Trickery and deception in the Kruger National Park
On the surface of things, the Kruger National Park is a peaceful and serene getaway. Granted, every now and then a scavenging hyaena will raid your dustbin or an errant elephant will block your path with an uprooted tree, but otherwise, superficially the Kruger is a simple, uncomplicated ecosystem, isn’t it? Actually, it’s not.
Discovering the complexities and idiosyncrasies of nature can be very rewarding. For example, it is documented that one animal species will deliberately hoodwink another entirely for its own benefit. In this month’s blog, I’ll be taking a look specifically at these arresting behavioural traits that may be construed as dishonest underhandedness in the human world, but are really evolutionary wonders in the animal one.
Perhaps the most oft-documented act of deception at work in the Kruger is brood parasitism in the avian world. A brood parasite is a bird that lays its egg or eggs in the nest of another bird which will incubate, feed and fledge the newly hatched chick. Cuckoos have arguably lead the way with this breeding technique and the ten cuckoo species that inhabit the Kruger all lay their eggs in a different host species’ nest. The Jacobin Cuckoo lays her eggs in the nests of unsuspecting Dark-capped Bulbuls, Sombre Bulbuls and Terrestrial Brownbuls. The Klaas’ Cuckoo deceives at least 18 bird species including sunbirds, the Chinspot Batis and the Long-billed Crombec. There’s great entertainment on offer from the shop and restaurant deck at Lower Sabie Rest Camp where Village Weavers nest as a busy colony in a stand of fever trees. Diederick Cuckoos, who target the hapless weavers as hosts, enter into a game of aerial cat-and-mouse with the weavers and take advantage of any unattended nests in which to briskly lay an egg. Other examples of brood parasites are honeyguides, whydahs, windowfinches and the cuckoofinch.
The Nile or water monitor lizard, known locally and affectionately as a leguaan, uses a rather ingenious method to breed. Gravid females dig a hole into an active termite mound after the first spring rains where they lay up to 60 eggs. The industrious termites, programmed to repair any damage to their home, immediately set about closing the hole thereby conveniently covering the leguaan’s eggs in the process. The eggs resultantly are provided with a secure, moist, temperature-controlled environment where they happily incubate and hatch a year later.
Some animals in the Kruger use thanatosis as a defence mechanism. This is the act of playing dead and is employed to trick predators into overlooking the “lifeless” prey item for a preferred fresh one giving the prey animal a chance to escape. Animals in the Kruger who would do this include the honey badger, leguaans and beetles from the Tenebrionidae family such as the large armoured darkling beetle and the tok-tokkie.
Crowned lapwings use a similar technique although they don’t go as far as pretending to be dead. These birds lay their eggs in a shallow scraping on bare ground and it’s a wonder that being so exposed they survive at all. Should a predator approach the nest, the crafty parents perform a distraction display by feigning injury quite convincingly and will be seen limping or dragging a wing while giving off distress calls. This entices the would-be predator to target the adult lapwing who smugly flies away to safety at the last moment.
Nature really is splendid. Spend some time engaged in a little extra reading during your next Kruger holiday and learn more of its wonderful inhabitants and their curious peculiarities. It’ll make your game viewing indescribably more enlightening.
