The Violet Turaco (Musophaga violacea) is a bird. It is also known as the Violaceous Plantain Eater.
The Violet Turaco has glossy, iridescent violet feathers. It has a yellow forehead, a chestnut crown, a red eye-ring, dark eyes, and white ear coverts. It has a thick orange-red beak. It has a long tail.
Continue reading “Violet Turaco”
The Western Barn Owl (Tyto alba) is a medium-sized bird.
The Western Barn Owl has a wide, white facial disc with a light brown edge. Its underbelly is white and its wings are brown flecked with black. It has long, broad wings. It has big eyes, and a light-grey to beige beak. It does not have ear tufts that many other owls have. It has long legsand toes with sharp claws.
Continue reading “Western Barn Owl”
The Eastern Bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci) is a large, critically endangered ungulate (hoofed) mammal. It is a bovine antelope. It is also known as the Mountain Bongo.
The Eastern Bongo has reddish-brown fur, black and white markings, 10-15 white vertical stripes, and long, slightly-spiralled horns (they twist only once). Both the male and the female have hollow horns, but the male has longer horns. It has a white stripe between its eyes and two white spots on its cheeks. It has large ears. It has a black nose and white lips.
Continue reading “Eastern Bongo”
The Asian Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata) is a medium-sized bird.
The Asian Houbara Bustard is beige-brown with black markings on its wings. It has a greyish neck with a black ruff (collar) along the side of its neck. Its underbelly is brown and white.
Continue reading “Asian Houbara Bustard”
The African Pygmy Goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) is a miniature domestic ungulate (hoofed) mammal.
The African Pygmy Goat has caramel, white, grey, black, or patterned fur. It has brown eyes. Both the male and the female have beards and horns.
Continue reading “African Pygmy Goat”
The L’Hoest’s Monkey (Cercopithecus lhoesti) is a primate. It is also known as the Mountain Monkey.
The L’Hoest’s Monkey has a short-haired, dark-brown coat, with a chestnut coloured back and a dark belly. It has a white beard. Its cheeks are light-grey, and it chest is white. Its tail is long and hook-shaped at the end.
Continue reading “L’Hoest’s Monkey”
The African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) is a medium-sized bird. It is also known as the Congo Grey Parrot.
The African Grey Parrot is mostly grey with a black beak. It has darker grey feathers on its head and wings. Its tail feathers are red.
Continue reading “African Grey Parrot”
The Caracal (Caracal caracal) is a medium-sized carnivorous felid mammal in the Felides family of wild cats.
The Caracal has reddish, tan-coloured or sandy-coloured fur. Its sides are lighter with small, reddish markings, and its underbelly is white. It has a strong build, and long legs with large broad paws. It has a short face with black markings on its whiskper pads and around its green, grey, or golden-brown eyes. It has long canine teeth. It has large black ears with ear tufts. It has a short tail. The female is lighter in colour than the male, and shorter.
Continue reading “CREATURE FEATURE: Caracal”
The African Civet (Civettictis civetta) is a large weasel-looking or raccoon-looking mammal. It is a viverrid.
The African Civet is a stocky animal with a long body. It has short legs, a short broad neck, a pointed muzzle (nose), a long bushy tail (with black and a few white bands), and small round eyes. It has black bands surrounding its eyes (like a raccoon). It has rough black and white striped and blotched fur, called pelage. It has both long hair and short under-fur, called guard hairs. It has long, white whiskers.
It has a crest of fur along its back, which is raised when it is threatened. It has five toes on each foot. Its claws are long, curved, and semi-retractible. Its paws are completely black.
Continue reading “African Civet”
The Yellow Mongoose (Cynictis penicillata) is a carnivorous mammal. It is also known as the Red Meerkat.
The Yellow Mongoose has a long body with rough yellowish fur, and a bushy tail. It has lighter highlights on its underbelly and chin. It has a pointy nose and small ears. Its eyes are small and dark. It has long, strong claws that dig through soil. Its claws do not retract, and therefore they are always visible.
