Regardless of age or language, every child in the world knows Pumba.
The Lion King immortalized the warthog as one of the favorite and most recognizable animals in Africa and no safari is complete without a sighting of these charismatic little animals.
On a recent trip to the Pilanesberg I witnessed and photographed warthog behavior that goes against everything that we ‘expect’ from them. As Grant, a good friend and photographer, always says ‘expect the unexpected’ when you are out in the bush.
Warthogs are, by definition, omnivorous but most of the time we do not see them like this.
Yeah, that’s a group of four warthogs feeding off a giraffe carcass.
I have heard arguments that occasionally warthog will feed off carcasses but if you look closely you will notice that they are in fact feeding off the stomach contents which is made of old grass and plant material.
After spending a lot of time with them, and having a very good look, a very good look, there was no doubt that they do not only feed off the stomach contents as they spent a long time pulling little piece of meat off the ribcage.
Don’t judge these little warties too harshly. Animals in the wild do not do things according to a specific set of rules and will eat various things based on the nutritional requirements at the time. This can range from bones and meat to dung and grass. We have seen lions eating grass as well and then everybody thinks it’s cute.
Just another reason going out on a photo safari is such a great experience – you never know what you are going to get!
Tomorrow it’s guest post day but instead of a guest blogger I will be stepping away from wildlife photography as I do a feedback session on last Saturday’s Worldwide Photowalk which includes images from a number of the participants.
Great morning. Great people. Awesome images!
See you tomorrow!
Gerry
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Tags: photography, syndicated, warthogs
