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Kalahari Acacia–baikiaea Woodlands
The Kalahari ''Acacia''-''Baikiaea'' woodlands are an ecoregion located in Botswana, northern Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Setting These woodlands cover the center of southern Africa, from northern Namibia diagonally through to southeast Botswana and just into the Tuli Block of South Africa. In Botswana there is another area running north from the Okavango Delta and the Makgadikgadi Pan towards the border of the Chobe National Park and then east to the border with Zimbabwe. All this is semi-arid sandveld with little surface water. Droughts occur approximately every seven years. Rainfall, when it occurs, is mostly in the summer, from October through March. The Kalahari ''Acacia''-''Baikiaea'' woodlands are bounded on the north by the Zambezian Baikiaea woodlands, and on the east by the Bushveld. The Kalahari xeric savanna lies to the south and west, and the Angolan mopane woodlands to the northwest. Flora The flora depends on the availability of water. The northern section ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Kalahari Game Reserve
Central Kalahari Game Reserve is an extensive national park in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. Established in 1961 it covers an area of (larger than the Netherlands, and almost 10% of Botswana's total land area), making it the second largest game reserve in the world. History The Bushmen, or San, have inhabited the lands for thousands of years since they roamed the area as nomadic hunters. However, since the mid-1990s the Botswana government has tried to relocate the Bushmen from the reserve, claiming they were a drain on financial resources despite revenues from tourism. In 1997, three quarters of the entire San population were relocated from the reserve, and in October 2005 the government had resumed the forced relocation into resettlement camps outside of the park leaving only about 250 permanent occupiers. In 2006 a Botswana court proclaimed the eviction illegal and affirmed the Bushmen's right to return to living in the reserve. However, as of 2015 most Bushmen are blocked f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalahari Xeric Savanna
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid climate, semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal desert, whose name is of Khoekhoe language, Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". Etymology ''Kalahari'' is derived from the Tswana language, Tswana word ''Kgala'', meaning "the great thirst", or ''Kgalagadi'', meaning "a waterless place"; the Kalahari has vast areas covered by red sand without any permanent surface water. History The Kalahari Desert was not always a dry desert. The fossil flora and fauna from Gcwihaba Cave in Botswana indicates that the region was much wetter and cooler at least from 30 to 11 thousand Before Present, BP (before present) especially after 17,500 BP. Geography Drainage of the desert is by dry black valleys, seasonally inundated pans and the large salt pan (geology), salt pans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Wildebeest
The blue wildebeest (''Connochaetes taurinus''), also called the common wildebeest, white-bearded gnu or brindled gnu, is a large antelope and one of the two species of wildebeest. It is placed in the genus '' Connochaetes'' and family Bovidae, and has a close taxonomic relationship with the black wildebeest. The blue wildebeest is known to have five subspecies. This broad-shouldered antelope has a muscular, front-heavy appearance, with a distinctive, robust muzzle. Young blue wildebeest are born tawny brown, and begin to take on their adult coloration at the age of 2 months. The adults' hues range from a deep slate or bluish-gray to light gray or even grayish-brown. Both sexes possess a pair of large curved horns. The blue wildebeest is a herbivore, feeding primarily on short grasses. It forms herds which move about in loose aggregations, the animals being fast runners and extremely wary. The mating season begins at the end of the rainy season and a single calf is usually born ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loxodonta Africana
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lycaon Pictus
The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lycaon'', which is distinguished from ''Canis'' by dentition highly specialised for a hypercarnivorous diet, and by a lack of dewclaws. It is estimated that about 6,600 adults (including 1,400 mature individuals) live in 39 subpopulations that are all threatened by habitat fragmentation, human persecution, and outbreaks of disease. As the largest subpopulation probably comprises fewer than 250 individuals, the African wild dog has been listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1990. The species is a specialised diurnal hunter of antelopes, which it catches by chasing them to exhaustion. Its natural enemies are lions and spotted hyenas: the former will kill the dogs where possible, whilst hyenas are frequent kleptoparasites. Li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diceros Bicornis
The black rhinoceros, black rhino or hook-lipped rhinoceros (''Diceros bicornis'') is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern and southern Africa including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Although the rhinoceros is referred to as ''black'', its colours vary from brown to grey. The other African rhinoceros is the white rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum''). The word "white" in the name "white rhinoceros" is often said to be a misinterpretation of the Afrikaans word ' (Dutch ') meaning wide, referring to its square upper lip, as opposed to the pointed or hooked lip of the black rhinoceros. These species are now sometimes referred to as the square-lipped (for white) or hook-lipped (for black) rhinoceros. The species overall is classified as critically endangered (even though the south-western black rhinoceros is classified as near threatened). Three subspecies have been declared extinct, including th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceratotherium Simum
