10 facts about white lions

1. White lions are not albinos, but a genetic rarity unique to one endemic region on the globe: the Timbavati region.
2. The genetic marker that makes white lions unique has not yet been identified by science.
3. They are currently classified under the general species classification Panthera leo, although this is likely to change after the genetic research undertaken by the Global White Lion protection Trust reveals important reasons for sub-speciation of this rare phenotype.
4. The earliest recorded sighting of white lions in the Timbavati region was in 1938. However, the oral records of African elders indicates that these unique animals survived in this region for many centuries.
5. The unique white lion gene is carried by certain of the tawny coloured lions in the region, and white cubs occured in numerous prides in the region.
6. Since their discovery by the West, white lions and those lions carrying the unique gene have been hunted, and forcibly removed from their natural endemic habitat.
7. The last white lion was seen in the wild in 1994, after which time they were technically extinct in the wild.
8. The idea that white lions are genetically inferior to ordinary tawny lions has not yet been scientifically tested.
9. The idea that they cannot survive in the wild due to perceived lack of camouflage has not been scientifically tested.
10. Currently, there is no law nationally or internationally that protects the white lions from being wiped off the face of the earth.
    
    

Reference: Global White Lion Protection Trust

Hi everyone !!

Je sais que cela fait un bout de temps que je n'ai rien posté sur mon blog. Je m'en excuse. Mais il y a une bonne raison, je suis revenue d'Afrique du Sud en Novembre dernier, et je suis actuellement très occupée dans la mesure où je recherche les moyens financiers de poursuivre mon rêve. J'ai l'intention d'y retourner cette année comme c'était prévu, et d'y poursuivre mes études de guide touristique safari. 

Entre-temps, l'été arrive en France et donc de nouvelles photos de nature et d'animaux seront aussi bientôt de retour. Vous pouvez tout de même cliquer "j'aime" sur ma page Facebook, qui est bien plus active que mon blog, afin de suivre mon actualité. Je remercie tous les gens qui me suivent, leur soutien est un plus !

Laëtitia

I know it's been a while since I posted anything on my blog. I apologize. But there is a good reason, I came back from South Africa last November, and I'm currently very busy given that I look for the financial means to follow my dream. I intend to return this year as planned, and continue my safari tour guide studies. 

Meanwhile, summer arrives in France and thus new pictures of nature and animals will also be back soon. You can still click "Like" on my Facebook page, which is much more active than my blog to follow my news. I thank all the people who follow me, their support is a plus!

Laetitia

RIETVLEI Nature Reserve, November 2012

INSECT EATERS (Order EULIPOTYPHLA)

• most primitive of placental mammals
• small brain
• not many wrinkles
• primitive teeth
• primitive characteristics of auditory bones and collar bones
• plantigrade

In South Africa, Insectivores are divided into 3 types of species:

1. the SHREWS
2. the HEDGEHOGS
3. the GOLDEN MOLES

THE SHREWS (15 species in South Africa) 

Characteristics:

• small secretive mammals
• long pointed narrow muzzles
• small eyes; poor vision
• acute sense of smell and hearing
• musk gland
• born with their final set of teeth; the fisrt set are shed or reabsorbed in embryonic stage.
• ecologically important because they break down animal tissues and raw materials returned to soil.

THE HEDGEHOGS (only 1 South African species)

Characteristics:

• they have spines
• ears and eyes are well-developed
• long snout has a mobile tip
• powerful legs and strong claws
• the base of each spine has a small muscle that functions of pulling the spine erect when threatened. Curling up into a ball
• eat earthworms, beetles, earwings, slug, millipedes, centipedes, dead animals, eggs, young chicks
• hibernation

THE GOLDEN MOLES (15 South African species)

Characteristics:

• solitary and burrow for food
• strong limbs and strong claws
• not tail, eyes also almost inexistent
• ear and eyes openings are covered with fur. Nostrils shielded by leathering pad.
• very sensitive to vibration in the soil
• eat earthworms, larvae, slugs, snails, crickets, spiders.

