Redbreast Tilapia

Coptodon (Tilapia) rendalli

A popular angling species, growing to a weight of about 2.5kg and a length of roughly 45cm, the Redbreast Tilapia prefers still, well-vegetated waters in rivers and marshes and thrives in dams. Water plants and algae form the bulk of their diet, but they will also eat invertebrates and even small fishes.

When breeding, which occurs in summer, the pair clears a nest up to a meter in diameter among the plants in shallow water in which they protect the eggs (up to 8,000!) and the fry, until these are between 1 and 2cm long. They can live for up to 7 years.

Redbreast Tilapia are found naturally from the DRC southwards, and have been introduced to a number of other African countries where they’re valued in aquaculture. In South Africa they occur naturally in the east-flowing rivers from the Limpopo-system in the north to the Tugela-system in the south, but there have also been some introductions to waters outside of this area. According to the IUCN, this species is of least concern.

Redbreast Tilapia, Kruger National Park

Juvenile Redbreast Tilapia

Redbreast Tilapia in Nsumo Pan

Redbreast Tilapia in the dam at Tlopi

Redbreast Tilapia in the dam at Tlopi (photo by Joubert)

Redbreast Tilapia

Announcement! Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Reservations

9 Replies

Announcement!

Next time you are planning a visit to any of the reserves managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW), remember that DeWetsWild can assist you with your reservations!

https://dewetswild.com/about/reservation-services/ezemvelo-kzn-wildlife-reservations/

In the not-too-distant future we will also be offering tailor-made tours to Kwazulu-Natal’s nature reserves – watch this space!

Side-striped Jackal

8 Replies

Canis adustus

The Side-striped Jackal is the lesser known of South Africa’s two jackal species and far less common than the Black-backed Jackal.

Side-striped Jackals are mainly nocturnal, active from dusk to dawn, and by day they den in burrows, rocky outcrops or thickets. They hunt small mammals, birds, reptiles and invertebrates, will eat fruit and berries and will also consume carrion if it is available. They are usually seen singly, in territorial pairs or in family groups.

Female Side-striped Jackals have litters of 2-6 puppies, usually during spring and summer in South Africa, after a 2 month gestation. The male of the pair will bring food back to the den for the female and puppies. The young ones are weaned before they’re 3 months old, but stay with the parents for almost a year. Fully grown, Side-striped Jackals weigh about 10kg and stand about 45cm high at the shoulder. They have a life expectancy in the wild of 10 to 12 years.

Although Side-striped Jackals usually occur at low densities, they’re not endangered and according to the IUCN is of least concern. They’re found throughout the moist savanna habitats of sub-Saharan Africa, from West Africa to Ethiopia, and southwards as far as Angola in the west and South Africa in the south-east. In our country they used to be found only in the north of Kwazulu-Natal and the Lowveld of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, but it appears that they are expanding their range of late. The South African population is estimated at a maximum of around 9,000.

Side-striped Jackal

Side-striped Jackal (photo by Joubert)

Side-striped Jackal

Brown Pansy Butterfly

12 Replies

Junonia natalica

The Brown Pansy, or Brown Commodore, is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan of around 5cm. It lives in coastal and riverine forests and dense savannas, where it flies low and slow through open areas. They settle often, being attracted to flowers and puddles, slowly opening and closing their wings, but are also restless and easily flushed. Adults fly year round, with numbers peaking in spring and summer. in South Africa, Brown Pansies occur through much of Kwazulu-Natal and into the Lowveld and escarpment of Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

Brown Commodore, aka Brown Pansy

Announcement! SANParks Reservations

17 Replies

Announcement!

Next time you are planning a visit to any of the South African National Parks (SANParks), remember that DeWetsWild can assist you with your reservations!

https://dewetswild.com/about/reservation-services/sanparks-reservation-service/

In the not-too-distant future we will also be offering tailor-made tours to our country’s national parks – watch this space!

Great Spotted Cuckoo

23 Replies

Clamator glandarius

The Great Spotted Cuckoo is another summer visitor to South Africa, with birds arriving here from the Mediterranean and equatorial Africa in September and staying until April or May. While here they have a rather patchy distribution, with concentrations in the Lowveld and northern Gauteng.

Great Spotted Cuckoos live in grasslands, savannas and open woodlands. They feed mainly on a wide range of invertebrates, especially caterpillars.

