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I'm Scott and I’m going to put my Animal Behaviour degree, and experience with Zoos, Insitu Wildlife Rescue Centres, field work and training as a Field Guide, Safari Guide to good use and help people understand the natural world better.

01/08/2022

Quite an amazing sight on my last trip to South Africa. A Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) feeding on a Rock Monitor (Varanus albigularis) it had recently caught. If only I had managed to see the actual kill.
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Shot on
Gear: Sony A7iii | Sony FE 200-600mm
Exif: f/6.3, 1/800s, ISO-400, Ev 0, Focal - 900mm (APS-C)
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30/07/2022

I've always had an issue with the names African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus), Painted Wolf, or Cape Hunting Dog. I mean even the Asiatic Wild Dog has its own name 'Dhole'. I feel it does a huge disservice to how amazing the animals are. They have their own genus because they aren’t true dogs like your Wolves, Dingos or Domestic dogs. Wild Dogs lack dewclaws and are classed as hypercarnivores since 70% of their diet contains meat unlike wolves and dogs. Their genus name is cool Lycaon (Lay-kay-on) which comes from Greek Mythology where King Lycaon tried to trick the god Zeus into eating Human flesh. In some versions of the story Zeus turns Lycaon and his 50 children into wolves. So why not call this amazing animal Lycaon, the king of wolves, much more fitting and deserving of a hypercarnivore.
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Shot on
Gear: Sony A7iii | Sony FE 200-600mm
Exif: f/6.3, 1/800s, ISO-1000, Ev -1, Focal - 600mm
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13/07/2022

Panther Chameleons (Furcifer pardalis) get their English name from their Latin name of "pardalis" meaning 'spotted like a panther' - also where the world Leopard comes from. Quite interestingly the word Chameleon comes from the Greek word khamailéōn which is a compound word, khamai meaning 'on the ground' and léōn meaning 'lion'
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Shot on
Gear: Sony A7iii | Sony FE 70-300mm
Exif: f/7.1, 1/320s, ISO-12800, Ev 0, Focal - 285mm
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12/07/2022

Owston's Palm Civets (𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘸𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪) are very rarely seen. In fact they are mostly seen in the illegal wildlife trade, or the dozen that are found in Zoos. I love these animals, they are a large insectivorous animal. It nests in trees, however, it loves earthworms (typically an 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳ground dwelling animal)... and lives in a part of the world where the Pangolins live underground but their favourite insects to eat live in trees... 🤔⁣
Shot in the nocturnal house ⁣⁣
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Shot on ⁣⁣
Gear: Sony A7iii | Sony FE 70-300mm⁣⁣
Exif: f/4.5, 1/125s, ISO-25600, Ev +1.7, Focal - 105mm⁣
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07/07/2022

The term "Lemur" was originally intended to describe Slender Lorises, which I mentioned in a previous post were first described as "Sloths" by Dutch Naturalists. Lemur comes from the Latin word "lemures" which refer to spectres and restless spirits which is why it was to be used for Lorises due to their nocturnal and slow nature. But by some roundabout way the "Sloths of Ceylon" became Lorises, and Maucaucos became Lemurs... and as far as I can tell "Maucaucos" is a New Latin word that comes from the Portuguese word "macaco" which means Monkey and is where the group of Primates known as Macaques come from 😵 I think I'm feeling light headed!
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Shot on
Gear: Sony A7iii | Sony FE 70-300mm
Exif: f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO-2500, Ev 0, Focal - 300mm
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