Rhino Pictures

For the differences between Black and White rhino CLICK "HERE"

For facts on White rhino CLICK "HERE"

For facts on Black rhino CLICK "HERE"

African Elephant Pictures

For information on African Elephants "CLICK HERE"

List of African Snakes

Adders

Berg Adder – Bitis atropos
Gaboon Adder – Bitis gabonica
Many-Horned Adder – Bitis cornuta
Puff Adder – Bitis arietans
Rhombic Night Adder – Causus rhombeatus

Blind Snakes

Beaked Blind Snake – Typhlops schinzi
Bibron’s Blind Snake – Typhlops bibronii
Boyle’s Blind Snake – Typhlops boylei
Delalande’s Blind Snake – Typhlops lalandei
Fornasini’s Blind Snake – Typhlops fornasinii
Schlegel’s Blind Snake – Typhlops schlegelii
Slender Blind Snake – Typhlops obtusus

Cobras

Black Spitting Cobra – Naja nigricollis woodi
Cape Cobra – Naja nivea
Forest Cobra – Naja melannoleuca
Mozambique Spitting Cobra – Naja mossambica
Snouted Cobra – Naja annulifera
Western Barred Spitting Cobra – Naja nigricollis nigricincta

File Snakes

Angola File Snake – Mehhelya vernayi
Black File Snake – Mehhelya nyassae
Cape File Snake – Mehelya capensis

Grass Snakes

Olive Grass Snake – Psammophis phillipsii
Short-snouted Grass Snake – Psammophis sibilans brevirostris

House Snakes

Aurora House Snake – Lamprohis aurora
Fisk’s House Snake – Lamprohis fiskii
Brown House Snake – Lamprohis fuliginosus
Olive House Snake – Lamprophis inornatus
Spotted House Snake – Lamprohis guttatus
Swazi Rock Snake – Lamprohis swazicus
Yellow-Bellied House Snake – Lamprohis fuscus

Mambas

Black Mamba – Dendroaspis polylepis
Green Mamba – Dendroaspis angusticeps

Pythons

African Rock Python – Python sebae
Anchieta’s Dwarf Python – Python anchietae

Skaapstekers

Spotted Skaapsteker – Psammophylax rhombeatus
Striped Skaapsteker – Psammophylax tritaeniatus

Slug Eaters

Common Slug Eater – Duberria lutrix
Spotted Slug Eater – Duberria variegata

Thread Snakes

Black Thread Snake – Leptotyphlops nigricans
Cape Thread Snake – Leptotyphlops conjunctus
Damara Thread Snake – Leptotyphlops labialis
Distant’s Thread Snake – Leptotyphlops distanti
Long-Tailed Thread Snake – Leptotyphlops longicaudus
Peter’s Thread Snake – Leptotyphlops scutifrons
Slender Thread Snake – Leptotyphlops gracilior
Tello’s Thread Snake – Leptotyphlops telloi
Western Thread Snake – Leptotyphlops occidentalis

Water Snakes

Common Brown Water Snake – Lycodonomorphus rufulus
Dusky-Bellied Water Snake – Lycodonomorphus laevissimus
Green Water Snake – Philothamnus hoplogaster
Mulanje Water Snake – Lycodonomorphus leleupi
Whyte’s Water Snake – Lycodonomorphus whytii

Wolf Snakes

Cape Wolf Snake – Lycophidion capense
Eastern Wolf Snake – Lycophidion semiannule
Dwarf Wolf Snake – Cryptolycus nanus
Hellmich’s Wolf Snake – Lycophidion hellmichi
Variegated Wolf Snake – Lycophidion variegatum

Other Snake Species

Boomslang – Dispholidus typus
Cape Centipede Eater – Aparallactus capensis
Cape Coral Snake – Aspidelaps lubricus
Eastern Tiger Snake – Telescopus semiannulatus
Flower-Pot Snake – Ramphotyphlops braminus
Mole Snake – Pseudaspis cana
Natal Black Snake – Macrelaps microlepidotus
Red-lipped Herald – Crotaphopeltis botamboeia
Rhombic Egg-eater – Dasypeltis scabra
Rinkhals – Hemachatus haemachatus
Rufous Beaked Snake – Rhamphiophis oxyrhynchus rostratus
Shield-nose Snake – Aspidelaps scutatus
Spotted Bush Snake – Philothamnus semivariegatus
Spotted Harlequin Snake – Homoroselaps lacteus
Stiletto Snake – Atractaspis bibronii
Sundevall’s Garter Snake – Elapsoidea sundevallii
Sundevall’s Shovel-snout – Prosymna sundevallii
Twig Snake – Thelotornis capensis
Yellow-and-Black Sea Snake – Pelamis platurus

This list of African snake species will be updated in future.

