|
Little Five Game
In Africa, the little five game animals are: *Elephant shrew: a small, insect-eating mammal with a long nose. Elephant shrews are very common in Southern Africa but seldom seen. * Buffalo weaver: the buffalo weaver is the easiest among the little five to find and observe. *Leopard tortoise * Antlion, which is the littlest of the little five. * Rhino beetle: A subfamily of large beetles in the scarab beetle family. The term ''little five'' was brought to life after the marketing success of the big five for tourist safaris in Southern Africa. This prompted a call by nature conservationists for visitors to acknowledge the smaller, less noticed, but still enigmatic animals of the savanna (called ''bushveld'' in South Africa). The "little five" species are a contrast in terms of sheer relative size to the animals which they share a part of their English name with the more well known "big five". File:Rhynchocyon petersi from side.jpg, Elephant shrew File:Red-billed_Buffalo_Weaver.jp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephant Shrew
Elephant shrews, also called jumping shrews or sengis, are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family Macroscelididae, in the order Macroscelidea. Their traditional common English name "elephant shrew" comes from a perceived resemblance between their long noses and the trunk of an elephant, and their superficial similarity with shrews (family Soricidae) in the order Eulipotyphla. However, phylogenetic analysis has revealed that elephant shrews are not properly classified with true shrews, but are in fact more closely related to elephants than to shrews. In 1997, the biologist Jonathan Kingdon proposed that they instead be called "sengis" (singular ''sengi''), a term derived from the Bantu languages of Africa, and in 1998, they were classified into the new clade Afrotheria. They are widely distributed across the southern part of Africa, and although common nowhere, can be found in almost any type of habitat, from the Namib Desert to boulder-strewn ou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-billed Buffalo Weaver
The red-billed buffalo weaver (''Bubalornis niger'') is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. It is found in eastern and southern Africa. Its natural habitat is the dry savanna. Description The body length of full grown red-billed buffalo weavers is and body mass averages in males and in females. This may the largest of the Ploceidae (weaver birds). Visually the sexes are not greatly differentiated from one another. The red-billed buffalo weaver is differentiated from the white-billed buffalo weaver (''Bubalornis albirostris'') by the color of its bill. The feathers of the male are dark chocolate brown in color. The front wing edges and the wing tips are flecked with white. His bill is a shade of red. The eyes are brown and the feet are reddish brown. The female's body is also colored dark chocolate brown, without the white flecks on the wings. However, her chin and throat feathers include broad white colored hems. Her eyes are dark brown and her legs light ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leopard Tortoise
The leopard tortoise (''Stigmochelys pardalis'') is a large and attractively marked tortoise found in the savannas of eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan to the southern Cape. It is the only extant member of the genus ''Stigmochelys'', although in the past, it was commonly placed in ''Geochelone''. This tortoise is a grazing species that favors semiarid, thorny to grassland habitats. In both very hot and very cold weather, it may dwell in abandoned fox, jackal, or aardvark holes. The leopard tortoise does not dig other than to make nests in which to lay eggs. Given its propensity for grassland habitats, it grazes extensively upon mixed grasses. It also favors succulents and thistles. Taxonomy and etymology The phylogenic placement of the leopard tortoise has been subject to several revisions. Different authors have placed it in ''Geochelone'' (1957), ''Stigmochelys'' (2001), ''Centrochelys'' (2002), and ''Psammobates'' (2006). More recently, consensus appears to have settle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antlion
The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family Myrmeleontidae. They are known for the predatory habits of their larvae, which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. In North America, the larvae are sometimes referred to as doodlebugs because of the marks they leave in the sand. The adult insects are less well known due to their relatively short lifespans compared to the larvae. Adults, sometimes known as antlion lacewings, mostly fly at dusk or after dark and may be mistakenly identified as dragonflies or damselflies. Antlions have a worldwide distribution. The greatest diversity occurs in the tropics, but a few species are found in cold-temperate locations, one such being the European ''Euroleon nostras''. They most commonly occur in dry and sandy habitats where the larvae can easily excavate their pits, but some larvae hide under debris or ambush their prey among leaf litter. Antlions are poorly represented in the fossil rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dynastinae
Dynastinae or rhinoceros beetles are a subfamily of the scarab beetle family (Scarabaeidae). Other common names – some for particular groups of rhinoceros beetles – include Hercules beetles, unicorn beetles or horn beetles. Over 1500 species and 225 genera of rhinoceros beetles are known. Many rhinoceros beetles are well known for their unique shapes and large sizes. Some famous species are, for example, the Atlas beetle (''Chalcosoma atlas''), common rhinoceros beetle (''Xylotrupes ulysses''), elephant beetle (''Megasoma elephas''), European rhinoceros beetle (''Oryctes nasicornis''), Hercules beetle (''Dynastes hercules''), Japanese rhinoceros beetle or ''kabutomushi'' (''Allomyrina dichotoma''), ox beetle (''Strategus aloeus'') and the Eastern Hercules beetle (''Dynastes tityus''). Description and ecology The Dynastinae are among the largest of beetles, reaching more than in length, but are completely harmless to humans because they cannot bite or sting. So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scarabaeidae
