Animal of the week

The subantarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus tropicalis Gray, 1872, is widely distributed throughout the entire southern hemisphere and breeds on temperate […]

Image: Chris van Rooyen Common names: White-winged Tern, White-winged Black Tern (Eng.); witvlerksterretjie (Afr.); witvleugelstern (Dutch); guifette leucoptère (French); Weißflügel-seeschwalbe […]

Images by Charles Griffiths. Common names: naval shipworm, woodborer (Eng.) Wars have been lost without going into battle, thanks to […]

Common names: South African crested porcupine (Eng.); Kaapse ystervark (Afr.); noko (Sepedi); nungu (Xitsonga); nungu (Tshivenda), ingungumbane (IsiZulu). I know […]

Common names: large-eared greater galago, Garnett’s greater galago, thick-tailed bushbaby, thick-tailed greater galago, greater bushbaby, greater galago (Eng.); bosnagaap Afr.). […]

Have you ever wondered what obscure ‘bugs’ you share your garden with? Springtails are one such group of creatures. Springtails […]

Common names: Bont-legged tick; shiny hyalomma, small smooth bont-legged tick, African bont-legged tick (Eng.); bontpootjie-bosluis (Afr.) Bont-legged ticks are blood-sucking […]

Common names: Armoured bush cricket, armoured ground cricket, armoured katydid, corn cricket (Eng.); koringkriek (Afr,); setotojane (Setswana). Armoured like a […]

The Secretarybird is a large-bodied bird of prey that has a peculiar appearance compared to other raptors. Description: The Secretarybird […]

Common names: Sykes’ monkey, Stair’s white-collared monkey, Schwarz’s white-collared monkey (Eng.); samango-aap (Afr.), insimango (siSwati, isiZulu), ndlandlama (Xitsonga), dulu (Tshivenda), […]

Other common names Carmine Bee-eater (Eng.); rooiborsbyvreter (Afr.); iNkotha-enkulu (isiZulu) and Nkhonyana (Xitsonga). The Mandinka people of West Africa (southern […]

Pic: Judy Gallagher Other common names:  Oribi (Eng.); oorbietjie (Afr.); insinza (IsiNdebele); iWula (IsiZulu); phuduhudu-kgamane (SeTswana).; Opening paragraph: The oribi […]

Common names: Southern African desert locust (Eng.); Tsie ea lehoatata (Sesotho), Nthagavele (Xitsonga) Desert locust (Schistocerca gragaria) is known to […]

Gargaphia decoris, the bugweed lace bug, is originally from Brazil and Argentina in South America. The bugweed lace bug is […]

Common names: Karoo brown locust or brown locust (English); tsie e sootho (Sesotho), xibudzunga (Xitsonga) Locusts are grasshoppers that are […]