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Harold Porter National Botanical Garden
The Harold Porter National Botanical Garden covers almost 200 ha between mountain and sea, in the heart of the Cape Fynbos region within the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve to the east of Cape Town, South Africa, specifically near Betty's Bay along Clarence Drive (R44). With about 1,600 plant species, the area contains a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in the world. The Garden consists of 10 hectares of cultivated gardens and 190.5 hectares of pristine natural fynbos. In addition, 60 species of birds can be found there, as well as porcupines, genets, skunks, hyraxes, baboons, and snakes. Foot trails reach cliffs, ravines, heaths, forests, streams, and mountain pools. In 1939, Harold Nixon Porter, Jack Clarence, and Arthur Youldon, purchased the land between Rooi-Els and the Palmiet River. After Porter's death, the land was passed to the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). The local municipality later added adjacent land to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Porter Botanical Gardens - Indigenous Forest Section - Bettys Bay - South Africa
Harold may refer to: People * Harold (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Harold (surname), surname in the English language * András Arató, known in meme culture as "Hide the Pain Harold" Arts and entertainment * ''Harold'' (film), a 2008 comedy film * ''Harold'', an 1876 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson * ''Harold, the Last of the Saxons'', an 1848 book by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton * ''Harold or the Norman Conquest'', an opera by Frederic Cowen * ''Harold'', an 1885 opera by Eduard Nápravník * Harold, a character from the cartoon ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'' *Harold & Kumar, a US movie; Harold/Harry is the main actor in the show. Places ;In the United States * Alpine, Los Angeles County, California, an erstwhile settlement that was also known as Harold * Harold, Florida, an unincorporated community * Harold, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Harold, Missouri, an unincorporated community ;E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baboon
Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma baboon. Each species is native to one of six areas of Africa and the hamadryas baboon is also native to part of the Arabian Peninsula. Baboons are among the largest non-hominoid primates and have existed for at least two million years. Baboons vary in size and weight depending on the species. The smallest, the Kinda baboon, is in length and weighs only , while the largest, the chacma baboon, is up to in length and weighs . All baboons have long, dog-like muzzles, heavy, powerful jaws with sharp canine teeth, close-set eyes, thick fur except on their muzzles, short tails, and nerveless, hairless pads of skin on their protruding buttocks called ischial callosities that provide for sitting comfort. Male hamadryas baboons have large white man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rapanea Melanophloeos
''Rapanea melanophloeos'', commonly known as Cape beech, Kaapse boekenhout or isiCalabi, is a dense evergreen tree that is native to the afromontane forests of Southern Africa. Outside forests they are also commonly encountered along stream banks and in gullies. Distribution The natural range of this stately tree is from Cape Town in the south, to Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ... in the north. In the Eastern Cape it is sometimes found alongside its smaller coastal relative, ''Rapanea gilliana''. Despite its common name it is not a close relative of the familiar Beech, Beech tree of the northern hemisphere, and it is actually more closely related to the Rhododendrons. Description ''Rapanea melanophloeos'' is a dense evergreen tree. Its leaves, stalks and b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protea Nitida
''Protea nitida'', commonly called wagon tree, ''waboom'' or ''blousuikerbos'', is a large, slow-growing ''Protea'' endemism, endemic to South Africa. It is one of the few ''Protea'' species that grows into trees, and the only one that has usable timber. Appearance ''Protea nitida'' is a slow-growing tree, with very thick white-grey bark, that varies considerably in height. It is normally about 5 meters tall, but in good conditions it may reach a height of up to 10 meters, with a trunk diameter of 1 meter. The young leaves are crimson, but they become a bluish, sea-green colour in later life. These leaves are described as "oblong to elliptic", "hairless" and "leathery". Large, bisexual flower heads appear all through the year, especially in winter, and bear sweet nectar. Small nuts are released about a year after flowering. Throughout their distribution, a dwarf, multi-stemmed form with narrow green leaves also occurs—at one point regarded as a distinct species, ''Protea reticu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Wide Fund For Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States. WWF is the world's largest conservation organization, with over five million supporters worldwide, working in more than 100 countries and supporting around 3,000 conservation and environmental projects. They have invested over $1 billion in more than 12,000 conservation initiatives since 1995. WWF is a foundation with 65% of funding from individuals and bequests, 17% from government sources (such as the World Bank, DFID, and USAID) and 8% from corporations in 2020. WWF aims to "stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature." The Living Planet Report has been published every two ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African National Biodiversity Institute
