Tag Archives: wildlife

Winter in Mokala: Peeping Tom Gecko

On the last night of our visit to Mokala National Park last week I found this Bibron’s Thick-toed Gecko on the floor of the bathroom in Lilydale Rest Camp’s Chalet #1. I didn’t question it about its intentions but I did carry it outside to more suitable habitat. The towel was a very necessary precaution; she’s a biter!

Bibron’s Thick-toed Gecko found at Lilydale in the Mokala National Park

We’ll soon be announcing a very exciting spring-time tour to the Mokala National Park – do keep an eye on DeWetsWild’s facebook page so that you don’t miss out!

Winter in Mokala: A very chummy Chestnut-vented Warbler

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This little Chestnut-Vented Warbler came to welcome us to Lilydale’s Chalet 1 immediately on our arrival – Hannes and I hadn’t even unpacked the car yet! Invariably it would appear in a flash every time we stepped outside. So habituated was it that it would peck crumbs from beneath our hands where we sat eating sandwiches on the deck outside the chalet, offering wonderful opportunities for up-close views of a bird species that is notoriously frustrating to photograph because it never sits still!

This little Chestnut-vented Warbler was a frequent visitor to the deck in front of our chalet at Lilydale in the Mokala National Park

We’ll soon be announcing a very exciting spring-time tour to the Mokala National Park – do keep an eye on DeWetsWild’s facebook page so that you don’t miss out!

Winter in Mokala: Lilydale Rest Camp

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I am fresh back from a mid-week visit to the Mokala National Park in our Northern Cape Province with friend and colleague Hannes Rossouw.

We stayed in the beautifully situated Lilydale Rest Camp, where our chalet – # 1 – had a lovely view over the Riet River. Truth be told, all the chalets in the camp as well as the dining room behind reception have equally good views of the fast-flowing stream down below.

Chalet #1 in Lilydale Rest Camp

Chalets in Lilydale Rest Camp

Lilydale’s reception building

Lilydale might be built to provide a comfortable stay to human visitors, but it seems to be even more popular with Mokala’s wildlife – from tiny birds to kudus paid us a visit during our stay, and I’ll be telling you more about three of the cutest visitors in the next three posts on DeWetsWild.

Warthog family enjoying the green grass next to Lilydale’s swimming pool

Rock Hyraxes sunning themselves on a ridge below our chalet

This little Chestnut-vented Warbler was a frequent visitor to the deck in front of our chalet at Lilydale in the Mokala National Park

A Small-spotted Genet came by in the early evenings after we finished braaiing

This is one of two Kudu bulls that regularly ventured into camp after dark

We’ll soon be announcing a very exciting spring-time tour to the Mokala National Park – do keep an eye on DeWetsWild’s facebook page so that you don’t miss out!

Agapanthus

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Genus Agapanthus

The genus Agapanthus, known as Blue Lily, Star of Bethlehem, Lily of the Nile and African Lily in different parts of the world, is a family of flowering plants consisting of between 6 and 10 species that occur naturally in southern Africa, though they’ve been spread to nearly all corners of the world due to their popularity as garden plants. These are hardy plants, relatively pest resistant and easily propagated. Agapanthus plants grow to about 1m tall. It contains chemical compounds that are useful for a wide range of medical conditions, ranging from inflammation to coughing, explaining why it is so widely used in traditional medicine and folklore.

Incidentally, the winner of this year’s Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year was an Agapanthus bred here in South Africa by another De Wet (no relation, as far as I know).

Common Dwarf Gecko on an Agapanthus-leaf

Agapanthus

Mole Snake

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Pseudaspis cana

The Mole Snake is a large snake – it may grow to 2m in length – that kills its prey, which includes small reptiles and mammals like moles and rodents, by constriction. Left unmolested, Mole Snakes are harmless to humans; in fact they’re very useful to have around as an effective control measure for pests. Attempting to catch one by hand however is likely to end up in deep bite marks that need stitches to close.

Mole Snakes get their name from their habit of staying mainly underground in animal burrows, where of course they also find their preferred prey. They mate in spring and females give birth to between 20 and 90 live babies in autumn. Males will fight each other viciously.

Mole Snakes are widely distributed in Africa south of the equator and occur all over South Africa. The IUCN considers it to be of least concern.

