SENGIS  ELEPHANT SHREW

The Karoo Rock Sengi -  or Elephant-shrew (Elephantulus pilicaudus)

A new species of Elephantulus from South Africa… unrecognized in museum collections for more than 30 years

McGregor Museum, Kimberley, Northern Cape Province, South

The new Elephantulus is based on only 17 known specimens from five locations in South Africa. Three specimens were live trapped by Dr Hanneline Smit and her team near Calvinia (2006), two by Dr Galen Rathbun near Loxton (2001) and the remaining 12 are represented by museum specimens dating back to 1977. The new species has a limited distribution above 1300 meters in the Nama Karoo in Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces of South Africa.

The Karoo Rock Sengi is confined to rocky areas on the slopes of mountains and boulders on ridges. Neither ongoing livestock farming nor urban development in the area directly threatens the habitat of the species.

The mysterious hominid death trap

The Two Million Year Old Boy :

What caused so many ancient hominids to fall to their deaths at this South African cave?

The remains show no evidence of an attack by a carnivore.

In fact, they are quite perfectly preserved.

The only clues scientists deem significant are two distinct bilateral breaks to the upper arms of the  boy

Lee berger -of Wits University, attempt to unravel one of the more interesting mysteries in the history of human evolution…

Watch the video, courtesy of National Geographic:

click here

African Hunting Dog,

African Wild Dog,

The Latin name for the African wild dog

means “painted wolf,”

World's Greatest Hunters - Best Animal Hunter – African Wild Dogs

Efficiency in Hunting

Hunting is the pursuit, capture and killing of wild animals as prey for food. Efficiency in hunting is considered as the catch per unit of effort. An animal having a success rate of 30% of the time it attempt to catch a prey is efficient.

The African wild dog has a success rate of 80% which rank the African wild dog as one of the world’s greatest hunters.

Contrast this with 55% for the Great White Shark

and 30% for the African lion.

canidae  family   click here

successful hunter with an average of 80% of its attempted hunts resulting in kills compared to 30% with lion prides.

Wild dogs hunt very efficiently as a pack and rely more on stamina than they do on strength and speed.

Once the prey has been targeted, the dogs then take turns in chasing after the animal at a fairly constant speed of 60 km/hour.

The running prey is often forced into the direction of other members of the wild dog pack, who wait ahead to have their turn in chasing after the prey.

The hunted animal, exhausted from all the running slows down or stops, giving the wild dogs the opportunity to grab hold of it with their powerful jaws which they then use to tear off chunks of flesh resulting in the prey dying from loss of blood and shock.

African wild dogs are classified in the Canidae, or true dog, family along with jackals, foxes, coyotes, wolves, dingoes, and domestic dogs.

Litter size is the largest of any canid, averaging ten pups

Researchers have found the fact that wild dogs are endangered to be quite shocking because wild dogs are the most successful hunters and have the largest litters of any mammal (often pushing 18 pups/litter).

Reproduction
Mating is considered year-round and the birth peak is during or after the rainy season. The gestation period is 69 to 73 days there is generally a 12-to 14-month interval between litters. On average, a female will have 26 litters in her lifetime.

WILD DOG  arkive CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

The women of the Donkin Reserve

To the memory

of one of the most perfect

of human beings

who has given her name

to the Town below

The Donkin Reserve, Pyramid and Lighthouse includes a Stone Pyramid Monument with a touching inscription erected by Sir Rufane Donkin in memory of his late wife, Elizabeth, after whom the city was named,

South Africa National Women's Day

video     click here

South African Heroes -

History of South African

Wolraad Woltemade

story click here

story  also  click here

In modern times, several stations outside Cape Town have been named Woltemade and a statue by I. Mitford-Barbeton stands in the grounds of the South African Old Mutual Head Office in Pinelands,   CAPE TOWN Cape Town.

