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Creatures in the garden
ROCK HYRAX: Few of us actually have these animals in our
gardens, but they are all around us in the rocky areas of Botswana;
you can see them at the Botanical gardens in Gaborone, and at the
Gaborone Game Reserve - and why would we want them in our
gardens? Well if you are a hyraceum connoisseur, it might just be for
a perfume ingredient - known as African stone!
The Cape hyrax (Procavia capensis) or dassie, is the most closely related animal to the elephant.
They are rabbit-sized, tail-less mammal herbivores, that inhabit shelters in rocky outcrops.
They are incredibly social creatures, and when they aren’t playing, they spend a large amount
of their time basking in the sun. Dassies feed on a wide variety of plants, including citrus species.
They produce large quantities of hyraceum—a sticky mass of dung and urine that petrifies over
time, and has been employed as a South African folk remedy in the treatment of several medical
disorders including epilepsy. The Khoi use it to treat snake and scorpion bites, and it is used by
perfumers who tincture it in alcohol to yield a natural animal musk. It is the only other animal ingredient
in perfumes, along with ambergris, in which no suffering is caused to the animal to obtain it.
On the olfactory level, the ‘African stone’ gives off a very rich leathery smell. It is now a
sought after material, and so if you have rocks in your garden, you won’t only delight in
watching the dassie’s games as they clamber about, but might be inspired to make your own
perfumes too. Text & Photo by S.C
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