Tag Archives: Africa

Antelope

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Antelope

Hoofed and horned, the antelopes.

  • Antelope are hoofed animals that look similar to deer and belong to the Bovidae family which is the family of cloven-hoofed mammals, that includes sheep, cattle, goats and buffalo.
  • Antelope are native to Africa, Asia and Europe, with about 70 of  the species, which is the majority, belonging to Africa.
  • All male antelope have permanent horns, which most females also have, that are used for fighting and defence.
  • Depending on the species, antelope can be as small as 24 cm (9.4 inches) in height like the royal antelope, or as large as 178cm (70 inches), like the common eland.
  • Antelope are typically brown, tan or red in colour, while a white underbelly is common, and their fastest speed is 70km/h (43m/h) with some species jumping over 2 meters (6 feet) high.

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Antelope
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Antelope have sharp hearing and eyesight, and they use these senses to detect predators like crocodiles, cheetahs, lions and hyenas.
  • Antelope typically live in herds, sometimes in herds of up to 800, which can be used as a defence against predators, although some of the forest species only have a handful of animals in a herd.
  • Many native people believe that some antelopes have horns with special powers, and the horns of the saiga antelope are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
  • Antelope are found in a variety of habitats including woodlands, savannahs, grasslands and forests, where their diet is mainly grass.
  • In 2009, 25 of the 91 species of antelope were endangered, which was worse than 13 years earlier in 1996.
Bibliography:
Antelope, 2013, A-Z Animals, <http://a-z-animals.com/animals/antelope/>
Antelope, 2013, San Diego Zoo, <http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/antelope>
 Antelope, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antelope>

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Ostrich

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Ostrich

Huge, heavy ostriches.

  • Ostriches are big, black, grey and sandy coloured birds, which cannot fly and have long legs and necks.
  • Ostriches are native to the savannahs and deserts of most of Africa, and often travel and graze with peaceful African animals such as zebras or giraffes.
  • The scientific name of ostriches is Struthio camelus and are from the family Struthionidae, which is a family of flightless birds, or ratites.
  • Ostriches weigh between 63 to 145 kg (140 to 320 pounds) and be 1.7 to 2.8 meters (5.6 to 9.2 feet) in height, and can run for up to 70km/hour (43miles/hour) but they run at 50 km/hour (31 miles/hour) on average.
  • Ostriches are the largest bird species, have the largest eyes and lay the largest eggs of all non-extinct birds and land animals.

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Ostrich
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Depending on the season, ostriches can be found living in herds or flocks of 5 to 50, living in pairs or by themselves.
  • Ostriches eat plants or small land animals and insects, and can go without drinking water for long periods of time, because they absorb moisture from their food.
  • To escape predators an ostrich usually runs away or lies flat on the ground to blend into its surroundings, but if cornered or threatened the bird will deliver a powerful kick with it’s two toed, sharp clawed foot, which can kill a human or large animal like a lion, but it can only kick forwards.
  • Ostriches are  bred on farms for feathers, leather and meat, which tastes a bit like beef, and they can be ridden on, in a similar way to a horse.
  • All the female ostriches in one flock will usually lay their eggs in one nest, with the male and the dominant female taking it in turns to sit on them, although on average, less than 10% of the nests will survive to hatching, and only 15% of the hatched ostrich chicks will live to the age of one.
Bibliography:
Ostrich, 2013, National Geographic, <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/birds/ostrich/>
Ostrich, 2013, San Diego Zoo, < http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/ostrich>

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Common Grass Yellow Butterfly

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Common Grass Yellow Butterfly

Flutter around, dance around.

  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies are commonly know as ‘Common Grass Yellows’ and are also known as ‘Large Grass Yellows’ or ‘Grass Yellows’.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies are small to medium butterflies that are found in Africa, Asia, South Pacific islands and Australia.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies are from the family ‘Pieridae’, a family that has mainly white, yellow and orange butterflies, sometimes with black spots.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies are bright lemon yellow in colour, and have black markings at the tips and borders of the butterfly’s wings and a narrow black band on the hind wing, and the underside of the wings are paler yellow with brown speckles.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies lay tiny white eggs that hatch, and become green caterpillars that grow to 24 – 30 mm (0.95 – 1.2 inches) in length, and then become smooth green pupae.

common Grass Yellow Butterfly, sitting, Closed wings, flower, plant, australia, beautiful, cool, amazing, Ten Random Facts

  • The scientific name of the Common Grass Yellow butterfly is ‘Eurema hecabe’, and they have a wingspan of 35 to 45 mm (1.4 to 1.8 inches).
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies like to fly quickly, close to the ground, are found in open grassy or bushy terrain, hence their name.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterfly larvae feed on a variety of plants, depending on the region, although they often include plants from Euphorbiaceae, the family of spurges, and Fabaceae, the family of legumes, peas and beans.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies have different colouration in their wings depending on the season, known as ‘seasonal polyphenism’, resulting in generally darker wing colours in summer.
  • Common Grass Yellow male butterflies are often seen in large groups, and the females usually fly about by themselves to find nectar from a wide variety of plants.
Bibliography:
Eurema Hecabe, 2012, James Cook University, <http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/insects/JCUDEV_005698>
Eurema Hecabe, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurema_hecabe>
Eurema Hecabe Conterbernalis, 2013, Butterfly Circle Checklist, <http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist%20V2/CI/index.php/start-page/startpage/showbutterfly/25>

Dates

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Sugary juicy dates.

