Interesting Facts

Here are some interesting facts tjhat you may learn when doing a Wildlife course in africa! We will add to the list in time, so keep checking for more......

The term ‘The Big 5’ was named as the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt and consists of the lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino. Really it’s the black rhino and not the white rhino as the black is a lot more dangerous. ‘The Small 5’ is Ant lion larvae, leopard tortoise, red billed buffalo weaver, elephant shrew, rhino beetle. The life expectancy of an elephant is 60 years. The female hyena has genitals that look like a male, to make it look more dominant to male hyena. Bushbabys scent mark by urinating on their paws. The closest living relation to an elephant is the rock dassie. More people die each year from human bites than snake bites. A black mamba can travel at a speed of 12 kmph. Hippos can’t swim but elephants can. An elephant’s penis is the size of a small antelope.   The female leopard initiates mating. Only female mosquitoes bite. A baboon’s canine is larger than a lions.   An Ant Lion only lives for about 24 hours. The cheetah is the fastest land mammal at 70 kmph. A cheetah’s tail is the same length as its body. When a cheetah mates it only has a single copulation.   A lion can mate 100 times in 24 hours.  The gestation period of an elephant is 22 months. The gestation period of a giraffe is 18 months. A giraffes heart is the size of a human head. White rhino’s are grazers and black rhinos are browsers.