The Big Apple: Day 4, Part 4, 2nd Portion of AMNH -- Ackley Hall of South African Mammals

We have left the reptile hall (not that I did or wanted to spend much time in there -- my least favorite creatures!) and are heading back to the Ackley Hall of South African Mammals.  While we are visiting this Hall, I thought it might be fun to give you some fun facts about some of the animals, not all, but a few. 

Large Elephant Display

One of the displays that I truly loved the most had to be this first set of pictures -- the elephants.  It was so neat how they had them displayed.  So proudly walking in line as if they were doing a migration journey.  As you walked around this huge display, you see the care and detail with which they took to capture the large mammals in action.  And so cute was the way the little one had his trunk wrapped around the larger's (I assume Momma) trunk.

Elephant Display

Since I loved this display so much, I thought I would share some fun facts about elephants.  As they are the largest living land animals on Earth, their gestation period is 22 months which is longest of any land animal. They typically live for 50-70 years.  A calf typically weighs 230 lbs. at birth. An adult normally weighs around 230 lbs; the largest male (every recorded) weighed in at 24,000 lbs. They are considered a symbol of wisdom in Asian cultures.  Elephants are famous for their memory and intelligence.

Their trunks are used for drinking as they suck water up into the trunk (approximately 15 quarts) and then blow it into their mouths.  They also use their trunks for social interactions such as greeting each other by entwining their trunks, like a handshake, caressing during courting and mom/child interactions, or in play-wrestling.  They will also use their trunks to defend themselves.  It is also relied upon for its highly developed sense of smell.  An elephants skin is inordinately thick (1 inch).  They can swim well, cannot trot, jump or gallop but have two gaits – a walk and a swifter walk comparable to running, of which is normally about 8 mph but have been reported to reach up to 25 mph. 

More Elephants

Living in a very structured social order, the males and females' social lives are different.  Females spend their time in family groups consisting of mothers, daughters, aunts and sisters, led by the eldest female, while males live a solitary life.  While the females interact with other families or clans, they remain enormously aware of which localized herds are related and which are not. 

Next up, the famously-decked-out-in-stripes zebra.  

Zebras are part of the African equids (horse family) species. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds. The common plains zebra is about 50–52 inches at the shoulder with a body ranging from 6–8.5 feet long with a foot-and-a-half long tail.  With males slightly bigger than females, a zebra can weigh up to 770 pounds.

Zebra

Zebras have excellent eyesight. It is believed that they can see in color. Along with an acute sense of smell and taste, they have excellent hearing, and can turn their ears in almost any direction. Like horses, they sleep standing up, and only sleep when neighbors are around to warn them of predators.

Zebras communicate with each other with high pitched barks and whinnying. Grevy's zebras make mule-like brays. A zebra's ears signify its mood. When a zebra is in a calm, tense or friendly mood, its ears stand erect. When it is frightened, its ears are pushed forward. When angry, the ears are pulled backward. When surveying an area for predators, zebras will stand in an alert posture; with ears erect, head held high, and staring. When tense they will also snort. When a predator is spotted or sensed, a zebra will bark (or bray) loudly.

Have you ever heard of a koodoo?  The kudus, or koodoo, are two species of antelope: Lesser Koodoo and Greater Koodoo.  Here are some interesting facts about koodoos.  Male koodoos live a solitary life and can be found in bachelor groups, leaving only to mate.  As is always the case with males (haha!), dominance plays also plays a part in the lives.  It is not long-standing, but to display his sway, he will make himself look big by making his hair stand on end.  Also intriguing about the males is when they have a face-off, they will lock their horns in a competition to determine the stronger puller but sadly sometimes two competing males are unable to unlock their horns and, if unable to disengage, will die of starvation or dehydration. 

Koodoo

Pregnant females will leave the herd to give birth to a single offspring which she will leave lying hidden for four to five, coming back only to nurse. The calf will then start  having intermediate meetings with its mamma and at 3-4 months of age will be with its mother constantly. 

And the last little tidbit about koodoos; the koodoo horn, a musical instrument made from the horn of the kudoo antelope, is sometimes used as a shofar in Jewish ceremonies, mainly at Rosh HaShanah, to announce the beginning of holidays; or in Biblical times to signify the start of war.

Who can't be amused by these next amazing creatures! The giraffe, noted for its extremely long neck and legs stands at 16-20 feet tall with an average weight of 3,500 lbs. for males and 1,800 lbs. for females.  The males in this mammal species establish their social rankings through "necking", which are combat bouts where the neck is used as a weapon.  The dominant male is the one who gains mating access to females.