Like others of their kind, Great Spotted Cuckoos are brood parasites, with this species targeting crows and starlings for the raising of their chicks. Females lay between 1 and 4 eggs, usually 2, in the host nest, and as many as 23 eggs in a season. The chicks don’t usually kill their adoptive siblings but will peck at them. The chicks leave the nest between 3 and 4 weeks after hatching. They grow to 39cm in length and weigh about 130g.

With a population estimated at at least 3-million, the IUCN considers the Great Spotted Cuckoo to be of least concern.

Great Spotted Cuckoo with a hairy caterpillar it caught

Great Spotted Cuckoo

Weeping Wattle

18 Replies

Peltophorum africanum

The Weeping Wattle gets its intriguing name from spittle bugs, sap-sucking insects, that live in large numbers on its branches and excrete substantial quantities of almost pure water that continuously drip from the tree as if it is crying, especially in spring.

A semi-deciduous and rather untidy tree that can grow up to 15m high, the Weeping Wattle has a wide range of uses, from being fodder for livestock and popular with honey farmers to being used for furniture manufacturing and as an ingredient in traditional medicine.

Weeping Wattles grow in savanna-associations, often in sandy soils, and in South Africa occurs in Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and North West.

Weeping Wattle

Weeping Wattle blooms being eaten by a Gleaming Fruit Chafer beetle

Weeping Wattle blooms

Weeping Wattle tree in bloom in Satara’s camping area

Weeping Wattle

Weeping Wattle blooms

Rhulani, our guide on the Sweni Trail, explaining why a Weeping Wattle can also be called a “toiletpaper bush”

Zebra White Butterfly

11 Replies

Pinacopteryx eriphia

The Zebra White is another butterfly that is distributed over much of South Africa, and is found in pockets of all our provinces. It doesn’t appear to be numerous anywhere though. It inhabits arid scrub and thickets, warmer grasslands and savanna habitats. Adults have a wingspan of between 4 and 5cm and can be seen throughout the year. They usually fly slow and very close to the ground but can accelerate very quickly to escape danger when required.

Zebra White butterfly

Zebra White

Zebra White butterfly

Zebra White Butterfly

Jacobin Cuckoo

16 Replies

Clamator jacobinus

The pied plumage (though some birds are almost entirely black) gave rise to the Jacobin Cuckoo’s name as it is reminiscent of the clothes of Dominican monks, aka Jacobins. It is found in South Africa only during our warmer months, visiting us from the Indian subcontinent and further north in Africa between October and April. While here they’re most common in the northern and central parts of the country, although they are also found in lower densities in parts of the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces. Jacobin Cuckoos inhabit a wide variety of savanna and woodland habitats. They feed mainly on caterpillars which they catch among the greenery. The IUCN considers it to be of least concern.

Being a brood parasite, the female Jacobin Cuckoo will lay her eggs in the nests of other birds, with about 17 host species recorded locally. Of these they mainly target the Cape, Red-eyed and Dark-capped Bulbuls, Sombre Greenbul and Common Fiscal. In a breeding season the pair may lay up to 25 eggs, one per nest, by working together – the male distracts the hosts from their nest while the female then sneaks in to lay the egg, usually without hurting the other eggs already in the nest. The Cuckoo egg then hatches after about two weeks of being incubated by the surrogate parents, and usually does not evict its nest mates like many other cuckoos do, though by claiming most of the food brought back to the nest it may still cause the other chicks to starve. The chick stays in the nest for almost 3 weeks after hatching and leaves its adoptive parents when it is about a month old. Fully grown they weigh about 80g and are around 34cm long.

Jacobin Cuckoo (Black Morph)

Jacobin Cuckoo

Jacobin Cuckoo (dark morph)

Jacobin Cuckoo

Jacobin Cuckoo (dark morph)

Giant African Land Snails

32 Replies

Family Achatinidae

South Africa is home to 27 known species of snail in four genera from the family Achatinidae, also known as the Giant African Land Snails, with different species found in the various provinces. What they have in common is their herbivorous diets, extraordinary sizes and longevity of up to 5 years. The shell of the largest South African species, the Brownlipped Agate (Metachatina kraussi) which inhabits forests and savanna woodland in Kwazulu-Natal, can grow to 16cm in length.

Several kinds of Giant African Land Snails are kept as pets, however this is also the most likely source of introductions outside their natural range which has caused enormous environmental problems in many other parts of the world – in fact, the East African species Achatina fulica is considered to be one of the 100 worst invading species in the world!