The Mammals of Southern African and their Tracks & Signs flipping preview

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Mammals

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ISBN 978-1-4314-0806-1 www.jacana.co.za

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Lee Gutteridge & Louis Liebenberg

9 781431 408061 15

“The ultimate resource for even the most hardened bush-goer” – LONGEVITY

TRACKS

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PRAISE FOR LEE GUTTERIDGE’S BUSHVELD

TRACKS & SIGNS

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In this comprehensive field guide to mammal tracks and signs, Lee Gutteridge and Louis Liebenberg, both experienced trackers, help you to decipher the natural hieroglyphs of animals etched on the ground. Lee’s wide selection of extremely varied photographs and Louis’s highly accurate sketches of tracks help you identify each animal more easily in its environment. The section on keys, illustrated by Warren Cary, will further assist you in the field as you discover spoor in the many different substrates where the animals walk.

The book also serves as an identification guide as full-colour photographs of each animal are included.

and their

TRACKS

Mammals

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Mammals of Southern Africa and their

of Southern Africa and their

Lee Gutteridge & Louis Liebenberg

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Mammals of Southern Africa and their

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Mammals of Southern Africa and their

TRACKS

& SIGNS

Lee Gutteridge & Louis Liebenberg

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First published by Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd in 2013 10 Orange Street Sunnyside Auckland Park 2092 South Africa +2711 628 3200 www.jacana.co.za © Text: Lee Gutteridge © Illustrations: Louis Liebenberg © Photographs: credited on individual photos; all others by Lee Gutteridge All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-4314-0806-1 Also available as an e-book d-PDF ISBN 978-1-4314-0872-6 Cover and book design by Shawn Paikin and Maggie Davey Set in Sabon 10/15pt Job no. 002018 See a complete list of Jacana titles at www.jacana.co.za

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To my wonderful children, Kellen and Savannah, I hope you will always enjoy playing in the African sand as much as you do today. – LG

To my parents, the late Charles Liebenberg and my mother Frances, who helped me get started as an independent citizen scientist in my early twenties. – LL

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Contents Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Origins of tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 A selection of interesting habitats from across southern Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Species accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Glossary of terms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Acknowledgements

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About the authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Multitool for size comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

LEFT A four-month-old spotted hyena cub, Okavango Delta 1

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Keys How to use the following pages In the next few pages there are keys that have been devised to assist with the accurate identification of tracks of southern African mammals.

By reading the accompanying text, and looking at the pictures on the charts, you will be able to follow basic steps to identifying the spoor you wish to decipher.

Do not ignore the text, as this will often describe small features needed to lead you to the right page, or possibly to a few different possible options.

At the end of each chain of images, the page numbers are provided for further information to confirm the identification of the specific species.

Once you have used the key to arrive at your possible answer, double check this with the drawing and accompanying photograph in the species accounts. Warning: Keep in mind that there may be details missing from the track on the ground!

Illustrations of tracking keys by Warren Cary.

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KEYS

Key 1 Unique tracks: small-to-medium sized

SPRINGHARE 4.5 cm (p.68)

BABOON and MONKEYS (pp.256 – 261)

PANGOLIN ±6 cm (p.266)

AARDVARK 9–11 cm (p.262)

BUSHPIG butterfly-shaped hoof with false hooves present; up to 12 cm (p.102)

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BUSHBABIES (p.254)

WARTHOG typically squared-off track with false hooves present; 6–7 cm (p.104) 3

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MAMMALS AND THEIR TRACKS & SIGNS

Key 2 Unique tracks: large sized

ELEPHANT 35–40 cm (p.78)

GIRAFFE 18–25 cm (p.108) 4

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KEYS

HIPPOPOTAMUS ±24 cm (p.98)

WHITE RHINO 25 cm (p.88)

BLACK RHINO 20 cm (p.94)

PLAINS ZEBRA ±7 cm (p.84) CAPE BUFFALO 18 cm (p.156) 5

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MAMMALS AND THEIR TRACKS & SIGNS

Key 3 Padded feet: larger than 6.5 cm in length

OTTERS with wrist pad; 12 cm (p.220)

large padded feet with or without claws

3 lobes with or without claws

2 lobes with claws

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KEYS

CHEETAH 9 cm (p.192) 3 lobes with claws

LEOPARD Âą9 cm (p.194)

