The creatures of Table Mountain
The orange-breasted sunbird. Photo courtesy laser-tomas.
Whether they’re scrambling up and down rocky outcrops, soaring high above your head, spreading out on a hot rock, or hiding in ponds and among shrubs, the animals of Table Mountain are all around you. Dassies are everyday; ghost frogs elusive … And in-between, there’s more rich and diverse, quintessentially Cape, wildlife.
Table Mountain’s scaly inhabitants require a good dose of patience – and almost always a smattering of good luck – to see. There are 22 snake species on the mountain, of which five are deadly and only ten non-venomous. The deadly ones include the Cape cobra (Naja nivea), puff adder (Bitis arietans), boomslang (Dispholidus typus), rinkhals (Hemachatus haemachatus) and berg adder (Bitis atropos). Snakes are bashful creatures and are unlikely to behave aggressively; remember that they are probably as afraid of you as you are of them.
Among the lizards, the southern rock agama (Agama atra) is most widespread. You’ll recognise males of the species by their bright blue heads during mating season (October to November and January to February). Other common lizards include the prehistoric-looking black-girdled lizard (Cordylus niger) and the Cape skink (Trachylepis capensis), a common sight all over the Peninsula.
The black-girdled lizard. Photo courtesy Doug Butcher aka TheRiverDark.
Lurking in the perennial streams that flow off and over Table Mountain are five amphibian species: the endangered Table Mountain ghost frog (Heleophryne rosei) with its long legs, the Cape chirping frog (Arthroleptella lightfooti) (also known as Lightfoot’s moss frog), the leaping and plopping Cape river frog (Afrana fuscigula), the tiny but beautiful arum lily frog (Hyperolius horstockii) (look out for these in the blooms of arum lilies), and the endangered leopard toad (Bufo pantherinus) – so named because of its spots.
Over on the mammal side of things, historical evidence – rock art and fossils – indicates that the mountain was once home to lions, leopards and hyenas. The last lion was killed in 1802 and now only the occasional spoor hints that leopards are still around.
Table Mountain’s unofficial mascot is the dassie, or rock hyrax (Procavia capensis). Social animals that live in groups of up to 80 individuals, dassies love the rocky outcrops at the summit. While they can be quite noisy and convivial, they’re nevertheless remarkably lazy: they spend an estimated 95% of their day resting and are most active in the morning and the evening. Dassies eat plants and insects, but they also love tourists’ leftovers a bit too much; please note that you are discouraged from feeding them or any of the other wild animals on the mountain.
The dassie. Photo courtesy flowcomm.
In much smaller numbers, look out for porcupines (Hystrix africaeaustralis), water mongoose (Atilax paludinosus) and small antelope – especially klipspringers (Oreotragus oreotragus), which have recently been reintroduced to Table Mountain National Park. Grysbok (Raphicerus melanotis), duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia), grey rhebok (Pelea capreolus) and steenbok (Raphicerus campestris) can been spotted early in the morning or in the evening.
Verreaux’s eagle (Aquila verreauxii), better known as the black eagle, is a specialised dassie hunter – the dassies’ only natural enemy on the mountain – and these magnificent birds of prey are spotted at higher altitudes in and around the Table Mountain National Park every now and then. Other beautiful birds include the Cape sugarbird (Pomerops cafer), the tiny orange-breasted sunbird (Nectarina violacea) and the very common red-winged starling (Onychognathus morio).
Comments
A lovely read, Table Mountain National Park truly is an amazing oasis in the middle of the city. I have some questions though.
Firstly I would love to know when last Leopard spoor was spotted. Between you and me that sounds highly unlikely!
Also you forgot about the alien invaders, the plants aside, what about the Thars? Are there any left, last I heard they were being shot out.
Also are there any known Black Eagle nesting sites in the park?
Hi Craig, thanks for your feedback!
We’ve done some digging and managed to find answers – albeit partial – to your questions.
For this blog post (and for one that will follow, which deals with the flora of Table Mountain – watch this space), we wanted to focus on indigenous species – however, as you rightly point out, they are not the only creatures that inhabit Table Mountain.
It turns out that there are still tahrs on Table Mountain. This is an issue that has been on SANParks’ radar for many years and they’ve collaborated with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) since 2004 to achieve the most humane solution to this problem. Visit the Table Mountain National Park website (http://www.sanparks.org/parks/table_mountain/) for more on this ongoing issue.
We’ve been in contact with the Cape Leopard Trust regarding those elusive cats! Their contact person is out of cellphone range at the moment, but we will get back to you as soon as we can reach him.
As for the magnificent black eagles, Lucia Rodrigues, of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Birds of Prey Working Group, confirms that there are many nests all over the Table Mountain chain. Not all of these are occupied, though. “We only have one pair of resident Black Eagles left in the Table Mountain National Park. They breed on Noordhoek Peak in the Silvermine Nature Reserve,” Lucia told us. Lucia is happy to respond to any further questions you might have – feel free to contact her on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
An interesting read. Do you know of any rinkhals sightings?
Grant
Went walking up Chapmans Peak today and spotted two beautiful Black Eagles looking very fine indeed. Circled in the area and came cruising low over our heads…spectacular. At least I know they are still around. Chapmans was a wonderful morning walk. G
i think I may have seen a poor cape pangolin-dead- on the highway by table mountain (rhodes ave near kirstenbosch) - is this possible-are they common?
What happened to the dassies near the cable station on top of the mountain? They were not there last summer, this winter or summer of 2010.
I saw a number of dassies there dec 2009 but haven’t been up since
Hi Aletta and Grant - the dassies are still there! Check out pictures that were taken this year: http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=dassie&w=1258638@N25&m=pool
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I see the dassies are back! I hope there will be no more frightening them away with dynamite shooting, etc.