Impala Facts

Latin Name: Aepyceros melampus

Lifespan: Up to 12 years.

Weight: Mature males 65 kg, females 40 kg.

Sexual differentiation:
The male is larger than the female and has horns.

Habitat:
Impalas are found in savannah, grassland and woodland biomes, often taking shelter under trees and in rocky areas.

Diet and Feeding:
Impala are predominantly grazers but will browse in the drier months if palatable grasses are less in abundance.

Reproduction and Territoriality:


Herding and breeding takes place in autumn. The dominant male herds as many females as possible into his territory with as many as 100 females or even more.

He defends his territory vigorously by chasing out any males he sees as a possible threat to his breeding herd, the threat being the possible loss of any sexually mature females to another male.

Bachelor herds follow the breeding herd within close proximity with eager males often breaking away to challenge the dominant male for ownership of the breeding herd.

Serious encounters between males may result in rutting which normally ends with the one or the other submitting by running away from the stronger, fitter ram.
Rutting between males may become intense with horns breaking off and rarely but not uncommon, death from piercing horns.

In a single breeding season up to 4 different males may dominate the same breeding herd at different periods.

The dominant male advertises his presence vocally by a series of vocalisations including grunting, snorting and roaring. He also scent-marks his territory by leaving fresh and regular deposits of dung on territory markers called “middens”. The number of middens will vary in number and are found throughout his territory with the more regularly marked middens found along the territory boundaries.

He also scent-marks by rubbing secretions of fluid from his face onto twigs and grasses.

The male regularly tests the reproductive status of females within the breeding herd by tasting their urine.

A small pit found in the males’ upper pallet leads to an organ known as the “Organ of Jacobson”. After licking the females urine, particles of urine are passed from the males tongue into the upper pallet pit then through to the Organ of Jacobson. This organ tests the urine and then sends a signal to the males’ brain to inform him of the reproductive status of the female.

After a successful copulation the female goes through a 7 month gestation period and gives birth to a single lamb, very rarely having twins.

Interesting Facts on the Impala:

•Females that have an excess level of testosterone have been known to grow horns. The horns however may grow disproportionately.

•A pregnant female is capable of extending her gestation period by up to 2 weeks if the start of the summer rains are late, which will result in poor grazing value and thus poor nutritional value of her milk produced.

•An impala can jump as far as 12 meters and as high as 3 meters!

Cheetah Pictures

For infomation on the differences between Leopard and Cheetah click "HERE"
For Facts on Cheetah click "HERE"

African Wild Dog Facts

Alternative Name: Cape Hunting Dog

Latin Name: Lycaon pictus

Status: Endangered.

Lifespan: 12 years.

Weight: Both male and female 20kg to 25kg.

Habitat:
Wild dogs take preference to areas with few trees and short grass. They are found in savannah, woodland and grassland biomes, as well as hilly areas.

Diet and feeding:
Prey species include medium to small sized antelope such as waterbuck, impala, springbok and duiker as well as wildebeest and warthog.

Of all the large land predators, the wild dog is the most successful hunter with an average of 80% of its attempted hunts resulting in kills. Wild dogs hunt very efficiently as a pack and rely more on stamina than they do on strength and speed.

Once the prey has been targeted, the dogs then take turns in chasing after the animal at a fairly constant speed of 60 km/hour. The running prey is often forced into the direction of other members of the wild dog pack, who wait ahead to have their turn in chasing after the prey.

The hunted animal, exhausted from all the running slows down or stops, giving the wild dogs the opportunity to grab hold of it with their powerful jaws which they then use to tear off chunks of flesh resulting in the prey dying from loss of blood and shock.

Reproduction:
After a successful copulation the female has a two-and-half-month gestation period. The pups are born underground, usually in old abandoned aardvark burrows. The average litter size varies from 7 to 10 young, with as many as 20. The large litter sizes may be as a result of the very high mortality rate of wild dog pups due to various diseases contracted by domestic dogs and predation by lion, hyena and leopard.

The young suckle for roughly three months but are capable of feeding on meat at 2 to 3 weeks of age. After a successful hunt, the adults then return to the den to feed the young by regurgitating the meat.

Other interesting facts:

Wild dogs have very large home ranges, ranging from 200 square kilometres to over 1000 square kilometres.
Their home rangers may extend into farm areas where they are seen as a threat to life-stock and are often destroyed for this reason.

Wild dogs are highly endangered and many attempts in breeding projects have been unsuccessful with most puppies dying in captivity.

A sad fact is that at a certain stage in time, wild dogs were seen as brutal animals in the way that they hunted and how could such a cruel animal be left to live?, resulting in may of them being destroyed.

Baboon Facts

Chacma baboon

Latin Name: Papio cynocephalus ursinus

Lifespan: Both males and females live up to 18 years.

Weight: Males 32kg, females 15kg.

