12 January 2012

Rock hyrax

Posted by Callan Bentley

The charming rock hyrax, a cuddly-looking fellow whose nearest living relative is the elephant:

This is in the coastal town of Hermanus, a lovely place for whale-watching, in season. We were there at the wrong season, but the hyrax provided a mammal sighting that made us happy. The little fellow seemed to really be enjoying the sun on his seaside perch…

A while later, we met a second one coming the opposite direction on the coastal path:

We yielded the right-of-way. Vicious creatures, these. You don’t want to confront them.