As for the second question, those who said it is a male animal are right. The antlers show this. Females of this animal do not have antlers. Unfortunately no one has got it figured yet but some were really close. The animal is a waterbuck. There are many waterbuck in Haller Park and are very shy animals. Although they are called waterbuck, these animals do not seem to like entering water. In the wild, they only enter water to escape predators. They generally prefer land.

In Owen and Mzee’s pond, there’s an area thick with mangrove ferns. It is thus really hard to see them when they are resting here. I found a strategic point where both animals can be seen. Below is a picture of Owen and Mzee resting in hiding.

Animals will always leave signs indicating their presence in an area. One of these signs is a footprint. Footprints are clearest in mud or in fine dust. These prints if interpreted well, give a lot of information about the animal. From a mere footprint, one may know the type of animal and how the animal walks for example. Below are some footprints of a few of the animals at Haller Park.

Sometimes when Cleo is out of the water, she likes prodding about in the mud.

Antelopes have similar prints that vary in size.

Eland footprint

Oryx footprint

Aldabra print filled with water.

 Below is a mysterious picture. Can anyone figure out what it is?

Hello bloggers. Owen and Mzee yesterday were very active in their enclosure. They spent a good part of the warm afternoon walking around their enclosure. When it got to feeding time, it seemed Owen was very tired and instead of eating immediately, he first lay down and took a nap before eating his food!

The other day, just near Owen and Mzee’s enclosure, I saw a little snake. The good thing about snakes is that they will never attack unless they feel threatened. Most times, they just slither away peacefully. Snakes also like to keep out of sight. They keep themselves hidden under rocks or in thickets so as not to be seen!

Cleo is such a joy. She graced me early today morning when I went to check on her. When she came to greet me, she had a stick in her mouth. Usually in greeting, she wags her tail then submerges which is a display of submissive behavior. Today when she was submerging, she opened her mouth wide under water to remove the stick from her mouth!

Below is a picture of Sally and Potty eating the last of their dairy cubes. Yesterday I saw Potty dung spraying just before he got into the water with Sally. He uses his tail to spread his dung. This action is for marking territory.

Monitor lizards have long tails that they use for protection. These lizards usually whip their predators using their tails thus keeping them off. Their tails are narrow towards the tip so a lash from it must be pretty painful! They also use their tails for movement in the water when swimming.

Yesterday morning, Cleo was peacefully sleeping on her side. One side of her head was completely submerged so she was only breathing with one nare! A group of visitors came a while later and Cleo half opened her eye, as if peering at the visitors. Below is a picture of Cleo peering at the visitors.

Yesterday, Owen and Mzee spent the better part of the day resting in a muddy puddle. In the wild, hippos also like to wallow in mud as it serves the same cooling purpose as water. Owen later came out of the puddle, all muddy to drink some water.

For a quite a while now, we have been trying to get Cleo used to her box. This box is what we will use to move her to her new enclosure. We put dairy cubes in her box and she usually goes in and eats all of them before coming out again. Below is Cleo finishing off the last of her cubes in the box.

The Haller Park Oryx herd is well. The Oryx usually like to rest in the afternoon. As they rest, they ruminate. This is when they bring up to their mouths from their stomachs, the plants they had swallowed earlier. They then thoroughly chew these plants then swallow again.

I have also seen the beautifulLeopard tortoises in a similar position to this but with much more space between them.

In contrast to the above resting position, I have at different times seen Aldabra tortoises resting facing directly at each other. Male Aldabra tortoises are usually larger than females. The female’s shells seem to be more rounded than the males.

The Giraffes are also usually fed on dairy cubes by Haller Park visitors at 1100hours and at 1530 hours. Our Vervet friends are always close by at around that time. A bucket containing dairy cubes is put at the giraffe feeding area. Visitors usually pick these dairy cubes and hand feed the giraffes. Today, after the morning feeding time, I saw a Vervet in the Dairy cube bucket, eating the remaining Dairy cubes and watching Trinity but..

As soon as the Vervet monkey noticed I was behind her, she quickly hid herself.. In the bucket!!

Today I saw Owen Lying near the gate watching the tourists and it almost looked like he was frowning at them. Mzee was adjacent to him eating leaves happily. Owen is always keenly listening to Mzee’s movements. Usually when Owen is a little bit far from Mzee, his little ears are always facing the direction which Mzee is. On several occasions I have seen Owen quickly get up and Rush towards Mzee when the gap between them is large!!

In the wild, it is characteristic of mother antelopes to hide their babies in he wild as they go and feed. Mother antelopes will usually go back to the area where they have hidden the young ones to feed them. I happened to spot this baby Oryx, standing by its mother as she nibbled some grass.

Question: how is Coco Puff? Coco Puff is very well. Here is a picture of Coco Puff in its enclosure, enjoying the sun and peering at me curiously.

Woody, like all other birds, is able to turn its head up to 180 degrees!! Here is a picture of Woody facing infront but his face is facing behind.