Category Archives: South African Wildlife

The inhabitants of South Africa’s wild places

Serval

Leptailurus serval

The long-legged Serval is a wild cat that inhabits areas with long grass, usually near water, marshes and reedbeds. They feed mainly on rodents but will prey on anything from insects to birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals up to the size of small antelope. Servals mostly hunt on the ground, leaping spectacularly – up to 3m high and 4m long – to stun their prey from above, being successful in about 50% of their attempted hunts and killing on average 16 animals per day.

Servals weigh about 10kg and stand around 55cm high at the shoulder. Males are slightly larger than females.

Like most felids Servals are active from dusk to dawn, taking refuge in dense vegetation, holes, among boulders and even occasionally up in trees during the day. They’re usually seen alone unless when a pair is mating or when a female moves around with her kittens. The extent to which both males and females are territorial is not clearly understood. Servals are quite fast over short distances and given their preferred habitat it is probably no surprise that they’re good swimmers as well. Females give birth to up to 3 kittens after a 2.5 month gestation, their births coinciding with periods during which rodent numbers are likely to peak. The kittens may stay with their mother for up to a year though they can hunt for themselves from about 6 months of age. They may live to 19 years of age though about 12 years is more usual in the wild.

In South Africa the Serval occurs widely in all provinces except the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape, where they are spotted only occasionally following reintroduction programmes and natural range expansion. While it is considered near-threatened in South Africa, mainly due to habitat loss, the IUCN lists the Serval overall as of least concern, being found over most of sub-Saharan Africa with the exception of the tropical rain forests and the arid Kalahari and Namib deserts. An isolated population in Morocco however is considered to be endangered.

Serval running from lapwings

Serval (captive, photo by Joubert)

Serval (captive)

Serval walking away

Serval

Dotted Blue Butterfly

11 Replies

Tarucus sybaris

The tiny Dotted Blue butterfly – it has a wingspan of only about 2.5cm – may be seen throughout the year but they’re much more numerous during spring, summer and early autumn. They fly slow and low to the ground, settling often on small flowers and muddy patches of ground. Larvae feed on the leaves of the buffalo thorn tree and its close relatives. In South Africa they are found from the Eastern Cape, through the Free State, Kwazulu-Natal, North West and Gauteng to Limpopo and Mpumalanga, indicative of their preference for grassland and savanna habitats.

Dotted Blue

Dotted Blue male in flight

Dotted Blues

Lesser Swamp Warbler

6 Replies

Acrocephalus gracilirostris

Lesser Swamp Warblers, as their name suggests, confine themselves to reedbeds and stands of bullrushes in a wide variety of wet habitats – marshes, estuaries, riversides and even man-made wetlands like sewage ponds. Here they feed on a wide range of invertebrates picked off the surface of the water or emergent plants.

Lesser Swamp Warblers are usually seen in pairs – they are monogamous and territorial. The female builds their conical nest using strands of reeds and other plant material, usually placing it in a well-vegetated thicket over the water. They breed through spring and summer. Both parents incubate the clutch of 2 or 3 eggs over a two week period and then feed the nestlings until they fledge about 2 weeks after hatching.

In South Africa, Lesser Swamp Warblers are found in suitable habitat throughout the country, having expanded their distribution even into arid areas thanks to artificial water bodies constructed on farms and for municipal water supply and waste water treatment. Aside from isolated populations in Nigeria and Tchad it occurs widely through the eastern, central and southern parts of the continent. The IUCN considers the Lesser Swamp Warbler to be of least concern.

Lesser Swamp Warblers

Lesser Swamp Warbler

Banded Martin

4 Replies

Neophedina cincta

Banded Martins prefer open habitats, such as grassveld, marshlands and the fynbos shrublands. They visit South Africa during our spring and summer, arriving from about September to breed and then departing again by May to their overwintering areas in central Africa. They feed on flying insects caught in flight and are usually seen in pairs or small flocks. Banded Martins nest in tunnels that they dig in aardvark burrows, stream banks or eroded gullies. Both parents care for the 2-4 chicks, which leave the nest when they’re about 3 weeks old.

In South Africa Banded Martins are commonly found on our central highlands, with a smaller concentration occurring in the Western Cape and scattered records from elsewhere. Depending on the season they roam over most of sub-Saharan Africa. The IUCN lists the Banded Martin as being of least concern and note that their population is probably increasing due to agricultural practices opening up more areas for them to utilise.

