The Atlas of Dangerous Animals E-Book

Paula Hammond

• Herausgeber: Amber Books Ltd
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 267

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Illustrated throughout with detailed full-colour artworks and outstanding photographs, The Atlas of Dangerous Animals presents an in-depth look at the natural world’s most deadly creatures, from poisonous spiders and sea snakes to aggressive lions and man-eating sharks. The selection spans a broad spectrum of wildlife, from large carnivores such as the grizzly bear and great white shark to smaller but equally deadly predators such as the black widow spider and puff adder. Each world habitat is covered, with examples carefully drawn from every region of the planet – from the majestic lion of the African plains and the polar bear of the arctic wastes, to the Komodo dragon of South-east Asia, whose saliva carries poisonous bacteria that can kill a person in hours. The fascinating and engaging text describes in vivid detail the behaviour and hunting technique of each species, alongside informative maps and information box features.

Leseprobe

THE ATLAS OF

DANGEROUS ANIMALS

MAPPING NATURE’S BORN KILLERS

PAULA HAMMOND

This digital edition first published in 2019

Published byAmber Books LtdUnited HouseNorth RoadLondon N7 9DPUnited Kingdom

Website: www.amberbooks.co.ukInstagram: amberbooksltdFacebook: amberbooksTwitter: @amberbooks

Copyright © 2019 Amber Books Ltd

ISBN: 978-1-78274-230-2

Picture CreditsCorbis: 10, 15. 26, 117, 185NHPA: 19, 72Natural Science Photo: 23 (Carlo Dani & Ingrid Jeske), 34 ( P.H. & S.L. Ward), 39 (D. Allen Photography), 42 (Jim Merli), 49 (P.H. & S.L. Ward), 56 (Steve Downer), 60 (Carlo Dani & Ingrid Jeske), 69 (J. Hobday), 78 (C. Banks), 82 (C. Mattison), 86 (Carlo Dani & Ingrid Jeske), 90 (Beth Davidow), 95 (Carlo Dani & Ingrid Jeske), 102 (D. Yendall), 112 (Jim Merli), 121 (Ken Cole),132 (Hal Beral), 139 (Jim Merli), 146 (Brian Gibbs), 150 (Mary Clay), 154 (Carlo Dani & Ingrid Jeske), 158 (Pete Oxford), 164 (Paul Hobson), 168 (Richard Revels), 173 (R.P.B. Erasmus), 177 (Richard Revels), 180 (G. Kinns), 194 (Ken Hoppen),199 (Ken Hoppen), 202 (Bob Cranston), 206 (Kjell Sandved), 214 (C. Banks), 219 (Hal Beral)Artwork credits: International Masters Publishers Ltd

All other images and illustrations © Amber BooksAll rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purpose of review no part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher. The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the author or publisher, who also disclaim any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details.