Habitat:
Chacma Baboons are found throughout southern Africa, except in the very arid regions.

Diet and Feeding:
Baboons are omnivorous feeding on a variety of fruits, leaves, grasses, roots, tubers, tree gum, insects, spiders and scorpions. They will also hunt prey such as reptiles, birds and other mammals.

During the Impala (Aepyceros melampus) lambing season, Chacma baboons have been known to run in and snatch the new-born lambs to feed off them.

Reproduction:
Just below the tail, on the rump area are horny epidermal callosities. With females in oestrus, the callosities swell up substantially and serve as clear signal to the males of their breeding condition.

The dominant males herd and mate with the females in oestrus. The Alpha male does most of the mating.

Young males that have no dominant ranking within the troop have no mating rights. Mature females in most cases won’t give them the opportunity to mate unless the social bond between two is very strong. This type of mating is not tolerated by the dominant males and could prove very dangerous for the young male if caught in the act.

After a successful copulation from one male or a number of different males, the female then goes through a 6 month gestation period and gives birth to a single offspring. Females can give birth at any time of the year.

Youngsters are totally weaned from 6 to 8 months and share a very strong bond with their mothers. In the fist few weeks after birth the mother carries her baby in her hands and arms and as the baby grows it then holds onto its mother by the hair and hangs under her belly while walking. As the youngsters legs get stronger, it then moves onto the mothers back, using her raised tail as a back-rest.

Interesting Facts on the Chacma Baboon:

The canines of a mature Chacma baboon are longer than those of the lion.

Leopard will often hunt baboons, but young and inexperienced leopard can be killed by baboons when mobbed and bitten from different directions by a number of large dominant male baboons.

Young Vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) and baboons will on occasion play together, but as adults baboons will hunt Vervet monkeys.

Male Lion Pictures

For Information on Man-eating Lions click "HERE"
For Facts on Lions click "HERE"

Nile Crocodile Facts

Latin name: Crocodylus nioloticus

Lifespan: 80 - 100 years, seldom more.

Length and weight:
Mature Nile crocodiles average 4 to 5 meters in length with exceptionally large specimens reaching 6 meters. Large adults can weigh over 1000 kg.

Habitat:
Crocodiles are found in most game reserves throughout Africa, taking preference to rivers, lakes and wetlands.

Diet and Feeding:
Their diet varies quite considerably depending on its age or size. Hatchlings prey mainly on insects, frogs, small fish and crabs. As they grow larger they then start preying off larger fish like catfish as well as birds.

Adults over 3 meters in length prey on birds, fish, various antelope species, monitor lizards, snakes, other predators including lions, leopards, hyenas, wild dogs as well as other crocodiles.

Crocodiles are opportunistic predators and help clean water sources by feeding off any carrion they may find.

Animals caught by crocodiles are normally dragged under water, causing suffocation. Larger prey species, too large to be dragged under water often die from a loss of blood and shock as a result of a number of different crocodiles gripping and tearing off flesh at the same time.
When feeding off large prey, the crocodile, using its powerful jaws and gripping teeth, thrashes the prey around until small enough pieces to swallow are torn off.

Crocodiles feeding on the same animal under water grab hold of the prey with a tight grip and then spin their bodies in order to break pieces of flesh off.

Reproduction:
Nile crocodiles are sexually mature at about 12 – 14 years. Fertilization is internal with mating taking place in the water.

When the female is ready to lay eggs, she then looks for a suitable nest site with sufficient cover.
A hole is excavated in a sand bank above the flood-line and after depositing a clutch of between 20 and 80 eggs she then fills the hole up with sand again.

The female is highly protective over her nest and defends the eggs from being eaten by predators such as monitor lizards, water mongoose, baboons and monkeys. During this period she does not eat but will on occasion drink water.

The eggs incubate for 3 months and on hatching the young make high-pitched cheeping sounds, which attracts the mothers’ attention to the nest.
The female then digs open the nest and using her jaws, she gently cracks open any unhatched eggs, once done she then carefully carries the hatchlings in her mouth to the river. The young crocodiles stay with their mother for about 2 months before leaving on their own.

Only 2% of crocodiles reach full maturity as a result of being preyed on by monitor lizards, water mongoose, catfish and birds of prey.

Black Rhino Facts

Alternative Name: Hook-lipped Rhinoceros

Latin Name: Diceros bicornis

Status: Endangered

Lifespan: 40 years

Weight:
Both male and female adults average from 800 to 850 kg, with large adults reaching up to 1000 kg.

Habitat:
Black Rhinoceros are found in dry arid areas as well as savannah and woodland areas with sufficient shrubs and trees to hide in, in the heat of the day.

Food:
Black rhino are browsers, feeding off a wide variety of shrubs and trees. Toxic plants such as the Tamboti Spirostachys africana with its high latex content are also eaten, having no harmful effects on the animal.

