through these rituals! As I say, if they actually have a direct fight, those horns could potentially spear the rival male! If the loser does get injured, that could actually impact on their ability to run away from predators! It could actually reduce their ability to find food if it's really badly injured!

So they go through this ritual to work out who is likely to win, who is the largest, who is the strongest by showing off everything they have! So by standing with their fur erect, it makes them larger! You can see them arching the back as well!

Hi Zoe! Welcome on board this afternoon! Zoe wanting to know is it mating season or do they do this throughout the year? So generally speaking, the nyala—there's the other male coming into view again! So generally speaking, the spiral-horned antelope and the nyala don't have a very strict mating season!

Although when the young are born, they will often drop—sorry, I think I swallowed a bug! Excuse me! Sorry about that! So yes, they will often drop their young during the rainy season when there's plenty of good food!

But there might be a female that's actually in estrus not too far from here! And that's triggered these males to come together and fight for her or fight for the right to mate with her! But I think the male behind, I think he's the winner!

Because the other male that's in front of the shot, he seems to have remained stationary for a little while! The hair is gone down on his back! So I think he's kind of realized that perhaps he is not the best male!

Oh, and it sounds like that solitary male elephant has found a few friends! So I'm going to see if they do carry on! There's actually another—there's a fifth male nyala around here! So I'm wondering if there is a female around that's caused them to gather here!

He's just here on the right here, but nowhere near as magnificent with the horns as the other two males who were displaying just now! But I think that bull has found some friends, so I think it's worth definitely checking them out!

Well, it is indeed! Now I think the bull moved off, but look at this wonderful herd! I think there are about 22 elephants that have just arrived to drink! I'm not sure if they're going to feel comfortable enough to go in to get in and swim!

Oh, there we go! There we go! There’s already one or two waiting in! But I'm assuming—I'm hoping the whole herd comes and spreads out! They all seem to be keen for a drink! I think this big female, the right in the front on the left-hand side, I think that is the matriarch!

She's one of the largest elephants! Sorry, a bigger part—not that one! Just to the right! Sorry, Senzo, there! Just behind that one there! Yes, I think that is the matriarch!

She's the largest female that I can see in the group! And also, she led the herd down to the water! She walked in front, and she kind of surveyed the area to make sure it was safe! Just listen to the sounds! I'm going to keep quiet for a second!

Listen to them sipping or slurping up the water in their trunk! Sucking up the water and drinking! Splashing the water around! Isn't that wonderful?

See again in situations like this, it looks like this elephant's just playing! Spraying the water! I repositioned that, so when I saw the herd coming down, I actually moved away! We were on the dam wall, saw them coming and moved away!

'Cause I could see the female, the large female was smelling! So I didn't want to make her nervous! She can obviously see something is blocking the way! Look at that! Isn't that amazing? Little youngster staying very close to the herd!

That is cute! As I was saying, it looked like the herd! Oh! Listen to the communication going on between the herd! More elephants coming out! You can see in the background!

And she then eventually led the whole herd across the dam wall and came out to drink on this side! Drinking this side before! So I assumed they would come here, and also I've positioned a little bit further away! The wind is in our favor; it's blowing not directly to them!

And often if our scent is blowing directly to them, they do get a bit nervous! So we're actually in a perfect spot right now! A wonderful view! You see how those large females are very protective over that youngster!

Stays close to them! Stays in between the hood a lot of the time! They'll stop and they'll just basically listen and see if they can smell us! They want to make sure we're not a threat or we aren't a danger for the younger elephant!

And while the herd is drinking now, there looks like two swimming at the moment just behind the herd! Isn't this a magnificent scene, though? See, and we just sat here patiently and waited for them!

And I've said this before—give the animals their space and often they'll relax! And they either you can move a bit closer or they'll move closer to you! It's again that mutual respect! And especially having respect for the animals, not making them feel in any way that they are in danger!

I mean, look at those elephants swimming back there now! Now it’s interesting if we just have a look at these little elephants off to the left here! Now look at that little one! Now it takes an elephant, a young elephant, about two years before they really know how to use their trunks!

So you can see often what they'll do is the young ones will watch the females, and this is a learning curve for them! They will still be suckling completely from the mother! They'll be drinking milk, but they will start learning to drink water!

And it's interesting to see how they’re trying to use their trunks to put the water in their mouth! And they will learn that from watching the adults! Alright, let's quickly head across to Tara with the slender mongoose and we'll wait and see what these elephants get up to!

Welcome back, everybody! So we were just going to turn around! CU, we can hear some elephants actually behind Gary down wall! We saw a slender mongoose making its way over to the two mounds that are on your screen now, and it actually popped its head up from behind the back mound!

