Galago — Galagos, also known as bushbabies, bush babies or nagapies (meaning “little night monkeys” in Afrikaans), are small, nocturnal primates native to continental Africa, and make up the family Galagidae. They are sometimes included as a subfamily within the Lorisidae or Loridae. According to some accounts, the name bush baby comes from either from the animals’ cries, or their …

Blesbok — The Blesbok, or Blesbuck, (Damaliscus dorcas phillpsi) is related to the Bontebok (Damaliscus dorcas dorcas)and it is purplish antelope with a distinctive white face and forehead. Although they are close relatives of the Bontebok and they can interbreed creating an animal known as the Bontebles they do not share habitat, the Bontebok being found in large numbers on …

Baboon — The five baboon species are some of the largest non-hominid members of the primate order; only the Mandrill and the Drill are larger. In modern scientific use, only members of the genus Papio are called baboons, but previously the closely related Gelada (genus Theropithecus) and two species of Mandrill and Drill (genus Mandrillus) were grouped in the same …

Gladiolus — Gladiolus (from Latin, the diminutive of gladius, a sword) is a genus of flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae). Sometimes called the sword lily, the most widely-used English common name for these plants is simply gladiolus (plural gladioli or gladioluses). The genus Gladiolus contains about 260 species, of which 250 are native to sub-Saharan Africa, mostly South …

Freesia — Freesia is a genus of 14-16 species of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, native to Africa. Of the 14 species, 12 are native to Cape Province, South Africa, the remaining two to tropical Africa, one species extending north of the equator to Sudan. The genus was named in honor of Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese (1795-1876), German physician. …

Bougainvillea — Bougainvillea is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province). Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus. The name comes from Louis Antoine de Bougainville, an admiral in the French Navy who discovered the plant in Brazil in 1768. They are …

Amaryllis — Amaryllis is a monotypic (only one species) genus of plant also known as the Belladonna Lily or naked ladies. The single species, Amaryllis belladonna, is a native of South Africa, particularly the rocky southwest region near the Cape. It is often confused with the Hippeastrum, a flowering bulb commonly sold in the winter months for its propensity to …

Aloe — Aloë, is a genus containing about four hundred species of flowering succulent plants. The genus is native to Africa and is common in South Africa’s Cape Province and the mountains of tropical Africa, and neighbouring areas such as Madagascar, the Arabian peninsula and the islands off Africa. The APG II system (2003) placed the genus in the family …

Starling — Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name “Sturnidae” comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent plumage. Starlings occur naturally in the Old World, from Europe, Asia and Africa, …

Mynah — The myna is a bird of the starling family (Sturnidae). This is a group of passerine birds which occur naturally only in southern and eastern Asia. Several species have been introduced to areas like North America, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, especially the Common Myna which is often regarded as an invasive species. Mynas are not a …