article thumbnail

White-backed Vultures are Proper Birds

10,000 Birds

The vultures didn’t kill it, but they’ll clean up the mess. The populations remain stable in Ethiopia, Tanzania and southern Africa, but have collapsed in West Africa and have declined in other parts as well. The cute dead little Wildebeest?

Africa 174
article thumbnail

The Storks of Africa

10,000 Birds

A Marabou Stork arriving at its roost tree, Serengeti, Tanzania by Adam Riley We’ll start off with the largest and ugliest of them all (measuring up to 60in (152cm) in height, a weight of 20 lb (9 kg) and a wingspan of up to 12ft), the Marabou Stork. They also prey on frogs and crabs. Its range also extends to nearby Madagascar.

Africa 237
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Can we talk about Cecil the Lion?

10,000 Birds

Tell me, what happens if we rip away hunting when hunting protects more wildlife land in Africa than national parks? The killing of Cecil was equated with murder, a moral crime rather than a symptom of a ecological problem. Conservation is concerned about protecting populations, species, habitats, ecosystems. I’m sorry.

Lions 205
article thumbnail

Birding the Kruger Park (4): Letaba area

10,000 Birds

Reportedly, the Water Thick-knee sometimes locates its nest close to the nest of Nile crocodiles as this offers some protection. Others are being killed for use in traditional medicine. A bit like renting an apartment next to a mass murderer in the hope that this will deter other criminals, but as they say, nature knows best.

Zimbabwe 147
article thumbnail

Frogs and Toads of the World: A Book Review by a Fairy Tale Junkie

10,000 Birds

Or, Pygmy leaf-folding frogs, Afrixalus brachycnemis, from Tanzania, tiny climbing frogs who lay their eggs in leaves and then fold the leaves over them for protection, sealing the nest with secretions.

Reptiles 183
article thumbnail

Birding the Kruger Park (2): Bateleur area

10,000 Birds

Wikipedia also has an interesting paragraph hinting at observation bias in ornithologists: “At the continental scale, saddle-billed storks preferred protected areas that have a higher extent of open water compared to areas without the storks. Medicinal and commercial uses of ostrich products in Tanzania.

Ostriches 147
article thumbnail

Africa’s endangered species

10,000 Birds

A pair of Hooded Vultures in Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania by Adam Riley. Rueppell’s Vulture scanning for a carcass at Ndutu, Tanzania by Adam Riley. An adult (left) and subadult (right) White-backed Vulture with full crops after feeding on the remains of a Lion kill, Ndutu, Tanzania by Adam Riley.