Giraffe

With its front legs slightly longer than its hind legs, a giraffe has only two gaits: walking and galloping.  While galloping, it can reach a speed up to 37 mph.  The long neck results from a disproportionate lengthening of the cervical vertebrae, not from the addition of more vertebrae which largely takes place after birth, as mom giraffes would have a taxing time giving birth to babies with the same neck proportions as adults.

Okapi

Now, the okapi, bears striped markings impressionistic of zebras, instead of its cousin, the giraffe.  Their striking horizontal white stripes on the front and back legs, are thought to possibly help young follow their mothers through the dense rain forest and may also serve as camouflage.  With their body shape similar to the giraffe, without the extremely long neck, okapis have very long (approximately 14 inches), flexible, blue tongues that they use to strip leaves from trees and with which it can also wash its eyelids and clean its ears (inside and out).  I guess they certainly don't need a Q-tip!  

Like the koodoo, the okapi males are also solitary animals coming together only to breed.  Not social animals, they prefer to live in large, secluded areas. To mark their territory, besides urine marking, the okapi has scent glands on each foot that produce a tar-like substance which allow them to communicate to others "no trespassing."

Gorilla

Gorilla time: Gorillas are considered to be the closest relative to humans besides chimpanzees.  On average, human genes differ only 1.6% from their corresponding gorilla genes.   Silverbacks (adult males) range in height from 5'5"– 5'9" and weigh in at approximately 310–440 lbs.  Females, on the other hand, are about half the size of a silverback averaging about 4'7" tall and 220 lbs.  Largely a herbivore, it is known that gorillas rarely drink water because they consume succulent, or water-retaining, plants, especially those with the morning dew on them.

Gorilla

Impala (below):  The impala, a medium-sized antelope, is thought to be plentiful with numbers of up to two million in Africa.  They are on average around 3 feet tall weighing about 88-188 lbs with females slightly smaller at around 66-110 lbs.  What I find unique about the impala is that while they stay near water in the dry season, they can go weeks without drinking if there is enough green coarse vegetation.  Leopards, cheetahs, lions and wild dogs prey on impala. 

Impala

Females and their young will form herds with numbers up to 200 individuals.  Similar to what I have seen on TV documentaries about lion prides, adult males will establish territories and while females will seek out territories with the best food resources, territorial males will round up any female herds that enter and chase away any bachelor males that are following; even sometimes chasing away recently weaned males.  Very domineering, a male impala will try to prevent any female from leaving his territory. However, if food resources are low, as during the dry season, territories will be abandoned as herds have to travel farther in search of food. 

Leopards, cheetahs, lions and wild dogs prey on the impala.  However, the impala has an incomparable defense technique wherein if they are frightened, the whole herd will start to leap about to confuse their predators.  To escape these predators, they can reach running speeds of up to 56 mph, can jump spans of more than 33 feet and 9 feet in height.  When escaping and to keep their herd together they perform a high kick of their hind legs, in which they release a scent from the glands in their heels.  What marvelous little idiosyncrasies Mother Nature has bestowed on some of her creative works!

Let's now travel from a smaller creature to a couple of more magnificent girth.

White Rhinoceros

The rhinoceros:  Did you know that there was such a thing as a white rhino and a black rhino?  Well, there is, so let's explore some of the differences; or are there any? The black rhino is smaller than the white rhino and has a pointed and prehensile upper lip, which it uses to grasp leaves and twigs when feeding, rightly adapted for browsing. The white rhinoceros has square lips used for eating grass, conversely adapted for grazing. The black rhinoceros can also be distinguished from the white rhinoceros by its size, smaller skull, and ears; and by the position of the head, which is held higher than the white rhinoceros, since the black rhinoceros is a browser and not a grazer.

White rhinos -- The white rhinoceros is the largest of the five species of rhinoceros and the world's largest land mammal after the three species of elephant.  The largest white rhino ever recorded weighed in at 9,900 lbs.! The color of the body ranges from yellowish brown to slate grey. Its only hair is the ear fringes and tail bristles. Its ears can move independently to pick up sounds but it depends most of all on smell. The olfactory passages which are responsible for smell are larger than their entire brain. The white rhinoceros has the widest set nostrils of any land based animal. White rhinos are divided into two sub-species: northern and southern.  The northern white rhino is virtually extinct with, as of 2011, only five known living on this entire planet.  In 2008, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2008, the southern white, on the other hand, was estimated to have 17,480 living in the wild, making them the most abundant subspecies of rhino in the world.

