Introduction Soil microorganisms form an important link between soil and plants, a link characterised by ecosystem processes that keep both […]
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African Wild Dog
Official Common name: African Wild Dog, Cape Hunting Dog, Painted Hunting Dog French: Cynhyene, Loup-peint, Lycaon Spanish: Licaon Often referred […]
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Paradise Skipper
Common name: Paradise Skipper (English); ibhabhathane (isiXhosa); paradys-dartelaartjie (Afrikaans). Abantis paradisea is commonly known as the Paradise Skipper. Members of […]
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African Wood Owl
Official Common Name: African Wood Owl Derivation of scientific name: The African Wood Owl and a number of Neotropical owl […]
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Fall Armyworm
Derivation of scientific name The scientific name derives from frugiperda, which is a Latin word meaning lost fruit. It is […]
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Common names: Barn swallow (English); Europese swael (Afrikaans); Ucelizapholo, Udlihashe (Xhosa); iNkojane (Zulu); Lekabelane (South Sotho); Nyeganyenga (Shona); Inkonjane (Swazi); […]
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Cape grey mongoose
Common names: Cape grey mongoose, small grey mongoose (Eng.); kleingrysmuishond, Kaapse grysmuishond (Afr.) The Cape grey mongoose is a small […]
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Southern Ground-Hornbill
Common names Southern Ground-Hornbill (Eng.); Bromvoël(Afr.); Intsikizi (isiXhosa); Ingududu/iNsingizi (isiZulu); Nghututu (Xitsonga); Dandila (Tshivenda); Mahutuhutu (Sepedi); Lehututu (Setswana). Introduction The Southern Ground-Hornbill (Bucorvus […]
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Western Cattle Egret
Derivation of scientific name The Western Cattle Egret was first described by Linnaeus in 1758 as Ardea ibis, and was later moved […]
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Black wildebeest
Derivation of scientific name: Connochaetes is derived from the Greek word kónnos, which means ‘beard’, and gnou originates from the […]
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African leopard
Derivation of scientific name The common name, leopard, is a combination of the Greek words leōn (lion) and pardos (panther), […]
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Southern African python
Derivation of scientific name The genus name, python, is a Greek word referring to the large serpent ‘Delphi’, slain by […]
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Dwarf mussel
Official common name: Bisexual mussel, Dwarf mussel The bisexual mussel, Semimytilus algosus, occurs in two types of different forms, where […]
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Palm Tree Polyps
At first glance one would think this beautiful creature is a plant – surprisingly it’s not! It’s a water-based animal […]
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Japanese skeleton shrimp
Common names Japanese skeleton shrimp (Eng.); koshitoge-warekara (Japanese). Japanese skeleton shrimp have a very slender built, similar to that of a […]
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