Main Characters

Hamima the hyena (Where is my Lair?)

Hamima is a spotted hyena.
A group of hyenas is called a cackle or clan of hyenas.
They live to about 12 years and can run up to 61km/hour.
Aardwolf, brown hyena and striped hyena are also part of the hyena family.
They are mostly scavengers which mean that they will eat what is left of a kill, or even take off the kill from a predator.
They are carnivores, meaning that they only eat meat.
They do hunt, but only about 20% of the time. They scavenge and hunt at night and sleep during the day.
They are skilled hunters, and catch prey with their teeth, not their claws like predator cats.
They are more closely related to cats than dogs.

Baboons are mammals.
They are omnivores; they eat both vegetation and meat.
Orphaned baby baboons are adopted by other female baboons which will raise them as their own.
They live up to 30 years.
They live mostly in Africa, and also in Arabia.
A group of baboons is called a troop.
They love to groom each other, and will do so for hours.
They move in big groups, sometimes there are more than 100 members in a troop.
They are opportunistic feeders, and will food out of campers’ tents and caravans.
Although they eat, sleep and play in trees, they spend most of their time on the ground.

Buffaloes love to lie in the water in the heat of the day. They also roll in mud to protect their skins against ticks and fleas.
Buffaloes can never be tamed.
Buffaloes aren’t scared of lions.
The young and baby buffaloes are always pushed to the middle of the herd. They are kept safe like that from predators.
Older buffalo males are kicked out of the herd and will make their own small herd. They are called “dagga boys” in the Kruger National Park.

A giraffe’s spots are much like human fingerprints. No two individual giraffes have exactly the same pattern.
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21 inch (nearly 60cm) tongue!
The long neck of a fully grown giraffe and humans have the same amount of vertebra–7 vertebras.
Giraffes walk by moving both legs on the same side of their body together. So, the left front and the left hind legs step and then the right front and the right hind legs step. It’s called locomotion.
Giraffes sleep only 10 minutes a day, standing, they never lie down to sleep.

Rhinos’ horns are made of the same material as nails and hair. There are no magical medicinal properties to it.
The meaning of the word rhinoceros is ‘nose horn’.
Rhino eat only plants and grass, we call them herbivores.
Both white and black rhinos are grey in color, not white or black.
A rhino’s eyesight is very bad. They therefor smell and hear exceptionally well.

Crocodiles don't sweat. To keep cool, they open their mouths in a process that is called "mouth gaping", which is a lot like panting.
Crocodiles have exceptional hearing; they can even hear their babies calling from inside their eggs. Wow!
It is illegal to hunt crocodiles for their skin. Many species went extinct because of hunting them for their skin.
Crocodiles have been on earth for 240 million years now. They appeared at the same time as dinosaurs. They are pre-historic!
The temperature of the nest determines the gender of the baby. At 31.6 degrees°, males will develop. Temperature below and above 31.6 degrees induces development of females.