The white rhinoceros, white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum'') is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhinoceros consists of two subspecies: the southern white rhinoceros, with an estimated 19,682–21,077 wild-living animals in the year 2015, and the much rarer northern white rhinoceros. The northern subspecies has very few remaining individuals, with only two confirmed left in 2018 (two females: Fatu, 18 and Najin, 29), both in captivity. Sudan, the world's last known male Northern white rhinoceros, died in Kenya on 19 March 2018 at age 45. Naming A popular albeit widely discredited theory of the origins of the name "white rhinoceros" is a mistranslation from Dutch to English. The English word "white" is said to have been derived by mistranslation of the Dutch word "wijd", which means "wide" in English. The word "wide" refers to the width of the rhinoce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elefante Africano De Sabana (Loxodonta Africana), Elephant Sands, Botsuana, 2018-07-28, DD 118
Elefante is the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Galician word for elephant: it may also refer to: Geography *Elefante, a barangay of Banayoyo, Ilocos Sur, Philippines *Roca Elefante, the westernmost points of Mexico, on Guadalupe Island *Roccia dell Elefante, an archaeological site in Sardinia Music *" Elefantes", a popular Latin American children's song similar to the American ''Ten Monkeys Jumpin' On the Bed'' *"Elefantes", a song by Natalia Lafourcade from her 2002 album ''Natalia Lafourcade'' *"El elefante", a song by Caifanes from their 1990 album ''El diablito'' *''El Elefante'', an album by Leo Sidran * Elefantes (band), a Spanish band active from 1994 to 2006 * Elefante (Mexican band), a Latin rock and pop band * Elefante (Uruguayan band), an Uruguayan rock band * '' Elefante'', the 2015 album by BulletBoys People * John Elefante, an American rock and roll vocalist who got his start in the music business with the rock band Kansas *Elefante Bianco, a seaman on the ''Wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus name is New Latin, borrowed from the Greek (), a term used by Dioscorides for a preparation extracted from the leaves and fruit pods of '' Vachellia nilotica'', the original type of the genus. In his ''Pinax'' (1623), Gaspard Bauhin mentioned the Greek from Dioscorides as the origin of the Latin name. In the early 2000s it had become evident that the genus as it stood was not monophyletic and that several divergent lineages needed to be placed in separate genera. It turned out that one lineage comprising over 900 species mainly native to Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia was not closely related to the much smaller group of African lineage that contained ''A. nilotica''—the type species. This meant that the Australasian lineage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xerophytic
A xerophyte (from Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or places in the Alps or the Arctic. Popular examples of xerophytes are cacti, pineapple and some Gymnosperm plants. The structural features (morphology) and fundamental chemical processes ( physiology) of xerophytes are variously adapted to conserve water, also common to store large quantities of water, during dry periods. Other species are able to survive long periods of extreme dryness or desiccation of their tissues, during which their metabolic activity may effectively shut down. Plants with such morphological and physiological adaptations are .” Xeromorphic”, The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms, Michael Hickey, Clive King, Cambridge University Press, 2001 Xerophytes such as cacti are capable of withstanding extended periods of dry con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arid
A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most arid climates straddle the Equator; these regions include parts of Africa, Asia, South America, North America, and Australia. Change over time The distribution of aridity at any time is largely the result of the general circulation of the atmosphere. The latter does change significantly over time through climate change. For example, temperature increase by 1.5–2.1 percent across the Nile Basin over the next 30–40 years could change the region from semi-arid to arid, significantly reducing the land usable for agriculture. In addition, changes in land use can increase demands on soil water and thereby increase aridity. See also * Arid Forest Research Institute * Aridity index * Desert climate * Desiccation tolerance * Drou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hardveld
Veld ( or ), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in :Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana. A certain sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa has been officially defined as the Bushveld by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Trees are not abundant—frost, fire and grazing animals allow grass to grow but prevent the build-up of dense foliage. Etymology The word ''veld'' () comes from the Afrikaans word for "field". The etymological origin is older modern Dutch ''veldt'', a spelling that the Dutch abandoned in favour of ''veld'' during the 19th century, decades before the first Afrikaans dictionary.Eric Anderson Walker (ed). The Cambridge History of the British Empire, Volume 4. Cambridge University Press 1963 (Afrikaans: pp. 890–894) A cognate to the English ''field'', it was spelt ''velt'' in Middle Dutch and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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