Category Archives: South African Wildlife

The inhabitants of South Africa’s wild places

Perennial Glasswort

Salicornia perennis

The Perennial Glasswort is a creeping, low growing – up to only about 30cm high – succulent plant adapted to growing in soil with extreme salinity, occurring along coastlines of Africa, Europe and North and South America. It thrives in areas subject to calm tidal inundation, like the salt marshes of the Langebaan Lagoon in our West Coast National Park, where the plants cover large swathes of muddy ground and are often entirely covered by sea water when the tide is high.

Perennial Glasswort

Salt marsh in the West Coast National Park, dominated by Perennial Glasswort

Blue-billed Teal

7 Replies

Spatula hottentota

A shy bird that is easily overlooked, the Blue-billed Teal inhabits permanent freshwater wetlands with densely vegetated banks and lush emergent vegetation like rushes and reeds. They’re omnivores and their diet includes a wide variety of aquatic plants and invertebrates and occasionally even frogs. Blue-billed Teals are usually encountered in pairs or small flocks.

Blue-billed Teals breed mainly towards the end of summer and into early autumn. The male plays little to no role in the incubation of the eggs or the rearing of the chicks. It’s the female that constructs the bowl-shaped nest of grass and down on the ground, that incubates the clutch of up to 12 eggs for about 4 weeks and that rears the chicks, which fledge by about 2 months of age. Fully grown they’re about 35m long and weigh approximately 250g, making it one of the smallest duck species in our country.

The Blue-billed Teal is rather uncommon in South Africa, with a limited distribution and populations concentrated in Gauteng and adjacent parts of the Free State and Mpumalanga, parts of Kwazulu-Natal and coastal pockets in the Eastern and Western Cape. Beyond our borders they’re found in a band across central and eastern Africa as far north as Ethiopia, with further populations in Madagascar and northern Nigeria and neighbouring parts of Niger and Chad. According to the IUCN this species is of least concern.

Blue-billed Teals

Blue-billed Teal

Blue-billed Teals

Blue-billed Teal

Blue-billed Teals

Blue-billed Teal

Natal Plum

17 Replies

Carissa macrocarpa

The Natal Plum – also known as the Big Num-num – is an evergreen shrub species that thrives in coastal bush and forests stretching from the district of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) in the Eastern Cape to southern Mozambique. Its usual growth form is a densely leafed, spiny shrub up to about 4m high. It is a popular garden plant in frost-free areas as it lends itself perfectly to being trimmed into a hedge, its pure white blossoms smell of citrus flowers and the large fruit are edible in their entirety – it is even used in jams – and extremely rich in vitamin C, magnesium and phosphorous.

Natal Plum (or Large Num-num) flower

Natal Plum / Large Num-num

Cape Teal

4 Replies

Anas capensis

An inhabitant of permanent and ephemeral wetlands of varying salinity, the Cape Teal feeds mainly on aquatic invertebrates and tadpoles with plant material making up a smaller part of its diet. They have also adapted to using farm dams and sewage ponds and greatly expanded their range as a result. They’re usually seen in pairs or small mixed flocks, though they may congregate in enormous numbers on deep water when moulting. They will move over short distances to find more suitable habitats when seasonal water bodies start drying up.

Pairs of Cape Teal are monogamous and breed on dry land, following good rains. The female builds a bowl-shaped nest of soft plant material lined with down. She lays a clutch of up to 13 eggs, though more usually around 8, and incubates them for about 4 weeks. She leads the ducklings to water very soon after hatching and they are adept at swimming and diving right from the start. The ducklings stay with their mother until they’re about 2 months old. Fully grown Cape Teals weigh around 400g and measure about 46cm long.

The Cape Teal has a rather patchy distribution in sub-Saharan Africa. Being especially numerous in our Western Cape Province, they’re found widely in South Africa and our neighbouring states as far as Angola, with more isolated populations in eastern and central-west Africa. According to the IUCN the Cape Teal is of least concern.

