EmotionsofAfrica

The video shows a pack of African wild dogs, losing their temper with two intruding hyenas, then launching a full blown attack that lead to loud screams of agony. Predators in the African wild just won’t see face to face and they hate each other purely due to the direct competition for food. Predators such as lion, hyena, leopard and wild dog will all kill each other if need be to eliminate the competition for food. Predator species will also kill the young of other predator species for the same reason. The relationship between African wild dogs and hyenas are no different. When they can, hyenas will try and stay on the trail of a pack of wild dogs, knowing the wild dogs are very successful hunters and there is a high probability for them to steal some food from the wild dogs in the process. Wild dogs and hyenas are eternal enemies and hate each other. When I found a pack of wild dogs in the Kruger National Park, there were two hyenas not too far from the wild dogs. I knew there would be trouble soon with both predator species in the same area. While the wild dogs were minding their own business, the two hyenas became very nosy and intrusive. After a while the hyenas got too close for comfort for too long and the wild dogs suddenly lost their patience with the hyenas. The wild dogs went into full attack mode. The hyenas were still trying to defend themselves but they were outnumbered. After a few bites and snarls, the hyenas realised it was better to run and the dogs set after them. I could hear the screams of agony coming from the hyenas as the wild dogs got in a few more bites while on the run. We could also hear the high-pitched chirping sounds of the wild dogs, usually signaling a sense of excitement and alertness. The hyenas just kept running with the wild dogs after them until they all disappeared. The bush went all quiet again.

The video shows the incredible moment of a baby zebra beating a lion for pace. While on safari in the Kruger National Park, we stopped to watch a herd of zebra. Suddenly we saw a lioness in the distance stalking the zebra herd. The lioness slowly crept closer before she exploded into full speed, targeting a baby zebra that became isolated from its mother. While thinking the lioness had the upper hand, the baby zebra amazingly found the strength and speed to run away from the lioness with an epic sprint. The baby zebra just kept running after which the lioness eventually gave up. We were so happy for the baby zebra as it lived to see another day.

The video shows the incredible stealth used by a male lion to sneak up on his unsuspecting brother to give him a fright. Predators such as the big cats in Africa can be incredibly stealthy when they need to be. One good example of that is the lion shown in this video. With their cushioned paws, lions have the ability to be so stealthy that they can sneak up on anything, even another lion, without making a single sound. This ability is what is needed for lions to hunt for their prey in the African wild. The video shows a male lion using this incredibly stealthy approach to sneak up on his brother to give him a fright. It’s incredible to see how the male lion slowly puts one paw in front of the other, with every step being calculated. At one stage the male lion froze with one paw in the air, planning his next step forward while making sure his brother doesn’t hear him coming closer. The other male lion did not hear a thing until it actually scanned its environment and suddenly realized his brother was right behind him. It looked like the unsuspecting brother got a big fright and loud roars were exchanged between the lions before things calmed down again. It seemed that the approaching male lion was practicing his skills in being stealthy and amazingly managed to get that close to his brother before being spotted. If the stealthy male could sneak up on another lion, which has incredible hearing and overall awareness, he surely has the ability to get close to most other prey species.

The video shows how a young male lion finds the smell of something in the back of a tourist vehicle irresistible. While on a self-drive safari in the Kruger National Park, we came across a pride of lions, slowly walking along one of the main roads in the park. With these lion sightings there are usually many cars around, filled with self-drive safari tourists, all wanting to see the king of the jungle roaming along the main road out in the wild. The lions were slowly walking along the tar road. Suddenly I saw one young male lion showing interest in one vehicle standing still, busy watching the other lions walking in front of them. The lion kept smelling at the back of the vehicle and it looked like the lion found the smell enticing. Whatever was in the back of that vehicle is debatable, but it sure had the young male lion’s full interest. Soon the owners of the vehicle realized what was going on behind them and they slowly drove off. Funny enough, the lion actually still went after it for another sniff before the vehicle eventually drove off.

