African Red-Eyed Bulbul,Profile,Latest News,Photos

African red-eyed bulbul

The African red-eyed bulbul is near endemic to Southern Africa, its range extending only marginally into southern Angola and Zambia. It is extremely common throughout most of Namibia, with the exception of the Namib Desert, inhabiting savanna grasslands, woodland and riverine bush, farmyards, gardens and orchards, preferring to be near water. Its cheerful call is heard throughout the day as the birds are conspicuous and vocal in pairs or small groups, often calling from the tops of trees.

These bulbuls are smallish birds, the males, at 21 cm in length, are slightly bigger than the females. They are vocal and conspicuous, found usually in pairs or small loose groups; the males often calling from the top of a bush or tree – till-pop-peep-peep-tiddlypop or similar. They are quite distinctive with their black heads and bright orange-red eye rings and lemon-yellow undertails.

They forage mostly in trees, seldom on the ground and they often hawk insects in flight. Their diet consists mainly of fruit, nectar, and insects; they drink frequently and in consequence are seldom found too far from water.

Bulbuls are monogamous and the males are territorial, aggressively seeing-off other males during the breeding season. Their nest is a neat cup of dry grass and fine twigs usually built by the female although the male may offer encouragement by singing from a nearby bush. The nest is  usually well above the ground in the fork of a tree or bush and often quite well hidden. A clutch of 2 to 3 eggs is most common and the incubation period is about 12 days. They are regularly parasitised by the Jacobin cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus). The African red-eyed bulbul lives for about four years.

The scientific binomial for the African red-eyed bulbul is Pycnonotus nigricans.Pycnonotus is from the Greek “pyknos”, meaning thick back, probably in reference to their thickly feathered backs, and nigricans from the Latin meaning blackish, apparently referring to the bird’s darkly coloured head. Thus a bird with a thick back and a blackish head.

African red-eyed bulbul

African red-eyed bulbul

African red-eyed bulbul

African Porcupine,Profile,Latest News,Photos

African Porcupine

African Porcupine also called Cape Porcupine. Both the male and female African Porcupines weigh from 18 to 30 kg (about 40 to 60 pounds) and are about two feet long. The African Porcupine is a type of Rodent that has long sharp spines, up to 50cm long, which cover its whole back and can be raised by muscles under the skin. Although it is similar in appearance to the Echidna it is not closely related.

African Porcupines are the largest rodent in their region. Females are, on average, about one kilogram heavier than males and both sexes are larger than half a meter long. They are also long-lived for rodents, surviving 12 to 15 years in the wild. These porcupines are covered with flat, bristly hairs and have quills and spines on the posterior back and flanks.

African porcupines are mostly vegetarian, using their strong digging claws to get roots, tubers, and bulbs. They are also fond of fallen fruits and will sometimes gnaw on bark. Their anterior large intestine and enlarged appendix contain microorganisms that break down undigested plant fibers. They have also been reported to eat carrion in some instances. In areas deficient in phosphorous they practice osteophagia, or gnawing on bones. These porcupines will often accumulate large piles of bones in their dens.

When the porcupine is tired, it grunts and raises it's black and white quills. There is one case of a leopard almost killed by a porcupine. Porcupines travel alone or in small family groups. They normally they sleep in the day and feed at night. The African Porcupine is primarily nocturnal, although it may be seen during the day.

 African Porcupine

 African Porcupine

 African Porcupine

African Porcupine

African Polecat,Profile,Latest News,Photos

African Polecat

African Polecat also called Striped Polecat or Zorilla.Polecats are close relatives of the African weasel, but differs in that it is larger, the coat hairs are longer, and that it has three characteristic white dots on the head. Head and body length is about 350 mm as an adult, with a 200 mm tail. Weighs between 640 and 1000 gr. The pelage of the upper parts of the body is black and white striped, with long hair. Top of the head and rest of the body is black. There are three white spots on the head, one situated in the center of the head and one above each eye. They have bushy tails.

Feeds mainly on rodents, but almost any small animal prey such as snakes, lizards, scorpions, spiders, centipedes and insects may be eaten. While foraging the polecat also pushes its snout into soft soil or plant litter to locate invertebrates.

Breeding season extends over spring and early summer, only one litter consisting of one to three altricial young are born per season. Gestation period is 36 days. Copulation can last 60-100 minutes. The canine teeth of young appear at 33 days and the eyes open at 40 days. Subadults are able to kill small rodents at nine weeks, and young are fully grown by 20 weeks of age.

Except when mating, both adult males and females occur singly. Female and young of the year remain together until her young are almost fully grown. At present it is not known whether this species, like the African weasel, is territorial.