The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several subfamilies have been elevated to family rank (e.g., Bolboceratidae, Geotrupidae, Glaresidae, Glaphyridae, Hybosoridae, Ochodaeidae, and Pleocomidae), and some reduced to lower ranks. The subfamilies listed in this article are in accordance with those in Bouchard (2011). Description Scarabs are stout-bodied beetles, many with bright metallic colours, measuring between . They have distinctive, clubbed antennae composed of plates called lamellae that can be compressed into a ball or fanned out like leaves to sense odours. Many species are fossorial, with legs adapted for digging. In some groups males (and sometimes females) have prominent horns on the head and/or pronotum to fight over mates or resources. The largest fossil scaraba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Five Game
In Africa, the Big Five game animals are the lion, leopard, black rhinoceros, African bush elephant, and African buffalo. They are examples of charismatic megafauna, featuring prominently in popular culture, and are among the most famous of Africa's large animals. The term was coined by big-game hunters, and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot but is now more widely used by game viewing tourists and safari tour operators. The 1990 and later releases of South African rand banknotes feature a different big-five animal on each denomination. Countries where all can be found include Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Malawi. Species Elephant The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana'') and African forest elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis'') are the largest land-based animals. Elephants are herbivores with thick, almost hairles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of river systems; the Zambezi River being the most prominent. The Zambezi flows from the northwest corner of Zambia and western Angola to the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique. Along the way, the Zambezi River flows over the mighty Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the world and a major tourist attraction for the region. Southern Africa includes both subtropical and temperate climates, with the Tropic of Capricorn running through the middle of the region, dividing it into its subtropical and temperate halves. Countries commonly included in Southern Africa include Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impossible Five
Justin D. Fox (born 4 May 1967) is a South African author, photojournalist, lecturer and editor living in Cape Town, South Africa. He was editor of Getaway travel magazine until 2020, and has freelanced internationally for many newspapers and magazines. Educated at SACS junior and high schools, he graduated from the University of Cape Town with a BA in English in 1990. He was elected as a Rhodes Scholar in 1991 and graduated with a masters and a doctorate in English from Oxford University. He is the author of more than a dozen books, ranging from travel and children's literature to photography and fiction. Fox's book ''The Impossible Five'' named South Africa's most elusive animals, including the Cape mountain leopard, the aardvark, the ground pangolin, the white lion The white lion is a rare color mutation of the lion, specifically the Southern African lion. White lions in the area of Timbavati are thought to have been indigenous to the Timbavati region of South Afri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wildlife
Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game (hunting), game: those birds and mammals that were trophy hunting, hunted for sport. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, plains, grasslands, woodlands, forests, and other areas, including the most developed urban areas, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors, most scientists agree that much wildlife is human impact on the environment, affected by human behavior, human activities. Some wildlife threaten human safety, health, property, and quality of life. However, many wild animals, even the dangerous ones, have value to human beings. This value might be economic, educational, or emotional in nature. Humans have historically t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tourism In South Africa
South Africa is a tourist destination with the tourist industry accounting for 2.34% of GDP in 2019 followed by a sharp drop in 2020 to 0.81% of GDP due to lack of travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The official marketing agency for the country South African Tourism is responsible for marketing South Africa to the world. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the tourism industry directly contributed ZAR 102 billion to South African GDP in 2012, and supports 10.3% of jobs in the country. The official national marketing agency of the South African government, with the goal of promoting tourism in South Africa both locally and globally is known as South African Tourism. South Africa offers both domestic and international tourists a wide variety of options, among others the picturesque natural landscape and game reserves, diverse cultural heritage and highly regarded wines. Some of the most popular destinations include several national parks, such as the expansive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Wildlife")