The video shows a large bull elephant, casually strolling through the streets of a town in Africa, with no one really too bothered by it. In Africa, humans and wild animals co-exist peacefully in many interesting ways. In many small towns in Africa that are located near wildlife reserves, it is almost an everyday occurrence for wildlife to just casually stroll through. Something that the people of Africa are used to and see as normal. For those not living on the continent, it can be a fascinating and uncommon sight to see. Most wildlife reserves in Africa do not have fences and animals come and go as they please. On this occasion as shown in the video, a large bull elephant was spotted casually strolling through the streets of a small town in Zimbabwe. The elephant bull slowly entered the town, walking along the road amongst pedestrians and every now and then crossing a street through the traffic. Not once did any of the inhabitants of the town look too concerned about the elephant’s presence. Clearly this happens quite often, and people carry on as if nothing was really happening. The elephant bull then casually stopped at one of the local grocers for a drink of water out of the buckets standing outside. After the elephant bull had his fill of water, the old boy continued strolling onwards and out of town. Definitely a site to behold if you are not used to anything of that nature.

The video shows the rarely seen and brief moment of two elephants mating in the middle of the road, filmed during a safari in the Kruger National Park. Elephants are one of the most fascinating animal species to view out in the wild while on safari. Being the largest land mammal on this planet, elephants can be extremely intimidating to view out in the wild. At the same time, viewing elephants in the wild is always an exhilarating experience and one of the most fascinating things you will ever see standing in front of you. Seeing elephants busy feeding, drinking water or travelling, are the most common behaviors displayed out in the wild. Finding two elephants mating out in the wild is a rare occasion. We were watching a herd of elephants on our safari, busy feeding and slowly moving along. The elephants were scattered into the bush on both sides of the road. The next moment, we hear bushes break to our right. Suddenly, to our total amazement, out comes two mating elephants, slowly reversing out of the bush and into the middle of the road right in front of us. We couldn’t believe it, and what a sight to behold. And there they were, the largest land mammals on this earth attempting to keep the population of elephants healthy and in good condition. The whole ordeal lasted less than thirty seconds, which also left long questions marks on most people’s faces.

The video shows the amusing and funny moments of two rhinos, taking turns using one rock to scratch their itchy bodies. There are times on an African safari that wild animals can totally amaze you with their behavior in many different ways. Animals in the wild can sometimes be seen doing strange things or behaving in a certain way that no one has ever seen before, and many times their behavior can be hilarious. During a safari in the Kruger National Park, we came across these two rhinos shown in the video. We found them standing around in a dry riverbed. With no grass in the sandy dry riverbed to feed on, we initially wondered what they were busy with. Soon enough we noticed that both rhinos started showing equal amounts of interest in a large rock lying in the riverbed. Suddenly we realized that both these rhinos were very itchy, and that specific rock was just the right size and the right height to use as a rubbing post. The first rhino went and sat down on the rock before moving back and forth, enjoying a soothing and hilarious looking body scratch. The other rhino was staring and probably couldn’t wait for its turn on the rock. The rhino eventually finished and amazingly the next rhino pulled in at the rock and enjoyed a similar awkward and funny looking performance. It was so funny to watch both these rhinos, taking turns on the same rock, sitting down to scratch those really hard to reach places. Once done, the rhinos slowly moved along back into the bush to continue feeding, looking very satisfied after their body scratches.

The video shows the rare sight of African wild dog puppies outside their den fooling around, with one adorable individual that just loves biting and pulling his brother’s tail. The African wild dog is one of the rarest and most endangered carnivore species in Africa, and seeing wild dogs in the wild is a rare and special experience. Even more special is when you get so lucky to see them in baby form. The African wild dog make den during autumn and use old burrows inside large termite mounds. To locate such a den is very difficult, making the find even more so exciting and special. We spent time at a den we located, and I filmed as much as I could. While the adults were lying and resting in the shade nearby the den, the puppies were so much fun to watch. The wild dog puppies were incredibly cute, and they all looked adorable, filled with energy while playing all around the entrance of the den. One specific male puppy thought it was the coolest thing to start biting and then pulling his brother’s tale the whole time. There he was, standing with his brother’s tail in his mouth, while his brother couldn’t care less. Watching these puppies were just so funny and cute at the same time. When some of the other puppies came falling down back into the den, the wild dog puppy with the tail in his mouth got a freight and immediately let go of the tail. What a privilege to have witnessed such an incredibly entertaining and rare sight out in the African wild.