So I was hoping maybe we might catch a glimpse of it, but I think he's playing hide and seek! But it's a mongoose that's quite solitary! So we see the dwarf mongoose quite a lot, but we don't get the chance to see the slender mongoose 'cause they're just so quick, and they're quite shy as well!

So they tend to just stick to the undergrowth! But they are a mongoose that are diurnal; they're active during the day! They'll also predate on the dwarf mongoose, so they are a predator of the dwarf mongoose! Unfortunately, I think he is a bit cam-shy, sadly!

Hi Rick, and welcome on board! And asking if the mongoose is part of the same family as ferrets! Now I'm really going to have to dig deep for this! I remembered it just like that years and years and years ago!

But I do, I'm pretty sure the ferrets are actually part of the mustelids, which are part of the dog order! B! I am going to have to double-check that one for you 'cause that's like sure I haven't used that bit of information from about 78 years ago!

So I will double-check that one for you, and I shall do that! While you head across back to Byron, and we'll see if this little guy pops out! Otherwise, we’ll head on down to see if we can find the elephants just at the back of the dam as well!

Oh, look! It looks like more of these elephants have decided to swim and play! Even some of the younger ones—all getting involved in having a bit of fun in the water!

This is just—it’s my absolute favorite! I must be honest! If I’m excited now! I counted 22 initially, but about five more have joined! See, these ones are a little bit nervous! They were further behind the herd, unless they're just excited!

They can see everyone else is swimming! They might decide to go and get in the water too! Just catch up to the herd a little bit! Oh!

There's a youngster! It’s incredible! They were making a lot of noise, and as soon as they got out of the water, it was quiet! Can hear some of the water thick knees calling! That high-pitched whistle that we just heard! A lot of birds around!

Starlings, three-banded plovers, Egyptian geese, that fish eagle that we saw earlier that moved off! I think it just perched itself in another tree! Still some more elephants joining! Another one or two!

Wonderful herd! Yana, there's no set number of how many elephants will be in a herd! It can range from three elephants up to 150 or 300 elephants in some areas! It all depends!

The most elephants I've seen in the Sai Sands are probably between 80 and 100 elephants in one group, one herd! Occasionally, what can happen too is that group or that herd will split—possibly two different herds! Three! Four different herds that have met up in an area, and they split up again!

So it can vary, and it can change! The most elephants I've seen, I think, is in Botswana, in one herd—about 150 elephants together! But wasn't that perfect timing to get down to the dam and see this interaction?

Tina, you asked, or you said, with so much room, why do they bunch up so close together? Well, the thing is, Tina, I would say—and I mean this is my theory, I don't know—but elephant herds, there is a very close-knit family unit!

And they rely a lot on each other for safety! Now, when they do come down to swim, or drink rather, the elephants are still cautious, even though they are big and powerful! And these herds probably don't have any predators out here—but they are still very cautious!

And they look after the young! They look after each other! And because they're also so social, the swimming behavior that we witnessed is very social behavior! It’s a bit of fun!

And it’s nice to see the herd moving around together! And I think that's why they stay close together! It's just for safety—for a bit of fun! Establishing those bonds between the herd!

There goes the last one! So as I was saying, our timing is perfect to see them moving through and swimming! That was just fantastic! Absolutely fantastic! I hope you enjoyed that!

As much as I did! Let's head back to... Let's head back! Let's head back to Tara and see if she’s still got those nyala and if they are still doing their wonderful dancing display!

Oh, hello, everybody! We do still have the nyala—they are still down there! So we've been backs and forwards across the dam wall a couple of times 'cause we have heard the elephants in the background there!

So we're just trying to work out the best part to try and see them! And I think they're actually heading towards the western side of the drainage line, but it looks like there's a couple of very big bulls there! So there is the nyala! Oh, then another go at trying to display there!

Can you see? He was really arching his back! And even the tail joins in as well and gets curled around! And he's definitely much larger than the male on the left, who is just forced back! But interestingly enough!

All the female nyala are on the northern side of the dam! So they’re all over there! Right off in the distance there! I think there’s some impala that’s joined them as well! Those are impala!

So they were—I think they’ve headed more to the right! There's actually a couple of dead trees a bit further right. Somewhere around there! Yeah, there we go! Yep! So I’m just seeing if there was another vehicle that wanted to cross the wall!

I have just seen the elephants just moving that way! So I think we're going to drive around and just see if we can catch up with them! So hi, antelope! That’s why I just missed the question!

So antelope asking about antelope! Slightly confused me then! Welcome on board! Wanting to know if antelope species use dance as a way of intimidating other males! And it's not really spring to mind like the dance that the nyala do!

