Gentle viewers, welcome to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. In the Holy Bible or Torah, God told Noah to build an Ark and to take onboard two of every being on Earth in preparation for a catastrophic flood. Have you ever wondered where Noah’s Ark may have landed after the flood waters receded? There’s a legend that Mozambique is where Noah and the animals left the Ark. Today we’ll travel to Mozambique to visit this wildlife wonderland.

Mozambique’s neighbors include South Africa and Swaziland to the southwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia to the north. The Mozambique Channel and Indian Ocean are east of Mozambique. The country occupies about one-third of the East African seaboard with most of its coastline consisting of flat plains.

There are magnificent, palm-fringed beaches, warm-water lagoons and mangrove swamps. Heading inland, the land rises and high plateaus and mountains extend along the southwestern edge of the nation. The Zambezi River flows from west to east across the country. In Mozambique one can see flourishing forests and grasslands.

This diverse landscape supports a large animal population and includes excellent parks and reserves that are home to rare birds, reptiles and large mammals such as elephants, zebras, giraffes, water buffaloes, hippos, baboons, lions, turtles and flamingoes. Now let’s meet some of the noble inhabitants of the country.

Mozambique’s Mammals

The African Wild Dog, also called the Spotted Dog or Ornate Wolf, is a highly social animal who lives in packs ranging from two to 40 plus members, sometimes separated into female and male groups. When the different-gender groups meet, they might combine into one, and in the merged pack the dogs peacefully form a hierarchy, because they highly prize harmony. Even when it comes to dividing food, a dog will beg for food instead of instigating conflict with a fellow pack member.

A cute, tiny mammal is the Checkered Sengi, also known as the Elephant Shrew, because of his extended trunk-like nose. Each day Elephant Shrews poke their long noses under forest litter in search of food. Sengi are monogamous and have only one partner during their lifetime. These busy beings build new nests every few days. A couple may build up to 10 shelters in their territories. A nest is a small pit covered with leaves that is extremely challenging to detect.

African Buffalo prefer savannas, forests and woodlands with plenty of grass, shade, and water, and the water’s edge is the most likely place to find them. These gentle herbivores have large heads, thick necks, low, curved horns and strong legs. African Buffalo live in herds, which are highly protective of their members, of up to several thousand individuals.

You may see them laying on the ground with their chins on each other’s backs while resting. Interestingly scientists have found each afternoon adult female buffaloes “vote” among themselves on where the herd should feed during the evening. A female “registers” her vote by looking in the direction in which she feels the herd should travel.

Wildebeests are large, grazing, migrating antelopes, who even with their enormous size, are very agile. If frightened, they instantly take off in a run. Their birthing season is restricted to the period between April and June each year. Just a few minutes after they are born, calves are able to run about! The average lifespan for a wildebeest is 20 years.

Do you remember the funny character in the Disney film “The Lion King” named Pumbaa, the Warthog? We can visit his family members in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park. Just like Pumbaa in the film, Warthogs enjoy spending time in marshy areas and wallowing in the mud. To feed, he kneels on his front legs and dines on grasses and roots.

The cute Springhare, who looks like a cross between a kangaroo and a hare, has erect ears, a soft coat, long, powerful hind legs and a long tail. However, they are neither related to kangaroos nor hares, rather they belong to the rodent family. Being an energetic jumper, the Springhare can leap a distance of up to two meters. These gentle fellows like to stay very close to home, which are burrows that they dig themselves, but at times they may venture several kilometers from their residence at night.

Yellow Baboons play an important role in maintaining ecological balance by aiding in seed dispersal through their active foraging habits. These primates can use 10 or more different sounds to communicate. When traveling in a group, dominant males lead the way, females and the vulnerable young stay safely in the middle, and the rest of the males bring up the rear.

Baboons are compassionate animals. In 1968, a boy who had been raised by baboons for 18 years was discovered in Mozambique. A female baboon tried to protect the youngster from the humans who found him.

If we go diving along Mozambique’s coast, we may be treated to the spectacular sight of the annual migration of the Humpback Whale, the Sei Whale and the Sperm Whale. Humpback and Sei Whales migrate annually. In summer, they feed in cold, productive waters and in winter migrate to tropical or subtropical seas.

