Ch
mps:
BBC
NHU;
eephant:
Nck
Lyon/BBC
NHU;
hyena:
Kr
Cashe
/BBC
NHU;
aardvark:
Nge
Denn
s/ImageBroker/A
amy;
acac
apod:
Dor
ng
Knders
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td/A
amy
SevenWorlds,OnePlanetSEVEN WORLDS | ONE PLANET
30can bring down prey much larger
than themselves, including the topi.
This large and fast-running antelope
would normally see off a lone cheetah
attack with one shake of its powerful
body, but five felines can topple a
topi in seconds.
The rift valley lakes are also
packed with wildlife. There are
soda lakes that have become key
feeding sites for flamingos. About
1.3 million lesser flamingos arrive
at Lake Bogoria, where they feed
on the cyanobacterium Spirulina, a
microscopic organism known among
health-food addicts as a rich source
of vitamins, minerals and proteins. It
also causes the feathers of flamingos
to be coloured pink.Hoodwinked fish
There are also freshwater lakes,
some of the oldest, largest and
deepest lakes in the world. The most
common family of fish living in them
is the cichlids. More than 200 species
live in Lake Tanganyika alone, and it
was here that assistant producer Jo
Haley discovered a lakebed more like
the surface of the moon.
“It was pockmarked with huge
craters and sandcastles, built by male
cichlids to impress potential mates.
The fish were no more than a few
centimetres long, yet they excavated
hollows and built mounds that were
up to a metre across,” recalls Jo.
And, having found a mate, female
cichlids are known for their parental
care. Many of them are mouth
brooders – the female looks after
her young, not in a nest, but in her
mouth. But wherever there’s an
opportunity to exploit a situation,
there’s sure to be an animal that
will take advantage of it. The cichlid
eggs and fry should be safe hiding
in their mother’s mouth, but
sometimes they’re not.
The cuckoo catfish lives up to its
common English name by placing
its eggs in another fish’s mouth.
It watches as the cichlid mother
produces a small batch of eggs and
the male fertilises them, before the
female turns and gathers them into
her mouth. The two will do this
several times, but then the female
catfish pounces. She eats several of
the eggs and replaces them with her
own, the male catfish following close1 Elephants at Mana
Pools in Zimbabwe
stretch themselves
to feed on apple-ring
acacia pods.
2 Ivory Coast’s young
chimpanzees learn
how to crack nuts by
watching their parents.
3 Apple-ring acacia
pods mature at the
end of the dry season,
which is a critical time
for herbivores.2
1