The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) is an organisation established in 2004 in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, No 10 of 2004, under the South African Department of Environmental Affairs (later named Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries), tasked with research and dissemination of information on biodiversity, and legally mandated to contribute to the management of the country’s biodiversity resources. History SANBI was established on 1 September 2004 in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, No 10 of 2004. Previously, in 1989, the autonomous statutory National Botanical Institute (NBI) had been formed from the National Botanic Gardens and the Botanical Research Institute, which had been founded in the early 20th century to study and conserve the South African flora. The mandate of the National Botanical Institute was expanded by the act to include the full diversity of the South Af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmiet River
Palmiet River ( af, Palmietrivier) is a river located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The Palmiet River is a typical Western Cape river, experiencing winter rainfall and it is important for the Western Cape Water Supply System. It has a small catchment area of 500 km2, flows through the expanse of the Elgin Valley, and reaches the ocean through an estuary. This river has five irrigation and hydro-power dams along its length, and provides water for agricultural and industrial uses, as well as to the city of Cape Town. It is unclear why there has been an apparent increase in flow over the last 30 years. This river is named after the plant known as Palmiet ''( Prionium serratum)'' and should not be confused with the Palmiet River near Durban, or the Palmiet River which is a tributary of the Keurbooms River. Dams in this River * Arieskraal Dam * Eikenhof Dam *Kogelberg Dam *Rockview Dam * Transpalmiet Dam See also * Elgin, Western Cape * Breede Water Management Area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rooi-Els, Western Cape
Rooiels (Afrikaans equivalent of red alder) is a settlement in Overberg District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The name is often written as Rooi-Els, but the name of the township was registered as Rooiels (one word). It was declared a township in June 1948, and is situated 5 km north of Pringle Bay, on the eastern shore of False Bay. It was named after the farm and river by this name. It is situated beside the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve and is itself a registered conservancy. The town roads are narrow, un-tarred and without street lights. Klein-Hangklip mountain dominates the village, and is home to a pair of Verreaux's eagles. Other animals that may be noted are chacma baboons, rock hyrax, small antelope, African clawless otters and occasionally caracal and leopard. Hangklip.jpg, Klein-Hangklip on the eastern edge of False Bay as seen from Rooi-Els Whirlpool gap in a strong surge DSC03464.jpg, A whirlpool between the large rocks characteristic fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, altho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyrax
Hyraxes (), also called dassies, are small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Typically, they measure between long and weigh between . They are superficially similar to pikas and marmots, but are more closely related to elephants and sea cows. Hyraxes have a life span from 9 to 14 years. Five extant species are recognised: the rock hyrax (''Procavia capensis'') and the yellow-spotted rock hyrax (''Heterohyrax brucei''), which both live on rock outcrops, including cliffs in Ethiopia and isolated granite outcrops called koppies in southern Africa; the western tree hyrax (''Dendrohyrax dorsalis''), southern tree hyrax (''D. arboreus''), and eastern tree hyrax (''D. validus''). Their distribution is limited to Africa, except for ''P. capensis'', which is also found in the Middle East. Characteristics Hyraxes retain or have redeveloped a number of primitive mammalian characteristics; in particular, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve
Kogelberg Nature Reserve is a nature reserve of comprising the Kogelberg Mountain Range, to the east of Cape Town, South Africa. With about 1600 plant species, it contains a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in the world. Ecology Located in the Kogelberg Mountains, along the mountainous coast on the eastern edge of Cape Town, this nature reserve protects a significant portion of Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos. Among the enormous range of plants in this local vegetation type are hundreds of species of Erica, a wide range of Protea species and a great many plant families which are endemic. The Kogelberg mountains are known as the heart of the Fynbos, and have a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in the world. In addition to its unique mountain fynbos, other ecosystems include wetlands, as well as the riparian vegetation of the Palmiet River, which is the most untouched in the south western Cape and are home to forest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skunk
Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or ginger colored, but all have warning coloration. While related to polecats and other members of the weasel family, skunks have as their closest relatives the Old World stink badgers. Taxonomy In alphabetical order, the living species of skunks are: * Family Mephitidae ** Genus: ''Conepatus'' *** ''Conepatus chinga'' – Molina's hog-nosed skunk *** ''Conepatus humboldtii'' – Humboldt's hog-nosed skunk *** ''Conepatus leuconotus'' – American hog-nosed skunk *** ''Conepatus semistriatus'' – striped hog-nosed skunk ** Genus: '' Mephitis'' *** ''Mephitis macroura'' – hooded skunk *** ''Mephitis mephitis'' – striped skunk ** Genus: ''Spilogale'' *** ''Spilogale angustifrons'' – southern spotted s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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