Category Archives: Animals

A wild pig snacks on mangoes

A wild pig snacks on fallen mangoesA wild pig that has been eating fallen mangoes

If yesterday’s post was a hog in name only, today’s is the real thing.

It’s mango season again. While the tree in the yard isn’t quite as bountiful as last year, it’s still dropping mangoes often enough to make me cringe when I walk under its canopy. I try to pick up the fruit on a daily basis, but don’t always succeed. Not that it remains on the ground long.

Fallen mangoes are a draw to numerous birds, which can be seen pecking away most times I look out of the window. And, of course, the wild pigs love them. They usually visit overnight and all I see of their visit is a littering of chewed mango pits.

This pig was an early morning visitor, but still around well after sunrise. When I saw it, I got my camera, eased out of the back door, and started snapping. I never know how creatures will react to my presence. Some, such as grey francolins, scurry off as soon as they think something’s going on. This pig, on the other hand, didn’t seem too bothered, snuffling her way across the yard in my direction until she looked me in the eye and decided enough was enough, scooting through the hedge into the neighbor’s yard.

Notice, in the second photo, the mango lipstick on the pig.

Cattle and egrets

A cow chats with two cattle egrets.

I’m not sure one could call cows and cattle egrets friends. When cows graze, cattle egrets snaffle bugs stirred up in that process, but I don’t know of anything the egrets do for the cows in return.

However, this photo has a friendly feel to it. I picture the cow saying, ‘So you can fly, right? Could you teach me how?’ The egrets look suitably nonplussed at the suggestion.

Feel free to suggest your own caption in the comments.

Green anole shedding

A green anole tears at his shedding skin before eating it

This green anole is the dominant male at the south end of the house. I see him often, but was surprised recently to find him in this condition. He was shedding, which I think is an annual event. He pulled at the paper-like skin with his mouth, and when it came free, he promptly ate it. Sometimes it can take a while to complete the process, but when I saw him again half an hour later, he was all done.