THE HEAT IS ON! ENJOY A SUMMER SAFARI WITH HECTOR AND BONE!
The long and lazy days of Midsummer stretch out languidly before us now that the sun has finally got its hat on. Let’s hope they’re here to stay!
Summer certainly feels like it’s been a long time coming this year. We realise that, at the moment, it’s especially difficult to travel to exotic far-flung and sun-scorched destinations so we at Hector and Bone thought we'd invite you to come on a virtual Summer Safari with us.
As you know, Africa and its environs are teeming with all manner of wildlife, so, just kick-back and imagine yourselves in the natural habitat of just a few of our own hot-climate loving creatures.
Hoofing it
First, we’d love to transport you to the grassland savannah of the Serengeti in East Africa and introduce you to a brand new addition to the Hector and Bone family, Jeffrey the Giraffe.
Our lofty friend, a Masai Giraffe, is 17 feet tall. He loves to chomp on the evergreen leaves of the Acacia tree and as a male, strives to access those on the highest branches (along with fellow-grazing elephants), with his 18 inch tongue. There are a few surprising facts about him. His hooves may grow to the size of dinner plates at one foot in diameter. You could say he's fortunate in having such huge plates (of meat-feet!) as these help him to fend off any predator with a hefty kick (excluding lions, who always seem to get everything their own way).
Jeffrey, of course, has an exceptionally long neck-a challenging feature which evolution has dealt with very efficiently. He has an in-built system of valves in his neck which ensures that blood will always flow from his head back to his heart, particularly useful when he bends down to drink at a water hole. Without this feat of internal plumbing, poor old Jeffrey would pass out each time he got thirsty. He can also exist on only 20 minutes of sleep per day-which is handy when you spend the majority of your day, quite literally, ruminating.
You, too, can walk tall like Jeffrey in a giraffe t-shirt, or just admire him on a giraffe mug!
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Just hanging around
Our next stop is the forests and woodlands of the coastal plains of Kenya in East Africa where you can meet our Lounge Lizard, formally known as a Green Keel-Bellied Lizard, no less.
He’s a bright green slender fellow with a very impressive long prehensile (good for gripping) tail which accounts for about 70% of his body length.
As his name suggests, he has keel (like a boat)-shaped scales on his belly. He’s arboreal, so hangs around in the lower reaches of the forests where he eats a variety of insects. He makes a popular pet because he looks so cute and interesting. Of course, you don’t have to own him as a pet; just enjoy him on a parrot t-shirt or a parrot mug.
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The power of pink
The third stop on our safari is the mudflats and shallow coastal salt water lagoons of Namibia in Southern Africa, where we’ll probably meet Ringo the Flamingo.
As a Greater Flamingo, he belongs to the World’s largest species of this magnificent wading bird. Probably best known for being pink, Ringo sports his colour with pride which he has acquired through the carotenoid pigments found in his diet of algae and crustaceans.
In Flamingo circles, the pinkest birds have the highest status in the colony as the bright colour denotes strength and the ability to find food. During breeding time, a high-ranking flamingo can even change colour to a deeper pink to kick-start breeding rituals in the rest of the flock.
Ringo might be lucky and live up to 70 years. Flamingos have one of the longest lifespans in the bird world and have relatively few natural predators, namely eagles and sometimes baboons!
Capture our Ringo on our Pink Flamingo T-shirts and Flamingo mugs
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Back from the brink
Our final stop is to Mauritius, off the South-Eastern coast of Africa, where you might be lucky to run into Peter Parrot, he of the lustrous green plumage.
He’s arboreal, like our lizard, but likes to keep to the tree canopies in the forest where he feeds and rests. He just happens to be an Echo Parakeet. At one point, around 40 years ago, this species was on the brink of extinction and was considered the World’s rarest parrot. It’s testament to the hard work of Mauritian Wildlife conservationists that there are now nearly 800 parakeets in the wild and their status has been downgraded from critically endangered to vulnerable.
It goes without saying that Hector and Bone have been truly fortunate to procure him, and feel privileged to be able to display him proudly on a parrot t-shirt or parrot mug!
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We hope you enjoyed our Summer Safari! Remember, you can find all of the cute creatures featured above at Hector and Bone!
Now, where did I put that sunscreen!