Tumaren

Category: Issues | Date: Jan 29 2008 | By: tumaren

I eat meat and probably too much of it. I found this article in the New York Times rather alarming. I have always known about these issues but the implications for just slowing down our meat consumption (rather than quitting outright) are incredible with regard to greenhouse gas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?ref=science

7 responses so far

Category: Mammals | Date: Jan 28 2008 | By: tumaren

these guys were “necking” (a ritualized fight that male giraffe perform) before they started looking at me. such a great scene helps one to faze out all the tragedy that is unfolding now in Kenya.

4 responses so far

Category: Mammals | Date: Jan 25 2008 | By: tumaren

I was out working on one of our camps today situated high on our rock outcrop called Ol Donyo Nanyuki when i saw these wild dogs sleeping below me. they never saw me but they did appear spooky, jumping up at make beleive things behind them then settling down again for more rest. its always exciting seeing the wild dogs but it was only afterwards when i was looking at our pictures that i noticed one had been collared. This will have been put on by the good folks at the Mpala research center who run, among all sorts of other research a wild dog project. you can read more here (unfortunately you can see that the image that WCS has used is from Tanzania or southern Africa - Sable aren’t from Laikipia!):

http://www.wcs.org/international/Africa/kenya/samburulaikipia

Mpala Ranch hosts the research but i couldn’t find anything on their website - why, i don’t know.

http://www.mpala.org/

6 responses so far

Category: Birds, Mammals | Date: Jan 24 2008 | By: tumaren

These pictures are from Nakuru but one can witness hyena hunting flamingos at Lake Bogoria just west of Laikipia. Just thought they may be of general interest.

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13 responses so far

Category: Insects | Date: Jan 24 2008 | By: tumaren

Parm, one of our rangers pointed out the following larvae the other day while we were walking across a large plain together. the larvae at that time was not exposed and the only indication of his presence was a simple non descript hole. parm said in swahili “watch”. He cut a piece of grass, chewed the tip a bit and then wiggled the end near the entrance to the hole. The larvae attached, pinched the grass and with a smooth motion parm removed him from his hole where i photographed him before returning him to his home.
I reckon this must be some kind of beetle larvae. I have never seen tiger beetles here and he is far too big but he does resemble their larvae. Anyway he is very predatory and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was one of the large nocturnal ground beetles that prowl the savanna in search of prey. ideas welcome.

6 responses so far

Category: Reptiles | Date: Jan 17 2008 | By: tumaren

Found this fellow while digging up an old dam that we want to use to attract Buffalo and Lesser Kudu. The eles will likely dominate it though…

7 responses so far

Category: Birds | Date: Jan 16 2008 | By: tumaren

A D’arnaud’s barbet has become our new best friend as he has taken to stealing tomatoes from our stores near our office. he has no fear and runs between the legs of our seats as we eat lunch (often times tomato free).

6 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 13 2008 | By: tumaren

This is a fascinating story about Todd Palmer’s work in Kenya on whistling thorns, their ants and their browsers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/science/11ants.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

4 responses so far

Category: Birds | Date: Jan 09 2008 | By: tumaren

I nearly stepped on this nesting sandgrouse the other day while working on road repairs. It flushed in front of me. amazing how hidden he was. I didn’t know Mr. Black-faced sandgrouse helped with brooding.
He was on 3 eggs which he returned to within 15 minutes.

2 responses so far

Category: Insects | Date: Jan 09 2008 | By: tumaren

I found the following Assasin bug under some logs today in camp. Evidently they can give a rather severe bite. I wonder what he assasinates for food???

5 responses so far