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Africa’s UGLY Five

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kimberoo - Overland Africa in Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, On Safari, Quirky Stuff, Wildlife
July 27th, 2010 at 10:28am
Tags: Big 5, Buffalo, Family, Food, Game Viewing, Hyenas, Lions, Masai Mara, Migration, Reserves, Rhino, Serengeti, Wildebeest, Wildlife

Whenever my family and I have been on a trip to one of South Africa's great wildlife reserves, it's always been with the 'hunt' of a particular group of animals in mind. Ah, yes the Big 5. Those animals have hit the big time: their faces on mugs, t-shirts and backpacks and immortalised in fluffy toys.

Elephant, lion, leopard, rhino and buffalo - the biggest, brightest, most popular of Africa's wildlife.

But what about the Ugliest? Yes, there is actually a group of animals that fall into what is known as the Ugly 5 - not commonly searched for when out on a game drive, but still - they're pretty interesting to come across.

Laughing all the Way to the Bank

The hyena is an obvious choice for Ugliest. Although they resemble canid species (wild dogs and jackals), they're actually more closely related to mongooses and meerkats, but with the jaws of a bear in a vice grip.

looking rather mangy lying next to a jawbone

Striped and brown hyenas together with the shy Aardwolf have sloping backs, thick coats and manes, but it's the spotted hyena that is most often seen. Short bristly fur, black muzzles and dark eyes typify this rangy carnivore, which lives in large groups lead by a dominant female.

Their high-pitched giggling laugh is often heard late in the night, as they use their strength, skill and pack mentality to sneak a kill away from a pride of lions. Ugly they might be, but clever they are too.

In the right light, hyenas can look handsome, but not often.

Scavenging from the Sky

Ah yes, the vulture. Lappet-faced, white-backed, bearded and hooded - these ugly birds are single minded about retrieving food, whether that be by scavenging, intimidation or killing.

A group of scavenging vultures take over a carcass

A common characteristic of many vultures is their bald head - perhaps one reason for their ugly label. Clever birds that seem to appear out of nowhere when there's a kill, vultures tend to circle the air for ages, then settle on dry trees and watch with beady eyes, biding their time to attack the carcass.

Occasionally vultures will work in a team and literally gang-up on a predator or two, forcing them off their prey. Smart is what I call it.

This lappet-faced vulture bides his time

The Peculiar Gnu

One of the most common animals to grace the continent with their ugly presence is the wildebeest, a hooved animal that finds its popularity in its annual migration from the Serengeti through the Grumeti Reserves and into the Masai Mara.

Popular only because in thousands they make the migration memorable

The black wildebeest has a long white tail, while the blue wildebeest, or brindled gnu is the animal mentioned above, and a common object of prey for large predators. Not the most outstanding of the Ugly 5, they're still pretty resilient and hardy types.

The odd colours and brindled coat make this odd looking creature even more so.

The Name is Pumba

Most of us cherish fond memories of Pumba the warthog from Disney's The Lion King, but if you actually look a little closer, this foraging, tempestuous animal is an odd-looking wild pig with a pin of a tail and sharp little tusks.

Showing off at the waterhole

Fierce defenders of their young and prone to emitting high squeals when being chased, warthogs are one of Africa's greatest characters, and despite their ugly appearance are rather amusing to watch.

Warthogs are fiercely defensive of their young

It's Marabou, Not Malibu

You're not going to find this bird on the beach: the Marabou Stork is a bird of such ugliness it even causes the vultures to cringe.

The ugliest bird on the planet?

Tall, stately and looking like an old wrinkly man in a dusty old tuxedo, the Maribu Stork is also called the 'undertaker bird', resembling the one who comes after death. Despite all this negative publicity, this gregarious stork often engages in bill-rattling courtship displays, when not hanging around carcasses eating carrion. Ugly yes. Hardy and breeding, that too.

So now you can add another famous five list to your game-viewing itinerary - the Ugly 5 are here to stay.

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Recent Comments

  • 1: 

    Man, these guys a not exactly gorgeous! Disney sure did the warthog a favour - they aren’t as cute in real life!