www.amberbooks.co.uk

Contents

INTRODUCTION

AFRICA

AFRICAN ELEPHANT

CHEETAH

FAT-TAILED SCORPION

CHIMPANZEE

HIPPOPOTAMUS

LION

LOCUST

NILE CROCODILE

PUFF ADDER

ASIA

ASIATIC BLACK BEAR

BENGAL TIGER

KING COBRA

KOMODO DRAGON

LEOPARD

RETICULATED PYTHON

MONGOOSE

AUSTRALASIA

QUOLL

GREEN TREE PYTHON

FRILLED LIZARD

LEOPARD SEAL

SALTWATER CROCODILE

TASMANIAN DEVIL

WOLF SPIDER

NORTH AMERICA

ALLIGATOR

GILA MONSTER

GRIZZLY BEAR

PUMA

RATTLESNAKE

WOLVERINE

POLAR BEAR

SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA

GREEN ANACONDA

JAGUAR

MANED WOLF

MEXICAN RED-KNEED SPIDER

PIRANHA

STRAWBERRY POISON-ARROW FROG

EUROPE

BADGER

BLACK RAT

LAMMERGEIER

GREY WOLF

PIKE

SIBERIAN TIGER

WILD BOAR

THE WORLD’S OCEANS

BLUE-RINGED OCTOPUS

GREAT WHITE SHARK

ORCA

PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR

PUFFER FISH

SEA SNAKE

STINGRAY

INDEX

Introduction

To humans, the most dangerous animals would seem to be those that put us at most risk – the man-killers. Sharks, big cats, bears and snakes: every continent has its own candidate for this gruesome Hall of Fame. From the Asian King Cobra to the North American Grizzly, these fearsome predators kill and maim hundreds of thousands of people every year. Yet not all killers are meat-eaters. Rogue hippopotami and stampeding elephants are just as dangerous and, in many cases, responsible for more human deaths than the natural-born killers. On a world scale, though, tigers and enraged hippos are mere beginners. More human deaths are caused every year by insects like the humble locust, which devastate crops and bring wide-scale famine.

Lammergeier

Siberian Tiger

Wolf Spider

Great White Shark

Green Tree Python

Nile Crocodile

To a Thomson’s Gazelle, the most dangerous animal is undoubtedly the cheetah, who lists this lithe member of the antelope family amongst its favourite food. To the snake, it’s probably the mongoose, that fast, tenacious little mammal who specializes in making meals out of one of nature’s most feared killers. And for members of the insect family, the Wolf Spider seems just as deadly as its full-sized namesake. Whether an animal is dangerous, depends on your point of view. The English poet Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892) rightly said that nature was ‘red in tooth and claw’, and in the animal kingdom the truly dangerous ones are those who want to put you on the menu.

Strawberry Poison-Arrow Frog

In this volume, we hope to explore the world of dangerous animals from all these perspectives, giving you a fresh look at the man-killers, the predators, the great hunters, and the perhaps not so gentle herbivores.

Frilled Lizard

Jaguar

Africa

Africa is a continent of contrasts. From lush, green tropical rainforests to harsh desert sands, nowhere on Earth can we find such astounding variety and natural beauty.

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The second largest of the world’s seven continents, Africa covers 300,330,000 square kilometres (11,700 square miles). Yet, if we were to view this immense landmass from space, the first thing we’d notice is that most of it is comprised of a huge, wide plateau.

To the north is the great Sahara Desert, which covers an area larger than the entire United States. On the edges of this vast ocean of sand, desert slowly merges with grasslands to produce swaths of golden, sun-scorched savannah. Snaking almost the length of the whole continent is the mighty Nile, the world’s longest river, which brings water and life to the parched interior. In Central Africa are the continent’s great rainforests, a startling carpet of green nestled in the vast Congo basin. Towards the coast, the picture is completed by narrow strips of bustling coastline.

Such a variety of habitats has made Africa home to some of the world’s most famous and spectacular wild animals – plus a few surprising ones too. On the South African coast, for example, we can find penguins, who seem much more comfortable basking on tourist-filled beaches than in the frozen Antarctic. It’s in the thick dense jungles, steamy swamps and rolling plains, though, that we find Africa’s most familiar and dangerous inhabitants and where, every day, hunter and hunted play out their deadly game of survival.

African Elephant

Over 1.6 million years, the African Elephant has evolved into the world’s largest land mammal. When roused, these seemingly gentle giants can charge at up to 40km/h (25mph) in a terrifying and unstoppable stampede that brings death and destruction in its wake.

Key Facts

ORDER Proboscidea FAMILY Elephantidae GENUS & SPECIES Loxodonta africana

Weight

Male up to 6000kg (13,228lb)

Length

Male up to 4m (13ft), head to rump female up to 3.3m (10ft 10in)

Shoulder Height

Male up to 3.27m (10ft 9in)

Sexual maturity

About 10 years

Breeding Season

All year

Gestation period

22 months

Number of young

1

Birth Interval

3–4 years

Typical diet

Grasses, foliage, shrubs, fruit, flowers, roots

Life Span

50–60 years

Eye GlandsMid-way between the eye and ear are an elephant’s temporal glands. In males, these glands produce a dark, strongly scented substance during the breeding season.

TrunkAn elephant’s trunk is a powerful and flexible tool. It can be used not only to breathe and smell, but to grasp and carry objects.

