Hikes through natural areas in Southern Africa where dangerous game is present must be conducted with at least one, but usually two, armed trail guides. One is the “Lead Guide” or “1st Rifle,” and the second is called the “Back-up…

Vine Snakes (previously called Twig or Bird Snakes) are widespread across Africa and are usually found in warm savannas and forested areas. There are currently four species and one subspecies of Vine Snake in Africa. The status and distinguishing features…

Seeing movies like Anaconda let many people believe that there are monster snakes in jungles, some even exceeding 10 m in length. However, those stories have been doing the rounds for many years. So much so that the New York…

Asian elephants (Elaphas maximus) are smaller than their African cousins but not less dangerous when in musth. That danger was already described for African elephants in this article on this website. In the following, we briefly compare the differences between…

When hiking in Pu Luong Nature Reserve in Northern Vietnam, we found a species of Stinging Nettle Slug Caterpillar on a Banana leaf. My local friends got highly nervous when seeing it and I was intensely warned against touching it….

As the holiday season starts, many people will be returning to their family homes or are off on vacation. Snake season is in full swing with decent temperatures and sporadic rain. We are currently seeing a number of snake bites…

“Muhle wena kona hamba,skati wena bona mamba,noko wena hayi tshetsha,wena ifa lapa stretsha.” African proverb “It’s advisable to hamba (walker),when you stumble on a mamba,for if you do not tshetsha (move),you’ll expire on a stretcher.” Mambas have a bad reputation…

Euphorbia tirucalli (Euphorbiaceae) Common names: Ngego, ngewu, nlembonlembo (nlembo = finger) (Kongo), Euphorbe effilée, tirucalli (Fr), finger tree, finger euphorbia, African milkbush Description A leafless succulent shrub with cylindrical shoots, 2 – 8 m tall. All parts produce copious white…

Most snakes have quite long, thin, sharp, and recurved teeth for catching and eating prey. These teeth are firmly anchored to the anterior bone on the lower jaw and the upper jawbone. Just like sharks and crocodiles, snakes replace their…

We are often asked whether snakes have a specific territory. The word territory is perhaps not the correct term as it infers that snakes would protect this area to keep other snakes out of it. Snakes do not live in…

Spring (Sept/Oct in the Southern Hemisphere) is snake season and as the temperature rises, snakes leave their underground shelters in search of food. It is a slow process and they become more active as the temperature increases. Once the first…

The Green Mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps) was described by Sir Andrew Smith in 1849 from animals collected from Natal. Taxonomy The Latin name angusticeps comes from “angustus” meaning narrow and “ceps” an abbreviation for head – narrow head. Surprisingly, many years…

Snakebite was recently recognized as a neglected tropical disease by the World Health Organization with about 20,000 snakebite fatalities reported every year in Africa. Subsequent morbidity affects far more people than that. In South Africa we have around 4 000…

Baboons are one of the largest-sized monkeys worldwide. Due to hybridization, their taxonomy is contested and overlapping. In Africa there are six species of baboons, and in Southern Africa lives one species, which is Chacma baboons (Papio ursinus). Chacma baboons…

Koppie Foam Grasshoppers (Dictyophorus spumans) are indigenous to South Africa and prefer sparse and low vegetation on rocky outcrops. They are flightless and have some aposematic coloring, which are yellow or orange stripes on the warty thorax shield and stripes…

Parabuthus scorpions are commonplace in Erongo province in Namibia. The area itself is characterized by a rugged and arid landscape with rocky outcroppings, mountains, and canyons. Erongo is known for its unique geology, including red sandstone formations and granite mountains….

The bluebottle jellyfish, also known as Physalia utriculus, is commonly found along the coasts of non-tropical regions bordering the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. These creatures are not jellyfish but rather siphonophores, which are composed of multiple organisms known as…

Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) occur throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Exceptions are Central- and West African rainforests and Southern grassland biomes and further beyond the south. The density of a hyena population in a suitable habitat depends significantly on the density of…

Leopards (Panthera pardus) have a wide distribution range in Sub-Saharan Africa, which however gets more and more fragmented due to human activities and habitation. In the Southern African region, within the Republic of South Africa, only about 20% of the…

Hippopotami of the species Hippopotamus amphibius (‘Hippos’), are widely distributed over Sub-Saharan African savannah biomes. They were declared a ‘vulnerable’ species, as over the last 10 years the population declined between 7 – 20%. In total, there are about 130,000…

Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) are colloquially called just crocodiles or ‘crocs’ in the following. They occur in Southern- and Eastern African regions and along the Atlantic coastline in Central Africa. They eat any animal they can get a hold of…

There is a variety of small catfish species with dangerous spines living in Thai waters. One, a very abundant one, is locally called Pla Kod (Hemibagrus wyckioides); English common name: Asian Redtail Catfish; Thai name: ปลากด. The typical length for…

Danger of buffaloes is overrated The ‘Cape buffalo’ (Syncerus caffer caffer) as a subspecies of the ‘African buffalo’ (Syncerus caffer) is the typical buffaloes species of the Southern African savannah biome. The denomination of ‘African Black Death’ was coined by…

The general behavior of lions African Lions (Panthera leo) are sometimes overrated in their danger for people hiking in Big-5 game areas. Lion behavior is such that they normally sleep and rest for 20 hours a day just to replenish…

Musth is a condition of elevated testosterone levels in the blood of elephants. African elephant (Loxodonta africana) bulls come into their first musth when they are between 15 – 17 years old. The length of the musth depends on the…

Aposematic coloration The ‘Elegant Grasshopper’ (Zonocerus elegans) occurs commonly throughout Southern Africa and is mentioned due to its aposematic coloration, which is typical for animals that want to announce that they are poisonous. And he is a poisonous grasshopper. In…