These giant, mild-mannered ocean beings are intelligent, loving and mysterious, possessing brains larger than those of any other type of animal on Earth. Echolocation allows mother Sperm Whale to keep track of her calf when she is diving to great depths, as her baby is not able to follow her. Humpback whales are known as beautiful oceanic singers and compose elaborate songs. They sometimes will repeatedly sing the same song for several hours.

To celebrate the nation’s precious, abundant and beautiful animal friends, the government of Mozambique has issued a series of animal stamps. Let’s take a look at some. First is a stamp featuring the giraffe, a vegan native of the wooded savannas and open woodlands. Baby giraffes are born 1.8 meters tall, taller than the average man, and can grow as much as 2.5 centimeters a day.

The Aardvark’s name comes from South Africa's Afrikaans language and means “earth pig.” The Aardvark loves to burrow using his forefeet’s thick set of claws that are perfectly suited for digging. However, even with these powerful tools, when Aardvarks come across soil that is too hard to dig, they move on to areas where the digging is easier.

In times of rain, when the earth is soft nearly everywhere, aardvarks dig new burrows almost nightly. After the rain, many animals may benefit from an Aardvark’s burrow including Ground Squirrels, Hares, Civets, Hyenas, Jackals, Porcupines, Warthogs and birds, who make use of holes the Aardvark no longer uses as ready-made shelters.

Mozambique’s Reptiles

Now let us meet two of our reptilian friends in Mozambique. In 2010, Dr. Julian Bayliss, a conservation biologist working for the UK-based Fauna & Flora International, discovered a new species of chameleon, Nadzikambia baylissi, living in a small evergreen-forest area of Mount Mabu in northern Mozambique. The discovery of this very unique reptile in this high altitude region highlights the importance of protecting Mount Mabu’s ecology.

Regarding having the chameleon being named after him, Dr. Bayliss stated, “You feel honored for the recognition, but also humbled by the fact that there is so much still unknown about our own planet, that we can still be finding new species.”

Loggerhead Sea Turtles spend most of their lives in the open ocean and in coastal waters. Only the females come ashore to construct nests and deposit eggs. Turtle nesting season runs from November to late March along the coast of southern Mozambique.

Dolphin Care-Africa, which works to conserve marine animals, organized a clean-up project along the coast so that nesting female marine turtles such as Loggerheads and Leatherbacks have a clear path when they are onshore. The group has also voiced concerns about the increase of artificial lighting on the coast which is the result of the tourist industry’s expansion. The lighting can unfortunately deter females from leaving the water to nest.

Mozambique’s Birds

Namuli Apalis is a soft-billed bird with a gray crown and nape and a black throat and breast. The rest of the under parts are yellow and green. The bird is found only in Mozambique and their range is limited to Mount Namuli which is in the nation’s central region.

Now let’s take a look at another beautiful bird, the Red-and-yellow Barbet. This brightly colored species is generally very tame, feeding on seeds and fruit. Barbets raise two to four eggs at a time and both the male and female take turns incubating the eggs.

Peace and harmony is what all beings deserve. With tranquility comes abundance of life and happiness. The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is an excellent example. The Park, which is currently in process of being created, will eventually link Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park, South Africa’s Kruger National Park and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park together.

In 2001, hundreds of kilometers of fences between the Kruger National Park and Limpopo National Park were removed, allowing the native animals to take up old migratory routes that had been previously blocked. The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is roughly the size of Belgium at 35,000 square kilometers and will be the world’s largest transboundary protected area when opened. This wise initiative reflects the ideal of peace without boundaries.

Mozambique is truly blessed with a range of splendid wildlife. Supreme Master Ching Hai has spoken on many occasions regarding why animals have come to our planet.

The animals come to this planet with a special role. Many of them are able to bring down divine power from Heaven, or love, just through their presence because they are very connected with the Divine at all times. Some, like horses and rabbits, can protect their human caregivers from negative influences, or boost them with good health, good luck, even material fortune, joy, or spiritual upliftment.

They watch out for us quietly and humbly send blessings our way. Some of them are from higher levels of consciousness; they only came down in animal form to help humankind or other beings on Earth.

We must always take good care of our environment so that our graceful co-inhabitants may thrive and forever beautify our planet. We wish all the lovely animals of Mozambique as well as all animal life across the world lives of peace. May they all continue to help move our planet to a higher spiritual level.

Insightful viewers, thank you for your wonderful presence today on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Up next is Enlightening Entertainment after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. May the beauties of the Earth forever remind us of the love and blessings from Heaven.