Across the forests and prairies of Asia, and vast savannahs of Africa, live secret societies of tiny termite architects. They are masters of construction, their sophisticated green-energy designs perfectly adapted to their often hot and arid surroundings. Most homeowners are aware of the destructive power of an army of termites but the fungus termites of Southern Africa are the focus of life and regeneration on the African savannah. With the aid of fungus farms, tended deep within the nest, the termites of southern Africa transform wood and dead leaves into organic nutrients which sustain vegetation and provide shelter and food for the surrounding wildlife. The 33 pounds (15 kilograms) or so of termites in a typical mound will, in an average year, move a fourth of a metric ton (about 550 pounds) of soil and several tons of water. They are not only remarkable architects of their own living spaces but are an essential part of the ecosystem and survival of virtually all the life around them. Termites transform the ecosystem in a variety of complex ways. Termites import coarse particles into the otherwise fine soil in the vicinity of their mounds which promotes water infiltration of the soil. The mounds also show elevated levels of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. All this beneficial soil alteration appears to directly and indirectly mold the ecosystem far beyond the immediate vicinity of the mound.
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Chickens and Guineafowl in Africa and Beyond
In the great river civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and China, pastoralists preceded the true neolithic settlers. The initial domesticated animals included cattle from wild Auroch, sheep and goats from their wild equivalents. Pigs and Fowl followed later and have an intertwined history. As time progressed, irrigation along rivers allowed large scale farming and the establishment of permanent communities. With the advent of these communities came inevitable population increases and increased pressures concerning the utilization of available resources. Fortunately, at first there was plenty for all but climate changes around 2500 BCE contracted the availability of arable land and led to conflict. This whole narrative is nicely summarized in the “Tragedy of the Commons”, an economic theory proposed by William Forster Lloyd in 1833 that is still relevant today. I suggest you read it but for now let us continue with the history of the chicken, a mobile source of protein more suited to mixed farming, unmatched in both the ancient and modern world.
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Baboons and Monkeys in Botswana
Observing Monkeys with their young is a fascinating experience. We get to see how similar many of their ways with the young are compared to those of humans. They bond with their young and keep them very close. They nurture them and care for them. Monkeys are primates with many emotions too. They are able to show grief, anger, happiness, and more. That could all be part of the evolution process that all primates have gone through. Humans and monkeys are both primates. But humans are not descended from monkeys or any other primate living today. We do share a common ape ancestor with chimpanzees. It lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. But humans and chimpanzees evolved differently from that same ancestor. All apes and monkeys share a more distant relative, which lived about 25 million years ago.
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Beautiful Antelope in Botswana with Awsome Facts and Photos
Since I had a fair amount of time on my hands when I was in Africa, I came to sort of an informal classification of the antelope based on their appearance and behavior, with no scientific basis whatsoever, and since this is my post, I thought I would share. The Impala are the beautiful children of the savanna, they leap, they congregate and they run. The tiny Steenbuck with their giant eyes are, of course, the infants. The elegant Kudu are the parents, bigger, slower but also responsible and watchful. The Lechwe and Tsessebe are the rumpled uncles and aunts, not seen as often but also watchful. In particular the Tsessebe are like the clueless uncle everyone seems to have had. The Wildebeests are the rumpled grandparents, they always look like they are having a bad day. All of these are “ungulates”, plant eating animals with hooves. Ungulates are members of a diverse group of large mammals that includes odd-toed ungulates such as horses and rhinoceroses, and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, camels, deer, and antelope. Most ungulates walk on the tips of their toes, actually their toenails or hooves.
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Black Backed Jackal
The slender Black-Backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas) is only found in Africa. This species has a discontinuous distribution range, and is found in two separate populations, one in East Africa and the Horn (East African jackal or Canis mesomelas schmidtiand), and the other in Southern Africa (Cape jackal or Canis mesomelas mesomelas). The black-backed jackal has occupied eastern and southern Africa for at least 2–3 million years, as shown by fossil deposits in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. Specimens from fossil sites in Transvaal are almost identical to their modern counterparts, but have slightly different nasal bones. Wolves, dogs, and dingoes are subspecies of Canis lupus. Canis species too small to attract the word “wolf” are called coyotes in the Americas and jackals elsewhere, and specifically in Africa. The jackal’s ecological specialisation is similar to that of the coyote found in North America. Though it scavenges, it is also a proficient and well-respected hunter of smaller game.
Larger Birds of Botswana

African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) left, Yellow-billed stork (Mycteria ibis) right
In a previous post, I presented examples of the smaller birds I saw on my recent trip to Botswana, in this post I thought I would show the larger birds. I saw the two beautiful birds seen above in Chobe National Park in Botswana, about an hours drive from Victoria Falls. Chobe is well renowned as a superb bird sanctuary featuring many different waterfowl, raptors, woodland species and migrants. In addition the Okavango Delta supports large concentrations of animals on both a permanent and seasonal basis. It has become perhaps one of the best places to see animals and birds in Africa. In between, there are many large and small birds adapted to the semi-arid bush during the winter. I have arbitrarily put Hornbills, Heron and Storks in separate posts to make the post more manageable. There a total 593 species of birds in Botswana, of which 4 have been introduced by humans, and 100 are rare or accidental. Of course, I did not see all of them but these posts cover the ones I did see.
Storks in Botswana
On my recent trip to Botswana, I had an opportunity to observe a variety of beautiful Storks. Storks are beloved in mythology and literature, associated with childbirth and one of my favorite birds with their long graceful form and often bright coloration. Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes. Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibises, but those families have been moved to other orders. German folklore held that storks found babies in caves or marshes and brought them to households in a basket held in their beaks. The babies would be dropped down the chimney of a hopeful mother. Households would notify when they wanted children by placing sweets for the stork on the window sill. The Modern English word can be traced back to Proto-Germanic *sturkaz. Nearly every Germanic language has a descendant of this proto-language word to indicate the (white) stork.
Hornsbill in Botswana
If you visit Botswana, you will undoubtedly encounter the red-billed hornbill seen above. Unlike most of the other birds, this one seems curious about humans and poses for pictures endlessly. The Hornsbill (Bucerotidae) include about 55 living species, though a number of cryptic species may yet be split, as has been suggested for the red-billed hornbill (seen above). Their distribution includes Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Subcontinent to the Philippines and the Solomon Islands, but no genus is found in both Africa and Asia. The most distinctive feature of the hornbills is the heavy bill, supported by powerful neck muscles as well as by the fused vertebrae. The large bill assists in fighting, preening, constructing the nest, and catching prey. There are two subfamilies: the Bucorvinae contain the two ground hornbills in a single genus, and the Bucerotinae contain all other taxa. Traditionally they are included in the order Coraciiformes (which includes also kingfishers, rollers, hoopoes and bee-eaters). In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, however, hornbills are separated from the Coraciiformes into an order of their own, Bucerotiformes, with the subfamilies elevated to family level.
Remarkable Botswana
I made a decision to go on a safari, mainly to practice wildlife photography and Botswana was one of the choices. Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country, about the size of France, located in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with up to 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. I spent most of my time there cursing the heat and bugs (and by the way the day I was born) but came away with surprising lovely memories of the country. I hope you too will realize the beauties of this desert oasis by the end of this post