Giant Eagle Owl: South Africa
For Videos and Photos Click:
http://www.arkive.org/giant-eagle-owl/bubo-lacteus/video-01.html and
http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/strigidae/bubo_lacteus.htm
This is the third heaviest owl in the world and the largest of Africa. It mates for life and can be found in altitudes of up to 3.000 metres (9.800 ft), in dry savannahs, semi deserts and riverine forest!
It feeds mainly on the Helmeted Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris),
The Scrub Hare (Lepus saxatilis),
and the Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) amongst others...
http://www.arkive.org/giant-eagle-owl/bubo-lacteus/video-01.html and
http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/strigidae/bubo_lacteus.htm
This is the third heaviest owl in the world and the largest of Africa. It mates for life and can be found in altitudes of up to 3.000 metres (9.800 ft), in dry savannahs, semi deserts and riverine forest!
It feeds mainly on the Helmeted Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris),
The Scrub Hare (Lepus saxatilis),
and the Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) amongst others...
Vladimir Tretchikoff: Triumph in S. Africa
"Express your passion, do whatever you love, take action, no matter what".
That was the motto of a self taught russian artist with an amazing life: He fled Siberia and went to China escaping the Russian 1917 revolution.
During World War II he was on a boat for three weeks without food, after his ship was bombed and then he was imprisoned by the japanese.
He lost contact with his wife and daughter and thinking they were dead he took a lover, but they weren't dead... they got back together again in Cape Town!
The First Wife of a Zulu Chief
The Herb Seller
(£50,000 - 80,000 - US$ 76,000 - 120,000)
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Thanks to his work in South Africa he captivated the american and english public of his time, becoming hugely successful in spite of his critics who nicknamed him "The King of Kitsch".
After his death the Tretchikoff Trust was established which provides workshops for teenagers throughout South Africa.
That was the motto of a self taught russian artist with an amazing life: He fled Siberia and went to China escaping the Russian 1917 revolution.
During World War II he was on a boat for three weeks without food, after his ship was bombed and then he was imprisoned by the japanese.
He lost contact with his wife and daughter and thinking they were dead he took a lover, but they weren't dead... they got back together again in Cape Town!
Lady of Ndebele
The First Wife of a Zulu Chief
The Herb Seller
(£50,000 - 80,000 - US$ 76,000 - 120,000)
.jpg)
Thanks to his work in South Africa he captivated the american and english public of his time, becoming hugely successful in spite of his critics who nicknamed him "
After his death the Tretchikoff Trust was established which provides workshops for teenagers throughout South Africa.
South African Giniel de Villiers: 2009 Dakar Rally Winner
Through Giniel de Villiers Eyes...
2nd in the Dakar Rally 2013
South African Padlopers
Here are the tiny "path-walkers" or padlopers indigenous to South Africa. They are diurnal terrestrial species which breed in the rainy season. Females bury 1-3 eggs only and can take between 11-30 years to reach maturity!
Southern Tent Tortoise: (Psammobates tentorius tentorius). In Southern and Eastern Karoo.
Western Tent Tortoise: (Psammobates tentorius trimeni). In South Africa, beyond the Orange river in Great Namaqualand and extreme Western Cape Provinces.
Northern Tent Tortoise: (Psammobates tentorius verroxii). Found in Great Namaqualand and Northern Cape Province
Karoo Cape Tortoise (Homopus femoralis): It´s endemic to the rocky areas of the Karoo region in South Africa. It is just 10 cm long (the largest of the padlopers!) and has only 4 toes in its front feet.
Beaked Cape Tortoise (Homopus areolatus): It is endemic to the Western Cape Province and it has only four toes on its front feet like the Karoo Cape Tortoise.
It´s got a sharp, hooked beak and the noses of the males turn bright orange or red in the mating season.
Speckled Cape Tortoise: South African Endemic
Measuring between 6 and 8 centimeters (males are smaller than the female) this is the smallest Chelonian in the world.
These tortoises are categorised as
It´s found only in an arid region in the West of South Africa named Little Namaqualand along with
Phalaborwa Copper Mine: South Africa
Measuring 1.5 km by 2.4 km and 550 meters in deep, it is visible from space.
The Phalaborwa copper mine is the largest hand-made hole in Africa.
The bottom of the oppencast pit is presently around 230 metres below sea level and its diameter, nearly 2,000 meters.
Cape COBRA: South Africa´s Endemic
It is very agressive and its neurotoxic venom, more potent than in other cobra species...
If bitten and antivenom is not applied, death occurs in less than 10 hours.
If bitten and antivenom is not applied, death occurs in less than 10 hours.
