Father Power!
Last month, we celebrated Reteti Elephant Sanctuary’s incredible matriarchs as well as strong female leaders in the animal kingdom. This month, in celebration of Father’s Day, we’re admiring some dapper dads in the wilderness, who keep earning the respect of their offspring – and peers!
Lions (protectors)
Male lions are known to be quite lazy, and are often seen taking leisurely naps in the shade while their female counterparts are out on the hunt! What’s more, they get the first cut of every meal – and eat up to 65 pounds of meat at a time! However, they do pull their weight to earn all these privileges, and when it comes to protecting the pride from outside threats, they’re formidable and fierce! Their eyesight is five times better than ours, and they can detect danger from up to 2 miles away!
Lion in the Sarara Valley.
African jacanas (nurturers)
Don’t be fooled by their size! Male African jacanas may be smaller than the females, but they fill pretty big shoes on the parenting front! Taking on a range of duties, including building nests on floating islands, they’re also essentially single parents who tend to the eggs, incubates them, and carries them to safer locations whenever threats arise.
Termites (propagators)
Did you know there’s only one breeding pair out of millions and millions of termites in one mound? Considering that the dads father about 5 million offspring a year – for 20 years in a row – they win the prizes for both fidelity and fertility hands down!
Sarara guide, Ian’s height gives context to the height of the termite mound.
Weavers (providers)
They’re not called weavers for nothing and with a technique second to none, the males are masters at building nests from strong grasses to provide safety for their families. A sturdy spherical nest is the mark of a man in weaver society – and if a female finds it up to scratch, she’ll move in straight away and lay her eggs in the next few days.
Ostriches (educators)
Male and female ostriches share parental duties, and take turns to incubate their eggs. Once little ostriches are born though, it’s their dads who teach them how to feed – and how to sidestep danger and predators.