The video shows an elephant bull, looking like he is having the time of his life while chasing other animals around with his intimidating behavior and loud noises. This elephant bull was spotted at a large watering hole in the Kruger National Park. The waterhole was busy during the heat of the day with various animal species visiting the watering hole to quench their thirsts. There were buffalo, impala and elephants in great numbers at this particular moment. This particular elephant bull stopped drinking and started looking around at all the other animals around the watering hole. The bull elephant was at an age that is still far from maturity. He looked full of mischief and decided he was going to have a little fun with the other animals and show them who is the boss around the watering hole. Being the biggest land mammal on earth, the elephant probably thought ‘why not?’ It was rather funny to watch this elephant bull going after the buffalo and then the impala, shaking his head around, throwing his trunk around while letting out trumpeting sounds and a few loud screams. It was hilarious to see how the animals would just scatter in all directions while the elephant would pick his next target, and so he went on and on. Not only did the elephant get his little fun in for the day, but he also created a wildlife sighting that was very entertaining and funny to watch.

The video shows how an elephant herd gets really angry with a pack of African wild dogs, chasing them off with their intimidating loud screams and trumpeting sounds in order to protect their young. Because elephants are the largest mammals roaming the African bush, they take absolutely no nonsense from any other animal, especially predators. Elephants move in breeding herds, led by a matriarch together with related females and their young which are male and female. Older males live in smaller groups together or alone. The main job of a breeding herd is to protect the young in the herd, no matter what. They do this aggressively when there are any potential threats to their babies. The video shows just that. When a breeding herd of elephants came across a pack of African wild dogs, the elephants immediately reacted. African wild dogs are one of Africa’s rarest predators and can be voracious hunters, going for anything that moves that might be the right size for them to take down. A baby elephant is not off the menu for the wild dogs and the adult elephants know that. When this breeding herd spotted the wild dogs, they knew there was potential danger. With their huge size and intimidating behavior, the adult elephants in the herd made sure that the wild dogs knew that they were not welcome in their area. With incredibly loud screams and trumpeting noises, coupled with ears flapping, the whole herd charged towards the wild dogs. Wild dogs are very agile and fast, so every time the elephants would charge towards them, the wild dogs would just quickly run off a little before they settled again. That wasn’t enough for the elephants, and they continued chasing after the wild dogs until they eventually ran off into the bush and out of sight of the elephants. Watching this whole noisy and intimidating altercation as part of a safari group was a very overwhelming experience for everyone, a rare sight and one not to be forgotten.

The video shows a baby hyena, out in the African wild with its family, slowly sneaking up to my safari vehicle, then getting a huge fright when touching metal on the vehicle for the first time in its life. I was out scouting a remote wilderness area of the Kruger National Park, when I came across a hyena den with a whole clan of hyenas. The hyena family was surprisingly calm when I arrived and was amazed how close I could get to them without them being bothered with my presence. Most of the hyenas were basking in the early morning winter sun and pretty chilled. There were a number of baby hyenas all around the den, ranging in different sizes and ages. The baby hyenas looked busy while the adults just wanted to rest. One little hyena seemed very curious about my presence and slowly sneaked off, hesitantly walking towards my safari vehicle. I couldn’t believe when the baby hyena came right up to my vehicle. Right next to my door, the baby hyena suddenly attempted to jump up the door of the vehicle. Why? That I don’t know. As the baby hyena touched the metal, it got a huge fright, span around, and ran away back to safety. I was totally blown away by the boldness of the baby hyena as this specific clan doesn’t see many humans or vehicles in their life. It was as if when the baby hyena felt metal for the first time, it just might have given him a huge surprise and fright at the same time.

The video shows the playful moments between a leopard mother and her adorable cub that was filmed in the African wild. Leopards are part of the legendary African big five animal group and by far one of the most difficult animals to see in the African wild. These solitary predators are elusive and stealthy hunters, and to see one during a safari is a huge highlight if you should be so lucky. Finding two leopards in the wild is just priceless. The mother leopard and her cub in this video was found during a safari in the Kruger National Park and made for adorable moments and entertaining viewing. The mother leopard was spending quality time with her cub. At first the mother leopard and cub were bonding up close, with the occasional hug from the mother. Thereafter it became more action packed, with the mother and her cub slowly stalking one another before chasing after each other, running all over the place. While bonding between the leopards is an important part of these play sessions, the most important purpose is for the mother to teach her cub the crucial skills a leopard will need to survive in the wild. Skills such as stalking and attacking its prey are all learned and practiced during this play session. Definitely a rare sight and an incredible safari moment to remember.