Comparisons

As these pictures show, there are a number of clear differences between African and Indian Elephants. Indian Elephants are generally smaller, with lighter skin and less prominent tusks. They also tend to have a slightly humped back and two lumps on their forehead. Up close, there are less obvious differences. An Indian Elephant, for example, has five toes on its front feet and four on the back. An African Elephant has four or five toes on its front feet, but only three at the back. It is the ears that are the biggest giveaway: the ears of African Elephants are larger and are shaped, some people say, like the African continent.

African Elephant

Indian Elephant

Modern elephants are the last surviving relatives of the Woolly Mammoth, which became extinct around 4000 years ago. Mammoths belonged to a group known as Proboscideans, who, like elephants, had elongated snouts or trunks. Once common throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, elephants have been rapidly declining in numbers since the 1970s. African Elephants are larger than their Asian relatives, but there are now only about 500,000 remaining. These include the Forest Elephant of Central Africa and the West African Elephant, which lives in both forests and savannahs, but it is the Savannah Elephant, living south of the Sahara Desert, that is largest and the undisputed king of the grasslands.

Family Ties

Wild elephants live for around 60 years. During this time, they form close-knit family groups of about 10 or 12, headed by a dominant, older female called the matriarch. Elephants are generally social animals. They enjoy the company of the herd and are extremely expressive and communicative, using a series of low stomach rumbles as well as touch, scent and body posture to ‘bond’ with the rest of the group.

Male (bull) elephants generally stay with the herd only until they’re about 12 years old, when they leave to form troops of their own. Exiling mature males from the family group in this way may be a safety measure. An adult bull elephant has glands between the eye and ear, which become active for about three months each year. During this time, the mature males enter a condition called must, which means madness. In this heightened state of sexual arousal, these elephants are very dangerous and frequently use their tusks and huge bulk to gouge and trample other elephants and, occasionally, humans.

Ancient Tanks

In the second century BC, the great North African general Hannibal (247–183 BC) crossed the Alps into Italy and declared war on the Roman Empire. He took with him 26,000 soldiers, 6000 horses and dozens of war elephants. Elephants were the ancient world’s equivalent of the tank. On a battlefield, they caused panic, not only because of their great size, but owing to their unpredictable nature. They could easily smash apart an enemy army, but were just as likely to inflict damage on their own troops. These enormous mammals have poor eyesight, so when alarmed or threatened they will charge blindly towards the source of the noise. Bull elephants can weigh up to 6 tonnes (6.5 tons), with tusks growing to 3m (10ft) in length, so there’s little that can stop an angry or distressed elephant from stampeding. Hannibal’s elephant riders were aware of this, and came equipped with a hammer and a huge, metal spike. If at any time they lost control of the elephant, the only way to stop it was to drive the spike into its brain.

Stampede!

It’s in extreme conditions that elephants are at their most dangerous, yet not all elephant attacks are obviously defensive. Elephants are extremely intelligent, complex animals and sometimes their behaviour seems almost human. In 2002, for example, a herd of elephants attacked a village that was encroaching on their range. After drinking stores of beer, they went on what seemed like a drunken rampage, pulling down homes, destroying crops and killing whoever stood in their way.

In another village, an elephant attacked a man who was trying to hide from the herd up a tree. The elephant shook him down from the tree and used his powerful, column-like legs to trample him to death. Later, he bathed the body and stood guard over it, almost as though he regretted his actions.

From the moment of birth, a newborn becomes the centre of attention within the family group.

If necessary, the young calf is gently helped to its feet, either by the mother or by another female.

The mother keeps a close watch over the calf on the move, ready to steady the newborn with her trunk should it falter.

The mother shields the calf from the fierce sun during the heat of the day.

Cheetah

Able to accelerate up to 96km/h (60mph) in just three seconds, the cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal. For this big cat, however, hunting is all about skill and timing. If it doesn’t catch its prey within 30 seconds, it will be too exhausted to continue the chase.

ForelegsCheetahs are able to stretch their legs much further than other animals. This allows them to cover vast distances when running.

SpineShoulder blades lie to the side of the body, so cheetahs can arch their spines to cover distances at speed.

