Krugerpedia: The Wildlife Encyclopedia of Kruger National Park

Lesser-known facts

Elephant herds are led by an old matriarch who remembers where water can be found in a drought. The whole family follows her lead, and her memory has saved generations of calves.

Elephants talk to each other with very low rumbles that travel for kilometres. They also pick up vibrations through their feet, so a herd can sense others long before they come into sight.

Those huge ears do more than hear. They are packed with blood vessels, and flapping them cools the blood on a hot Lowveld day.

Lesser-known facts

The fish eagle's loud, ringing call is often called the sound of Africa. A pair often calls together, with the head thrown back, and the call carries far across the water.

It snatches fish from the surface in a low swoop. The soles of its feet are covered in tiny spikes that grip slippery fish, and if a fish is too heavy to lift, the eagle can drag it to shore, using its wings like oars.

Fish eagles pair for life and return to the same nest year after year, adding to it each season until it is enormous. Pairs defend a stretch of river or dam as their own.

Lesser-known facts

Leopards are astonishingly strong climbers and often drag kills weighing more than themselves high into tree branches to keep them away from hyenas.

No two leopards have the same spots. Guides identify individual cats by the pattern of spots on the whiskers' base, and many Kruger leopards are known by name.

A leopard's call sounds like someone sawing wood, and it carries a long way at night.

Lesser-known facts

A lion's roar can be heard from as far as 8 km away. Lions roar to mark their territory and to call the pride back together, most often at night and around dawn.

The lionesses do most of the hunting, working together to surround their prey. The males defend the pride's territory and often eat first once the kill is made.

Lions sleep for up to 20 hours a day to save energy. Cubs are born with faint spots on their coats, and the spots fade as they grow.

Lesser-known facts

No two wild dogs look alike. Each has its own pattern of black, tan and white patches, and the scientific name Lycaon pictus means "painted wolf".

Wild dogs are among Africa's most successful hunters. They run prey down together over long distances, and more than half their chases end in a kill, far better than lions manage.

Before a hunt, the pack can hold a vote by sneezing. The more dogs that sneeze, the more likely the pack is to set off. They also look after each other, so pups, and sick or injured dogs, are fed first.

Lesser-known facts

No two zebras have exactly the same stripes, so each one has its own pattern. A foal can stand within about 15 minutes of birth, and its mother keeps other zebras away at first so that the foal learns to recognise her by her stripes, scent and voice.

Zebras often graze alongside wildebeest and other animals. A zebra's strong teeth bite off the tall, tough grass first, which leaves shorter, softer grass for the animals that follow. Together their many eyes, ears and noses are good at spotting danger early.

Burchell's zebra has faint brown "shadow stripes" between its black ones, mostly on the rump. Scientists think the stripes may help keep biting flies away, and the zebra's call is a bark, closer to a dog's than a horse's.

Lesser-known facts

Buffalo are one of the Big Five, and have a reputation as one of Africa's most dangerous animals. A wounded or cornered buffalo is unpredictable, which is why guides treat lone old bulls with great respect.

The horns of a mature bull join at the base into a thick, bony shield called the boss, which protects the forehead. Herds can also stand together against danger, and buffalo have been filmed chasing off lions to rescue a calf.

Old bulls often leave the herd and spend their time in small groups, nicknamed "dagga boys" after the Zulu word for mud. Birds called oxpeckers ride on their backs and feed on ticks.

Lesser-known facts

The cheetah is the fastest land animal, reaching about 100 km/h within a few seconds. A sprint only lasts around half a minute, so afterwards the cat must rest and catch its breath before it can eat.

Cheetahs cannot roar. They purr, and they make a bird-like chirp to call their cubs. The dark "tear lines" running from the eyes to the mouth cut sun glare, and their claws stay partly out like running spikes for grip.

Cheetahs hunt by day because lions, leopards and hyenas hunt at night, and those rivals often steal their kills. Mothers raise their cubs alone, and the young cubs have a fluffy silver mane along their backs.

Lesser-known facts

A giraffe has the same number of neck bones as you do, seven. Each one is just enormously long, and the neck alone can be around 2 m.

A calf drops about 2 m to the ground at birth, since the mother gives birth standing up. Within an hour it is on its feet and walking, which helps it escape lions and hyenas.

Giraffes sleep for only a few minutes at a time, often standing. Recent research also recorded them humming softly at night, a sound that was long missed because it is too low for us to notice.

Lesser-known facts

Hippos spend the day in water to keep cool, and at dusk they climb out and walk up to several kilometres to graze. They can hold their breath for around five minutes, and they cannot really swim. They walk or bounce along the bottom instead.

Their skin gives off an oily red-orange fluid that people call "blood sweat". It is neither blood nor sweat, and it works as a natural sunscreen and helps protect against germs.

A hippo can open its mouth almost 150 degrees, and its lower canine teeth can grow up to 50 cm long. Despite looking placid, hippos are among the most dangerous animals in Africa, so guides keep well back from the water's edge.

Lesser-known facts

Guides have a nickname for the impala, "the McDonald's of Kruger". They are found almost everywhere, and they are on the menu for nearly every predator in the park, from leopards and lions to wild dogs and hyenas.

An impala can leap up to 3 m high and about 10 m in a single bound. When a predator appears, the herd sometimes scatters in all directions, which confuses the hunter, and the startled animals "explode" into the air.

During the rut, in autumn, the rams make loud, rasping roars and grunts as they fight for females. Many first-time visitors hear it at night and think it is a lion.

Most lambs are born within a few weeks of each other at the start of the summer rains. So many babies at once means predators cannot catch them all.

Lesser-known facts

The roller is named for its courtship display. The male dives and tumbles through the air, rolling from side to side while calling loudly, to impress a mate.

Rollers hunt from a lookout perch, such as a dead branch or a power line. They watch for movement, drop onto prey on the ground, and fly back to beat larger prey against the branch before swallowing it.

Its colours are hard to miss, with a lilac breast, turquoise belly, blue wings and green head. It is so loved that it is the national bird of both Botswana and Kenya.

Lesser-known facts

A mother crocodile guards her nest for about three months. When the hatchlings call from inside their eggs, she digs them out and carries them in her mouth, gently, down to the water.

The temperature of the nest decides whether the eggs become males or females. Warm nests produce mostly males, so a single sunny or shady spot can change a whole clutch.

Crocodiles bask with their mouths wide open to cool down, and they swallow stones that may help with balance and digestion. They lie almost motionless for hours, then strike from the water in a split second.

Lesser-known facts

Spotted hyenas are far more than scavengers. They hunt and kill most of their own food, and lions often steal from them, not the other way around.

Hyena clans are run by females. The females are larger than the males and hold the top ranks, and a cub inherits its place in the clan from its mother.

The famous "laugh" is really a nervous or excited call. A hyena's jaws crush bone with ease, and its stomach acid digests it, which is why hyena droppings are often chalky white. Their long "whoop" call can carry for several kilometres at night.

Lesser-known facts

The white rhino is the second-largest land animal after the elephant. Despite the name it is grey. A popular story says "white" comes from the Afrikaans word for wide, describing the broad, square lip it uses to graze.

Its horn is made of keratin, the same material as your fingernails, and it keeps growing throughout the animal's life. Bulls mark their territory by scattering dung in the same spots, called middens, and the rest of the rhinos in the area read these like a message board.

Calves walk in front of their mothers, unlike black rhino calves, which follow behind. Kruger holds one of the largest white rhino populations in the world, but poaching has cut numbers sharply in recent years.