The Cape Cobra is diurnal and about 1.2 to 1.4 metres (3.9 - 4.6 ft) long.
Boomslang Snake: South African Most Venemous
Measuring between 1-1.8 meters long (6 ft) these shy snake is rarely seen on the ground and has the ability to inflate its throat when threaten...
With the exception of the Northern Cape and part of the Free State, the Boomslang Snake is found all over South Africa, in lowland forest, savannah, grassland, fynbos and Karoo scrub.
It´s got aslow action haemotoxic venom whose symptoms can take 24 hr to appear; its victim dies from internal and external bleeding.
With the exception of the Northern Cape and part of the Free State, the Boomslang Snake is found all over South Africa, in lowland forest, savannah, grassland, fynbos and Karoo scrub.
It´s got a
World´s Smallest...The African Pygmy Mouse
Adults weigh 3 - 12 grams (0.11 to 0.42 oz) measure between 30-80 mm in lenght (1.2 to 3.1 inches) + the tail which can be 20 - 40 mm (0.79 to 1.6 in) long...
It lives 2-4 years and are active both during the day and at night.
In the wild they gather pebbles in front of its burrow and in the morning they drink the dew deposit on them overnight...
Augrabies Flat Lizard: S. Africa´s Endemic
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This lizard lives in the rocky savannahs of the lower Orange river and Northern Cape Province.
The male with the highest UV (ultraviolet) levels in its throat, will be challenged less by other specimens because it will be considered dominant.
Augrabies´ lizards will follow bird flocks to find the ripe berries of the Namaqua fig tree.
They have 3x more UV photoreceptor cells in their retina than any other lizard!
Red Roman Spider: S. Africa
This is a Solifugae a different order from the true spiders, know also as camel, wind, sun or solifuges spiders!
Hein von Horsten, courtesy of, and copyright, South Africa Tourism
Found in the Western Cape Province, they areknown as beard or hair cutters due to the belief that they use their impressive jaws, to cut human hair to line their underground nests.
Hein von Horsten, courtesy of, and copyright, South Africa Tourism
Found in the Western Cape Province, they are
William Kentridge: South African Artist
He makes his animation films by drawing with charcoal, filmimg or photographing the initial picture and erasing to add small changes to be filmed again one after another.
JOURNEY TO THE MOON
THE NOSE
Handspring Puppet Company: S. African Puppeteers
This puppeteer company started designing puppets for children´s productions but later changed to adult productions inspired by the West African puppet traditon.
They now perform across South Africa, England and the USA.
They now perform across South Africa, England and the USA.
Handspring Puppet Company is a puppetry design, performing and scenic company founded in 1981 in Cape Town by Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones. Thys Stander is the chief puppeteer.
The Tooth Mouse: S. African Legends
In South Africa, when a child´s tooth falls,
he or she puts it in
he or she puts it in
his or her slippers...
And a mouse picks it up and leaves a present!
The Prieska Fort
Photgraph by Neville Curtayne
This fort was built during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) with raw Tiger´s Eye
a semiprecious stone abundant in this town.
Mike Horn: South African Explorer & Adventurer
Then in 1999 for 17 months, he traveled around the world along its Equator on foot, by boat and bike in accordance to his project: "Latitude Zero: 40.000 km from which to meet the world".
Then, at the beginning of 2002, during initial preparations to reach the North Pole he suffered the amputation of the tips of three fingers due to severe frostbite...
During this expedition he endured two
In 2006 Mike Horn and Borge Ousland launched a two month journey of 1.000 km
His next 4 year project is a trip around the world in 1.460 days, with the sustainable sailboat Pangaea on a 7 continent eco-voyage! Follow Mike Horn as he travels the world on:
http://www.mikehorn.com/en/pangaea/ and/or
http://www.mikehorn.com/portal.php#/yep/
Over the course of Mike Horn´s newest expedition, 12 groups of educational specialists and specially selected students ages 13-20 (Young Explorers Programme), will meet up with Pangaea for 10-12 days at a time...Mike Horn´s newest expedition expands with the admission .
S. African EnDanger Species: SaddLe-BiLLeD StorK
There are less than 150 individuals according to a South African 1990´s survey, most of them found at the Kruger National Park.
It lays one or two eggs which can weight 146 gr and are incubated for about a month in big nests. They don´t breed in colonies.
. The Saddle-Billed Stork is an egyptian ba hieroglyph ideogram representation for "great", "tall", "big" and "powerful", used since the Late PreDynastic Period (6.000 BC).
See the full archaeological study at: http://www.academia.edu/1100015/A_Question_of_Size._A_Remark_on_Early_Attestations_of_the_Ba_Hieroglyph
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