Key Facts

ORDER Primates / FAMILY Pongidae GENUS & SPECIES Pongo pygmaeus

Weight

34–68kg (75–150lb)

LengthHead and bodyTail

1.3–1.5m (4ft 3in–4ft 11in)60–80cm (24–31in)

Sexual maturity

20–24 months

Mating season

Throughout the year

Gestation period

90–95 days

Number of young

Up to 8,but usually 2 to 5

Birth interval

17–20 months

Typical diet

Gazelles and other antelope species; also hares, rodents and gamebirds

Life Span

Up to 12 years in the wild

ClawsMost cats pull back their claws when not in use. Cheetahs can’t, using them instead for grip while running.

Grasslands and Cheetah habitat

The cheetah can be found across regions of grassland and semi-desert throughout Africa. These flat, open areas allow the cheetah to make use of its excellent vision and great speed.

Cheetahs once inhabited the grassy plains of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Here they were sometimes kept as pets by wealthy landowners, who called them ‘hunting leopards’. Perhaps because they’re so beautiful and graceful, the perception that these powerful and skilled killers can be tamed persists to this day. Some cheetahs can even be found on ranches where tourists are encouraged to pet them like house cats, with the occasional, and predictable, bloody result. In the wild, however, cheetahs are typically found in wide, open savannahs and on scrub and bush land, where they’re increasingly in danger from human encroachment and hunters.

Designed To Perfection

Cheetahs are the ultimate ‘designer predator’. Every inch of this unique cat – from its small round head to its rudder-like tail – has been shaped by nature over thousands of years for maximum speed and agility. Their bodies are naturally slender and streamlined. They have extremely long, muscular legs and a flexible spine. This gives them an immense 7m (23ft) stride, which enables them to cover huge distances at a single bound. Despite being members of the family Felidae (cat family), cheetahs also have a number of doglike qualities. They can’t, for example, climb trees. Nor can they retract (pull back) their claws into their paws when these are not in use. Instead they have blunt, round-ended claws, like a dog, which give them added traction on the ground as they run. Finally, they have excellent camouflage. Their coats are cream-coloured with solid, circular black spots. So, by crouching in the tall savannah grasses, they can get within 30m (100ft) of their prey without it even noticing. All these adaptations make them amazingly efficient hunters.

A cheetah watches a herd of gazelle from a vantage point nearby, trying to identify a possible quarry.

The cheetah closes to within 100m (328ft) before launching into a sprint. Long strides and incredible agility bring it closer and closer to its prey.

Swift and Deadly

Unlike lions, cheetahs are solitary predators who mainly hunt by day. Their natural prey are small, nimble mammals such as the springbok or impala. Their favourite, though, is the Thomson’s Gazelle and 80 per cent of all cheetah kills are from this species.

Once a cheetah chooses a victim, it locks its eyes on its quarry and follows its every move. During the chase, the cheetah’s body turns, twists and changes direction to match the movements of its prey exactly, in an amazing demonstration of speed and agility. Cheetahs expend so much energy in this athletic display that, within half a minute, their body temperatures rise to almost fatal levels. Gazelles and antelopes may not be as fast as cheetahs, but they do have more stamina. So, the secret of survival for the lowly grassland bovine is simply to keep running until the cheetah gets tired!

Combined Success

Perhaps because hunting can be so strenuous – and so hit and miss – cheetahs’ social structures are amazingly flexible. Females tend to live alone or with their cubs in small territories that may overlap those of other females. Males are usually loners, living a roaming, nomadic lifestyle over ranges of around 800-1500 square kilometres (310-580 square miles). Yet some occasionally live in groups with up to four other males. These cooperatives last for the cheetah’s whole life, which is some 12–14 years in the wild. Even in a cooperative, cheetahs may still hunt separately, but working together increases their chances of a successful kill. Groups of cheetahs are also able to deal with much larger prey: it has been known for just two to bring down an animal as big as a wildebeest (gnu), which can be at least six times as heavy as the average cheetah. That’s like a human being wrestling a Polar Bear and winning!

