“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 snake would protect this area to keep other snakes out of it. Snakes do not live in…

Spring (Sept/Oct in 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 summer…

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 are Chacma baboons (Papio ursinus). Chacma…

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

Parabuthus scorpions are commonplace at 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 actually jellyfish but rather siphonophores, which are composed of multiple organisms known…

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

Leopards (Panthera pardus) got 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 land…

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, colloquially called ‘crocodile or croc’ in the following) occur in Southern- and Eastern African regions and along the Atlantic coastline in Central Africa. They eat any animal they can get a hold on and are dangerous…

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

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

General behavior of lions African Lions (Panthera leo) are sometimes overrated in its 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 their…

Musth is a condition of elevated testosterone levels in the blood of elephants (whether African- or Asian elephants). African elephant bulls are coming into their first musth when they are between 15 – 17 years old. The length of musth…

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 which want to announce that they are poisonous. And he is a poisonous grasshopper. In…