Let's See Your Little/Small Five.

[Game Warden]

Upload your photos of the Rhinoceros Beetle, Buffalo Weaver, Elephant Shrew, Leopard Tortoise, and Ant Lion; Include camera/lens spec and details, where and when etc.

Go!

[armchair bushman]

I'm really not helping here, but I feel like the Little Five is a bit of a misnomer. Well the "five" part is.

- There are MANY species of Rhinoceros beetle across Africa. There are 3 species of Buffalo Weaver in East Africa. There are MANY species of Elephant Shrews across Africa. and Many more species of Ant-lion.

 

Just sayin....

[Game Warden]

Less talkin', more photos

[pault]

I'm really not helping here, but I feel like the Little Five is a bit of a misnomer. Well the "five" part is.

- There are MANY species of Rhinoceros beetle across Africa. There are 3 species of Buffalo Weaver in East Africa. There are MANY species of Elephant Shrews across Africa. and Many more species of Ant-lion.

 

Just sayin....

 

You add them all up and when you get a number, Game Warden will make it "Let's See Your Little Thirty-seven" or whatever the number is. Everybody's happy!

[Game Warden]

Let's see your little five...

[africapurohit]

Here's a White-headed Buffalo Weaver that didn't make it on my Tarangire bird compendium!

 

[ZaminOz]

Elephant Shrew

South Luangwa (near Chindeni)

Pentax K-7 / Pentax 55-300

 

[gagan]

Guys everybody talks about big five in africa...but how many of you have ever Seen small five animals of african jungle...? Where did u see them??

 

I saw them during walking safari in selous game reserve....at that moment I never gave importance to them...do you think they are as famous as the big five??

[gagan]

Leopard tortoise ..one of the small five in selous game reserve. ..

[wilddog]

I don't think they are anything like as famous as the Big Five but having a Little Five is a useful tool to introduce the concept to safari goers that all wildlife has a place in the ecosystem. For a guide, I imagine, it also helps I imaging when all the bigger animals are being elusive!

 

Often the life cycles of the these creatures are fascinating..............

[gagan]

I don't think they are anything like as famous as the Big Five but having a Little Five is a useful tool to introduce the concept to safari goers that all wildlife has a place in the ecosystem. For a guide, I imagine, it also helps I imaging when all the bigger animals are being elusive!

Often the life cycles of the these creatures are fascinating..............

 

Correctly said....I too did not bother much..but after doing walking safari in selous I found that we should also give importance to small animal kingdom...which we hardly see in national parks...

[gagan]

http://www.holidaystosouthafrica.co.uk/look-out-for-africas-little-five?no_redirect=true

 

 

Nice information about small five ..

[Geoff]

@gagan

 

On many walking safaris that i participated on during the 1990's we used to look out for the little 5.

I remember two occasions when we got all 5. Obviously the Elephant shrew was the most difficult to locate and I used to enjoy tracking leopard tortoise. A fun exercise.

[gagan]

@gagan

 

On many walking safaris that i participated on during the 1990's we used to look out for the little 5.

I remember two occasions when we got all 5. Obviously the Elephant shrew was the most difficult to locate and I used to enjoy tracking leopard tortoise. A fun exercise.

@@Geoff wow really interesting experience. ..since how many years you are doing safaris? ?

[Game Warden]

@@gagan I've merged these two topics.

 

So let's see some more photos...

[gagan]

Thnx @@Game Warden

[Tom Kellie]

 

Photographed at Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, on 7 February, 2014 at 1:25 pm, with an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super telephoto lens.

ISO 100, 1/800 sec., f/2.8, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.

The concept of the Little Five is new to me. As far as I'm aware, I've only seen two of them.

This Geochelone pardalis, Leopard Tortoise, was munching on the small yellow wildflowers, about 20 paces from the Mara River.

We watched for several minutes, admiring the vivid patterns on it's shell.

This image was made when it turned away, heading off to wherever a tortoise might go on a sunny Summer afternoon.