The video shows two tourists, fast asleep next to the pool at a safari lodge, little knowing that a herd of elephants silently pulled in for a drink. It was mid-morning when we returned back to camp after a long early morning safari out in the bush. It meant some downtime for everyone, and I decided it was a good idea to go and chill by the pool of the safari lodge. When I arrived at the pool, I was totally blown away by what I saw and couldn’t believe my own two eyes. I decided to get my camera and started rolling. On the loungers was two of our fellow safari goers, already fast asleep next to the pool. Right in front of them were a small herd of large elephant bulls, busy drinking from the pool, not bothered by the presence of the sleeping tourists. They must have been very tired after the long morning safari and looked totally passed out and did not even flinch. There they were, fast asleep and not having the slightest clue that Africa’s largest land mammals pulled in for a drink right next to them. Due to the holiday makers being totally motionless, the elephants must have ignored them and casually carried on enjoying their drink from the pool. I am sure if the safari tourists were awake, it would have been a very difficult task to lie so still while these massive creatures were drinking water from the pool a mere few meters away from them.

The video shows an elephant crossing a river, then deciding it was a good day to go and pick on a heron bird standing in the river while minding its own business. Elephants are the largest mammals walking on our planet and they definitely know it. Outsizing all other animals and birds, elephants almost always want to make it clear that they are in charge and that they are untouchable. With this attitude, elephants are very intimidating and other animals will never dare to challenge a fully grown elephant. The elephant in this video was casually making its way through a shallow river when it suddenly noticed a bird called a grey heron, standing alone, minding its own business of catching fish. The elephant paused, looked at the heron and decided it was a good time to pick on the bird and show who’s the boss in the African wild. It was not like the bird posed any threat to the elephant, but the grumpy elephant decided it was time for a little intimidation. It was actually hilarious to watch the elephant going about picking on the heron bird. With raised ears, the elephant was swinging its trunk in the direction of the bird, while making its intimidating trumpeting sounds. The elephant even splashed water towards the bird a few times. It did not look like the bird was really scared and every time the elephant came closer, the bird would just fly off a little to stay out of reach. Once the elephant made its statement, it lost interest and continued through the river and the heron was left to carry on fishing in peace.

The video shows how a group of lionesses take no nonsense from two male lions that attempted to steal their food. Life in the African wild can be brutal, and when it comes to food, especially for predators such as lions, things can get really rough. There are two main things of lions that are not to be messed with and that is their babies and their food. Lionesses normally do the hunting for the prides and the males will then usually come and take over and be the first to eat. This does not always work like that in the lion world as shown in the video. The lionesses in the video managed to pull down a buffalo. While all the female lions were feeding, they suddenly stopped and became very aggressive towards something that was approaching in the bush. Their sub adult cubs ran for their lives and suddenly the lionesses went into serious attack mode. The next moment the male lions appeared and that was when the lionesses brutally started attacking the two male lions that was approaching. It sounded ruthless and there were sounds of loud growls and snarling. It looked like the females managed to give the males a good hiding. The males started roaring to show off their dominance and chased after the females that decided it was time for them to make a run for it, luring the males further away from their food.

The video shows how a pack of African wild dogs hunt down an antelope that attempts to escape by hiding in the middle of a lake. It was an early morning just before sunrise when I decided to go and film a beautiful sunrise over a lake, deep in the African wild. It is incredible how quickly things can change in the wild, and little did I know that I won’t even get to filming the sunrise. While setting up my filming gear, I suddenly heard a commotion down below at the lake. The next moment I saw an antelope jumping into the water and right behind it, a pack of African wild dogs. The wild dogs clearly have chased the antelope for a long way through the bush and the antelope decided it was best to jump into the water and move to the middle. It was dry season and the water level was low. African wild dogs are known for not liking to swim or be in water at all. The antelope found safety in the middle of the shallow lake, with the wild dogs running up and down the edge of the water on both sides, thinking how they are going to get the antelope out the water. This lasted for half an hour and in that time I made my way down to the bottom of the lake to get a closer look. On my arrival, the wild dogs clearly decided that they will have to face the water and started running straight towards the antelope. From there it was over for the antelope. The wild dogs eventually caught the antelope and quickly dragged it to shore. Once on land, the hungry wild dogs made the kill and started feeding.