HOOFED MAMMALS (UNGULATES)

Hoofed mammals are divided into 4 orders:

• PERISSODACTYLA (odd-toed ungulates)
• SURIFORMES (even-toed ungulates)
• WHIPPOMORPHA (even-toed ungulates)
• RUMINATIA (even-toed ungulates)

They have hooves for running ans are herbivores that feed on grass, leaves, fruits, seeds and herbs.

They need to go through a process of fermentation by means of bacteria before the digestion takes place: Hindgut fermentation or Rumination.

PERISSODACTYLA

• 1 single toe or 1 foot with 3 toes together
• hindgut fermenters
• family Equidae (zebra), family Rhinoceratidae (rhino)

SURIFORMES

• 2 weight-bearing toes on each foot
• sub-families: Suinae (bushpig), Phacochoerinae (warthogs)

WHIPPOMORPHA

• 1 sub-family Hippopotamidae (hippopotamus)
• even-toed ungulate with 4 weight-bearing toes on each foot

RUMINATIA

• 2 families: Giraffidae (giraffe, okapi), Bovidae (buffalo, antelope)
• Bovidae males have horns and few females too. Even-toed ungulates with ruminant digestive system of fermentation. Sub-families Bovinae and Antelopinae.

Bovinae:

• tribe Bovini (African buffalo)
• tribe Tragelaphini (bushbuck, statunga, nyala, kudu, eland). All males have spiral horns and females are hornless, except the female eland.

Antelopinae:

• tribe Alcelaphini (wildebeest, hartebeest, blesbok, bontebok, tssessebe). Horns are present in both sexes.
• tribe Cephalophini (duikers)
• tribe Neotragini (damara dik-dik, oribi, steenbok, grysbok, shape's grysbok and suni)
• tribe Oreotragini (klipspringer)
• tribe Reduncini (reedbuck, mountain reedbuck, waterbuck, lechwe and puku, grey rhebok)
• tribe Antilopini (gazelles) only springbok in South Africa.
• tribe Aepyceraniti (Impala)
• tribe Hippotragini (sable antelope, roan antelope, gemsbok).

Antelope species in which both females and males have horns:

• Blue and Black wildebeest
• African Buffalo
• Eland, gemsbok
• Bontebok
• Blesbok
• Springbok
• Tssessebe
• Red hartebeest
• Sable and Roan antelope

CARNIVORES (CARNIVORA)

Characteristics of the carnivores:

• meat-eaters
• carnassial teeth: the last upper preolar and the first lower molar fit together
• fusion of bones in foot that give a firm basis for flexion and climbing
• they have a penis (except Hyanidae) that contains an elongate bony structure called the baculum, to prolong the copulation.

CLASSIFICATION

CATS:

• round head
• digitigrade feet and retractile claws (except cheetah)
• large eyes with binocular and some colour vision; eyes adapted to darkness rapidly.
• large ears, sense of hearing acute.
• sense of smell less developed than canids.
• facial whiskers: long, stiff, sensitive, improve night hunting.
• tongue coated with sharped-pointed papillae that lacerate food and aid in function of grooming.

DOGS:

• long legs
• digitigrade with 5 toes on front foot and 4 on hind foot, Non-retractile claws.
• long muzzle, well-developed jaw
• bushy tail
• flattered molar in front (indicate not purely carnivorous)
• copulation of long duration due to the presence of erectile folds on penis that swollen prevent retraction by male.

