The Big, The Little and the Ugly (and one more…) – Londolozi Blog

Although this would be a great title for a sequel to a 1996 Western starring Clint Eastwood, it in fact describes three different groups of animals that can be seen on Safari in Africa. One would be surprised at the conversations that flow during game drives between myself, tracker Trevor and our guests. We often have the privilege of meeting and getting to know people from all over the world, who we didn’t know from a bar of soap before, as we spend countless hours out in the bush on safari. Whilst on a recent game drive we all got chatting about these three groupings of animals, and one more…

For those of you who aren’t familiar with these groupings, here is a quick summary:

Contrary to what many people believe, these are not the biggest five African mammals. Many years ago when people mostly hunted animals instead of viewing them (either for subsistence or recreational purposes), these five animals were grouped together as the most dangerous to hunt. In no particular order, the Elephant, Rhino, African buffalo, Leopard and Lion make up the big 5.

The Big Five!

The ‘Little’ Five:

This is a group of smaller animals that can be seen on safari, all of which bear the names of each of the above-mentioned big five animals. They are the Elephant Shrew, Rhino beetle, Red-billed buffalo Weaver, Leopard tortoise and Antlion.

The Little Five!

The ‘Ugly’ Five:

In my opinion, no animal is ‘ugly’, except maybe a naked mole rat… but this is a group of not-so-good-looking animals that can be seen whilst on Safari. Even though they may not have the most attractive features, they form very important roles in the ecosystem. Again, in no particular order, they are the Warthog, the Wildebeest, the Spotted Hyena, Vultures and the Marabou Stork.

The Ugly Five!

The ‘Fierce’ Five

As I mentioned earlier, conversations tend to flow in all different directions whilst on a game drive and this particular conversation leant towards a new grouping of animals, the ‘fierce’ five, for animals that punch above their weight (physically and literally). Here are the finalists, along with a brief reasoning as to why we decided to include them:

The Honey Badger:

This was a no-brainer and was the first animal that came to mind when compiling the list. Known for their ferocious nature and cunning behaviour, honey badgers are not to be messed with! Even the most fearsome predators such as lions and leopards have to think twice before engaging with a honey badger. They use their sharp teeth and claws to aggressively defend, and sometimes even attack these much larger predators, often going for the most sensitive of organs between the attackers back legs to scare them away… Click here for a quick throw back to one particular individual standing its ground against two rangers.

Revered by many, the honey badger is notorious for having a fiery personality.

Honey badgers are able to survive against the strongest of snake venoms, namely that of the black mamba. They have been witnessed being bitten, passing out for an hour or so, waking up (with a huge headache no doubt), shaking their head and continuing to go about their business.

The Fork-tailed drongo:

A fairly common bird of the African Savanna, the fork-tailed drongo was put forward as a nominee for its unrelenting attempts to chase away any potential threat. The most commonly seen example of this is when the drongo dive-bombs an eagle sitting at the top of a tree or in mid-flight. Even though there is a chance of the bird being caught, especially in the case of a Wahlberg’s eagle, a third of which’s diet consists of birds.

Fork-tailed drongos will often dive-bomb large eagles, such as this brown-snake eagle, in an attempt to force it elsewhere.

The spider-hunting wasp:

One of the more interesting ways in which an insect reproduces is by laying eggs inside another arthropod. That’s exactly what this species of wasp does. They house a powerful sting which paralyses an array of spider species, in this area the most common being the baboon spider which itself has a nasty bite!

A spider-hunting wasp drags its victim to a nearby burrow after paralysing it.

Upon stinging the victim, the female wasp will drag the spider to a burrow that is usually pre-prepared and lay an egg inside its abdomen. The larva will then hatch after roughly 10 days and feed on the spider (that is likely still alive, but just paralysed), and then wrap itself in a cocoon until conditions are conducive to emerge as an adult.

The Shrike family:

Shrikes are in general pretty badass. They are mostly insect-eating birds but are unique in that they often kill their prey by continuously slamming it onto thorns, spines or other sharp objects. Not only does this kill their prey, but they will impale their food onto these sharp objects for later feeding or, in the case of males, for impressing females.

I will always respect the tenacity of magpie shrikes after witnessing an individual impale a bushveld gerbil (small rodent) onto the spine of a vachellia tree. Quite a feat if you ask me!

Termites:

The fungus-growing termites that we are familiar with at Londolozi have been a hot topic of late as the reproductive alates have been emerging from mounds in an effort to create new colonies. It isn’t, however, these winged termites that are fierce, more so the caste of soldier termites that safeguards them as well as the rest of the colony.

The soldier termites are easily identifiable with much larger heads and mandibles that can inflict a painful bite, if threatened.

The termites’ main threat is other insects. More specifically ants, and these soldier termites will be called to the task to defend their colony against an invasion of thousands of ants. Their main form of defence is to either secrete a sticky substance, and in doing so trap various intruders, or inflict a painful bite with their enlarged mandibles.

It’s a fairly subjective topic and whilst writing this I had input from various different people who all had their own opinions on which species should be included in this elite grouping. Feel free to add your comments below on any mammals, birds, insects or other animals you feel should be given more publicity for punching above their weight!