Digging Deep

We had been watching a pride of lions sleeping for a while when we decided to head around the corner for a quick cup of coffee. We chose a hill quite some way away from where we could still keep an eye on the pride with our binoculars. No sooner had we poured some sweet Amarula coffee than one of our guests, Bruce (who never took his eyes off the lions the whole time) saw the lions get up and stalk a warthog behind a thicket. The clouds of dust were a sign that there was definitely some action going on in the valley. We packed up and, with coffee mugs and muffins in hand, drove back down the hill and managed to find the lions. The adult male in the pride had taken “the lions share” which in this case was pretty much the “whole hog.” The youngsters in the pride didn’t seem to mind too much and they had surrounded a hole in the ground not far from where dad sat feasting. As they pawed the ground, huge puffs of dust came flying out of the hole. Every now and then, one of the braver youngsters would get as much of his body down the hole as possible and it seemed from our point of view as if he had a grip on something, but not enough strength to pull it out. There was almost certainly an aardvark in the burrow, no doubt frantically digging for his life. Eventually the dust plumes grew smaller and the young lions tired of an obviously ineffective hunting attempt. I wonder what went on whilst we were on top of the hill? You can imagine the hapless warthog, upon seeing the lions, dashing towards the nearest burrow for safety, only to find it occupied by the aardvark. Not lucky! Most aardvark holes are pretty big and can be up to 6 meters deep. They also dig incredibly quickly, gaining as much as a meter in 5 minutes, even in the hard Eastern Cape soil.

Posted: South Africa Wildlife by Rowan Seagers, Date: 25 January 2010