Comparisons

A cheetah’s spots form part of its natural camouflage. It may seem that these startlingly black splashes of colour would make a cheetah more, not less visible. Yet, other big cats use similar bold camouflage patterns. The reason is simple: it works! These dashes of black break up the cheetahs outline, making it hard for prey or other predators to see them clearly. As can be seen in the pictures below, these camouflage patterns vary between cat species. The spots on a leopard and jaguar form a rosette pattern, while the cheetah’s spots are more open and regular in shape.

Cheetah

Leopard

Jaguar

When within striking range, the cheetah lashes out at the hind quarters of the prey. The legs are knocked from beneath the fleeing animal.

The quarry falls. In that moment, the cheetah clamps its vicelike jaws around the gazelle’s throat, suffocating the unfortunate animal.

Fat-Tailed Scorpion

Typically no longer than 12cm (4in), the Fat-Tailed Scorpion has a formidable reputation. A sting from this small armoured hunter can kill a man in seven hours, and a dog in just seven minutes.

JawsUsing a scissor-style motion, powerful jaws are used to crush and shred prey. The victim’s bodily fluids are then sucked up and digested.

Key Facts

ORDER Scorpiones / FAMILY Buthidae GENUS & SPECIES Androctonus australis

Weight

25g (1oz)

Length

10cm (4in)

Sexual maturity

6 months to 3 years

Mating season

Unknown

Gestation period

About 6 months

Number of young

40 to 50

Breeding interval

1 year

Typical diet,

Invertebrates, such as beetles, cockroaches and spiders

Lifespan

3–5 years

Tail and stingerJust before a scorpion attacks, it will arch its tail over its body, ready to strike. At the very tip of this tail is the stinger, which is used to inject venom into its victim.

EyesScorpions have a pair of eyes in the centre of their head, plus a further group of three to either side of the head. Despite this, they have poor eyesight.

Scorpions have been found in fossils dating back some 400 million years. This makes scorpions one of the world’s most ancient arachnids. They are at home in the tropics, but species have nevertheless been found as far north as British Columbia. The Fat-Tailed Scorpion is especially widespread, and can be found in Egypt, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Pakistan.

Family Trees

One of the most accepted ways of classifying animals is to group them according to their biological ancestry. Under this system, every animal belongs to a kingdom, a phylum, a class, an order, a family, a genus and a species. For example, a tiger is an animal, so it belongs to the kingdom Animalia. It has a backbone, which makes it part of the phylum Chordata. It’s also a mammal, which puts it in the class Mammalia. Finally, tigers are carnivores (order Carnivora) and members of the cat (Felidae) family, of the genus Panthera.

Scorpions belong to the phylum Arthropoda (anthropoid), class Arachnida (arachnid), order Scorpiones (Scorpion). Like all arachnids, scorpions are small, with a body divided into two main parts. The front part, called the cephalothorax, includes the head and thorax (chest). The hind part is called the abdomen. Being an arachnid, not an insect, scorpions also have also eight legs. Despite being small, arachnids are dangerous predators and the scorpion is no exception. Here, offensive weaponry comes in the shape of a pair of powerful, crushing claws and a long, segmented tail that contains potent poison.

Deadly Toxin

Although we’re most familiar with the concept of venomous reptiles, especially snakes, almost every class of animals throughout the animal kingdom uses venom. This includes some unlikely suspects, like the Duckbill Platypus, some species of starfish and even a few snails. Only birds (of the order Aves) are the exception.

Practically all arachnids carry some form of venom, and many scorpions have a particularly potent blend. There are about 1500 species of scorpions in the world and an estimated 25 of these are capable of killing a human – in Mexico and the USA, more people are killed each year by scorpions than by snakes. It is believed that the Fat-Tailed Scorpion kills around 400 people a year in Tunisia alone. In fact, its venom is so dangerous that it has been compared in strength to the bite of a King Cobra.

Comparisons

As most scorpions live in desert regions, they commonly come in shades of brown or sandy yellow, which provides excellent natural camouflage. The exception is the almost jet black Emperor Scorpion, which is one of the largest scorpions, at 20cm (8in) long. At just 1cm (3/8in), the tiny Microbuthus pusillus is so small that protective colouration hardly matters!