Platannas

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Genus Xenopus

Known in the rest of the world as the African Clawed Frog, there are three kinds of Platannas found in South Africa:

Xenopus gilli, the Cape Platanna, which occurs only in a narrow strip along the coast from Cape Town to Cape Agulhas. It is considered to be critically endangered due to habitat loss and fragmentation of their population. Grows to about 6cm long.
Xenopus muelleri, the Tropical Platanna, which occurs in extreme northern Kwazulu-Natal and the Lowveld of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, extending further as far as southern Kenya. Measures around 9cm in length.
Xenopus laevis, the Common Platanna, found over most of South Africa and our neighbouring states. Can grow to almost 15cm in length.

Platannas are almost entirely aquatic amphibians that will only leave the water to migrate to new water bodies, which usually happens during rainy periods or when their current abode dries out (and in the latter instance they might just as easily dig themselves into the mud to aestivate until the water returns). They’re commonly found in almost every fresh water habitat, whether natural or man-made. Platannas are carnivores that feed on a wide variety of aquatic creatures ranging in size from zooplankton to fishes and even their own young. Unlike other frogs they don’t have long, sticky tongues but will use their hands and fingers to hold onto food and push it into their mouths.

Platannas breed at the start of the rainy season, when the male holds onto the back of the female – a position known as amplexus – and the couple then swims around their pond to deposit several hundred eggs singly on solid objects. The tadpoles hatch within two days and metamorphose quickly, being capable of fully transforming into adult form within 2 to 4 months of hatching depending on temperatures and food supply. Platannas are a favourite food item for many kinds of large fish, reptiles, birds and mammals but may live to 15 years old in the wild.

Between the 1930s and 1960s Platannas were used in crude but reliable pregnancy tests, as the females will start laying eggs within hours of being injected under the skin with the urine of a pregnant woman. They’re still widely used in experiments and biological studies, and this is likely the method by which they’ve become exotic invaders in many places of the world beyond their natural distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Platanna

Platannas

Platanna

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

Platanna

Platannas

Platanna

Platanna tadpole leaping like a fish from the water!

Common Greenshank

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Tringa nebularia

Common Greenshanks are widespread wading birds, feeding on a wide variety of invertebrates, tadpoles and small fish found along and in the shallow margins of dams and ponds, riverbanks, marshlands and swamps, lagoons, estuaries and beaches. They are usually seen alone although they might congregate in small flocks at abundant food sources.

The Common Greenshank is also a summer migrant to South Africa, being found locally in all our provinces (though very patchily in the arid Northern Cape) between August (some arrive in July already) and February. They breed in an enormous swathe of northern Europe and Asia, while their non-breeding range stretches from pockets of western Europe and most of Africa to southern Asia and Australia. The IUCN estimates a population of up to 1.5 million birds and classifies the Common Greenshank as being of least concern.

Adult birds are about 32cm long and weigh approximately 180g.

Common Greenshank

Common Greenshanks

Common Greenshank

Kelp

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Order Laminariales

Much of the shoreline of South Africa’s Atlantic coast is dominated by a dense growth of Kelp, also known as Seaweed or Sea Bamboo, stretching from the shore up to 3km seawards at depths of up to 30m. The Kelp “forests” thrive in the cold but nutrient rich water and count among the most productive ecosystems on the planet, their benefits even extending onto dry land where washed-up Kelp is utilised as a food source by many beach-living creatures who are in turn fed on by carnivores scouring the strand.

In South African waters five species of Kelp dominate, ranging in length from 1 to 12m when fully grown. Some Kelps can grow up to 50cm per day, though this isn’t true of local species. While they appear very plant-like, Kelp is actually the largest kinds of algae on the planet, with some species growing up to 80m long!

Among the Kelp thrives an enormous variety of invertebrates and fish, many of them commercially important species like rock lobster and perlemoen, while Kelp itself is much sought after, especially in the food production, cosmetic, health and fertilizer industries. The extensive tracts of Kelp lining the shore also diminishes the power of the waves, protecting animal and bird breeding and nesting sites on the beach and even human development along the coast.

Kelp

Southern Lechwe

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Today, on Endangered Species Day, we feature another African mammal that isn’t indigenous to South Africa.

Kobus leche

The Southern Lechwe is one of the most water-loving antelopes in the world, living on seasonally flooded plains, in seasonal marshes and permanent wetlands and never further than a couple of kilometres from permanent water, needing to drink 2 to 3 times per day. They prefer open grassy areas and avoid dense cover. Lechwes feed on grasses (aquatic and otherwise), the fresh shoots and new leaves of reeds and to a lesser degree on other water-living plants or leaves from shrubs, and will even feed in water up to 60cm deep.

