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Matopos Hills
The Matobo National Park forms the core of the Matobo or Matopos Hills, an area of granite kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some south of Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe. The hills were formed over 2 billion years ago with granite being forced to the surface, this has eroded to produce smooth "whaleback dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation. Matopo/Matob was named by the Lozwi, who are the ancestors of Kalanga. A different tradition states that the first King , Mzilikazi Khumalo when told by the local residents that the great granite domes were called madombo he replied , possible half jest, "We will call them matobo" - an IsiNdebele play on 'Bald heads'. The Hills cover an area of about 3100 km² (1200 sq mi), of which 424 km² (164 sq mi) is National Park, the remainder being largely communal land and a small proportion of commercial farmland. The park extends along the Thuli, Mtshelele, Maleme and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matobo District
Matobo District is a Districts of Zimbabwe, district of the Provinces of Zimbabwe, Province Matabeleland South in Zimbabwe. References Districts of Matabeleland South Province {{Zimbabwe-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cecil Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his British South Africa Company colonised the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which the company named after him in 1895. South Africa's Rhodes University is also named after him. He also devoted much effort to realising his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory. Rhodes set up the provisions of the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate. The son of a vicar, Rhodes was born at Netteswell House, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. A sickly child, he was sent to South Africa by his family when he was 17 years old in the hope that the climate might improve his health. He entered the diamond trade at Kimberley in 1871, when he was 18, and, thanks to funding from Rothschild & Co, beg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South-central Black Rhinoceros
The south-central black rhinoceros (''Diceros bicornis minor''), also known as the south-central hook-lipped rhinoceros or the lesser black rhino, is a subspecies of the black rhinoceros. In keeping with the rules of zoological nomenclature, the south-central black rhinoceros should be known as ''Diceros bicornis keitloa'' (Smith, 1836), a nomen novum.Rookmaaker, K., 2016. The correct name of the south-central black rhinoceros is Diceros bicornis keitloa (A. Smith, 1836). African zoology, 51(2), pp.117-119. Although it is the most numerous of the black rhino subspecies, it is nevertheless designated as critically endangered on the IUCN’s red list. Like other black rhino subspecies, it has a prehensile lip and lives in savanna habitat. Range The south-central black rhinoceros once ranged from western and southern Tanzania, through Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, all the way to northern and eastern South Africa. It is also thought to have inhabited the southern part of ... [...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] |
African Leopard
The African leopard (''Panthera pardus pardus'') is the nominate subspecies of the leopard, native to many countries in Africa. It is widely distributed in most of sub-Saharan Africa, but the historical range has been fragmented in the course of habitat conversion. Leopards have also been recorded in North Africa as well. Taxonomy ''Felis pardus'' was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' in 1758. His description was based on descriptions by earlier naturalists such as Conrad Gessner. He assumed that the leopard occurred in India. In the 18th and 19th centuries, several naturalists described various leopard skins and skulls from Africa, including: * ''Felis pardus panthera'' proposed by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1778 based on descriptions by earlier naturalists * ''Felis leopardus'' var. ''melanotica'' by Albert Günther in 1885 from the Cape of Good Hope, Southern Africa * ''Felis leopardus suahelicus'' by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impala
The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'') is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus '' Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to European audiences by German zoologist Hinrich Lichtenstein in 1812. Two subspecies are recognised—the common impala, and the larger and darker black-faced impala. The impala reaches at the shoulder and weighs . It features a glossy, reddish brown coat. The male's slender, lyre-shaped horns are long. Active mainly during the day, the impala may be gregarious or territorial depending upon the climate and geography. Three distinct social groups can be observed: the territorial males, bachelor herds and female herds. The impala is known for two characteristic leaps that constitute an anti-predator strategy. Browsers as well as grazers, impala feed on monocots, dicots, forbs, fruits and acacia pods (whenever available). An annual, three-week-long rut takes place ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sable Antelope
