Bulletin of the EANHS 27< I ) 
PREDATOR OF THE NAKED MOLE RAT 
HETEROCEPHALUS GLABER 
Recently, while 1 was on a short held trip to the Ngomeni 
area of Mwingi district from 10-1 1 May 1997 to catch 
naked mole rats. I came across a specitnanof Rufous 
Beaked Snake Rhamphtophis oxvrhynchus roslratus in 
a naked mole rat burrow. 
While I was excavating the soil mound in an active 
mole rat site to find the entrance to tile burrow, a snake 
was accidentally injured on the back with a hoe It was 
extracted from the burrow but unfortunately the 
backbone was found to have been broken and lienee 
the chance of the animal surviving was nunnna! and it 
was killed The abdomen looked swollen so I decided to 
open it and to my surprise. I retrieved six naked mole 
rats 
Issa Agundey. Mammal Dept. National Museums of 
Kenya, P.O. Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya 
UGANDA KOB AND LIONS RETURN TO THE 
LEKKING GROUND IN BUNYAMPAKA CRATER, 
QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK, 
UGANDA, FOLLOWING CONTROLLED 
BURNING 
The Uganda kob, which forms pan of Uganda s national 
symbol, is the commonest antelope inhabiting the open 
grasslands in the north and north-east of Queen Elizabeth 
National Park (QENP), located inthc Great RiflMtlley in 
Western Uganda. 
The Uganda Kob is known for iLs Ickkingbehaviour, 
where access of a male to females depends on the 
strength of the former Therefore, most matings arc done 
by superior males who control small territories in 
designated areas known as lekking grounds A very big 
lekking ground occurs in the short grassland area near 
Bunyampaka Crater in the north-east of QENP 
The distribution of kob seems to depend on 
availability of tender forage, access to quality mates 
and easy sighting of natural enemies These kob oflcn 
graze in large numbers in open grasslands south of the 
Bunyampaka Crater region. This is a 1 5 km stretch of 
thicket-free grassland dominated by short spear grass 
Imptratacyllndnca, Themeda trlAmlra, HypeArrhenla 
sp and scattered patches of Cymhopogon sp The same 
area is a common spot for lions 
For over two months from Match 1 996, the kob had 
abandoned this area where the grass had become very 
mature and had migrated to the periphenes of llic reserve 
The lions had also disappeared There were reports of 
increased crop raiding by kob in villages that lie on the 
park margins 
The Uganda Institute of Ecology, under Its 
ecosystem monitoring programme, embarked on a 
burning exercise in this particular area where Uganda 
kob arc a common sight, the fust prescribed fire in more 
than a decade This early burning was done just before 
the dty season and the 2-3 rains that followed lead to a 
uniform sprouting of grass. It is well known from previous 
research work that lack of burning causes a deterioration 
in species composition and productivity of grasslands 
Fires are a common occurrence in QENP. but are only 
set by poacheis for llicir opportunistic ends 
When the grass was barely 10 centimetres high, the 
Kob, numbering in several hundreds, returned to the 
area to feed on the tender forage that was sprouting. 
Cases of crop raiding by kob in villages in the 
neighbourhood of the park were reduced. Dally 
observations have shown dial on average between 500 
and 2000 animals slay in this stretch of grassland, either 
grazing or simply resting. Uganda kob form more than 
80% of ihis figure. Following Ihc relum of the kob alter 
burning, lions also returned to the area in subslantial 
numbers. 
Tourists also now benefit from the easy visibility. 
Acknow lodgements 
Thanks to the Fire Team of Uganda institute of Ecology 
and QENP and also Mr Gerald Olwal for driving me to 
live Kob spot for observations. 
Monday S. Lwanga. Uganda Institute of Ecology, P.O 
Box 3530. Kampala, Uganda 
THE PLACENTA-EATER LEPIDOPTERA OF 
ORCHIDS 
This is 10 report a very interesting phenomenon that has 
not been observed before in Kenya or, if it has been 
observed, not a mention of it has been made. It iscommon 
knowledge that orchids arc known to manipulate insects 
to assist in their pollination But now It has been 
observed that insects are using the reproductive pans 
of some orchids as houses' where their larvae spend 
three lo four monlhs feeding in the protection of the 
seed pod Our observation concerns the swamp orchid 
Eulophia angolenns (Rcichbf . j Summerh. 
This unusual observation look place between 1 3 and 
27 July !996al tic MUiinainiSwamp Tbeswampis found 
in Tluka District and is dominated by TTpAorand sedges 
(Cypcraceae), wild thorny strawbeny and malvaceous 
bushes along the edge of the swamp. Animals, eg. 
snakes, birds, frogs, fish and mammals live there loo 
Our fitsl glance at the swamp was stolen by the large 
fish-eating birds, then the thick 'forest' of sedges that 
has eolomsed the swamp But despite the distractions, 
we were successful in finding E. angolensis , the orchid 
lhal we were looking for What struck us is tlic way a few 
fruits of this species were malformed and had darkish 
sticky substances hanging from the fiuit walls. Wetook 
some of the fruits for further observation. These frails 
were found In havccaletplllatsin them Hint hadcaienall 
the placentas and the young seeds In three of the (rails 
the mature seeds were rolled up with faecal materials of 
the caterpillars lhal hung out through the openings In 
the fruits. It is only in one fruit that we found traces of 
egg deposition on the withered lip Some of the fruit 
