|
|
||||||||
|
NAMIBIA 2007
Ongava Game Reserve Herpetofaunal Survey
Game Animals
The word "Ongava", means "black rhino" and the Southwestern black rhino (Diceros bicornis bicornis), a critically endangered species, is one of the most important big game animals on the reserve. It can be differentiated from the Southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum) which is also present on in OGR, by its long, prehensile upper lip, used for stripping leaves from trees as a browser, compared to the broad, flat upper lip of the grazing white rhino.
Carnivores recorded from OGR range from small species like mongooses and genets to jackals, foxes, some of the smaller African cats and hyaenas to cheetah, leopard and African lion. Elephants also occasionally enter OGR from Etosha but the reserve does not have a resident population, although there is a population of Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). Two species of zebra are also present in the reserve: Hartmann's mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae) and Plains zebra (E. quagga).
Ongava is also home to a wide variety of even-toed antelopes ranging from small species like Klipspinger (Oreotragus oreotragus) to large Eland (Taurotragus oryx).
There are also numerous smaller mammals, from the small carnivores like mongooses, to hares, squirrels, rats, mice, bats and shrews. The Damara ground squirrel (Xerus princeps) exhibits and extremely localised range from Ongava, north through the Kaokoveld to Angola.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