But they certainly will size each other up and sort of side by side! And a lot of animals actually do that! Even the cats! So hope if this male impala was actually showing, he was throwing his head back and actually grunting!

Then so he might just do it again! 'Cause there's a couple more males here! Just showing his dominance! So they don't tend to dance, but they do tend to roar and just strut their stuff!

And as I say, just walking side by side helps them to see which one is taller! There you go! You can see them! To see him actually throwing his head back! The elephants are coming up behind us!

So I'm going to just try and turn the vehicle around just so we're facing them! So we can see what they get up to! I does look like a big bull just trying to work out where he's likely to want to go!

'Cause we don't want to be in the way of this bull! See where it is! So he's going to come out just in front of us there! There we go! Look at that! I’m wondering if he might just be going down to drink!

Hello, mister! Good afternoon to you! And the second one's going to be coming up behind shortly! So there's a second one that's just coming through the bush where the first one came from!

Now, he's not in must! I'm not smelling anything! Oh, quoted! Welcome on board! Asking if the bull we've just seen is a bull from Byron! I think—10 to 15 minutes, maybe just to get down there! It's not too far! But it is far enough that there's no way the elephant could have got here from there in that time!

So pretty sure he is a different bull! Can hear them just starting to come out the bush here! So with that bull taking that pathway there, I want to make sure that we keep that clear! 'Cause it's likely that the other elephants are going to want to come through there!

And obviously, we don't want to get in their way! So you can just about see the head poking through, and I seem to remember this was always a spot that elephants liked! They always like to stop here for a dust bath!

So apparently, it's really good dust there, and the dust actually just helps to dislodge any parasites that might be on the body! Helps to keep the skin in good condition! And obviously, during the summer, they will actually put mud all over their bodies as well!

And when the mud hardens, then that will fall off! And they’ll actually scratch against the tree to encourage it to fall off, and that can also pull out ticks and any parasites that are caught amongst all the wrinkles in their skin!

Now these look young bulls! So maybe they’re his entourage! As we were saying earlier on today, the young bulls tend to start breaking away from the female herds when they're about 16 to 18 years old!

And then they go and find older bulls to hang around with, and they learn how to be bulls! They learn how to spar and fight! Well, the same thing—spar and fighting! But they also learn what to do and the etiquette of being male elephants, basically!

So it looks like they are learning from the big male who passes. Now, I think that big male was possibly in his late 30s, maybe early 40s, maybe slightly later, maybe mid-40s! That's quite a young bull that's trailing behind!

So there might be some females in here as well! It looks like they might go down to drink! So I think it's worth this going onto the wall again 'cause they've taken a slightly different route!

So the big male carried on walking towards the lodge, but these are just going down to the water's edge here! So it might be that we get to see them drinking! Hi, Yaku! Oops! Oh, Yaku, wondering how far elephants walk during the day!

So I just misjudged, and there's a little bit of a dip in the road there, and I just misjudged that one! So we were going for a little slide there! But Yaku, wanting to know how far elephants walk in a day! And again, it depends on the time of year!

This time of year, they will walk much further looking for food and water! Yeah, there we go! Then during the summer, they tend to do small close loops of figure eights, actually! When they’re in an area looking for food, and they get wider and wider as they go further into summer or winter, sorry!

Oh, that's nice! Unfortunately, I'm the wrong way around! But there's some impala sparring just to the left of the elephants, and the elephants are drinking as well! How about that?

Now, elephants are quite particular about the water that they drink! They don't like having any mud or grit or anything like that mixed in! So you notice they'll actually skim the surface of the water with the trunk and get the water that’s on top!

You can see they're not putting that trunk right in the water! Sure! Those impala rams are also really going for it to the back there! And the other big bull is on his way back to join these three boys! Look at that!

So exquisite! X, I think the name was! Wanting to know how much water an elephant can hold in its trunk! It will depend on the size of the elephant, of course, but some of the big adults could hold up to 14 liters in the trunk!

Now I wonder if we're going to see a bit of a standoff! Now these elephants, we definitely saw them all together in the drainage line, but there seems to be a bit of an interesting thing going on here!

Now it looks like they're wanting to greet each other! The trunks are actually being held as if they were going to put them in each other’s mouths! There we go! There’s the younger bull putting his trunk in the older bull's mouth!

So maybe they didn't quite greet! There we go! In the drainage line—apparently, that's the best part to drink from! Again, look at him! He's just got the tip of his trunk in the water, filtering off the slightly cleaner water on the surface!

Now they could drink up to 100 liters in one go! Chantel, synchronized drinking! Oh! And we've got another young bull coming in! Yeah, definitely synchronized drinking!

So there’s a little bit of a myth that elephants can use their trunk like a straw and drink it straight through, 'cause obviously that is their nose! So they have to hold it in the trunk and then squirt it into the mouth!