 African Polecat

 African Polecat

African pied ,Profile,Latest News,Photos

African pied

The African pied wagtail is not a shy bird, and it can often be found near a home or at a campsite, scavenging for food. This specie of wagtail, which is less common than the Cape wagtail, is very conspicuous and has a loud piping call.

The African pied wagtails feed on small insects, which they sometimes intercept while flying, but generally pick up off the ground. They will also feed on any breadcrumbs and other leftovers that humans may throw out for them. They are usually seen singly, in pairs or in small groups, but sometimes form flocks of up to 40 birds during their nesting period. The African pied wagtails have contrasting white outer tail feathers that show up when the tail is spread while flying.

Their nests consist of plant material and are lined with grass, with a neat cup in the top. They are built in cavities on river banks, rocky overhangs, in buildings or some other protected site near water.

The female African pied wagtail lays three or four whitish eggs, the incubation period being about 13 days. The nestlings take a further 16 days before joining their parents on foraging trips, after which they become completely independent.

The African pied wagtails occur along the river systems of the Kunene, Okavango, Chobe, Orange and the Vaal; also in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, KwaZulu-Natal and large areas of the Transvaal, the Free State and the eastern Cape.

African pied 

 African pied 

 African pied 

 African pied 

African Lynx,Profile,Latest News,Photos

African Lynx

The African Lynx is also known as the Caracal or Persian Lynx or despite the fact that the caracal is not a lynx at all. The caracal is thought to be most closely related to the African golden cat and the serval.The caracals name is believed to come from the Turkish word Karakulak, which means black ears. The caracal typically has 20 different muscles in the caracals ears which enables the caracal to detect prey.The caracal is a medium sized cat however, with the caracal, its size appears to make little difference on what the caracal hunts. Scientists have found dead ostriches with caracal tooth-marks in them, meaning that the caracal is fast enough to outrun and catch an ostrich, and strong enough to overpower it and kill it.

The caracal is normally dark red, grey, or golden sand in colour and as the caracals name suggests, the caracals ears are black, with tufts. Young caracals bear reddish spots on the underbelly that disappear when they grow up.

The caracal can live up to around 12 years in the wild, with some adult caracals living to 17 years old in captivity. The caracal is found in Africa and Southwest Asia, where the caracal prefers grasslands (savannas and tropical grasslands), and deserts.

 African Lynx

 African Lynx

 African Lynx

African Jacana,Profile,Latest News,Photos

African Jacna

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations).

The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

This species is nomadic in relation to changing water levels with some individuals travelling as far as several kilometres between suitable habitats (del Hoyo et al. 1996). The species may breed in any month of the year in permanent wetlands but only during the wet season in seasonally flooded areas (del Hoyo et al. 1996).

It has a polyandrous mating system, with males holding nesting, breeding, foraging and chick-rearing territories while females mate with several adjacent males (del Hoyo et al. 1996). The species forages singly, in pairs or in dispersed family groups (Urban et al. 1986) and may occasionally gather in small, loose flocks (Hayman et al. 1986).

African Jacana

 African Jacana

 African Jacana

African Jacana

African ground squirrel,Profile,Latest News,Photos

African ground squirrel

African ground squirrels form a taxon of squirrels under the subfamily Xerine. They are only found in Africa. There is another African ground squirrel of the genus Atlantoxerus, the Atlantoxerus getulus present in southwestern Morocco and northern Western Sahara. It is invasive in theCanary Islands since an introduction in 1971.The squirrels live in open woodlands, grasslands, or rocky country. They are diurnal and terrestrial, living in burrows. Their diet is roots, seeds, fruits, pods, grains, insects, small vertebrates and bird eggs. They live in colonies similar to North American prairie dogs, and have similar behavior.

Kept as pets, they run free as house cats do, otherwise farmers consider them pests. Breeding in South African Ground Squirrels is asynchronous and there is no specific period of breeding although very few litters are seen above the ground in the months of July to October. Gestation period lasts for 48 days and the young ones are weaned after 52 days. There are one to three babies per litter. A female becomes sexually mature when she is 10 months old and a male matures at the age of 8 months. Although a female has the capability to breed throughout the year, less than 10% reproduce more than one litter in a year.

The South African Ground Squirrel does not hibernate. These squirrels are very social and live in groups with about 1 to 3 females and 2 to 3 males. Sometimes, the number of males can exceed up to 9 with some sub-adult females. An interesting thing about this breed is that mature males like to form their own groups and there can be 19 to 20 individuals in one group. These groups are called bands.

Their home range is shared with other groups which is actually quite a surprising thing, since in case of most of the mammals there is generally an extremely tough competition to get the female. The group-living instinct of this species gives it a survival opportunity from predators overweighing the disadvantage of breeding opportunities which come from competition.

  African Ground Squirrel

  African Ground Squirrel