Forest patch on Lynedoch farm, Baviaans River Valley, Bedford

Extract: “Forest Patch on LYNEDOCH farm, Baviaans River Valley, Bedford. This small patch of what can best be described as Woodland/ Forest by virtue of its hybrid condition as influenced by man's chopping activities down the years, lies at the head of what is called Grootkloof on this farm, and is the last patch of such forest up this otherwise dry valley in which the lower slopes receive a much lower precipitation than the upper heights under which the patch of forest persists by virtue of the extra moisture it receives from passing cloud. The forest patch is 27 km NW of Bedford town, and at about 1 000 m a.s.l.

Tree species in unfamiliar places - Graaff-Reinet town

Typed article regarding tree species found in Graaff-Reinet, East Cape Midlands. Trees mentioned include Erythrina caffra, cypresses and Yellowwood

Wild fig

Wild fig essay written over number of years

Wild fig

Wild fig essay written over number of years

Diet and feeding in the Cape Cobra, Naja nivea

It is widely reported that African cobras (genus Naja) are generalist predators, but examination of formal literature yields relatively little evidence of this for most species. Here, we review the diet of cape cobras (Naja nivea) based on examination of museum specimens, an extensive literature review, and social media reported natural history observations. We quantify dietary niche breadth and test the hypothesis that cape cobras are generalist predators. Additionally, we test the hypotheses that diet varies significantly (1) across biomes, and (2) across winter, summer and year-round rainfall regions. We gathered 101 feeding records for cape cobras and based on family-level prey frequencies calculated Levins’ measure of niche breadth as B = 6.57, which we standardised to BA = 0.29. We found no association between prey classes and biomes or rainfall region. Our data indicate that cape cobras consume a wide range of vertebrate prey from all four tetrapod classes, including a large number and diversity of snakes. Our findings suggest that cape cobras may be involved in several important ecological processes. Moreover, our study demonstrates the utility and value of collating natural history observations reported on social media platforms

Do Lions Panthera leo Actively Select Prey or Do Prey Preferences Simply Reflect Chance Responses via Evolutionary Adaptations to Optimal Foraging?

Research on coursing predators has revealed that actions throughout the predatory behavioral sequence (using encounter rate, hunting rate, and kill rate as proxy measures of decisions) drive observed prey preferences. We tested whether similar actions drive the observed prey preferences of a stalking predator, the African lion Panthera leo. We conducted two 96 hour, continuous follows of lions in Addo Elephant National Park seasonally from December 2003 until November 2005 (16 follows), and compared prey encounter rate with prey abundance, hunt rate with prey encounter rate, and kill rate with prey hunt rate for the major prey species in Addo using Jacobs' electivity index. We found that lions encountered preferred prey species far more frequently than expected based on their abundance, and they hunted these species more frequently than expected based on this higher encounter rate. Lions responded variably to non-preferred and avoided prey species throughout the predatory sequence, although they hunted avoided prey far less frequently than expected based on the number of encounters of them. We conclude that actions of lions throughout the predatory behavioural sequence, but particularly early on, drive the prey preferences that have been documented for this species. Once a hunt is initiated, evolutionary adaptations to the predator-prey interactions drive hunting success

Report on the bird-life in the Mountain Zebra National Park, Cradock, QP. 1962-1964

Report on the bird-life in the Mountain Zebra National Park, Cradock, QP. 1962-196

Report on the bird-life in the Mountain Zebra National Park, Cradock, QP. 1962-1964

Report on the bird-life in the Mountain Zebra National Park, Cradock, QP. 1962-196