The sable antelope (''Hippotragus niger'') is an antelope which inhabits wooded savanna in East and Southern Africa, from the south of Kenya to South Africa, with a separate population in Angola. Taxonomy The sable antelope shares the genus ''Hippotragus'' with the extinct bluebuck (''H. leucophaeus'') and the roan antelope (''H. equinus''), and is a member of the family Bovidae. In 1996, an analysis of mitochondrial DNA extracted from a mounted specimen of the bluebuck showed that it is outside the clade containing the roan and sable antelopes. The cladogram below shows the position of the sable antelope among its relatives, following the 1996 analysis: Subspecies ''Hipotragus niger'' has four subspecies: * The southern sable antelope (''H. n. niger''; also known as the common sable antelope, black sable antelope, Matsetsi sable antelope or South Zambian sable antelope) is regarded as the nominate subspecies, as it was the first one to be described and named in 1838. Often ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern White Rhinoceros
The southern white rhinoceros or southern white rhino (''Ceratotherium simum simum'') is one of the two subspecies of the white rhinoceros (the other being the much rarer northern white rhinoceros). It is the most common and widespread subspecies of rhinoceros. A document published by CITES in 2021, found the estimated total population of Southern White Rhino in 2021 to be 15,940 individuals, a decline of 24% since the previous census published in 2015. South Africa remains a stronghold for this subspecies, conserving an estimated 12,968 individuals as of 2021, down 20.22% since the previous census. Taxonomic and evolutionary history The southern white rhinoceros is the nominate subspecies; it was given the scientific name ''Ceratotherium simum simum'' by the English explorer William John Burchell in the 1810s. The subspecies is also known as Burchell's rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum burchellii'') after Burchell and Oswell's rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum oswellii'') after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Rhino Mother And Juvenile In Matopos National Park
White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the visible spectrum, visible wavelengths of light. White on television and computer screens is created by a mixture of red, blue, and green light. The color white can be given with white pigments, especially titanium dioxide. In ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, priestesses wore white as a symbol of purity, and Romans wore white togas as symbols of citizenship. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance a white unicorn symbolized chastity, and a white lamb sacrifice and purity. It was the royal color of the kings of France, and of the monarchist movement that opposed the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War (1917–1922). Greek and Roman temples were faced with white marble, and beginning in the 18th century, with the advent of neoclassical archite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aloes
Agarwood, aloeswood, eaglewood or gharuwood is a fragrant dark resinous wood used in incense, perfume, and small carvings. This resinous wood is most commonly referred to as "Oud" or "Oudh". It is formed in the heartwood of aquilaria trees when the Acquilara Tree becomes infected with a type of mold (''Phialophora parasitica'') and secretes a resin to combat the mold. Prior to infection, the heartwood is odourless, relatively light and pale coloured; however, as the infection progresses, the tree produces a dark aromatic resin, called aloes (not to be confused with ''Aloe ferox'', the succulent commonly known as the bitter aloe) or agar (not to be confused with the edible, algae-derived agar) as well as ''gaharu'', ''jinko'', ''oud'', or ''oodh'' ''aguru'' (not to be confused with bukhoor), in response to the attack, which results in a very dense, dark, resin-embedded heartwood. The resin-embedded wood is valued in East and South Asian cultures for its distinctive fragrance, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia Sieberiana
''Vachellia sieberiana'', until recently known as ''Acacia sieberiana'' and commonly known as the paperbark thorn or paperbark acacia, is a tree native to southern Africa and introduced into Pakistan. It is used in many areas for various purposes. The tree varies from 3 to 25 m in height, with a trunk diameter of 0.6 to 1.8 m.World Agroforestry Centre It is not listed as being a . Uses ''Vachellia sieberiana'' is valued largely as a source of forage, medicine and wood. The inner bark is a source of fibre purposes such as stringing |
Dombeya Rotundifolia
''Dombeya rotundifolia'', the dikbas or "South African wild pear" (it is not related to pear trees), is a small deciduous tree with dark grey to blackish deeply fissured bark, found in Southern Africa and northwards to central and eastern tropical Africa. Formerly placed in the Sterculiaceae, that artificial group has now been abandoned by most authors and the plants are part of an enlarged Malvaceae. ''Dombeya rotundifolia'' was originally described by Hochstetter. The ''D. rotundifolia'' of Bojer is now '' Dombeya spectabilis''. Description Trees are normally 5–6 m tall with a single well-defined trunk, growing on deep soils, river banks and rocky places. Leaves and flower buds are densely covered in stellate hairs. One of the first species to flower in spring, often with ''Erythrina lysistemon''. Flowers are abundant and sweet-scented, usually white but occasionally pale pink. Flowers (15–20 mm diameter) inconspicuous round fruits form at the centre of the bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