Cape Teal

Cape Teals

Cape Teal in flight

Cape Teal

Cape Teals

Cape Teal

Cape Teals

Cape Teals mating

Cape Teals

Large Striped Swordtail Butterfly

9 Replies

Graphium antheus

A big and striking butterfly, the Large Striped Swordtail inhabits moist savannas and coastal forests and in South Africa can be seen through most of Limpopo, low-lying parts of Mpumalanga and most of Kwazulu-Natal. Adults of both sexes, on the wing from spring to autumn and boasting a wingspan of around 7cm, can often be seen visiting flowers but the males – as depicted in some of the images below – are especially fond of muddy puddles as well and will often congregate there in large numbers. These butterflies are very strong fliers.

Large Striped Swordtail

Zitting Cisticola

20 Replies

Cisticola juncidis

The Zitting Cisticola – also known as the Streaked Fantail Warbler in parts of its range – is the most widely distributed of its family and occurs over much of Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia with most of these populations being resident year round. In South Africa it is found in all our provinces, being absent only from the driest parts in the west of the country. The IUCN, siting its wide distribution and apparently increasing population, lists the Zitting Cisticola as being of least concern.

Zitting Cisticolas inhabit open country; naturally mostly savannas, grasslands and seasonally flooded wetlands, but they’ve also taken to croplands, golf courses and airstrips. They feed exclusively on insects and other invertebrates and have a special liking for grasshoppers.

In the breeding season, which peaks in summer, the male constructs a pear-shaped nest inside a tuft of green grass using spider web and plant material – a process that could take in excess of 2 weeks to complete without any guarantee that the female will approve (and if she doesn’t, he has to take the whole thing apart and start over!). The female in turn is solely responsible for incubating the clutch of 2-5 eggs over a two week period, and she also does most of the feeding of the chicks which grow rapidly and fledge within 2 weeks of hatching. Infidelity is common among males and he may have several consecutive mates in a breeding season, and sometimes more than one at the same time! Adults weigh around 9g and measure about 11cm long. They’re usually encountered alone or in pairs and the males are probably territorial.

Zitting Cisticola

Zitting Cisticola display flight

Tiny Zitting Cisticola with a massive tick on its head

Zitting Cisticola

Zitting Ciscticola

Zitting Cisticola

World Wildlife Day 2024

19 Replies

In celebration of World Wildlife Day we take a look back at the 75 species of South African wildlife we featured in detail here at DeWetsWild through the past twelve months.

Sundowner Moth

Grey Plover

Silver Tree

Cape Shoveler

Gaboon adder (captive)

Lesser Flamingoes

Greater Flamingo in flight

Springhare jumping aroun in Bontle Camp after dark

Ruddy Turnstone

Namaqua Sandgrouse

Pincushion

Small-striped Swordtail (photo by Joubert)

Botterboom (Tylecodon paniculatus)

Bank Cormorant

Crowned Cormorant

Blue Duiker

Common Whimbrel

Cape Girdled Lizard

Ground Agama

Male Southern Black Korhaan

Curlew Sandpipers

Cape Chestnut flowers

Kittlitz’s Plover

Cape Hare

Klipfish

Pied Avocets

Southern Lechwe Ram

Kelp

Common Greenshank

Common Platanna moving over dry land after a rain storm in the Karoo

Mole Snake (photo by Joubert)

Agapanthus

Tigerfish (National Zoological Gardens, Pretoria)

Antlion larvae

Violet-eared Waxbill (photo by Joubert)

Foxy Emperor butterfly

Cape Porcupine

Bearded Woodpecker

Streaked Sailer butterfly

Puff adder, poised to strike

Aardwolf

Orange-breasted Sunbird on a Pincushion flower

Spekboom leaves

Topaz Spotted Blue

Swee Waxbill (photo by Joubert)

Clicking Stream Frog

Large-billed Lark

Grey-backed Cisticola

Marico Sunbird

Incognito Thread Snake

Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark

Grey-backed Sparrow Lark (male and chick)

Eyed Pansy

Karoo Num-num flowers

Forest Num-num

Common Carp

Yellow Canary

Acacia Pied Barbet

Armoured ground crickets abound in the mopaneveld in the north of the Park

Lesser Moorhen

Flatface Longhorn Beetle (Lasiopezus longimanus), identified with the kind assistance of the “Insects only – Southern Africa” facebook page.