3 lobes without claws

LION up to 14 cm (p.198)

BROWN HYENA hind foot much smaller than front foot; 11 cm (p.184)

with half-moon-shaped outer toes

with rounded outer toes

SPOTTED HYENA both feet similar in size; 11 cm (p.188)

WILD DOG in a pack structure; 9 cm (p.212) 7

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MAMMALS AND THEIR TRACKS & SIGNS

Key 4 Medium-sized padded feet: 4.5–6.4 cm in length

5 toes

with claws; 4 or 5 toes, with or without wrist pad

4 toes

medium-sized padded feet with or without claws

without claws or with one large claw

ROCK HYRAX elongated pad with one prominent claw sometimes visible; rocky areas 5.5 cm (p.76)

3 lobes without claws 8

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KEYS

HONEY BADGER one large wrist pad; 11 cm (p.222)

wrist pad present

uneven plantar pad & wrist pad seldom seen; 5th toe rarely seen

PORCUPINE two large wrist pads; 9 cm (p.64)

MARSH MONGOOSE long fingers; near water or reed beds; 7 cm (p.244)

WHITE-TAILED MONGOOSE rounded toes; square plantar pad on hind foot; 5.5 cm (p.248) AFRICAN CIVET round front foot, oval hind foot; 5.5 cm (p.228)

both feet oval

SERVAL toes of hind foot in front of plantar pad; 4.5 cm (p.208)

CARACAL toes of hind foot partially behind plantar pad; 5 cm (p.202)

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a cross can be made in front foot without bisecting a toe or plantar pad BLACKBACKED JACKAL or SIDE-STRIPED JACKAL (p.216) or CAPE FOX (p.214) AARDWOLF hind left foot meets front right; half-moon outer toes; 6 cm (p.182) 9

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MAMMALS AND THEIR TRACKS & SIGNS

Key 5 Padded feet: smaller than 4.5 cm in length

with claws usually seen

5 toes usually seen

small padded feet with or without claws

uneven lobes and 5th toes not always clear

typically without claws 3 lobes on plantar pad

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HARES bounds in a ‘T’ or ‘Y’ shape (p.70)

RODENTS bounds in groups of 4 (pp.56–63)

BAT-EARED FOX with long claws; sandy areas; 4.5 cm (p.210)

with long claws ZORILLA / STRIPED POLECAT (p.227) or STRIPED WEASEL (p.226)

gregarious species BANDED MONGOOSE (p.236) or DWARF MONGOOSE (p.240)

SLENDER MONGOOSE slender toes, often splayed; 3 cm (p.246)

YELLOW MONGOOSE rounded toes; dry habitats; 3.2 cm (p.250) usually solitary

AFRICAN WILD CAT bean-shaped toes & large central lobe; 3.5 cm (p.204) SMALL-SPOTTED CAT dry areas with termite mounds; 2.5 cm (p.206)

GENETS two lobes, rounded toes; 2.8 cm (p.232)

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MAMMALS AND THEIR TRACKS & SIGNS

Key 6 Antelope tracks: smaller than 4.5 cm in length

DAMARA DIK-DIK northern Namibia only; 2 cm (p.134)

SHARPE’S GRYSBOK Kruger region, Mozambique & Zimbabwe only; 2.5 cm (p.142)

CAPE GRYSBOK Western Cape only; 3 cm (p.140)

species with limited distribution

small antelope spoor

species limited by habitat

rocky habitat & mountains

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MOUNTAIN REEDBUCK 4.5 cm (p.174)

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forest and adjacent coastline

KLIPSPRINGER 2 cm (p.132)

RED DUIKER 3 cm (p.127)

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KEYS

SUNI KwaZulu-Natal, Mozambique, SE & NE Zimbabwe only; 2 cm (p.135)

ORIBI patchy distribution in Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, northern Botswana, Mozambique & Zimbabwe; 3 cm (p.139)

narrower at the back than the middle

widespread species in the region

BUSHBUCK 4.5 cm (p.168)

rounded on sides, widest at the back

typically sharp & narrow at front

COMMON DUIKER 3.5 cm (p.128)

rocky hillsides, mountain slopes, good grass cover

STEENBOK 4 cm (p.136)

BLUE DUIKER 2 cm (p.126)

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GREY RHEBOK 4.3 cm (p.148)

