Elephants

giraffe-in-a-tree:

Elephant Trio, Namibia

Photograph by Susan McConnell

Two adult elephants and a baby are at a water hole in Etosha National Park in Namibia. The adults appear to be in heated conversation, but the conflict is resolved quickly and peacefully.

Zebras

Cheetah Cleaning

Zebra in the Masai Mara by Gareth Codd Photography

Female and Male Lions

Elephant Eye

Elephants by Lorenzo Baldini

African Wild Dog

African Wild Dogs

Baby Meerkat

The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. Meerkats are primarily insectivores, but also eat lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders, plants, eggs, small mammals, millipedes, centipedes and, more rarely, small birds. Meerkats are also immune to certain types of venom. Meerkats demonstrate altruistic behavior within their colonies; one or more meerkats stand sentry while others are foraging or playing, to warn them of approaching dangers. When a predator is spotted, the meerkat performing as sentry gives a warning bark, and other members of the gang will run and hide in one of the many bolt holes they have spread across their territory. (Wiki.)

Prairie Dog

Black Rhino and Young

The king cheetah is a rare mutation of cheetah characterized by a distinct fur pattern. It was first noted in what was then Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) in 1926. Since 1927, the king cheetah was reported five more times in the wild. Although strangely marked skins had come from Africa, a live king cheetah was not photographed until 1974 in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Its species status was resolved in 1981 when king cheetahs were born at the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre in South Africa. A recessive gene must be inherited from both parents for this pattern to appear, which is one reason why it is so rare. (Wiki.)