The video shows how a cheeky elephant believes it can intimidate a lone buffalo bull but quickly learns it was a bad idea. Elephants are the largest land mammals on the planet, and they do carry that attitude with them, even the younger ones. There are occasions where the younger elephants still have to learn that they just can’t dominate or intimidate every other animal they see. The elephant herd in the video was moving through the bush when they came across a lone buffalo bull, grazing peacefully and minding his own business. The next moment, one cheeky sub adult elephant in the herd decided it was time to show the lone buffalo who rules the African bush and made an attempt to intimidate the lone buffalo bull with a mock charge and flapping ears. That was a big mistake, and the cheeky elephant quickly learned it was not a good move. The buffalo bull did not tolerate the attitude of the cheeky youngster and came charging towards it. The young elephant got the fright of its life and quickly retreated back to the adults with screaming and trumpeting noises. This was so funny to watch. When all the adult elephants gathered together to protect the youngster, the buffalo bull realized he was outnumbered and quickly retreated. The young elephant learned an important life lesson on the day. Rather go pick on those your own size or just don’t at all.

The video shows how an elephant bull can suddenly become grumpy and come charging towards a vehicle in a matter of seconds. Elephants, especially the older males, can be extremely dangerous animals if they want to or need to be. When going on a self drive safari in any of the National Parks or reserves in Africa, you have to be vigilant and prepared for anything to happen when viewing elephants, especially older and larger males. Like shown in this video, things can change in an instant and without any warning. I have viewed lots of elephants in my life as a nature guide out on safari over the years, while continuously studying their behaviour. There are a few very crucial basics you learn from the beginning. First golden rule is to keep a safe distance and not getting too close, no matter how chilled they might look at any given moment. Secondly, you have to be aware and prepared that their behaviour can change in a flash for no particular reason. Elephant bulls, weighing up to five tonnes, can reach speeds of up to 40km/h, within seconds. If you can’t get away fast enough, things can end very badly. Luckily on this day I was awake. I kept my distance and when I noticed the elephant stopped feeding, something told me this old bull became grumpy and started my vehicle and moved the gear into reverse. Without warning and in a split second, the bull elephant came charging towards me, putting my reverse skills at a high speed to the test. After the brief but very scary and intimidating charge, the bull elephant made his point and stopped. That was also where I decided to turn around and leave him in peace, showing him respect and that I understood his warning. If you hang around after a charge like that, you can be sure he will come again.

The video shows how a mother elephant protects her baby from a pack of dangerous and hungry African wild dogs, using her intimidating size and aggressive behaviour. While driving along one of the main roads inside the Kruger National Park, we saw an elephant cow and her calf in the distance ahead of us, slowly walking in the middle of the road. Animals like walking on the tarred roads, as it is just the way of least resistance, specially when the bush is thick during the summer. As we approached closer, we noticed the mother elephant and her calf came to a standstill in the road and the mother elephant did not look happy. The mother elephant’s behavior changed quickly with her ears flapping, looking aggressive from behind. Once we got even closer, we realized the elephants bumped into a pack of African wild dog, who also love using the roads during their hunting expeditions. The African wild dog is a highly endangered carnivore species in Africa, and they hunt in packs, using the same strategy as wolfs. Wild dogs will take on any prey that they can run down and overpower with their numbers. Baby elephants are the perfect hunting size for these dogs but African wild dog hunting down a baby elephant is very rare as there is always one huge challenge or obstacle they must deal with, an angry and protective mother. The mother elephant made sure her baby was always safe, keeping it standing behind her while she would flap her ears and charge towards the wild dogs, letting out her intimidating and loud trumpeting sounds. The African wild dogs didn’t seem too faced by the threats of the mother elephant. The dogs didn’t run away all scared, but they got the message very clear to stay away from the mother and her baby. With the aggressive messages delivered, the mother elephant and her baby turned around and moved off safely back into the bush, while the dogs eventually lost interest and carried playing around in the road.