Microbuthus pusillus

Fat-Tailed Scorpion

Emperor Scorpion

Defence and Offence

A scorpion’s venom is held in two glands below the stinger, which is a sharp point at the tip of the tail. Just before a scorpion attacks, it arches its tail over its body. Holding its prey in its claws, the scorpion then injects its poison. A typical feast for a Fat-Tailed Scorpion might be a spider, beetle or insect, but being one of the smaller species of scorpion doesn’t prevent the Fat-Tailed Scorpion from having big ideas. One of the major advantages of venom is that it allows even modest-sized predators to kill much larger prey. So the Fat-Tailed Scorpion also eats the occasional small mammal and rodent. Once a victim has been poisoned, the scorpion then dismembers the body, using its razor-sharp jaws to cut the flesh into pieces small enough to eat.

Scorpion venom is a very complex mix of toxins and, strangely, a Fat-Tailed Scorpion’s poison seems to have been specially designed to kill vertebrates. As most of its prey comprises invertebrates, this would seem to suggest that scorpion venom was originally developed for protection rather than hunting. As if to emphasize this, a scorpion’s venom contains chemicals specially designed to cause pain. So a scorpion may not be able to kill an enemy, but it can at least make it think twice about continuing an attack. Scorpions can also spray their venom up to 90cm (3ft). This can cause temporary blindness – a very effective way to deter aggressors.

The concealed scorpion waits for its prey. Vibrations alert the scorpion when prey approaches.

An unfortunate locust passes too close. The scorpion pounces and holds the locust in its powerful pincers.

The scorpion arches its tail over its body to deliver a lethal dose of venom into the struggling victim.

Although the locust is shredded by the scorpion’s jaws, the scorpion is unable to digest the outer body parts, and so ingests the bodily juices of its prey instead.

Chimpanzee

Of all the great apes, it is the chimpanzee, that most human-seeming of animals, that fascinates us. Like us, chimpanzees are capable of great tenderness and consideration to other members of their troop, but they can also be predatory, aggressive and extremely violent.

TeethAs chimpanzees have a varied diet, their teeth – like ours – have developed to cope with a range of different food-stuffs.

FeetChimpanzee’s feet have long, dextrous toes – very much like a ‘spare’ pair of hands. These can be used to grip objects, such as tree branches.

HandsThe secret of the chimpanzee’s success is its ‘opposable’ thumb. Like humans, chimps are able to use their thumb and fingers in combination to manipulate objects with skill.

Key Facts

ORDER Primates / FAMILY Pongidae GENUS & SPECIES Pan troglodytes

Weight

27–68kg (60–150lb)

Length

71–91cm (28–36in)

Sexual maturity

7 years, but does not breed until 12–15 years old

Mating season

All year

Gestation period

230 days

Number of young

1

Birth Interval

3 years, often longer

Typical diet

Fruit, leaves, berries, nuts, insects and, occasionally, mammals and birds

Life Span

Up to 60 years

Chimpanzees, gibbons, gorillas and orang-utans are all anthropoid apes of the family Pongidae. This means that they share many characteristics linking them to humans, but are distinguished from other primates: by having no tails, walking with an upright posture and having a highly developed brain. Of this group, it is the chimpanzees who are the most complex and accomplished.

Jungle Life

Found in a band across Africa, from the Niger Basin to Angola, chimpanzees are most at home in the rainforests, where they’re perfectly adapted for a life in the treetops. Being apes, not monkeys, they don’t have tails, but instead use their strong, dextrous hands and prehensile feet to clamber from tree to tree. At night, chimps use this natural dexterity to make large nests from branches and foliage, where they can sleep in relative safety from predators. During the day, chimpanzees often spend time on the ground in search of food. A fully grown male chimpanzee has a huge appetite and can consume 50 bananas in one sitting. It’s not unusual for them to spend up to seven hours a day foraging. While on the ground, chimpanzees will often run on all fours, but they can walk upright if necessary – for example, to see over tall grass and look for danger. An enraged male will also often stand upright to demonstrate his dominance to the rest of the group. Screaming, waving branches and baring his teeth, an angry chimpanzee can be a terrifying and awe-inspiring sight.