On average a day, a big bull elephant could take in maybe 200 liters or 300 liters of water! If there’s something wrong, then they will drink obviously a lot more, and if they're drinking up to 400 or 600 liters, that means there is something not quite right with them!

There we go! There’s the greeting! Is he allowed to put the trunk in the mouth? Oh, just heard a bit of a trumpet! There are some more elephants to our right in the drainage line!

Now I did hear someone found some leopard tracks actually at spaghetti junction! So he got moved out by the bull elephant! So the baby decided, "You know what, I'm going to show my power to the impala!" [Laughter] instead!

I don't know if you kind of saw that, CU! I was just having a look for the elephants! See if there's any more movement from us behind fine! But they have found!

Yeah, just keep watching that bull! He's not happy with the nyala or the impala females! So there's a nyala male just coming to shot there! And he's going to be interesting when he's a big bull, if he's throwing his weight around now!

Oh, here comes the rest of the herd! I was going to say he is a little bit young to be on his own! Here comes the rest of the herd! That's where his family are!

So many species all at once! Definitely! Cing it! It is getting a bit cooler! Animals tend to come down to the water holes to drink late afternoon, especially in the summer!

They're all coming down to drink now! So I'm going to stay on the walks, hoping they're going to take the same route as the other elephants! He’s being quite boisterous!

I'm just hoping that it's they don't think it's me that's upsetting their little boy! So I'm just going to keep my eye out on them! Like I was saying, I heard them talking about leopard tracks coming up from Spaghetti Junction!

And Spaghetti Junction is the next junction down from here! So they may be finding—and they said that the leopard track went north! So I thought maybe hearing the trumpeting, there's a little one—oh, there’s lots of little ones here!

We go! Absolutely amazing! Oh! Mom was nudging the little boy who was causing all the commotion there, nudging him down towards the water hole again!

So perhaps the trumpeting was actually more to communicate with the little boy, see where he's gone! Maybe rather than them being scared by a leopard! But I’ll keep my eyes peeled! Perhaps the leopards are making their way up here!

That would be nice! So a few people a bit concerned about the lapwing! So the lapwing is rather just making a lot of noise! They do tend to get a little bit upset, but it is out the way, so you don't need to worry about that!

There's okay! So we might get a bit of a greeting going on here! The bull's actually greeting the female and checking to see if she's in estrus! I don't know if you saw!
There was the trunk just going between the legs again!

And apparently, she looks like she might be in estrus! The side of her gland by her eye is actually weeping, so that can be a sign that they're in estrus! Or it could be a sign they're a bit distressed!

So they might have bumped into the leopard a bit further down! 'Cause it doesn't look like he's responding to her being in estrus! Yeah, you can see the lapwing just to the right of the bull!

So it's in between the bull and the cow! There it is! Now they shouldn't have eggs this time of year! There we go! There's the greeting between the bull and the female!

Sorry! Oh no, tell a lie! That’s a younger bull! So that was the bulls, I think, that were with him earlier! So possibly wanting to try a little bit of sparring there! Gerber Waller! Interesting question there! Is there any explanation as to why the tails get raised horizontally?

And it's funny, actually! There are a number of animals that do it! Rhinos, giraffes! When they are scared, when they are excited, or becoming aggressive, that tail gets raised! And I’m actually not sure exactly why!

What causes that? And it could be so—it’s very much, there's no way it can be misunderstood that it is actually a sign to say something is wrong! 'Cause I say sometimes these animals use their body language to actually communicate!

Elephant eyesight is not very good! So for an elephant, I would say possibly not! And especially with the rhino as well! I’ll have to do a bit of digging! See if anyone's actually done any research on that as to why the tail gets raised!

I say we all know it does, but why it gets raised? That is an interesting one! This is absolutely fantastic! Hi, Rushy! Rushy also making the observation that she’s often seen the elephants running towards the dam as if there's not enough water around for them!

And I think it's the excitement! Buffalo do the same as well! I think it is that excitement! Possibly wanting to get there before everyone else muddies the water! 'Cause as I say, they can be quite particular about their water!

This time of year, there isn't a lot of water around! But these elephants also know where to go digging for it! Again, the spaghetti junction mentioned! They do have the sandy areas where you can find where the elephants have actually been digging, and sometimes you can actually catch them drinking there!

And they’ll take—they’ll wait their turn! So they'll dig, they'll wait for the water to fill up the hole and drink! And obviously, that water is going to be filtered by the sand, so it's going to be nice and clean! And they will actually wait their turn!

Oh right, oh right! Oh! So there is actually a blacksmith lapwing nest! So they do still have a nest! Well