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Actophilornis Africanus
The African jacana (''Actophilornis africanus'') is a wader in the family Jacanidae. It has long toes and long claws that enables it to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes, its preferred habitat. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. For the origin and pronunciation of the name, see Jacanidae. Taxonomy The African jacana was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it in the genus ''Parra'' and coined the binomial name ''Parra africana''. Gmelin based his description on that by the English ornithologist John Latham who in 1785 had described and illustrated the species in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. Gmelin and Latham gave the locality as "Africa": this was restricted to Ethiopia in 1915. The African jacana is now placed in the genus ''Actophilornis'' that was introduced in 1925 by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Baringo
Lake Baringo is, after Lake Turkana, the most northern of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes, with a surface area of and an elevation of . The lake is fed by several rivers: the Molo, Perkerra and Ol Arabel. It has no obvious outlet; the waters are assumed to seep through lake sediments into the faulted volcanic bedrock. It is one of the two freshwater lakes in the Rift Valley in Kenya, the other being Lake Naivasha. See "Kenya designates freshwater lake in Great Rift Valley," aRamsar 2009 - 2002 The lake is in a remote hot and dusty area with over 470 species of birds, occasionally including migrating flamingos. A Goliath heronry is located on a rocky islet in the lake known as Gibraltar. Description The lake is part of the East African Rift system. The Tugen Hills, an uplifted fault block of volcanic and metamorphic rocks, lies west of the lake. The Laikipia Escarpment lies to the east. Water flows into the lake from the Mau Hills and Tugen Hills. It is a critical habitat a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |