In safari speak, many people travel to see the "big five" animals which include lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards and cape buffalos. I've already included our leopard sighting, but here are the other five. According to our guides, the rhino and the leopard are most difficult to spot. In fact, the black rhino is listed as being critically endangered on the World Conversation Union's list! The good news is that the black rhino population is feebly increasing...though the process is extremely slow.
There is also another list playfully dubbed the " small five." We only witnessed one of these tiny animals, and I was not able to photograph it, because we were too far away. However, we did catch a quick glimpse of a BUFFALO weaver! All of the "small five" are tiny, and earned their names because they contain part of the big five's nomenclature, so you have the ELEPHANT shrew, RHINOCEROS beetle, LEOPARD tortoise and the ant LION.
Finally, many people lovingly refer to the "Ugly five" as the hyena, vulture, wildebeest, wart hog and maribou stork- nature's more aesthetically challenged creatures. We saw all five of these animals, though I thought the wart hog (aka pumbas) were quite cute! On the other hand, I have always hated hyenas, perhaps because of the "evil" role they play in the Lion King. I will say, however that after learning more about these animals, I have a newfound respect. According to Eric, they are critical to the ecosystem, not only because they scavenge, but they are the only animals that can digest bones, really proving their ability to serve as nature's clean up crew.
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