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Buffalo Weaver
Locally, they are a common bird found in East Africa. Buffalo weavers nest
in open, loose colonies. The nest is built high in a tree in a fork of branches.
It is a large, rather untidy structure of twigs and coarse grasses.
Social weavers (Philetairus socius) build huge nests, the most complex
of all avian structures. The birds are sparrow-like in size and appearance.
The individual birds join forces and weave a grass roof in the branches of
a tree. They then weave vertical tunnels upward that widen into chambers
just under the roof.
Wherever you go in the parks and reserves with dry bush or savanna, there
will be trees festooned with the nests. There are many species of weavers
in Africa, some common and others are rarer. Among these, the best
nest-builders are those which build flask-shaped nests. The males have
black and yellow plumage while the females may share their mates colors
or have dull yellow plumage. Some species in this genus (Ploceus) are
difficult to distinguish.
Buffalo weavers are the least accomplished nest makers of the African
species. As weavers go, they are large, up to nine inches (23 cm) long.
Usually in small groups, they reside in arid areas. their nests are thorn
structures with side entrances facing different directions. Dinemelli's
Buffalo Weaver (Dinemellia dinemelli) is common in dry bush and easily
recognized from its black, white and red coloration. The Common Buffalo
Weaver (Bubalornis albirodstris) male is black.
Elephant Shrew
Rhynchoycon and Petrodromus are largely confined to lowland and montane
forests and dense woodlands, while Elephantulus and Macroscelides are
found in more arid lowlands, such as savannahs, scrublands, rocky
outcrops, and deserts. In nearly all cases, sengis are found in low densities
compared to many other small mammals (FitzGibbon 1995, Perrin 1995b).
At low latitudes reproduction is continuous, but at higher latitudes it is
seasonal (Neal 1995). All sengis prey on invertebrates, although most
soft-furred species supplement this diet with small fruits, seeds, and green
plant matter (Rathbun 1979, Kerley 1995). Snakes, raptors, and carnivores
are known predators of sengis. A wide variety of parasites are hosted by
macroscelids (Fourie et al. 1995).
Shrews are probably the most successful of the ground-dwelling mammals
known as insectivores. There are around 275 shrew species in all. Even
though shrews and other small mammals such as moles and hedgehogs
are placed together in the order Insectivora, they are not actually related.
Their size ranges from mouse to rabbit size.
Leopard Tortoise
The leopard tortoise is approximately 2 feet long which is the biggest turtle
in Africa. It weighs 50 to 100 lbs. Its name comes from the color of its shell
which has black and yellow spots, look like a leopard. The young have dark
brown or black leopard patterns on their shells while adults have smaller
spots. Their head, legs, and tail are brownish, yellow. The shell is shaped
like an upside-down bowl. It is hard, and bumpy. There is a v shaped notch
in the front of the shell. Leopard tortoises have thick club-like back legs that
have scales with claws on their toes. They don't have webbed feet. The
head, legs, and tail can be almost completely drawn under the shell.
Leopard tortoises live from Eastern Africa to Southern Africa. Their habitat
is a Savannah,which is a grassland, with rivers.
In the wild, leopard tortoises usually do not mate until they are between
12 to 15 years old. In captivity, the animals often grow faster and can be
ready to mate between six and eight years. Male leopard tortoises can be
recognized from females by their longer tails. When the female is ready to
lay her egss, she digs a hole 12 inches deep with her hind feet and lays
5 to 30 white eggs at three week intervals for twenty weeks. They hatch
one year later.
Ant Lion
The antlion larva digs its pits in dry, sunny spots sheltered from wind and
rain, particularly on south-facing slopes. The soil must be light and easy to
shift. Pushing itself backward, the larva first draws a circle on the ground.
Then, digging deeper and deeper, it spirals in toward the centre. The dirt that
is dug out is thrown out energetically with the head. After only about 15
minutes, the antlion has made a funnel-shaped crater in the earth. The
antlion larvae prepare the sides of their pits with fine sand or soil particles
so ants that fall in can't climb out, and land in the jaws of the "doodlebug"
waiting at the bottom. It buries itself at the bottom so that only the head,
with opened jaws, can be seen, and there it waits for its prey.
Antlion larvae eventually pupate in the soil, becoming adult insects that look
somewhat like dragonflies, except that they are more fragile and are weak
fliers.. Antlions are beneficial to man because of their ant diet and they
cause no problems.
Rhino Beetle.
The Rhino Beetle is among the largest beetles. It is the largest beetle in its
habitat, but not in the world. In all horned beetles, the huge spikes are used
by males in combat rather than for defence against predators.
Rhinoceros beetles grow to be between 1 and 2 1/2 inches long.
Both sexes have horns, making it difficult to distinguish between them.
Male beetles use these horns for fighting rival males over
feeding sites or females. Rhinoceros beetles also use
their horns for digging, climbing and mating.
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