There are some animals that just seem to exist to be
eaten and the rock hyrax is one of them. Ever weary of an attack from above,
these creatures still fall victim to birds of prey and make up a substantial
part of the diet of the Verreaux’s Eagle (Aquila
verreauxii). Crowned Eagles (Stephanoeatus
coronatus) also like them. And so do leopards and caracals. And let’s not
forget pythons and black mambas too.
In an evolutionary race to avoid predation, rock hyraxes
have developed an ‘umbraculum’- a type of shield in the eye to counter the
effect of the glaring sun and hopefully spot an airborne strike from an approaching
eagle before it’s too late. Often it is. It is usually an older female that
acts as a sentinel and stands guard over the colony. When danger approaches,
she lets out a sharp bark which sends everyone scuttling to safety within their
rocky retreats. One can only imagine that from time to time, she nods off to
the detriment of her or some unfortunate individual in the colony, who is
whisked off impaled in the sharp talons of a hunting eagle.
Dit is n dassie
In South Africa, these mammals are often called rock
dassies. Dassie is derived from the Dutch word ‘das’ and referable to badger,
which is apparently the closet animal the early Dutch settlers could relate
this little fury animal to.
Hyraxes are distantly related to elephants and the
enigmatic dugong, stemming from the same ancient evolutionary line. However,
modern hyraxes are placed in their own mammal order, the Hyracoidea. Three
species are known from South Africa. The rock hyrax (Procavia capensis), is the most widespread, occurring throughout
much of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. It co-exists in Limpopo Province
with the Yellow-spotted Rock Hyrax (Heterohyrax
brucei).
The third species is the Tree Hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus), which in South Africa, occurs in a patch
along the coastal parts of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Every now and
then, the Tree Hyrax scares the living daylights out of some poor soul when
they let out a haunting scream. This piercing scream emanating from a dark
forest is an experience you won’t soon forget.
Up close
A few years ago, on 21 April 2012, I was fortunate to
come across a small colony of rock hyraxes while ambling through the bush at
Luiperdskloof in north-eastern Gauteng. The hyraxes quickly relaxed in my
presence and I was able to observe them for an hour or two with their activity
taking place a few metres from where I was sitting.
For more information on rock hyraxes, visit: http://www.biodiversitynature.com/rock-hyrax-procavia-capensis/