HIPPOS in South Africa’s most
famous wildlife park are changing the way they feed as a deadly drought stalks
the landscape.
PUBLISHED: 16:18, Tue, Feb
2, 2016 | UPDATED: 16:33, Tue, Feb 2, 2016
The exotic animals have adapted
their feeding habits recently
The sight of the huge herbivores
grazing on land in sunlight rather than wallowing in rivers and muddy pools is
a worrying sign that the crippling dry weather is beginning to hit the Kruger.
Night-feeding hippos do not like
to travel far to graze but such is their desperation to maintain an average
intake of 80lbs of grass a day, it means almost round-the-clock feeding.
Crippling dry weather is
beginning to hit the Kruger
Buffalos are another animal
expected to suffer as dams vital for managing water begin to run dry after
rainfall dropped by 50 per cent in recent weeks.
You've got winners and you've got
losers
Izak Smit, national parks service
ecologist
Kruger's buffalos suffered
tremendous losses in the early 1990s when drought cut the population by more
than half to about 14,000.
Latest figures shows their
numbers have rebounded to 40,000-plus.
Hippos usually spend the day in
rivers and muddy pools
Although water is being provided
in some parts of the park, the authorities say they do not plan any major
intervention, describing the drought as a way of regulating wildlife numbers.
While vegetation grazing animals
suffer, meat-eating predators will find weakened prey easier to catch.
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