Africa’s Big Five – what are they?
Visitors to South Africa typically want to cross the Big Five off their bucket list – but what are the Big Five? Tour operators have borrowed the term from the game hunting industry and adapted it for their own marketing efforts. Originally, the term Big Five meant the five animals that gave their hunters most difficulty because of their unpredictable behaviour. Thankfully, hunting is falling out of favour, but the Big Five tag has stuck, so let’s explore them - the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo.
King of the grasslands - the lion
Living in the grasslands, scrub and open woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa, the lion is the second largest cat in the world (behind tigers). African lions are the most social of all big cats and live together in groups or prides. Although extremely large prides, consisting of up to 30 individuals, have been seen, the average pride consists of five or six females, their cubs of both sexes, and one or two males who mate with the adult females. 18
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Lions live for about 10-14 years in the wild. While in captivity, they live for as long as 20-25 years old. The average male lion weighs around 180kg, while the average female lion weighs around 130kg. The heaviest lion on record weighed an amazing 375kg. Lions can reach speeds of up to 81kph, but only in short bursts because of a lack of stamina. An adult male’s roar can be heard up to 8 kilometres away. African lions eat large animals they find in the grasslands, including antelopes, zebras and wildebeest. A female lion needs 5kg of meat a day, while a male needs 7kg or more a day. Lions have astounding night vision. They are six times more sensitive to light than humans, which give them a distinct advantage over some prey species when hunting at night. Lions enjoy relaxing and lazing around and can spend between 16 and 20 hours each day resting and sleeping. They have few sweat glands so they wisely tend to conserve their energy by resting during the day and become more active at night when it is cooler. They are intelligent animals and use body language by rubbing their heads against one another to exchange scents and convey information about their intentions and feelings. While females do all the hunting, males get to eat first even if there are cubs in the pride. Females also remain in the same pride for life and share a very strong bond with their pride.
Did you know? Lions are symbols of strength and
courage. They are also common symbols for royalty and stateliness, hence the phrase ‘king of the jungle’.
An anti-social beauty – the leopard
Leopards are the least social - and perhaps the most beautiful - of the African big cats. They usually keep to rovesa.co.za VOL 1 ISSUE 1
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