Strange Weight Questions

With all the foreign tourists we have on game drive you will always get the most out of the ordinary questions. Many of the questions are very genuine, so one has to be honest and try keep a straight face when giving the answers.

I had this lady on drive one day and she was quite interested in the weight of just about everything we encounted.

The first animal we came across was a Giraffe.
The first question thrown at me was: “How much does a giraffe’s heart weigh?”
I answered: “Good question, I don’t know the answer to that but I will try find out for you.”
She replied: “I know. The Giraffe’s heart weighs 14kg.”
She was right as I found out later that a Giraffe’s heart is about 10% of it's total body weight which is roughly 14kg, for an adult

About half an hour later we came across a Dung Beetle busy rolling a ball of dung down the road. We stopped to watch the little guy in action.
The lady then asked: “How much does the dung-ball weigh?”

With that question, I thought to myself:“Okay lets try get a bit technical about dung balls.”
I answered: “Well, the weight of the dung-ball depends on a number of different factors. Firstly it depends on which animal the dung is from. Buffalo dung has a higher density than Elephant dung and is thus heavier.
Secondly it depends on the time of the year, as the dung will be heavier in the higher rainfall season as there is more moisture in the plants that the animals eat. This all makes it rather difficult to give the exact answer on the dung-balls weight.”
She then asked me again in response: “How much does it weigh?”
So I climbed of the Land Rover, took the Dung Beetle off its ball, held the dung-ball in my hand asif trying to weight it, and then told her: “It weighs 20 grams.”
She was happy with the answer so we then continued with the game drive.

One will always get a curve-ball of a question every now and again and that’s cool as it makes the game drives more interesting.

The Brave Hyena

One morning while out on a game drive in the Kruger National Park, we decided to take a coffee and leg-stretch break. I parked the Land Rover in the shade of a large Weeping Boer Bean tree in the middle of a beautiful open plain.

While sipping away on our coffees and nibbling on the rusks my tracker noticed a dark shaded figure in the distance, moving slowly down the road towards us.

As it got closer we noticed it was a Spotted Hyena! My guest’s first reaction was to jump into the Land Rover to get out of harm’s way, but before they did this I told them there was no need to do that as the hyena was on its own and would be no threat to us. Gradually the hyena got closer and closer.

It was very well aware of our presence but seemed the least but worried or afraid. Eventually it stopped just 4 or 5 meters away from us, lay down and started chewing on a bone of some sort.

It was absolutely amazing! It was not bothered at all about us being there, even when we started talking and taking photographs of it. After about five minutes of bone chewing it stood up and casually walked away.

It was by the best animal sighting we had that morning. The bush is always full of surprises.

Ranger bitten by Cobra

About 1 year ago there was terrible incident at one of our neighbouring game reserves.

An Egyptian cobra was found in the lodge and obviously being a safety hazard to the guests, had to be removed. One of the rangers that was there at the time decided to try and catch the snake and in the process he was bitten on the hand!

He held on to the snake and very calmly went to his house, which was at the lodge to go fetch a bag to put the snake into. He needed to take the snake to the hospital with him to make a positive identification on it so as to be given the right treatment.

About ten minutes after the bite one of the other staff members found the ranger dead outside of his car with the snake inside a bag next to him!
He was either bitten in a main artery, sending the venom straight to his heart or possibly even allergic to bees as normally a bite from an Egyptian cobra takes about an hour or two to kill the average person.

People that are allergic to bees often have a worse reaction to certain snake venoms and can die earlier as a result

Ranger Attacked by Lion in the Kruger National Park

On Friday morning 10 October, a trails ranger in the Kruger National Park was on a bush-walk with a group of tourists when they came across a lioness with cubs.

The ranger gave the Lioness a wide berth which would normally get one out of danger but unfortunately was not enough. The lioness came charging out from behind a bush at the group! Even after two warning shots the lioness still got hold of the ranger and started biting his arms and scratching him all over the rest of his body and face.

The second ranger that was on the trail had taken the tourists to a safe point and returned and fired off 6 warning shots at the lioness which was enough to scare her away.

A helicopter was then called in to airlift the ranger to a nearby hospital outside the Kruger Park to receive treatment.

Awesome Lion Footage: Lions vs Elephants, Lion Attacking Hyenas! and the Battle at Kruger.

Do Giraffe hunt in packs?

Since I've been guiding I've been asked this same question 3 times before and by 3 different people. The first time I was asked, I thought it was just a funny question, but after been asked for a third time I started to wonder why I keep getting the same question all the time.

Well. I found out why.

It all began a few years ago when a group of tourists out on a game drive with their game ranger came upon a dead Impala up in a tree. It was the kill from a Leopard and the Leopard had hung it there, which they often do.
There was no Leopard to be seen, so the Ranger told the guests as a joke that it was a Giraffe that had hung the Impala in the tree.

You see, Giraffe don't eat leaves as everyone else thinks, instead thay are vicious carnivores hunting as a team and once they catch their prey, they hold it by the head in their mouths and beat it against the trees and the ground until dead. They then hang the prey up in a tree to keep it away from the Hyenas and Jackals so they can feed on it at leisure. (This is obviously not true)

This story spread like fire, leading many other people to believe it. It got so out of hand that many other guides were telling the same story when they came across abandoned Leopard kills. The Head-Ranger of the game reserve, where it all started eventually had to tell all the rangers to stop telling the silly story.

So now you know.

Strange & Funny Questions

All the questions below are 100% true even if you don't believe so. These are questions that myself and other rangers have been asked while on game drives and on bush-walks.

1) Do Giraffe hunt in packs?
2) Do Rhino's have nests in trees?
3) Do Rhino eat meat?
4) How many eggs do Hippo lay?
5) Is that mother a female?
6) Do you find animals on the left-hand side of the road?
7) Why are Elephants big?
8) Why does the Buffalo have a light-grey colour around its' rectum?
9) Do you think we will see a Tiger today?
10) What is that!? Answer: Its' the Elephants' penis.