The Loach Catfish (Amphilius grandis) is a freshwater fish in the Amphiliidae family of catfish.
The Loach Catfish has an elongated, cylindrical brownish body. It has barbels at the corner of its mouth. It has a broad, flattened head that enables it to dig through the soil for food. Fish have scales, but the Loach Catfish does not have scales. Instead of scales, it has slippery mucous-covered skin with bony plates called scutes.
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The African Black Beetle (Heteronychus arator) is an insect in the Scarabaeidae family of rhinoceros beetles. It is also known as the African Lawn Beetle.
The African Black Beetle has a shiny, black oval-shaped body with six legs. It has black wing casings called elytra.
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The Kenyan Stingless Honey Bee (Meliponula ferruginea) is an insect in the Apidae family of honey bees.
The Kenyan Stingless Honey Bee is small. It has a brown head, thorax (chest), and abdomen. It has six legs. It does have a stinger on its tail, but it is so small that it is not noticeable, and it does not sting in defence. Its wings are transparent. It has large eyes.
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What is the difference between the African Pied Wagtail (Motacilla aguimp vidua) and the Mekong Wagtail (Motacilla samveasnae)?
Both the African Pied Wagtail and the Mekong Wagtail wag their tail up and down.
Both the African Pied Wagtail and the Mekong Wagtail are black and white with a white eyebrow.
Both the African Pied Wagtail and the Mekong Wagtail are closely related to each other.
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The Great Padloper (Homopus femoralis) is a small chelonian reptile in the Testudinidae family of land tortoises.
The Great Padloper Tortoise has a brown domed-shaped shell called a carapace, although it can be reddish-brown or olive-brown. It has darker markings bordering its scutes (scales). As it ages, the dark markings often become thin white lines. The top part of the carapace is slightly flattened. Its pale cream bottom shell is called a plastron. It has a small head and brown eyes. It has four toes on its thick, stumpy legs.
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The Bowmouth Guitarfish (Rhina ancylostoma) is a large, rare fish in the Rhinidae family of rays. It is also called the Shark Ray, Mud Skate, or Shortnose Mud Skate. It was difficult for scientists to classify, but now it is classified as a ray.
The Bowmouth Guitarfish has a distinctive appearance, with its back half that looks like a shark and its front half that looks like a ray. It is sandy brown or bluish-grey with white spots. Its underbelly is light-grey or white. It has prominent black markings on its pectoral fins. It has a wide, thick body with a rounded, wide snout (nose) and large shark-like, sickle-shaped dorsal (back) and crescent-shaped tail fins. Its mouth forms a W-shaped undulating line. There are multiple thorny ridges on its head and back.
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How does a giraffe eat thorns?
A giraffe likes to eat the branches and leaves of the Acacia tree. The Acacia tree in Africa has thin, sharp thorns, which protect its small, oval-shaped leaves, called pinnate leaves.
To eat the Acacia leaves, a giraffe has to pick them amongst the thorns. How does the giraffe do this?
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The Wahlberg’s Epauletted Fruit Bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi) is a mammal in the Pteropodidae family of megabats.
The Wahlberg’s Epauletted Fruit Bat is brown to tawny coloured with white patches at the base of its ears. The male is darker than the female. The male has epaulettes (shoulder hair). It has large eyes. It has oval-shaped ears. Its lips are folded and expandable.
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The Jackson’s Forest Lizard (Adolfus jacksoni) is a small to medium-sized reptile in the Lacertidae family of wall lizards. It is a lacertid.
The Jackson’s Forest Lizard is long and slender with shiny scales and a long tail. It has brown stripes on either side of its body with rows of greenish spots. It has a pale underbelly. It has large black eyes with yellow eye rings. It has short legs with five toes on each foot.
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The White-Browed Sparrow-Weaver (Plocepasser mahali melanorhynchus) nests in colonies, with many other Weaver birds, each with their own nest. It builds a nest all year round, but mainly in the summer months.
Groups of 2-11, or even up to 60 individuals, build a U-shaped nest of dry grass. The nest looks like bits of hay loosely put together.
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Lady’s Maid Butterfly (Vanessula milca latifasciata) is a small insect in the Nymphalidae family of brush-foooted butterflies. It is also called the Black and Orange Butterfly.
The Lady’s Maid Butterfly is bright orange around a central disc. Its wings are bordered with a brown margin.
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In South Africa, an elephant census – counting the number of elephants – is being conducted by satellite imaging.
This innovative, cutting-edge technology means that scientists can use the satellite images to count African elephants from space.
The images are from an Earth-Observation satellite orbiting the planet 600 kilometres (372 miles) above the ground. This could enable scientists to survey up to 5,000 square kilometres of elephant habitat each day – on days without cloud cover.
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The Stuhlmann’s Weaver (Ploceus baglafecht stuhlmanni) is a bird in the Ploceidae family of weaver birds. It is also known as the Baglafecht Weaver.
The Stuhlmann’s Weaver has a black head, with a yellow chest and throat. Its upperparts are yellowish-green with dark streaks. Its tail is yellow and dark-brown. It has a black beak and pale-yellow eyes.
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The Red Bishop Weaver (Euplectes orix orix) is a bird in the Ploceidae family of bishops and widowbirds. It is also known as the Grenadier Weaver or the Southern Red Bishop.
The Red Bishop Weaver looks like a sparrow with bright red or orange feathers and a red head, except for its black forehead, face, and throat. It has light-brown wings and a short, light-brown tail.
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The Eastern Vine Snake (Thelotornis mossambicanus) is a venomous reptile in the Colubridae family of vine snakes. It is also known as the Eastern Twig Snake, African Creep Snake, or the Savanna Vine Snake. It is a colubrid snake.
The Eastern Vine Snake is a thin, grey snake, with a beige underbelly. The top of its head is green, often with black speckles. Its body also has speckles. Its eyes have horizontal pupils, often in the shape of a keyhole. When startled, it inflates (swells) its throat to show black spots between its scales.
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The Yellow-Tail Acei Cichlid (Pseudotropheus Acei) is a freshwater fish in the Cichlidae family of cichlids. It is a Mbuna cichlid.
The Yellow-Tail Acei Cichlid has a yellow tail. Its body is blue, blue-purple, or grey.
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The Eastern Olive Sunbird (Cyanomitra olivacea) is a small bird in the Nectariniidae family of passerine sunbirds.
The Eastern Olive Sunbird is olive in colour. It has short wings and a short tail. Its beak is long, thin, black, and arched. It has small black eyes and black legs.
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Why does the Avocet have an upturned, or upcurved, beak?
The Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) is a small bird in the Recurvirostridae family of waders. It has long legs to wade in water. It lives in wetlands, such as marshes, swamps, lakes, estuaries, and rivers.
The Avocet has a long, thin, upcurved black beak. It measures about 8 centimetres (3 inches) long. Many wetlands birds, such as Ibis and Curlew, have a long, thin downturned beak, but the Avocet has an upturned beak.
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The Straightfin Barb (Enteromius paludinosus) is a freshwater fish in the Cyprinidae family of cyprinid fish.
The Straightfin Barb is silver with a golden lateral line or bar across the length of its body. Its body is elongated and cyclindrical. It has a straight dorsal (back) fin. Its fins are translucent (clear).
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The Sabaki Tilapia (Oreochromis spilurus spirulus) is a medium-sized freshwater ray-finned fish in the Cichlidae family of cichlids.
The Sabaki Tilapia male is a golden-yellow colour with bright blue areas on its fins. The female is yellowish with a series of side blotches. It has rounded yellow eyes. It has thick lips and a down-turned mouth.
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