Tag Africa

Tanzanian Blue Ringleg Centipede

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The Tanzanian Blue Ringleg Centipede (Scolopendra morsitans) is a chilopod in the Scolopendridae family of banded centipedes. It is also known as the Red-Headed Centipede. 

The Tanzanian Blue Ringleg Centipede has a wide, flattened yellow-gold to dark-slate body with black bands. It has a pair of antennae on its head and a pair of spikes on its tail. It has a segmented body, with 15 to 177 segments. 

It has one pair of legs for each body segment (in total it has 30-354 legs). No centipede has exactly 100 legs even though centipede means a hundred legs. Each pair of legs is slightly longer than the pair immediately in front of it. 

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Kirk’s Dik-Dik baby

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The Kirk’s Dik-Dik (Madoqua kirkii) is a small mammal in the Bovidae family of antelopes from East Africa.

It lives in pairs, mating for life. The female is pregnant for 5-6 months, and may have one or two babies per year. The mother hides her young in long grass to avoid predators, such as cheetahs, leopards, lions, eagles, hyenas, crocodiles, baboons, and jackals. 

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Egyptian Cricket

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The Egyptian Cricket (Homoeogryllus xanthographus) is a small insect in the Phalangopsidae family of crickets. It is also knowns as the Beetle Cricket. It is related to grasshoppers.

The Egyptian Cricket has a black, oval-shaped body with a flat plate on its back. It has long, thread-like antennae. It has long hind legs (back legs). Near the tail of its body, it has a pair of light-beige tubes. It has transparent wings.

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Madagascar Orb Weaver Spider

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The Madagascar Orb Weaver Spider (Nephila inaurata madagascariensis) is a large spider in the Araneidae family of orb weaver araneomorphic spiders. It is also known as the Red-Legged Golden Orb Weaver Spider.

The Madagascar Orb Weaver Spider has an elongated black body and red legs. The female has yellow markings on her abdomen. It has chelicerae (jaws) that move from side to side in a scissor-like motion. It has eight small eyes grouped closely together. Its legs are banded and spiny. 

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Tana River Gecko

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The Tana River Gecko (Hemidactylus modestus) is a small lizard and a reptile in the Gekkonidae family of house geckos. It is also known as the Moderate Leaf-Toed Gecko.

The Tana River Gecko is brown with dark-brown mottled markings. Its tail is long and tapered. It has a light underbelly. Its five toes on each foot has leaf-shaped pads that enable it to stick to surfaces. Its nose is elongated. It has bulging eyes with vertical pupils. 

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Desert Monitor Lizard

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The Desert Monitor Lizard (Varanus griseus) is a large reptile in the Squamata order of monitor lizards.

The Desert Monitor Lizard can be a variety of colours from light-brown to yellowish to grey, with spots and 5-8 dark-brown bands. It also has dark-brown bands on its long, tapered tail. It has a large mouth. Its nostrils are close to its small, brown eyes. Its feet have toes with long, sharp claws. 

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Western Marsh Harrier

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The Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) is a large bird of prey, a raptor and an accipiter in the Accipitridae family of hawks.

The Western Marsh Harrier has reddish-brown feathers with light coloured streaks. Its head and shoulders are pale yellowish-grey. Its legs and feet are yellow. It has orange-brown eyes with a bright yellow eye-ring. Its beak is grey-black. The female is darker, and almost chocolate brown. 

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East African Keeled Land Slug

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The East African Keeled Land Slug (Limacidae sp.) is an air-breathing terrestrial mollusc in the Gastropoda order and Limacoidea superfamily of keel-backed (ridgeback) slugs. It is a land snail without a shell. 

The East African Keeled Land Slug has a long white body with a mantle, a keeled (ridged) back and two pairs of retractable feelers on its head. The upper pair of feelers has eyespots at the tips. The lower pair of feelers contains sense organs. The mantle is a saddle-looking structure behind the head. On one side of the mantle is a respiratory opening, called a pneumostome. The body is also called the tail, which is behind the mantle. It has a ridge down the middle of the back of the tail. Its foot is the flat under-side of the slug. It secretes mucous that it travels on. 

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RESEARCH: African Grey Parrots help other parrots

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African grey parrots voluntarily and spontaneously help other parrots to achieve a goal, without obvious immediate benefit to themselves. Research co-author Désirée Brucks of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Germany, announced this result in January 2020.

Parrots and crows are known for having large brains relative to the size of their bodies, and that they are good at problem-solving. However, earlier studies showed that crows don’t help other crows, so researchers wondered whether parrots help other parrots, explained Désirée Brucks and study co-author Auguste von Bayern.

In their new study, Brucks and von Bayern enlisted several African Grey Parrots and Blue-Headed Macaws to help the research team.

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What is the difference between the Jaguar and the Leopard?

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What is the difference between the Jaguar (Panthera onca) and the Leopard (Panthera pardus)? 

The Jaguar and the Leopard are both carnivorous wild cats. 

The Jaguar and the Leopard have dark rosette-shaped markings on their cream to yellowish-brown fur. 

The Jaguar has larger and fewer rosettes than the Leopard. The rosettes of the Jaguar are mostly without a gold centre.

The Jaguar is stockier and more muscular than the Leopard.

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Gemsbok

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The Gemsbok (Oryx gazelle) is a large ungulate (hoofed) mammal. It is an antelope. It is also called the Oryx Gazelle, Gemsbuck, or South African Oryx. 

The Gemsbok has light-brownish-grey fur with lighter patches towards it rear. It has a black stripe from its chin to the lower edge of its neck, and to its shoulder and legs. Its tail is long and black. It has a muscular neck and shoulders. Its legs have white ‘socks’ with a black patch on the front of its front legs. Both the male and the female have long, straight horns. The female has longer, thinner horns than the male. 

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