  • Dates are a small fruit of the date palm tree, Phoenix dactylifera and are said to be native to Northern Africa and the Middle East.
  • Dates range from red, yellow and brown in colour and grow to 2.5 – 7 cm (1 – 2.7 inches) in length and have a large seed inside which is often removed, and this is called a pitted date.
  • Dates have been eaten for thousands of years, and are referred to in the Christian Bible.
  • Dates contain up to 85% sugar, and contain many vitamins and minerals, including significant amounts of potassium, Vitamin B, magnesium and manganese.
  • One date palm can produce 80 to 120kg (176 to 264 pounds) of dates each year, although younger plants do not produce as many.

Dates, Brown, Dried,Bowl, Lots, Yummy, Sweet, White, Ten Random Facts, Australia

  • Dates have four different stages of ripening, known as kimri (unripe), khalal or khalaal (crunchy), rutab (soft), tamr or tamar (chewy) and are eaten at the khalal, rutab and tamr stages.
  • In 2009, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran produced about 3.5 million tonnes (3.9 million tons) of dates out of the worldwide production of over 7.4 million tonnes (8 million tons).
  • Dates can be eaten raw, dried, softened, stuffed with nuts or other items, made into a paste, used in desserts or savoury meals, stored in the freezer for use at a later date, and when dried they can be kept almost indefinitely because of their high sugar content.
  • There are three main varieties of dates grown:  ‘soft’, when the date skin is soft, the date is moist and has lower sugar content; ‘semi-dry’, when the date skin is firm, not very moist and high sugar content; and lastly ‘dry’ when the date skin is leathery and the date has barely any moisture and has high sugar content.
  • Dates are said to assist the growth of good intestinal bacteria and are a great food to eat when hungry or commonly used when breaking a fast due to the sugar content which quickly re-energises the body.
Bibliography:
Date Features and Facts, n.d., Gurra Downs, <http://www.gurradowns.com.au/Datefacts.php>
Johnson, P 2013, Date Fruit Benefits, Buzzle, <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/date-fruit-benefits.html>

Great Pyramid of Giza

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Great Pyramid of Giza

A very, very, very large tomb.

  • The Great Pyramid of Giza is also known as Pyramid of Khufu and Pyramid of Cheops.
  • The Great Pyramid of Giza is believed to be a burial pyramid for Pharaoh Khufu, and is located near Cairo, Egypt.
  • The Great Pyramid of Giza is said to have taken 10 to 20 years to be built, and was built around 2500-2600 BC.
  • The Great Pyramid of Giza was originally 146.5 metres (481 feet) in height (although it is now about 9 metres shorter), being the tallest man-made structure until around 1300 AD, 3800 years since construction, and is equivalent to a modern 48 storey building.
  • The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only discovered Egyptian pyramid that has pathways that go up and down.
 Pyramid, Great, Giza, Egypt, Burial, Khufu, Cheops, Pharoh, King, Ten Random Facts, Structures, Sand, Desert, Free Digital Photos
The Great Pyramid of Giza
Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman/ Free Digital Photos
  • It is estimated that 2,300,000 limestone blocks were used in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza, most of them weighing 2 tonnes (2.2 tons) each, and the pyramid was covered with smooth casing stones which were taken and used to build some of the buildings in Cairo.
  • The entrance to the Great Pyramid of Giza is 17 meters (56 feet) above ground level, so tourists use the Robbers’ tunnel to enter the pyramid.
  • The Great Pyramid of Giza covers an area of 13 acres (5.2 hectares) and is oriented to the four main compass points.
  • Three pits sit around the Great Pyramid of Giza, all boat shaped, and a fourth hidden pit contained 1,224 wooden pieces of a boat, which was assembled over a period of 14 years, to make a 43.6 metres (143 ft) long boat.
  • The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Bibliography:
Great Pyramid of Giza, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza>

Zebra

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Zebra

Black and white stripes.

  • Zebras are from the family Equidae, which is the family of horses, although they are generally slower than their cousins, and they run in a zig zag line when chased.
  • Zebras are known for their black and white stripey patterns that cover their body, head and legs, with no two zebras having the exact same pattern.
  • Zebras are found in African grasslands, scrublands, woodlands, mountainous areas, savannas, and coastal areas.
  • There are three different species of zebras, plains zebras; mountain zebras; and Grévy’s zebras, with the plains zebras being the most common, and the other two species are endangered.
  • One sub species of plains zebra is extinct due to hunting – the quagga, which did not have a full body of stripes.
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 Zebras
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Tests have shown that the stripes on zebras help reduce the attractiveness of flies.
  • Zebras grow up to 350 kg (770 pounds) in weight and between 1 and 1.6 metres (3 ft 2 and 5 ft 3) to their shoulder in height.
  • Zebras are herbivores, and mainly eat grass, and can exist on low quality feed.
  • Zebras always sleep standing up, but they only do it when there are fellow zebras on watch for predators like lions and hyenas.
  • Zebras have not been domesticated due to their panicky and unpredictable nature, although there have been single cases of zebras trained for human use.
Bibliography:
Zebra, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra>
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