15 Highway

SafariKay.com has been updated with a new article African Elephant: The Largest Land Mammal by Chitraparna Sinha.

The largest land mammal on this earth is the African elephant (Loxodonta Africana). Between its fore and hindquarters, it has a marked dip that gives its concave curvature to its back. The ears are large, fan-like and control the body temperature. It flaps its ears for the blood to circulate through the ears’ large vessels. It also has an acute sense of hearing!

In both the male and the female, large tusks can be seen which are used for digging up roots, peeling the bark off the trees, herding the young, drilling for water; sometimes the tusks are used as a weapon.

The trunk is the elephant’s most fascinating and trusting feature – it has two prehensile protrusions at the tip and is used for drinking, eating, dust bathing, water bathing and communicating. [...]

Visit African Elephant: The Largest Land Mammal and Sadly a Target of Poachers to read the whole article.

SafariKay.com has been updated with a new article RHINOCEROS – a ‘Near Threatened’ Species by Chitraparna Sinha.

Commonly called rhinos, these huge animals are getting much more difficult to spot when on African safaris. Out of the five remaining species of rhinoceros in the world, two are found in Africa and three are found in Asia. The African rhinoceros has two big horns – one on the nose and one on the mid-forehead. Made of keratin, these horns grow out of the skin. It is the second largest animal in Africa, after the elephants.

Types

There are two types of rhinoceros found in Africa:

1. Square-lipped or White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) – grey in color and with a prominent square lip, it is larger but less aggressive than the black rhinoceros. It has a distinguishable hump on the back of its neck and a large head. It can crop large mouthfuls of grass and for this, it prefers grasslands and savanna. It can coexist in groups of 12 or less. It has a wide range of vocalization and can communicate by rubbing against each other when in good mood!
2. Hook-Lipped or Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) – more rare than the white rhinoceros, it is grey in color and has a pointed mouth with a hooked lip. It prefers woody and dense vegetation but can adjust to other habitats as well. It loves to wallow in waterholes and stay in water and mud for hours to keep itself cool. It needs to drink fresh water frequently and so, visits the same waterhole daily and becomes an easy target of the poacher(s). [...]

Visit RHINOCEROS – a ‘Near Threatened’ and ‘Critically Endangered’ Species to read the whole article.