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Key 7 Large antelope spoor: Alcelaphinae & Hippotraginae

BLUE WILDEBEEST 10–11 cm (p.112)

BLACK WILDEBEEST 10 cm (p.114)

ROAN ANTELOPE 10 cm (p.150)

SABLE ANTELOPE 10 cm (p.152)

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KEYS

GEMSBOK / ORYX 10 cm (p.154)

LICHTENSTEIN’S HARTEBEEST 9 cm (p.116)

RED HARTEBEEST 9 cm (p.118)

TSESSEBE 8 cm (p.124)

BONTEBOK 7.5 cm (p.122)

BLESBOK 7.5 cm (p.120)

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MAMMALS AND THEIR TRACKS & SIGNS

Key 8 Large antelope spoor: Reduncinae, Tragelaphinae, Aepycerotinae & Antilopinae

ELAND 14 cm (p.170)

KUDU 9 cm (p.160)

SITATUNGA 14 cm (p.164)

COMMON WATERBUCK 9 cm (p.176)

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KEYS

RED LETCHWE 8 cm (p.178)

PUKU 7 cm (p.180)

NYALA 7 cm (p.166)

SOUTHERN REEDBUCK (splayed) 6.5 cm (p.172)

SPRINGBOK 6 cm (p.130)

IMPALA 5.5 cm (p.144)

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Introduction Tracking is a much-loved and yet difficult subject, which attracts at least some of the attention of almost every bushgoer who ventures into the wild places of southern Africa. The ability to accurately read difficult, partial or little-seen signs left in the soil or sand is rare, and is largely the domain of professionals.

However, by making use of a comprehensive guide, anyone who applies him- or herself can begin to decipher these natural hieroglyphs etched on the ground. In this volume we have combined Louis Liebenberg’s highly accurate sketches of animal tracks, showing all of the details one would find in a perfect example of the spoor, with a wide selection of extremely varied photographs which explain the difficult truth of the matter, and represent what you are most likely to actually see in the many different substrates where the animals walk. I say this because perfect prints are actually much rarer than one might expect, as the animal needs to step just right, on the right kind of surface, at the right pace, in the right weather conditions! Realistically, every time the soil type or its consistency changes, the track will change. With every differing pace and with every gust of wind it will change once again, and with every antic of the living animal there will be anomalies to the pattern it leaves behind. So, taking this into LEFT A Kalahari Bushman 19

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account, photographic representations of actual tracks have been combined with the drawings, and you will soon see that there is a part of the perfect track in every actual spoor, but rarely all of the details.

Thus, by combining the incredibly accurate detail of the sketches, and applying it mentally, piece by piece to an actual track on the ground, you will be able to identify the animal that went by – providing the details are still visible. It is also important to note that the more you practise, the better you will become at this. You will also need to come to terms with the fact that there are tracks out there that are too damaged by wind or other animals, or are simply too old to determine exactly what they are.

On pages 2–17 are keys to assist with the identification of carnivore tracks. They will be of great use to the beginner, but as your experience grows you will be able to miss the steps in the beginning of the keys, moving straight to the actual end groups of mammals. This is the first attempt to devise a key-system for the tracks of mammals of southern Africa. It is important that once you have arrived at a choice of animal, you refer to the species account page, and use all of the available information to confirm that it is in fact the species that you think it is – often there are details missing from an individual track. If you have used the combined information of a sequence of tracks, the details should be much more complete, and thus your interpretation more accurate.

Using this basic guide to the southern African spoor types, one may identify many interesting species, which are seldom actually seen, by their spoor alone. With a keen interest and frequent observation, you can add to your personal

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INTRODUCTION

repertoire of knowledge – and all you need to do is observe.

For example, whenever an animal or bird crosses a bare patch of loose substrate, go and look at the signs it leaves behind.

This, with a bit of practice, will improve your skills. The aim of this book is to assist nature enthusiasts to improve their skills of interpretation in the field and help to complete the understanding of just what is going on around them.

Origins of tracking This ancient art has its origins steeped in the mystery of time.

When did man first use this skill? We will never know exactly how or why, but it is interesting to speculate. First we need a more complete understanding of what ‘tracking’ actually is. It is not, as many people surmise, just looking at a footprint and recognising it or following it. It is that – but it also needs to be combined with many other aspects, such as a total awareness

The authors examining a track with a tracker in the Lebombo Mountains

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of the environment, the use of your sense of smell, and an ability to recognise commonly heard sounds such as alarm calls of animals.