Humpbacked Whale tail-slamming off St. Lucia

Garden Fruit Chafer

Red-collared Widowbird

Fan-tailed Widowbird

Yellow-billed Egret

Whiskered Tern

Coqui Francolin (male)

Beautiful Blue Water Lily

White Water Lily in Skukuza

Grey-headed Bush-shrike (photo by Joubert)

Male Village Indigobird

Pearl-spotted Emperor

Plumbago in bloom

Red-billed Firefinch

21 Replies

Lagonosticta senegala

The Red-billed Firefinch is fairly well distributed through South Africa and can be found in parts of all our provinces. Furthermore they occur widely over Africa, including pockets of the Sahara Desert. The IUCN considers it to be of least concern.

Red-billed Firefinches prefer thickets of rank grass and thorny shrubs in woodlands and savannas, extending their occurrence into more open areas where such micro-habitats are found, often along water courses and in gardens, where they can become quite tame. It feeds mainly on grass seeds, augmenting its diet with occasional insect fare like termites.

Breeding almost right through the year (peaking in summer and autumn when grasses are seeding), it is the male Red-billed Firefinch that takes responsibility for building the nest – a ball-shaped structure made of dry grass and feathers, usually placed in thick vegetation, and incorporating a side-entrance. The female lays a clutch of 2-6 eggs which are incubated by both parents for less than 2 weeks before the chicks hatch. Red-billed Firefinch nests are often parasitized by the Village Indigobird. The chicks leave the nest by the time they’re 3 weeks old and then become independent of their parents 2-4 weeks later. These small birds weigh only about 9g when fully grown! They’re most often seen in small flocks of up to 30 individuals, within which there are apparently strong pair-bonds, and often mingle with other small seed-eating birds.

Red-billed Firefinch

Plumbago

18 Replies

Plumbago auriculata

One of South Africa’s most popular indigenous garden plants – exported in fact the world over – the Plumbago, aka Cape Leadwort, is a shrub and scrambling climbing plant that grows rapidly and is exceptionally hardy and, while it carries the most impressive blooms during the summer months it often flowers year-round under suitable conditions. It is a food plant for the larvae of several kinds of butterflies and moths as well as many other kinds of insects, ensuring these are attracted to gardens anywhere this eye-catching plant is propagated, and shier kinds of birds appreciate the dense cover provided by its foliage.

In traditional medicine the Plumbago is considered a cure for headaches, warts and open wounds, and superstitiously believed to ward off lightning if a stick of it is thatched into the roof of a hut.

The Plumbago occurs naturally in the Western and Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal, extending marginally into adjacent provinces and countries.

Plumbago flowers

Plumbago hedge

Plumbago flowers

Plumbago in bloom

Elephant feeding on a Plumbago

Pearl-spotted Emperor Butterfly

13 Replies

Charaxes jahlusa

The Pearl-spotted Emperor is a common butterfly living in various savanna-type habitats, occurring in this country from the Little Karoo and Albany thicket through much of the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal and into the northern provinces of North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. In the southern parts of their local range adults are seen only in spring and summer, but they’re on the wing year round further north. Beyond our borders this butterfly occurs as far north as Sudan.

Male Pearl-spotted Emperors are territorial and perch on open twigs from which they attack interloping males and try to woo the females for mating. They’re fast flyers and adults of both sexes frequent seeping tree sap and rotting fruit rich in sugars. Caterpillars of the Pearl-spotted Emperor Butterfly feed on the leaves of the Jacket Plum and Zebra Wood. Wingspan in adults measure up to 6cm, making this one of the smaller Emperor Butterfly species.