Good Mothers, Bad Mothers

Naturally, chimpanzees, like humans, live in a variety of social groupings. Some chimps live in large troops with up to 40 other males, females and babies; some live in all male groups; while some chimpanzees are loners and live a solitary existence in the forest. The only constant members of the group tend to be mothers and babies. Adult females (those over the age of 12), mate between August and November and give birth to one baby at a time, which they raise as part of the group.

When the group forages for food, the chimpanzees travel in single file on all fours.

The group finds a tree with plenty of nuts. Two of their number climb up to shake the nuts from the branches.

Down on the ground below, the remaining chimpanzees collect the nuts as they fall.

Two young chimpanzees sit watching, learning from the adult as she uses a stone to break open the nuts.

Unusually for the animal kingdom, chimp mothers are not always natural parents. It seems a very human trait, but some inexperienced mothers appear baffled about how best to care for their new charges. Others may spoil and coddle their youngsters to such an extent that it’s not unusual to find chimps as old as seven still being fed by their doting mum.

Dangerous Rivals

The more we learn about chimpanzees, the more they surprise us. In the 1950s, the generally accepted view was that they were gentle vegetarians. Zoologists now know that their behaviour is much more complex. For example, a chimpanzee’s diet is mostly made up of fruit or insects, but they do hunt other animals, including monkeys and other apes, for meat. Such hunts are planned with military-style precision: one chimp drives the enemy out of its cover, while three ‘blockers’ wait in ambush.

Meat is a valuable source of protein and many ‘vegetarian’ animals often supplement their diet in this way, but some chimps seem to have made an aesthetic choice: they prefer the taste of meat. What’s more, chimpanzees have been known to make war on their neighbours, in a startlingly human display of aggression.

Often, when such conflicts occur, males will kill and eat the other troop’s babies, presumably in an attempt to reduce their rivals’ numbers. In Uganda, chimpanzees have recently begun to attack human children in the same way. As the human population encroaches ever further into the chimpanzees’ natural habitats, it seems that they have started to recognize the fact that it’s us – rather than other chimpanzee troops – who are their most dangerous rivals for food and land.

Comparisons

Although they are close relatives to the chimpanzee, gorillas are larger and much more powerful. On average, a fully grown male gorilla (called a silver back, because of its ‘greying’ fur) weighs around four times as much as a chimp.

Chimpanzee

Gorilla

Hippopotamus

In spite of their lumbering, genial appearance, hippopotami kill more people in Africa than any other animal. These formidable giants can weigh up to 4.5 tonnes (5 tons) and grow to 1.4m (4ft 7in). A yawning hippo may seem harmless, but this display of tusks and teeth is actually a warning to stay well away.

Key Facts

ORDER ArtiodactylaFAMILY HippopotamidaeGENUS SPECIES Hippopotamus amphibius

Weight

Male 1000–4500kg (2205–9921lb); Female 1000–1700kg (2205–3748lb)

LengthHead and BodyTail

2.9–5m (4ft 6in–16ft 5in)40–56cm (15–22in)

Shoulder Height

1.5–1.65m (4ft 11in–5ft 5in)

Sexual maturity

Male 6–13 years; female 7–15 years

Mating season

Dry season, varies according to location

Gestation period

227–240 days

Number of young

l (twins are rare)

Birth Interval

About 2 years

Typical diet

Mainly grass and aquatic vegetation

Life Span

35–50 years

TailWhen marking their territory, male hippopotami spin their tails, to spray urine and faeces over the boundaries of their land.

Skin GlandsHippos have very little hair to protect themselves from the sun. Instead, glands produce a sticky pink sun block!

Tusks and TeethA hippo’s tusks are actually over-sized teeth. Those in the lower, outer part of the jaw are incisors. The large grinding teeth in the top jaw are molars.

Comparisons

As might be expected, the Nile Hippopotamus lives mainly along the southern most banks of the River Nile, which stretches from the Equator to the Mediterranean Sea. The Pygmy Hippopotamus prefers to make its home in rainforests and swamp lands. Being much smaller than their Nile cousins, pygmies are able to use the undergrowth effectively to hide from any potential danger. This means that they are less reliant on the water for protection, and so lack many of the natural aquatic adaptations which Nile hippos have developed.

Pygmy Hippopotamus

Nile Hippopotamus