It has to be said..as Field Guides we get to witness an amazing amount of truly spectacular animal behaviour and out of this world wildlife sightings. Sometimes however we get to separate ourselves from the factual serious side of animal behaviour and enjoy the lighter side of nature.
The perceptions of visitors to our various game reserves can be so remarkably different to our own and sometimes it's these perceptions that make for the most memorable of bush experiences as was the case with this specific incidence.
Now the story might begin with the tone of a bar room joke told after way too many cheeky ones but in this case it's a true one so here goes.... So a male Ostrich a Wildebeest and a female Ostrich are walking through the bush.....
With the morning drive nearing an end I was making my way back to the lodge when we came across the three rather random looking animals mentioned above. We had interrupted a male Ostrich in the process of his lavish and somewhat balletic mating dance, the poor chap was in the process of trying to woo the somewhat more drab looking and completely disinterested female in the distance. Strangely enough the said random wildebeest had found himself in the middle of the honeymoon suite and was about to get caught between the two avian lovers, rather a funny sight it must be said, as attested to by the guest comments in the video.
The male Ostrich who had now spotted his opportunity and made a bee line for the female who was oblivious to his approach. The male then walked right passed the not so wily Wildebeest..I may have been a little more worried if I was in the Wildebeests shoes...the rather randy Ostrich that is also not known for a remarkable intellectual capacity may well have made a clerical error. Luckily for the ruminant that wasn't the case and the male passed by without incident. Whatever level of dance ability the male showed seemed to have impressed the female and she allowed the male his moment in the sun...so to speak.
Above all else the guest’s perceptions and general humour while the act was going on truly made for a memorable sighting. At one stage while the male was going about his duties with much diligence the female promptly began feeding...surely a most demoralising act for any male, as you can imagine this brought on hysterical laughter from the back row....(it's always the back row)!.
Video By Guest Shane Brooking...edited by yours truly.
Having completed the task at hand the male then promptly dismounted and without as much as a thankful backward glance was off seeking his next conquest, leaving the female with what can only be imagined as a "dam men" look on her face.
Then to his credit my guest the "filmmaker" panned back to the Wildebeest now looking at us with a rather enquiring look as if to say "what the hell just happened??"
I will always be left with the thought.....what on earth was going through the Wildebeest's mind?....but then again being a Wildebeest probably not a hellava lot.
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