HYENAS:

• Spotted hyena, Brown hyena and the Aardwolf
• large ears
• thick-set muzzles
• powerful jaws
• non-retractils claws
• anal pouch that lies between the rectum and the base of the tail, can be turned inside out . In Brown hyena, the pouch is large and discharges 2 secretion from different glands lining the pouch
• they hunt but are mainly scavengers
• they have an unusual digestive system so that they can consume indegestible material (bone, horn, hoove, ligaments, chair) often regurgitated.
• the Spotted hyena has a large head with large premolar used for bone-crushing, slicing and shearing meat and skin. Thr Brown hyena has smaller premolars as their diet includes insects, eggs, fruits.
• there is a misconception of the Spotted hyena being hermaphrodite based on genitals of both sexes being masculine until puberty, when the female's urogenitals open and mammae enlarged.
• Well-developed forequarters, a back-line that slopes and a mane.
• Aardwolf is shy and nocturnal, seldom seen , feeds on termites and has sticky salive.

MONGOOSES AND SURICATES / CIVETS AND GENETS

• Viverrids: small Spotted genet, South African large-spotted genet, Common large spotted genet, Angolean genet, African civet.
• Mepestids: Suricates and 12 species of Mongoose.
• they are not cats because they have short legs, not the same length of muzzle, not rounded head.
• well-developed anal glands
• feet vary from digitigrade to near-plantigrade
• omnivores, small canine teeth 
• diet: small mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, fruits, eggs.
• excellent vision and hearing due to a well-developed inner ear.

BADGERS AND RELATIVES

• Mustelids: Honey badger, Striped weasel, Striped polecat, Cape clawless otter, Spotted rock otter
• divided into 3 sub-families: long body, short legs, anal glands
• variety of teeth structure, foot structure (digitigrade or plantigrade), 4 or 5 toes, claws retractile or not
• some are fierce hunters: honey badger also feeds on honey and bee larvae, otters on crabs and fich
• anal glands, powerful-smelling liquid (musk) as a mean of defence when frightened or defecate.
• sexes live separately, copulation is prolonged and opften repeated. The females only ovulate through a vigorous copulation.

BATS (CHIROPTERA)

2 South African sub-orders: Fruit-eating bats and insectivorous bats.
No blood-eating bats in South Africa !

They represent 1/4 of the mammalian species.
They are the only mammals that are capable of sustained flight (not gliding but flap their wings)

Insect eating bats: 6 families; 68 South African species
Fruit eating bats: 8 South African species

Characteristics of Bats:

• Wings made up of skin, elastic tissue and muscle fibre. Any holes in wings heal within few weeks and broken finger bones mend quickly.
• They have a mechanism that looks digits of hind feet in place preventing them from falling.
• Well-developed sight, senses of hearing and smell.
• They have incisors, cannines, premolars, molars. The crow of molars are flattened in fruit-eating bats and insect-eating bats have molars with sharp crests.
• 1 clawed thumb
• Tail is very variable
• Skin area is proportional to the volume of the body; so a large amount of heat is lost, but is compensated by an intense feeding, sleeping in clusters and some bats by hibernating.

FRUIT-EATING BATS

• Important role in maintaining woodland savannas and forest areas. Some trees rely on fruit bats for pollination, whereas many trees rely on them to disperse their seeds (sausage trees). Meals are digested fast (<1 hour) and can be excreted in flight..
• They are larger than insectivorous bats. They have elongated muzzles and tubular pointed ears, 2 claws on each wing to clamber in trees and handle food.
• They have also large eyes to navigate at night. Not echolocation
• Only the Egyptian fruit bat has a basic echolocation, using sound produced by tongue-clicking
• The monotonous pinging of male epauletted fruit bats occurs after they have fed. Territorial males use this vocalization to advertise their presence to females, to demarcate their territories.
• Females give birth to 1 pup per season, in summer. She carries the young on her nightly excursion.

INSECT-EATING BATS

• Echolocation or sonar: ultrasonic sounds produced in animal's throat and projected forward, at a rate of 10 or more pulses per second. Pulses received by ears and intensity + character are interpreted by the brain. A typical bat's echolocation pulse sweeps between 45 000 and 90 000 Hz, above our level of hearing !
• They consume 25% or more of their own body weight in insects each night.
• Some hibernate.
• The Mauritian tomb bat migrates to tropical regions during winter.
• They can live for 25 years or more.