Okay,  so here is an icebreaker line to use at parties.  What is a herd of rhinos called?  A crash! White rhinoceroses live in crashes of up to 14 animals (usually mostly female). While most adult males are solitary, lower ranking, or subordinate, adult males will congregate, often in partnership with an adult female. I've spoke in this post about other dominant males, marking their territory and mating of different animals.  Another new, or somewhat used system, dominant rhino bulls also mark their territory with excrement and urine, but with a little twist.  They will lay their feces, or dung, well defined piles, sometimes as many 20 to 30 of piles to notify passing rhinoceroses that this is his territory. Another manner of marking their territory they employ is before urine spraying, the adult male will wipe his horns on bushes or the ground and scrape with his feet. The kicker -- they do this around 10 times an hour while patrolling their territory. The same ritual as urine marking except without spraying is also commonly used. The territorial male will scrape-mark every 98 feet or so around its territory boundary. Lower ranking males do not mark territory.

Black Rhinoceros

And what about the Black Rhinoceros?  They are differentiated by their narrow pointed mouth (in contrast to the white's wide mouth). Although it is referred to as the black rhino, it is actually more of a grey/brown/white color in appearance. 

There are four recognized subspecies of the black rhinoceros: South-central, South-western, East African, and West African.  However, in November 2011, the IUCN declared the Western Black Rhinoceros extinct.  The entire black rhinos species have been pushed to the brink of extinction by illegal poaching for their horn, and to a lesser extent by loss of habitat. A major market for rhino horn has historically been in the Arab nations to make ornately carved handles for ceremonial daggers called jambiyas. The horn is also used in traditional Chinese medicine, and is said by herbalists to be able to revive comatose patients, cure fevers, and aid male sexual stamina and fertility.

Colobuses

Black-and-white colobuses: This herbivorous species of monkey eats leaves, fruit, flowers, and twigs. As for their habitat, they can be found more in higher density logged forests than in other primary forests.

Colobuses live in territorial groups of approximately nine individuals, based upon a single male with a number of females and their offspring. Newborn colobuses are completely white. And you have heard that it takes a village to raise a child?  Well, in the colobuses' neighborhood allomothering appears to be going on.  This means that members of the troop other than the infant's biological mother care for it.  It seems are races are a lot closer in things than we realize.  One other thing, colobuses are important for seed dispersal in the forests which they accomplish through their sloppy eating habits as well as through their digestive system.

Ostrich

A "trip" to South Africa wouldn't be complete if we didn't touch on one more animal - the ostrich. 

The Ostrich is one of two species of large flightless birds native to Africa.  It has a distinctive appearance with its long neck and legs, and with the fastest land speed of any bird, it can run at maximum speeds of 43 mph.  Other “records” the ostrich has set are that it is the largest living species of bird and lays the largest egg of any living bird.  Their eyes are also said to be the largest of any land vertebrate.

Baby Ostriches and Ostrich Eggs

Mating amongst ostriches is a death-defying act, literally! Territorial males fight for a harem of two to seven females, and these fights, which usually last only minutes, are usually a fight to the death match as they can easily cause death through slamming their heads into opposing males.  If threatened, an ostrich can be considered a flight or fight creature.  It will either hide itself by lying flat against the ground or run away, or if cornered it will kick with its powerful legs.  An average ostrich will weigh around 140-290 lbs.  The males are mostly black with white primary feathers and a white tail.  Females and young males, on the other hand, are greyish-brown and white.

At maturity, males can reach from 5'11" to 9'2" in height, while females range from 5'7" to 6'7" and can reach an age of 40-45 years.  One other fact, contrary to popular belief, ostriches do not bury their heads in sand.  

This will now conclude our tour of some of the South African animals found in the Ackley Hall of South African Mammals. I hope you enjoyed learning a little about some of these mammals along the way.  

Our next stop will be in the fourth-floor halls which include the Hall of Vertebrate Origins, Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs (recognized by their grasping hand, long mobile neck, and the downward/forward position of the pubis bone, they are forerunners of the modern bird), Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs (defined for a pubic bone that points toward the back), Hall of Primitive Mammals, and Hall of Advanced Mammals.  These you will find just as interesting, too.  So, if you are not yet bored, next up . . . dinosaurs.