Elephant Shrew and Buffalo Weaver
Elephant Shrew
They may have the same name, but the African elephant and the elephant shrew could not be more different. The elephant is huge, weighing up to 6000 kg and lives for 50-60 years. The elephant shrew lives for only one year and weighs only 50g. This group of shrews has an extended pointed face, ending in a long, flexible nose; giving them their name.
Elephant shrews, unlike rats and mice do not dig burrows. They, instead, clear tracks or raceways in the riverine or thicket floor litter, with well hidden observation points at the ends. Like many shrews, they eat insects, and depending on the species will find them on the top of fallen leaves and grass, or by flipping over leaves to find what is underneath.
Elephant shrews find their food during the day and are vulnerable to birds of prey and snakes as a result. To protect themselves, elephant shrews maintain a small territory which they defend from all other shrews of the same sex, and they learn that territory very well. When threatened, they will bounce very quickly on their back legs along one of their pathways and into a hidden safe spot. Unlike rats, elephant shrews do not produce many babies. Average gestation for their litters is two months, followed by only a single month until the offspring is fully adult and able to breed itself. The average female will have only two, sometimes three litters in her single, fast paced year of life.
Buffalo Weaver
The male buffalo weaver, like the full-sized Cape Buffalo, can be very particular about its personal space. Among the bushes and the long grass, keep an active ear open for their warning call of "skwieeeeeeeer". The white-headed buffalo weaver males call alone from tree tops, at their circular grassy nests or while out and about looking for insects.
Both sexes of this bird have a white head and chest, orange leading-edges on their wings and their rump, white wing flashes, all on a black-background bird. They often nest in colonies, sometimes for several years, so the old and new grass nests make the tree look old and decrepit with age. The most common place to see this bird is as a flash flying up from dense grass to a tree above. Despite its interesting name, buffalo weavers have nothing to do with full-sized buffalo.