Lechwe herds, usually numbering around 3 dozen individuals but occasionally into the hundreds and even thousands, are loose associations of females and their young, moving across the territories of mature males. Rams that are unable to establish and hold territories gather in bachelor herds that occupy the fringes of the territories. Lechwes are most active in the early morning and late afternoon, resting up on high ground near the water at night and during the heat of the day. They’re great swimmers and when threatened will rush into the water to evade predators.

Lechwe ewes isolate themselves on dry ground in dense vegetation to give birth to single lambs at any time of year, though there’s a distinct peak in births during the rainy season, following a 7.5 month gestation period. The lamb remains hidden near where it was born for around 3 weeks, with the ewe returning twice a day to suckle it. Even when they’ve rejoined the herd the lambs spend more time with each other than with their mothers. Lambs wean at about 5 months of age and have a life expectancy of about 10 years in the wild. Rams are much more strongly built than the ewes, and weigh around 30kg more at 110kg. Both sexes stand around 1m high at the shoulder, the rams usually being only a few centimetres taller.

The Southern Lechwe occurs naturally only in isolated pockets of Botswana, Angola, Zambia and the DRC. The IUCN recognizes five contemporary subspecies, one of which is already extinct while the other four are all of conservation concern:

Robert’s Lechwe (K. l. robertsi) occurred in north-east Zambia but went extinct in the 20th century.
Upemba Lechwe (K. l. anselli) numbers less than a thousand and occurs in the southern DRC. It is considered to be critically endangered due to poaching.
Kafue Lechwe (K. l. kafuensis) are considered endangered. It occurs naturally only on Zambia’s Kafue Flats and number approximately 20,000.
Between 33,000 and 36,000 adult Black Lechwe (K. l. smithemani) is found naturally only in Zambia’s Bangweulu Swamp. This subspecies is considered to be vulnerable.
Red, or Common, Lechwe (K. l. leche) has the widest distribution, from Angola to Botswana’s Okavango. They are listed as near-threatened and number between 50,000 and 60,000 mature individuals.

Fossil records indicate that in recent pre-history a close relative of the Southern Lechwe, the Cape Lechwe (Kobus venterae), occurred in central South Africa. Today, game farmers in this area have imported Red and Kafue Lechwe’s to their properties where they are bred mainly for hunting.

Lechwe ewe

Lechwe

Lechwe ram on a game ranch near Bela-Bela (photo by Joubert)

Lechwe ewe on a game ranch near Bela-Bela (photo by Joubert)

Lechwe ewes on a game ranch near Bela-Bela (photo by Joubert)

Lechwe ram

Young Lechwe ram

Lechwe ewe

Southern Lechwe Ram

Lechwe ram

Lechwe lamb

Lechwe ram (photo by Joubert)

Lechwe ewe

Lechwes on the bank of the Chobe River

Red Lechwes

Big Red Lechwe ram

Red Lechwes

Pied Avocet

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Recurvirostra avosetta

The Pied Avocet is an easily observed and unmistakable species of bird, frequenting shallow waterbodies, salt pans and temporary waterholes where it sweeps the water with its upcurved bill in search of aquatic invertebrates – brine shrimps are a particular favourite, explaining the Pied Avocet’s preference for highly mineralised water. They’re very nomadic, moving around without any apparent pattern in response to rainfall and the newly created waterbodies that follows in its wake. Some populations are also migratory, though there’s no evidence that that is true of birds found in South Africa. Pied Avocets are usually seen in small flocks.

Pied Avocets breed at any time of year, with peaks just before and just after the rainy season. They form monogamous pairs that “build” a very simple nest – usually just a scrape or hoofprint in the ground that gets lined with soft materials. Clutches of 1-4 eggs are incubated by both parents taking turns for between 3 and 4 weeks. The chicks follow their parents to water soon after they hatch and although they can fly by the time they’re 4 weeks old will stay with their parents for quite some time after. Fully grown they’re about 45cm long and weigh about 350g.

The Pied Avocet is a familiar bird over an enormous swathe of Asia, Europe and Africa and they can be found in all South Africa’s provinces, though their highest concentrations are in a band stretching from Gauteng through the Free State to the Western and Eastern Cape coast. The IUCN estimates their total global numbers at between 280,000 and 470,000 and considers the species to be of least concern.