Continue reading “Yellow Mongoose”
The Kittlitz’s Plover (Charadrius pecuarius) is a small wetlands coastal bird.
The Kittlitz’s Plover has a white forehead, blackish bar on its head, with a narrow white bar on it crown, throat, and underbelly. Its body and tail are mottled brown. It has a black beak, dark-brown eyes, and black legs.
Continue reading “Kittlitz’s Plover”
The Red River Hog (Potamochoerus porcus) is a wild mammal in the pig family.
The Red River Hog has striking orange to reddish-brown fur, with black legs and a tufted white stripe along its spine. It has white markings around its eyes and on its cheeks and jaws. The rest of its muzzle and face are black. Its entire body is covered in hair, with no bare skin visible. It has a thin tail with a tuft of black hair at the tip. It has long, thin ears with hair tufts.
The male has prominent whiskers and small, sharp tusks. Both the male and female have scent glands near their eyes and on their feet.
Continue reading “Red River Hog”
The Long-Tailed Paradise Whydah (Vidua paradisaea) is a small, brown sparrow-like bird. It is also known as the Eastern Paradise Whydah.
The male Long-Tailed Paradise Whydah has a black head and back, with a rusty-brown chest, bright yellow nape, and buffy-white abdomen with four broad, elongated black tail feathers. The female is brown and white and lacks the long black tail feathers.
Continue reading “Long-Tailed Paradise Whydah”
The Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), from Africa, lives in a hierarchical group. A hierarchy is a system of status or authority, from the leader or leaders to each member of the family order.
Baby Vervet Monkeys play and fight amongst each other. Babies younger than three years old fight for hierarchical positions. Young Vervet Monkeys older than three years old fight more aggressively and for conflict reasons.
What is the difference between the Central African Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus massaicus) and the Central European Wild Boar (Sus scrofa scrofa)?
The Central African Warthog and the Central European Wild Boar are both medium-sized heavy-set ungulate (hoofed) mammals, but the Warthog is pig-like and the Boar is a pig.
The Central African Warthog has two pairs of upward-curving ivory tusks protruding from its mouth. One pair of tusks is the upper pair, and the second pair of tusks is the lower pair, which is shorter than the upper pair. The male Central European Wild Boar has ivory canine teeth which protrude from its mouth, and the female has smaller canine teeth.
Continue reading “What’s the difference between the Warthog and the Wild Boar?”
What is the difference between the African Leopard (Panthera pardus), the Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), the Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) and the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia)?
The African Leopard, Amur Leopard, Persian Leopard, and Snow Leopard are all solitary, elusive, large felines or wild cats. All of the leopards have pale-green or grey eyes.
What is the difference between the African Lion and the White Lion?
The White Lion (Panthera leo) is a feline, or felid, mammal – a wild cat. It is different from the African Lion (Panthera leo leo) and the Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica), but it is more similar to the African Lion.
The White Lion is not albino. It is leucistic, which means that it has reduced colouring, but not complete albinism. An animal that is albino lacks colour and has pink eyes. A leucistic animal does not have pink eyes.
Continue reading “What is the difference between the African Lion and the White Lion?”
The Armoured Shrimp (Atya gabonensis) is a freshwater crustacean. It is also known as the African Fan Shrimp, the African Filter Shrimp, the Cameroon Armoured Shrimp, or the Blue Rhino Shrimp. It is related to the crab and the lobster.
The Armoured Shrimp can vary in colour from creamy-white to rusty brown and deep blue.
The Abdim’s Stork (Ciconia abdimii) is a medium-sized wetlands bird. It is also known as the White-Bellied Stork or the Grasshopper BIrd.
The Abdim’s Stork is black with white underparts. It has grey-pink legs, red knees, and red feet. It has a grey beak. It has red skin on it face in front of its eyes, and blue skin near its beak in the breeding season.
The Fennec Fox (Vulpes zerda) is a small canine, or canid, mammal.
The Fennec Fox has a creamy-brown fluffy coat, which keeps it warm at night and cool in the daytime. It has large ears. The soles of its feet have thick fur, which protects them from the hot desert sand.