The black rhino has a very prehensile upper lip that is used to pull off leaves, shoots and thin branches while feeding.

Reproduction:
Breeding takes place at any time of the year. The female can conceive her first calf at 7 to 8 years of age. A bull will ascertain if a cow is in oestrus by taste-testing the females’ urine otherwise known as “flehmen”.
After a successful copulation, the female has a gestation period of 15 months and gives birth to a calf weighing in at about 40 kg.

The calf suckles off the mother for 12 – 13 months and is fully weaned at 14 months. When the cow is ready to give birth to her next calf, she then chases the older calf away to be on its own or temporarily join up with other adults or youngsters in the area. The calf is usually chased away at 2 to 4 years of age.

Notes:
Black Rhinos do not defend territories but do have home ranges in variable size that they scent-mark in. The bull scent-marks by either spraying urine onto vegetation or by defecating in certain spots called middens. Middens, which vary in number, are large collections of dung left by one bull or a number of different adults over a period of time. The bull after dropping his dung scrapes it into the ground with his hind legs and then spreads the dung further by dragging his feet as he walks away from the midden. Dung stuck under the bulls’ feet helps to further spread his scent as his walks through the area.
The purpose of a midden is to possibly convey information to other adults in the area by the different smells left in the midden.

The black rhinoceros has very weak eyesight but to compensate for that it has a very keen sense of smell and good hearing.

Of the two species of rhino found in Africa, the black rhino is the far more aggressive species. There are however fewer incidents of black rhino injuring or killing people, owing to its much lower population.

The white rhino having a higher population results in more frequent encounters with humans and although not considered as dangerous, accidents have been recorded.

African Rock Python Facts

Latin name: Python Sebae

Lifespan: In the wild adults can reach up to 30 years of age.

Length:
The African Rock Python is the largest of all snake species on the African continent. Large adults, especially females measure between 4 – 5,5 meters. Larger specimens of 7 and 8 meters have been recorded.

Venom: None.

Habitat:
African Rock Pythons are often found near water in savannah and grassland biomes as well as rocky outcrops. Their preferred retreats are under piles of driftwood and inside old termite mounds and abandoned aardvark (ant-bear) burrows.

Diet:
Mammals such as small to medium sized antelope, dassies (hyrax), rodents, hares, monkeys, monitor lizards, crocodiles and occasionally fish are eaten.

Reproduction:
During the summer months the female lays between 20 and 60 eggs in a termite mound or aardvark burrow. Large pythons can lay as many as 100 eggs.
The female remains with her eggs for the 2 – 3 month incubation period. During this period she will not feed but will leave on occasion to drink.

On warm days she will often bask in the sun and then use the absorbed body heat to help incubate the eggs by coiling around them. By constantly twitching her body she also generates heat to help raise the temperature of the eggs. Another advantage of coiling around the eggs is their protection against predators such as mongoose, rats and monitor lizards.

After the eggs hatch, the female remains with the hatchlings for a further 2 weeks and once the have shed their first skin they then leave the security of the female to go off on their own.

Notes:
The African Rock Python lacks venom glands but is still capable of inflicting a serious bite. Its sharp, recurved teeth often cause severe tissue damage and infection if not disinfected properly.
There are recorded incidents of large African Rock Pythons killing and even eating humans but this is very rare.

Prey that is captured is suffocated to death before consuming. Small prey species are sometimes swallowed alive! Pythons do not crush their prey to death.

The African Rock Python is a highly protected species that plays a very important role in the control of rodent populations.

Boomslang Facts

Latin Name: Dispholidus typus

Length: 1 – 1,5 m.

Lifespan: Average 8 years in the wild.

Distribution:
Throughout Africa except in the arid regions, preferring grassland, savannah and woodland often found in shrubs and trees.

Diet:
Chameleons, lizards, birds, birds’ eggs, frogs and small mammals.

Reproduction:
10 – 25 eggs are laid in the late spring to midsummer with an incubation of 2 – 3 months.

Venom:
The boomslang has extremely powerful haemotoxic venom.
This venom affects the blood clotting mechanism, resulting in headaches, and loss of blood through the bodily openings and if left untreated internal bleeding of the organs will occur.



Vision:
Unlike most snakes, the boomslang has a full colour vision aiding it in the detection of still standing prey. The boomslangs' eyesight is so keen that it is even capable of detecting motionless chameleons!

Notes:
The Boomslang is a very placid snake, but if provoked it may bite.
It is predominantly arboreal but will also hunt on open ground and has also been known to cross water in pursuit of prey.
A Boomslang can open its mouth as wide as 170 degrees, and even with its fangs at the back of the mouth it is still capable of biting an arm or leg.
The name "Boomlang" derives from the Africans language, meaning Tree snake.