Snapshot Serengeti Talk

Red Oat Grass (Themeda triandra), the grass often seen in camera

  • maricksu by maricksu moderator

    Red Oat Grass (Themeda triandra) is one of the most common grass species, that occurs in the open tall-grass areas of the Serengeti National Park and widespread in Africa, AustraIia and Asia. It is a tufted perennial grass of highly variable size, 30-180 cm tall with tussocks up to 0.5 m wide. It grows on wide range of soil types and has a fairly good nutritive value. It is favoured by grazers in its young stage but when it becomes mature it is often ignored, especially by selective feeders. It is easy to recognise by the characteristic oat-like spikelets and the fact that the grass turns reddish-brown at maturity.
    T. triandra seed has been used as a famine food in Africa. It also serves as a food source for several avian species. 😃

    Image ASG001lo88

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  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    Themeda is one of my favourite grasses. Here it provides the setting for a beautiful Serengeti lion, whose mane and coat color perfectly match the tones of the red oat-grass.
    lion in dry oat-grass

    Themeda grows tall enough to (almost) conceal this prowling Serengeti leopard.
    leopard tail in tall grass

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  • maricksu by maricksu moderator in response to davidbygott's comment.

    Thank you David for beautiful images! 😃

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  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator in response to maricksu's comment.

    You're welcome! It's nice to get an excuse to use them.

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  • areinders by areinders moderator

    Lovely pictures!

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