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Mkhaya Game Reserve
Mkhaya Game Reserve is a protected area in Eswatini. It is located along the MR8 road. Characteristics It is situated in lowveld wilderness in the southeast of Eswatini and is made up of acacia-dominated thornveld in the south and broadleaf sandveld in the north. The reserve has many dry riverbeds, is dotted with waterholes and has a network of game-viewing roads. Mkhaya Game Reserve is named after the knobthorn tree which is known as ''mkhaya'' in siSwati. Mkhaya is staffed and patrolled entirely by local Swazi people. All travel within the reserve is guided and requires pre-booking. The reserve is self-financed solely through visitor revenues. Fauna It was established in 1979 to save Nguni cattle, which were close to extinction, and has gone on to include other endangered species such as the black and white rhinos, hippopotamus pods, roan antelope, sable antelope, tsessebe, elephant and Cape buffalo herds. Birds of note include Narina trogon, purple-crested turaco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eswatini
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its north, west, south, and southeast. At no more than north to south and east to west, Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa; despite this, its climate and topography are diverse, ranging from a cool and mountainous highveld to a hot and dry lowveld. The population is composed primarily of ethnic Swazis. The prevalent language is Swazi (''siSwati'' in native form). The Swazis established their kingdom in the mid-18th century under the leadership of Ngwane III. The country and the Swazi take their names from Mswati II, the 19th-century king under whose rule the country was expanded and unified; its boundaries were drawn up in 1881 in the midst of the Scramble for Africa. After the Second Boer War, the kingdom, under the name of ... [...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] |
African Pygmy Kingfisher
The African pygmy kingfisher (''Ispidina picta'') is a small insectivorous kingfisher found in the Afrotropics, mostly in woodland habitats. Taxonomy The African pygmy kingfisher was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name ''Todier de Juida'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''. The type locality is Saint Louis, Senegal. The African pygmy kingfisher is now placed in the genus '' Ispidina'' that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1848. The specific epithet ''picta'' is fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorgeous Bushshrike
The gorgeous bushshrike (''Telophorus viridis'') is a species of bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ... in the family Malaconotidae. It is also known as the four-coloured bushshrike. Some use the name gorgeous bushshrike for the subspecies '' Telophorus viridis viridis'' only. Taxonomy Most authorities consider ''Telophorus viridis'' to comprise four subspecies: ''T. v. viridis'', ''T. v. nigricauda'', ''T. v. quartus'' and ''T. v. quadricolor''. Others split the taxon into two species: ''T. viridis'' and ''T. quadricolor''. Behavior Gorgeous bush-shrikes are seldom seen despite being a commonly occurring species, as they mostly dwell in densely vegetated woodlands. They are primarily insectivorous, gleaning insects from the understory growth they inhabit. Distr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey-headed Bush-shrike
The grey-headed bushshrike (''Malaconotus blanchoti''), colloquially known as the ghostbird, is a species of passerine bird in the family Malaconotidae. It is widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa, although relatively absent in Central Africa and the interior of southern Africa. It is the most widespread species of its genus, which consists of large bushshrikes with massive bills and mournful hooting calls. It occurs sparsely in a range of wooded habitats, though typically in denser vegetation within dry or moist savannah. The monogamous pairs occupy woodland with sufficient cover. They are sedentary, but will undertake limited post-breeding movements. Subspecies Six or seven subspecies are recognized. The tropical subspecies intergrade widely, and are locally not separable. * ''M. b. blanchoti'' Stephens, 1826 — subtropical West Africa to subtropical Cameroon * ''M. b. catharoxanthus'' Neumann, 1899 — subtropical Cameroon to tropical East Africa * ''M. b. interpositus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purple-crested Turaco
The purple-crested turaco (''Gallirex porphyreolophus'') or, in South Africa, the purple-crested loerie, is a species of bird in the clade Turaco with an unresolved phylogenetic placement. Initial analyses placed the purple-crested turaco in the family Musophagidae'','' but studies have indicated that these birds do not belong to this family and have been placed in the clade of Turacos with an unresolved phylogeny. It is the National Bird of the Kingdom of Eswatini, and the crimson flight feathers of this and related turaco species are important in the ceremonial regalia of the Swazi royal family. Description This bird has a purple coloured crest above a green head, a red ring around their eyes, and a black bill. The neck and chest are green and brown. The rest of the body is purple, with red flight feathers. Purple-crested turacos are considered to be large frugivores that are known to carry cycad seeds from various plant species long distances from feeding to nesting sites. Af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narina Trogon
__NOTOC__ The Narina trogon (''Apaloderma narina'') is a largely green and red, medium-sized (32–34 cm long), bird of the family Trogonidae. It is native to forests and woodlands of the Afrotropics. Though it is the most widespread and catholic in habitat choice of the three ''Apaloderma'' species, their numbers are locally depleted due to deforestation. Some populations are sedentary while others undertake regular movements. The species name commemorates Narina, mistress of French ornithologist François Levaillant, whose name he derived from a Khoikhoi word for "flower", as her given name was difficult to pronounce. Description left, 160px, It is sexually dimorphic, with males more brightly coloured. Both sexes have vivid, gingery green upperpart plumage. The tail feathers have a metallic blue-green gloss. The outer three rectices on each side are tipped and fringed white, giving the undertail of perched birds a characteristic white appearance (compare bar-tailed trog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Bush Elephant
The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana'') is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to and a body mass of up to . It is distributed across 37 African countries and inhabits forests, grasslands and woodlands, wetlands and agricultural land. Since 2021, it has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It is threatened foremost by habitat destruction, and in parts of its range also by poaching for meat and ivory. It is a social mammal, travelling in herds composed of cows and their offspring. Adult bulls usually live alone or in small bachelor groups. It is a herbivore, feeding on grasses, creepers, herbs, leaves, and bark. The menstrual cycle lasts three to four months, and females are pregnant for 22 months, the longest gestation period of any mammal. Taxonomy ''Elephas africanus'' was the scientific name proposed by Johann Fri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Tsessebe
The common tsessebe or sassaby (''Damaliscus lunatus lunatus'') is the southern, nominate subspecies of ''Damaliscus lunatus'', although some authorities have recognised it as an independent species. It is most closely related to the Bangweulu tsessebe, sometimes also seen as a separate species,''Damaliscus lunatus'' MSW3 less to the , , and [...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] |
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