I could tell you were not dragged out on canned safari to see the big five (or whatever number they are) none of which have horns and are so not interesting to me.
(You can imagine what I would be like on safari. I DEMAND ONE CRYPTID AND SUMMAT TO EAT)
(`The Spotted Lion` by Gandar Dower (?) is a great safari book, if you like that sort of thing. He is not, um, a photographer but his slapdash pictures add to the charm)
I am traumatised by public speaking too but I still have to do it. The perils of being a Great Scholar.
Anyhow, one beast I left out...sorry guys.
I need pics of a motzerella cheese buffalo.
Rhinos and buffalos both have horns (which is the downfall of the former) and are included in the "Big Five" but for my money, hippos are far more impressive than buffalos which despite their formidable reputation are just big cows.
I always used to feel sorry for the guides desperately trying to find the "Big Five" for their pampered guests so they could tick them off and head back to the pool and cocktails at their luxury lodge away from the dust and heat and all those boring animals not on the list!
Here is a buffalo that has been well and truly mozzarellad!
I'll look out for the Spotted Lion - my go to guides were the Richard Estes Safari and Mammal Behavioural books - not ID books but fascinating insights into what animals are doing and why.
As for cryptids - I have got a blurred picture somewhere of a Tanzanian or Ugandan monkey only discovered in either the 1990s or noughties.
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