    Professional Expert
    claudiskies
    July 27th, 2010 at 10:48am

  • 2: 

    Great blog Kimbo - just to add to the debate, the ugliness of the animlas in question is of course subjective: female maribou storks find the males utterly irresistable. What is interesting however is the fact that these ‘ugly’ features are usually an adaptation to life on the savannah. Vultures and maribous have ugly bald heads and necks to prevent feathers getting soiled as they ravage rotting corpses; the warts of a warthog are there to protect the face while fighting with rivals (male warthogs have twice the number of warts sported by those good looking females).
    Gnus? Well, they’re just plain ugly.

    Expert on the Ground
    thefynbosguy
    July 27th, 2010 at 11:06am

  • 3: 

    Brilliant blog. I’ll be honest, Warthog’s are pretty ugly… but the babies are very cute! There is a saying in Afrikaans “Moei van lelikheid”... which basically translates to “Cute because it’s so ugly”.
    Check them out here:
    /photos/mother-and-babies-276/?user=86

     

    Professional Expert
    Kate-Erskine
    July 27th, 2010 at 11:19am

  • 4: 

    I must say, most baby animals are cute - warthogs and even hyenas! it’s just when they get older…these ones don’t look all that attractive. But fynbos guy - you are SO right, these ugly features are definitely there for a reason!

    Professional Expert
    kimberoo
    July 27th, 2010 at 11:37am

  • 5: 

    thanks for the entertaining article, its nice to be reminded every now and again that there is more to see than the big 5. this is definately another take on ‘the 5’ to look out for

    Professional Expert
    Ramona
    July 29th, 2010 at 12:00pm

  • 6: 

    Entertaining article Kimberoo. You’re quite right, we tend to forget that it takes all types to make the show (off) go on!

    Professional
    Antoinette
    July 30th, 2010 at 4:00pm

  • 7: 

    My Bushveld Ugly 5 would be:
    1) Common Platanna (Xenopus laevis),
    2) Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus),
    3) Egyptian Free Tailed Bat (Tadarida aegyptiaca),
    4) Sun Spider (any Solifugae),
    5) Transvaal Parabuthus Scorpion (Parabuthus transvaalicus)
    But then again…they are all perfectly engineered for their niche…

    On the ground
    Allan Ronchini
    July 31st, 2010 at 2:55pm

  • 8: 

    Nice choices Allan! I might substitute a slit-faced bat for your Egyptian but agree on the rest though in terms of pure ag-shame-ugliness have you ever seen a Cape Rain Frog?

    Expert on the Ground
    thefynbosguy
    August 02nd, 2010 at 9:32am

  • 9: 

    Allan you really made me laugh! The Transvaal Parabuthus Scorpian - I can just imagine!

    Professional Expert
    kimberoo
    August 03rd, 2010 at 9:53am

  • 10: 

    To thefynbosguy: Yup…Slit Faced Bats are pretty ugly, I’ll agree!....And I’ve never seen a Cape Rain Frog….but I just looked one up in Carruthers and he also looks like he fell out of the Ugly Tree and hit all the branches on the way down!

    On the ground
    Allan Ronchini
    August 04th, 2010 at 6:05pm

  • 11: 

    I found one the other day up Table Mountain walking morosely through a forest (perhaps he fell out of a Cape Ugly Tree). Interestingly, the rain frogs don’t need water - in fact if you put them in a pond they’ll inflate themselves and drift to the water’s edge to get out. They lay their eggs in damp soil and the young emerge as fully formed young frogs.

    Expert on the Ground
    thefynbosguy
    August 05th, 2010 at 9:45am

  • 12: 

    All of these ugly animals are amazingly adapted or have something clever about them! It seems they’re compensating for their ugliness by being useful.

    Professional Expert
    kimberoo
    August 06th, 2010 at 10:42am

  • 13: 

    Very nice blog! Although I must admit that warthog are one of my favorite animals wink They can be very beautiful -when you have a closer look at them wink

    Professional
    Okavango Delta
    January 27th, 2011 at 11:01am

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