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

Wolraad Woltemade (c.1708 – 1 June 1773) was a South African dairy farmer, who died while rescuing sailors from the wreck of the ship De Jonge Thomas in Table Bay on 1 June 1773.[

The ship’s captain Barend Lameren had become extremely concerned for the 270 passengers aboard that included women and children, as well as valuable cargo from the East.  He ordered a cannon to be fired so that people on shore would be aware of the impending danger to both passengers and cargo.

When the ship hit the jagged rocks, it broke in half and passengers and crew were thrown into the stormy sea where many drowned attempting to swim ashore.

There were 30 soldiers oni the shore warning people who wanted to help, not to attempt to go into the turbulent waters and the officials of the East India Company present were only intent on saving the precious cargo.

Then Wolraad Woltemade came past on horseback and immediately rode into the waves on his horse and came back with two men, he repeated this dangerous act 7 times and succeeded in rescuing 14 people until his last attempt, when he was overcome by the waves and drowned. Only 53 people survived that night, 14 of those rescued by Wolraad Woltemade

The Dutch East India Company honoured his memory by

naming a ship Die Held Woltemade (The Hero Woltemade) and provided sufficiently for his wife and children. In 1939 The Union of South Africa King’s Medal for Bravery was instituted. The medal depicted the heroic act carried out by Wolraad Woltemade and in 1970 the highest decoration for bravery by a civilian was called the “Woltemade decoration for Bravery” and replaced in 1988 by the “Woltemade Cross for Bravery”

Max (gorilla)

Max, was a Western Lowland Gorilla held at the Johannesburg Zoo who became famous in 1997 after being shot and wounded by Isaac Mofokeng, a criminal that entered his enclosure at the zoo while attempting to evade police.

Max was born on 6 March 1978, in Germany's famous Frankfurt Zoo and died 5 May 2004, at the Johannesburg Zoo.

A bronze statue of Max has been erected near the gorilla enclosure in the zoo. He is fondly remembered by all South Africans who fell in love with this giant, gentle creature!

full story of  MAX

click here

Blue Cranes are the national bird

of  SOUTH AFRICA

CLICK HERE

The national bird of South Africa is the blue crane (Anthropoides paradisia), the distribution of which is almost entirely restricted to the country. Standing about a metre tall, the bird is a light blue-grey, with a long neck supporting a rather bulbous head, long legs and elegant wing plumes which sweep to the ground.

Blue cranes lay their eggs in the bare veld, often close to water. They are common in the Karoo, but are also seen in the grasslands of KwaZulu-Natal and the highveld, usually in pairs or small family parties. Although usually quiet, the blue crane can emit a distinctive high-pitched and rattling croak which can be heard from some distance.

CLICK HERE FOR IMAGES

The giant or king protea  is widely distributed in the south-western and southern areas of the Western Cape, from the Cedarberg up to just east of Grahamstown. South Africa's national flower is the largest of the proteas  which make up an important part of the Cape Floral Region, a major global

biodiversity hotspot and a unesco world heritage site

The proteas also give their name to south africas, cricket team

SOUTH AFRICA;S NATIONAL TREE;

THE YELLOWWOOD

The real yellowwood is one of South Africa 's most valued timber trees. It is also South Africa 's National Tree.

Woodville big tree (Outeniqua yellowwood) is over 800 years old

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

The yellowwood family is ancient, having grown in this part of Africa for over 100-million years. The real yellowwood (Podocarpus latifolius), South Africa's national tree, is found from Table Mountain, along the southern and eastern Cape coast, in the ravines of the Drakensberg up to the Soutpansberg and the Blouberg in Limpopo.

 

In forests, the trees can grow up to 40m  -( 131 FEET ) in height with the base of the trunk sometimes up to 3m

( 9.8 FEET )

in diameter. But trees that grow in unsheltered places such as mountain slopes are often short, bushy and gnarled. The bark of the real yellowwood is khaki-coloured to grey when it is old, deeply split and peels off in strips. The crown is relatively small in relation to its height and is often covered with grey lichen.