An example of this use of sound would be, for instance, while following the trail of a predator, such as a lioness, one hears the shrill call of an African tree squirrel up ahead. What does this mean to you? Is the animal perhaps warning you that the lioness is walking there, perhaps passing below the small rodent’s favourite tree, a hundred metres ahead of you? Why would a troop of baboons bark in alarm during the night?

Perhaps they have been disturbed at their roost by a leopard that is patrolling his territory. The same leopard may, in the morning, cause a cacophony of vervet monkey alarm calls as he passes below the river bank trees in which they are feeding.

In fact in private reserves across southern Africa, many sightings of our larger predators are a direct result of the alarm calls of potential prey animals! Even the smaller predators can cause an audible disturbance in the bush: the sudden silence of songbirds in an area indicating the unwelcome presence of an African wild cat; or conversely the aggressive babbling of a flock of arrow-marked babblers indicating the appearance of the self-same small hunter.

Fortunately, it is not always a sign of predators if we hear a noise in the bush. For example, if you hear zebras calling throughout the night, it might be a sign to the listener of an attempted takeover of harem females by a competing stallion.

During early May, the Bushveld night may be filled with the deep growls of impala rams competing in their part of the yearly rut.

All of these sounds and many more will help the astute listener to compose an image of the unseen movements and behaviours 22

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INTRODUCTION

of the wildlife around them. The territorial calls of blackbacked or side-striped jackals, lions, spotted hyenas, blue wildebeest and many others often punctuate the silence of a Bushveld evening in southern Africa.

Then, another important aspect of tracking is seeing and interpreting the signs other than tracks left behind in nature.

Droppings, scent-markings and smells, rubbings, roll marks, scratches, urine patches, diggings, broken branches, horn marks, carcasses of prey animals, chew marks, burrows, scrapes, drag marks and many other non-footprint signs can be seen or sensed in nature where animals are plentiful. Many animals use tree trunks or exposed tree roots to mark their territory, by horning, rubbing or clawing them regularly. Some animals dig holes of differing shapes and sizes using different methods to obtain food, or as a form of shelter. Other animals may adopt these burrows as their own and modify them to suit their specific needs once the original occupant has moved along.

Dung is deposited, in one place or another, by all animals: some are very open and obvious about it, using this as a form of advertisement of their presence in a given area; and others are very secretive, hiding their scat in order to evade detection.

The dung may be a single deposit or an accumulation of many separate visits to a latrine, civetry or midden. Kills left behind by predators are as varied as the predators themselves, with different hunting methods, prey animals, killing techniques, storage places and feeding styles.

Another aspect of tracking is the actual ability to follow an animal along the trail it has left as it moved through a natural environment. This is very difficult to do and requires much practice by using a combination of footprints, sounds, smells, signs (such as scat or diggings), broken spider webs, flattened 23

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grass, trails through morning dew or disturbed and broken vegetation. Eventually, as your knowledge of the species increases, it no longer becomes necessary to follow print by print or sign by sign. You begin to interpret the behaviour of the creature from the signs you have already seen, and you can begin to predict, with varying degrees of accuracy, where it will go, why it is going there and how it will do this. This speculative ability takes many years of tracking, observing and interpreting to achieve, but is definitely the most rewarding level of understanding attainable between a tracker and his quarry.

How did the animal move? This is often useful to an experienced tracker in the identification of the species at hand. The basic use of this question can help you differentiate between bounding, hopping, striding, registering, walking, shuffling, running, side-trotting and many other movement styles or gaits (more information on these gaits can be found in the glossary). If you can identify and understand the gait, in your mind’s eye you will be able to imagine exactly how the animal was moving along, where it was placing its feet and how this looked. Then, having noted the distance between signs, you can develop an impression of how large the stride or jump was, and thus assess the potential size of the animal.

Often a particular gait is associated with a particular creature, such as a bipedally-hopping springhare, or bounding as with a scrub hare. The speed, behaviour or particular sequence of an animal’s gait can tell you much about the creature you follow – this may in turn help you to identify the animal you are searching for and to imagine what it was doing along the trail.