The video shows two hungry hyenas attempting to hunt an injured baby giraffe before the mother comes to the rescue. While on safari in the Kruger National Park, we spotted a mother giraffe and her baby. Not too far away was two hyenas, just staring at the giraffes. At first, we couldn’t understand why the two hyenas were looking so interested in the giraffes the whole time. Every time the giraffes would move, the hyenas would follow. That was when we noticed that the back left leg of the baby giraffe was broken, and it was limping badly. The hyenas clearly noticed this weakness and thought it will be an easy target for them. Every time there was some distance between the mother and her baby, the hyenas would take a chance and run after the injured baby in attempt to catch it. This carried on for a while until the baby eventually ran towards the mother. The mother giraffe also realised what was going on and ran straight towards her baby. As the baby giraffe joined its mother, the hyenas immediately backed away. The baby giraffe went standing in a safe spot between the mother’s legs. The mother giraffe’s long legs and hooves are used for self-defence and can kick in all directions. The hyenas know very well that those long legs and big hooves can kill them with one kick against the head. The protective mother’s presence right next to her injured baby was enough to deter the two hyenas and they quietly moved on and disappeared, leaving the mother giraffe and her baby in peace.

The video shows the incredible moment of one fearless and angry buffalo bull protecting his herd from a hungry hunting lion. The cape buffalo is part of the Big five animal group in Africa, and so for good reason. Buffaloes are massive creatures, and they can become incredibly aggressive and dangerous when under threat or spooked. These large black bovines move mostly in big herds that can number up to a thousand individuals strong. Lions are also part of the big five animals of Africa and these cats need little introduction to the world. Lions do prefer to hunt bigger prey animals such as buffaloes. While an eight-hundred-kilogram buffalo is the perfect size meal for a pride of lions and a big reward, these big rewards come with great risk. Buffaloes can become very angry and fearless when being hunted and they can inflict serious injury or kill a lion. Lions have been trampled to death by big buffalo herds or killed with the lethal horns of a buffalo. The video shows how one lioness believes she has a chance of catching a buffalo out of a big herd. The lioness clearly overestimated her chances. The lioness spooked the whole buffalo herd, sending them turning and running. During this chaotic period, lions then single out and target one specific individual and then go for it with everything they have. What the lioness did not know, was that there was one large buffalo bull in the whole herd that had his fear turn into anger. This angry bull suddenly turned around and charged towards the lioness at full speed. The lioness got the surprise of her life, and she immediately knew she was in trouble. The lioness turned around in a flash and ran for her life. The massive buffalo chased after the lioness until he couldn’t see her anymore. Incredible to see how one individual out of so many buffalo had the guts to turn around, chase off the lioness and protecting the rest of the herd with his actions at the same time.

The video shows how a hippo manages to chase away close to a hundred buffalo with just a few shakes of the head. The African cape buffalo is one of the most dangerous big game animals that lives in the African wild. Buffalo are part of the well-known big five animal group, and they are also known as black death. Should you meet a buffalo on foot in the African wild, you most likely will have serious problems. While hippos do not make part of the big five group, they are known to kill more people in Africa than any other animal in the African wild, making them creatures not to be messed with. Big and dangerous species like buffalo and hippo usually leave each other alone and altercations between them are very rare. There are the rare instances, like shown in this video, where the two species meet by chance. On a hot summer day this big herd of buffalo decided it was a good idea to cool off in a waterhole. In the waterhole was a male hippo, amazingly tolerating all the visitors in his waterhole in which he spends most of his days. More and more buffalo started getting into the water, until the hippo was surrounded. It was like the buffalo didn’t even realize the hippo was in the water. The hippo remained very calm and tolerant of the buffalo herd entering his space, until one buffalo literally bumped into the hippo. That was just one too many for the hippo and suddenly the hippo’s head popped out. The hippo saw all the buffalo on top of him and he didn’t like it and looked angry. The hippo then lifted his head out the water and shook it about a few times, splashing the water aggressively. With that, the hippo got the attention of the buffalo. It was like a delayed fright kicking in and suddenly the whole buffalo herd stormed out of the water. It was incredible to see how quickly one hippo could get such a large herd moving. The hippo looked totally satisfied with his actions in the end.