[gagan]

This guy is a master guide for finding small five in selous....a guide and a warrior combination. ..something like a masai...he showed us how rhino beetle (one of the small five) ...rolls down the elephant dung towards its nest...and also one of the astonishing facts was...some people make tea out of the dung called TEMBO TEA....

Edited April 3, 2015 by gagan

[Safaridude]

 

A Big-Five trying to eat a Little-Five -- Kwando, Botswana, September 2011

[gagan]

Nice ....both counter parts ...leopard vs leopard turtle. ..

[Peter Connan]

@@Tom Kellie, which two? I am also lagging behind. I have see ant lion, both in it's "name form" and the flying stage I believe, and once a rhino beetle.

 

This friendly fellow walked through our campsite in Maphelane in December:

(Nikon D7000 + Sigma 180mm Macro lens + 2 off-camera manual flashes)

And this poor bugger lives in the Kgalagadi. He survived this encounter.

(Nikon D7000 + 500mm f4 + 1.4 TCIIE)

Edited April 4, 2015 by Peter Connan

[Tom Kellie]

Peter Connan

Posted Yesterday, 10:14 PM

@Tom Kellie, which two? I am also lagging behind. I have see ant lion, both in it's "name form" and the flying stage I believe, and once a rhino beetle.

 

 

 

~ I'm unsure, @@Peter Connan, as before this past week the Little Five was an unknown concept to me.

As you saw, I'd posted an image of Geochelone pardalis, Leopard Tortoise.

I liked @@gagan's image of one stepping towards water in Selous Game Reserve.

When @@Safaridude added his image of “Big Five trying to eat a Little Five” I was blown away. The quality of his photography is one of the joys of regularly visiting Safaritalk. Such visual wit and captioning is beyond my ability but I admire it when I see it.

There's already been an excellent image of Dinemellia dinemelli, White-headed Buffalo-Weaver, posted by @@africapurohit.

Buffalo-Weavers are the only other member of the Little Five that I've seen.

I'll attach an image taken several months ago.

Photographed at Tsavo West National Park, Kenya at 8:16 am with an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super telephoto lens.

ISO 2000, 1/800, f/2.8, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.

At the start of a game drive we'd driven for a few minutes when several Vidua macroura, Pin-tailed Whydah, were spotted. While observing them, this Bubalornis albirostris, White-billed Buffalo-Weaver, was actively eating seeds.

[Peter Connan]

Tom, I agree there are a number of very admirable photographers and writers (and some double-acts) here who's work us more ordinary folk can admire and aspire to!

 

Your own is none too shabby, both the photography and the writing, and I love the fact that you always take the time to post a little explanation of the occasion and environment. I am perhaps a little too cursive, expecting my photos to talk for themselves, something that they are nowhere near good enough for!

[Tom Kellie]

Tom, I agree there are a number of very admirable photographers and writers (and some double-acts) here who's work us more ordinary folk can admire and aspire to!

 

Your own is none too shabby, both the photography and the writing, and I love the fact that you always take the time to post a little explanation of the occasion and environment. I am perhaps a little too cursive, expecting my photos to talk for themselves, something that they are nowhere near good enough for!

 

~ Thanks, @@Peter Connan!

 

Decades of explaining ecological context to both undergraduate and graduate students has habituated me to providing background information.

Doing so ‘sets the stage’ for fuller appreciation of the nuances of an image.

You're so right that images ought to speak for themselves and yours do.

Yet what journalists and television series writers refer to as the ‘backstory’ of a subject often adds zest to the appreciation of an image.

With your kind encouragement, I'll continue offering context as appropriate, including in the trip report now being written and uploaded, section by section.

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Peter Connan:

 

While preparing the next installment of the trip report I'm writing, a couple of points occurred to me.

In field ecology students are taught that context enriches observation — or that's what my students are taught.

Empirical data, raw observation, is priceless, as it carries the hallmark of reality.

Yet Einstein's dazzling insight that observations were entirely dependent upon the vantage point of the observer holds true in the field.

No one observer is divine, hence they lack an all-seeing perspective on any given situation.

Providing context in the form of marginalia enriches understanding.

Or so sez I...

Tom K.