Habitat also plays a major role in identification of spoor and sign of some creatures, but can be misleading as animals will occasionally range out of their typical habitat. As an example, 24

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INTRODUCTION

LEFT TO RIGHT Wilson Masia, Adriaan Louw and Louis Liebenberg selecting tracks during a Cybertracker assessment process

you may find there has been movement from rock to rock, with occasional yellowish droppings and potential middens of dung. This might assist in the differentiation of a Jameson’s red rock rabbit sequence from that of a scrub hare, which would seldom if ever associate with rocky areas, and does not typically develop a dung midden of any substantial size.

So, now that we have a more complete picture of some of the aspects that comprise the art of tracking, we can go back to our original question about the actual origin of tracking. It is plausible to assume that our ancient ancestors, and even other species of Hominid, began to recognise the shapes of important tracks, such as those which meant a possibility of food (or I suppose, more importantly, imminent danger).

Perhaps realistic examples of this would be recognising the vocalisation of a big cat such as Megantereon, the dirk-toothed cat, or identifying the footprint of a deadly enemy such as a cave bear at the entrance of a possible refuge selected for the 25

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MAMMALS AND THEIR TRACKS & SIGNS

evening. Perhaps the track of a dangerous, but highly valued, food item such as the elephant may have been an early part of this tracking development.

Perhaps, by watching scavenging birds such as vultures descending on a carcass, they learned that this meant a possible source of food, if they could only displace the current owner of the carcass. This is a way of reading behaviours of animals, indicating a specific occurrence‌ all part of a tracker’s work.

This is a practice followed today by lions, hyenas and even humans in some regions, so there should be no reason why ancient men or man-like creatures should not have used these signs. Perhaps by following the sounds of rutting animals the ancient hunter might have been able to locate food in the form of an antelope ram.

When this all began is impossible to say, but for all of recorded history there has been some type of interpretation of tracks with extensive documentation of animal tracks and shapes of spoor in our southern African rock art dating to times immemorial. There is much evidence indicating that one of our relatives, Homo erectus, hunted game, presumably by using a form of persistence hunting, or literally running the game down. This points to a form of systematic tracking being employed as much as 2 million years ago here in southern Africa. Homo sapiens, as a species, dates back more than 200 000 years here in southern Africa, and it is widely believed that we have been tracking in a speculative manner for most of this time. Recent evidence of bow-and-arrow usage dates back more than 70 000 years in South Africa, which also implies heavily the use of tracking in order to find game.

Rock art in southern Africa dates back to very ancient cultures, such as the Matopan culture of southern Zimbabwe. In the 26

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INTRODUCTION

Amatobo Hills, paint palettes that date back nearly 40 000 years have been found in rock shelters full of paintings. Rock art dating back 27 000 years has also been found in southern Namibia. Many sites such as Twyfelfontein in Namibia and sites in the Limpopo Vhembe region of Venda have beautifully sculpted engravings of animal tracks, many of which are so accurate in terms of detail that the actual species being depicted can be identified! This gives one a clear impression of the different signs that parts of the bodies of man and animals leave behind when they have passed. Needless to say, it is an ancient art, with speculative tracking being cited as the very Origin of Science.

The methodical linking of track to animal, identifying it as a species from this abstract sign and then knowing what the animal itself will mean to you and your family in terms of danger or food is a skillset still in use today.

Twyfelfontein engravings (Adriaan Louw) 27

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Mammals

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& SIGNS

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ISBN 978-1-4314-0806-1 www.jacana.co.za

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Lee Gutteridge & Louis Liebenberg

9 781431 408061 15

“The ultimate resource for even the most hardened bush-goer” – LONGEVITY

TRACKS

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PRAISE FOR LEE GUTTERIDGE’S BUSHVELD

TRACKS & SIGNS

7

In this comprehensive field guide to mammal tracks and signs, Lee Gutteridge and Louis Liebenberg, both experienced trackers, help you to decipher the natural hieroglyphs of animals etched on the ground. Lee’s wide selection of extremely varied photographs and Louis’s highly accurate sketches of tracks help you identify each animal more easily in its environment. The section on keys, illustrated by Warren Cary, will further assist you in the field as you discover spoor in the many different substrates where the animals walk.

The book also serves as an identification guide as full-colour photographs of each animal are included.

and their

TRACKS

Mammals

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Mammals of Southern Africa and their

of Southern Africa and their

Lee Gutteridge & Louis Liebenberg

19 cm

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