The video shows how a large elephant bull uses his incredible strength to push over a massive tree in the African wild. The elephant is the world’s largest land mammal roaming the African wild and with that size comes incredible strength and power. Elephants are herbivores and they have a legion of ways getting to the food that they want during the different seasons of the year. Using their trunks and tusks as tools, elephants can strip down leaves, branches and bark from their favorite trees or dig up roots and bulbs with their feet. During summer months, elephants will also feed on grass, flowers, fruits, and berries. When food is scarce during the dry periods, elephants become more destructive in a way as they must become more creative in their ways of finding food. One way of finding food in the dry season is to push over bushes and trees, looking to get to the roots or the top of trees where the last remaining leaves are. The video shows how one huge elephant bull decided that one large lone standing tree was just the perfect source for one of his meals. It is incredible to watch how this elephant bull uses the bottom of his trunk and tusks to push over the huge tree slowly but surely. The elephant bull would give the tree a big shove forward before it bounces back again. The elephant would repeat the process, having the tree swaying forwards and backwards, while making progress with each push. With each push from the elephant, one can see how the whole root system of the tree becomes lose, popping out of the ground. After a few incredibly powerful shoves and pushes, the elephant bull amazingly managed to uproot the whole tree as it goes crashing down to the ground. Having the tree lying horizontal, the elephant now has easy access to all the leaves at the top of the tree and all the roots and the bottom of the tree. Consuming everything the whole tree has to offer can keep an elephant busy for a couple of days, meaning the big old elephant bull does not really have to struggle for food or walk long distances to find his food. It’s all there in front of him lying down on the ground, making for easy consumption.

The video shows that the King of the jungle is not always perfect, coming short with a glorious fall down a riverbank. The male lion is known as the King of the jungle all around the world. The image of the mighty male lion is a symbol of power and strength. In the African wild this rings true as the lion is at the top of the food chain and feared by most animals. With this image in mind, it is easy to think that if a big male lion can bring down a giraffe or a buffalo, then getting out of a river onto the bank should be an easy task for the king. The video shows three big male lions crossing through the depths of a river that is in flood. Lions normally do not like swimming, but they will take on rivers like this to get to another part of their territories. Once the three lions managed to get to the other side and out the strong current of the river, it was time for just one last obstacle, getting up the steep riverbank. A task that seemed easier than swimming across the river. As the first male lion peaked his big mane over the edge, he almost got his whole body to the top when the soil under his back paws gave in, sending the big male lion back down to the bottom in spectacular fashion. Looking at the fall in slow-motion, it looks like the king of the jungle literally took a fall from glory.

The video shows the incredible intelligence used by a female matriarch elephant to remove a fence so that she and her herd could get out. Elephants are not only the largest land mammals on earth, but they are also rated as one of the most intelligent mammals living on this planet. The leader of any elephant herd is called a matriarch which is always one of the wiser and more mature females in the herd. The elephant herd relies on the matriarch to lead them on the way to food and water in strategic places during different times of the year. These matriarchs follow old migratory routes shown to them by previous generations, then memorised over time, guiding them and their herds along these migratory journeys. Over time humans have created nature reserves to protect the elephants. Many of these large reserves have fences around them, protecting the animals from the onslaught of the outside world such as poaching. While the reserve fences do play a roll in protecting and keeping together special animals in large spaces of protected land, animals like elephants need to move big distances. Elephants don’t let much stand in their way if they are on the move, not even a reserve fence. Unfortunately, a lot of these fences run through some of these ancient elephant migratory routes. The video shows how meticulous and smart this matriarch elephant goes about taking down the fence, so she and her herd could carry on with their journey. At first the matriarch slowly attempted to step on the fence to push it down, but it kept bouncing back up. After a few seconds of thinking, the female elephant quickly realised that it was a lot easier just to lift the supporting poles of the fence out of the ground, then easily laying the fence down on the ground. With the fence on the ground, it’s incredible to see how carefully and precise each member of the herd then slowly climbed over the fence. Just like that a whole herd of elephants crossed through the man-made fence, slowly and without too much effort or noises.