Interesting Assorted Tidbits

How the elephant got its long trunk and large ears.

When Njoka was little, his grandmother told him the story of how the elephant got his long trunk, courtesy of the crocodile, and large ears. The trunk part of the story was pretty much based upon the Rudyard Kipling story, and the ears...well, I couldn't find any documentation for that...
"...Then the Elephant's Child sat back on his little haunches, and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose began to stretch. And the Crocodile floundered into the water, making it all creamy with great sweeps of his tail, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled. And the Elephant's Child's nose kept on stretching; and the Elephant's Child spread all his little four legs and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose kept on stretching; and the Crocodile threshed his tail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and at each pull the Elephant's Child's nose grew longer and longer..." by Rudyard Kipling.

According to Njoka, the elephant's father, who had warned him not to go near the water, grabbed the baby elephant by the ears to remind him of the danger afterwards. As with most adults who need to get certain points across to children, dad had to repeat this message over and over again, pulling on the ears each time to make sure he was heard. And that is how the elephant got his large ears.

The acacia tree and the weaver birds.

Weaver birds, also known as weaver finches, get their name because of their elaborately woven nests (the most elaborate of any birds'), though some are notable for their selective parasitic nesting habits. The nests vary in size, shape, material used, and construction techniques from species to species. Materials used for building nests include fine leaf-fibers, grass, and twigs. Many species weave very fine nests using thin strands of leaf fiber, though some, like the buffalo-weavers, form massive untidy stick nests in their colonies, which may have several spherical woven nests within. The sparrow weavers of Africa build apartment-house nests, in which 100 to 300 pairs have separate flask-shaped chambers entered by tubes at the bottom. Most species weave nests that have narrow entrances, facing downward. Some nests look like large communal apartments, others like individual baskets. It even seems that male weavers compete, in effect, in the building of nests.
The male weavers tear strips from palm fronds, at least 500 of them, and entwine them into a structure with a roof, sides and a floor. The female weavers, meanwhile, stand around and watch. When the males are finished, they strut and preen, drawing attention. The females then shop around, selecting the nests that please them. They will even test to see if a nest is strong enough by pulling it and tugging at it. Some nests don't make it....After the females have made their selections, they decorate the insides of the nests, using plant down, as they choose. The males then fly off to build new nests for new partners. In their world .... love my apartment/love me applies.

We heard conflicting stories about whether it was the male or the female weaver that destroys the nest if it is not to his/her liking. Seems a shame after all that work.

The sausage trees.

The sausage tree is widely grown as an ornamental tree in tropical regions for its decorative flowers and unusual fruit. Planting sites should be selected carefully, as the falling fruit can cause serious injury to people, and damage vehicles parked under the trees. The
elongate fruits of the South African sausage tree (Kigelia pinnata) are produced on long ropelike stalks. The hard, seed-bearing fruits may be up to two feet long and weigh up to 15 pounds each.

The hard, grey fruit of the sausage tree has a thin skin covering a firm, fibrous fruit pulp containing numerous small seeds. The fruit, although inedible itself, is a common ingredient in traditional beer, and is said to hasten the fermentation process. Kigelia leaves are an important livestock fodder, and the fruits are much prized by monkeys and elephants.

In African herbal medicine, the fruit is believed to be a cure for a wide range of ailments, from rheumatism, snakebites, evil spirits, syphilis, and even tornadoes. The fresh fruit is poisonous and strongly purgative; fruit are prepared for consumption by drying, roasting or fermentation.

The fruit is also used as a cosmetic cream. The Tonga women of the Zambezi valley, for example, regularly apply preparations of the Sausage fruit to their faces, to ensure a blemish-free complexion.

The giraffe and the red-billed oxbird pecker.

The red-billed oxbird pecker especially prefers the manes of Giraffe. Oxpeckers use their bills to make quick scissoring movements through the hair but they also spend lots of time working deep in the ears (sometimes only the tail shows) or around the muzzle, eyes or nose. Most ungulates seem indifferent to this foraging but elephants and a few species of antelope will not tolerate them.

Oxpeckers spend most of their lives on their hosts, using them for protection for predators (such as moving to the back side of the animal when approached) and sitting on them to roost and preen. It is really a marvelous association. (And we love their name!)