Banded Martin

Black-chested Prinia

4 Replies

Prinia flavicans

A denizen of shrublands, thornveld and riverine thickets in more open areas, the Black-chested Prinia is a very active little insectivorous bird, hopping about the branches gleaning its food from among the leaves and bark of shrubs and trees. Black-chested Prinias are usually encountered in pairs and may nest at any time of year, though more usually in the spring and summer months, incubating a clutch of 2-6 eggs over a 2 week period in a pear-shaped nest woven of green grass and placed in a dense shrub. The chicks leave the nest about 2 weeks after hatching. The cuckoo finch – which we featured a short while ago here on DeWetsWild – often parasitizes the nests of Black-chested Prinias.

The Black-chested Prinia occurs widely in north-western and central South Africa and in Namibia and Botswana, as well as in western Zimbabwe and Zambia and southern Angola. According to the IUCN it is in no danger of extinction.

Black-chested Prinia

Black-chested Prinia (non-breeding)

Black-chested Prinia

African Quail-Finch

5 Replies

Ortygospiza atricollis

The African Quail-Finch occurs throughout South Africa, being absent only from the arid west of the country, and patchily through most of sub-Saharan Africa. Though difficult to observe up close due to their skittish nature, these highly nomadic flock-living birds are common in grasslands and woodlands with bare ground, where they feed on seeds and small insects, and usually found close to water. Their nesting season coincides with periods of high rainfall when grasses are in seed. It takes a little over 2 weeks for the clutch of up to 6 eggs to hatch. The chicks leave the nest when they’re about 3 weeks old and become self-sufficient about a month later.

The IUCN lists the African Quail-Finch as being of least concern.

African Quail-Finch

African Quail Finch

Sagewood

14 Replies

Buddleja salviifolia

With its sweetly-scented flowers, being a feature of our spring season, and its aromatic leaves, the Sagewood has become a popular garden plant frequented by a variety of birds and insects like bees and butterflies. It’s usual growth form is a shrub that may grow up to 4m tall. Sagewood occurs naturally throughout the wetter parts of South Africa, from the Western Cape to Limpopo, growing along streams and on hillsides. In traditional medicine the roots are boiled as a remedy for cough and colic, and in olden days the wood was used to make spears and fishing poles.

Sagewood

Wahlberg’s Striped Skink

9 Replies

Trachylepis striata wahlbergii

Wahlberg’s Striped Skink distribution centres in the Zambezi basin, from southern Angola, Zambia and western Mozambique into Zimbabwe, northern Botswana and northern Namibia. Some taxonomists consider it to be a species in own right, though more research is required to determine whether it is fact not only a subspecies of the Striped Skink, with which it shares many behavioural traits, including giving birth to live babies from eggs that develop and hatch inside the mother’s body instead of being laid. They are quite large and may grow to a length of 11cm, excluding the tail from the measurement.

Wahlberg’s Striped Skink

Cuckoo Finch

9 Replies

Anomalospiza imberbis

The Cuckoo Finch is an uncommon and highly nomadic bird in South Africa, with a patchy distribution across parts of Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal, and a much sought-after tick on the list of many avid local birdwatchers. These seed-eaters may migrate widely in response to rainfall and are usually seen in small flocks of between 8 and 50, though sometimes up to a thousand may move together. They’re also found over much of sub-Saharan Africa, though in a similarly patchily distributed and nomadic fashion.

Cuckoo Finches inhabit moist grasslands and wetlands and get their name from their habit of laying their own eggs in the nests of species of Cisticola and Prinia. Females lay up to 30 eggs during the summer season, leaving a single egg per nest after removing all the host’s own eggs from it. The chick hatches within two weeks and, being fed insects by its adoptive parents, grows quickly to the point where it is able to leave the nest before it is 3 weeks old. Its host parents will take care of it for several more weeks before it joins up with a flock of other Cuckoo Finches.

The IUCN lists the Cuckoo Finch as being of least concern.

Cuckoo Finch male

Cuckoo Finch female

Cuckoo Finch male

Cape Skink

4 Replies

Trachylepis capensis

The Cape Skink inhabits a wide range of habitats and occurs in all South Africa’s provinces, in Namibia, Lesotho and parts of Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana, and the IUCN considers the species to be of least concern. Sadly they suffer badly in urban areas due to predation by domestic cats. They tame easily and are quite gentle. These lizards are diurnal and hunt for insects in open patches. Females give birth to up to 18 live babies, usually in the summer months. Fully grown, and not including the tail, they may reach a length of 13cm.