This book has been written for all who enjoy nature and seek to learn about it. Its primary purpose is to enable readers to identify and name the wild plants and animals that they are most likely to find in southern Africa. The enormous wealth and diversity of wildlife in this subcontinent have long fascinated naturalists and scientists, and the national parks and nature reserves of the region have become internationally renowned. In the past, the reputation of these conserved areas rested mainly on the big game species but today many people are aware of - and more interested in - the entire diversity of nature and the complex plant and animal communities that constitute the ecosystem.
Literature on the wildlife of southern Africa is extensive and field guides are available for almost every group of plants or animals. However, a trip to the bush or a backpacking hike needs to be accompanied by a small library of publications if one is to study the tremendous variety of nature that might be encountered.
The Wildlife of Southern Africa attempts to resolve this problem by providing holiday-makers and visitors from abroad with a simple, single-volume field guide to species they might see. People with particular interests, such as birding, will doubtless use their specialist field guides, while this book will throw light on the myriad other life forms that are inevitably exposed. For serious naturalists, and even professional scientists, it is hoped that the book will serve as an elementary field reference for observations that can be substantiated later in more formal works. For gardeners, farmers, teachers and hikers this book is intended to enhance their knowledge and enjoyment of their surroundings.
Comprehensive coverage of all the tens of thousands of species in southern Africa is clearly impossible. However, The Wildlife of Southern Africa is intended to ensure that all life forms that are likely to be encountered will be identifiable and that descriptions are precise enough for confident identification. To achieve this aim, several techniques and principles have been adopted:
• The following life forms are excluded from the definition of southern African wildlife:
marine and aquatic life except freshwater fishes and marine mammals
microscopic plants and animals
internal parasites
rare or very insignificant species or groups
species that occur only at the periphery of the southern African region.
A more detailed explanation of the coverage of each section is given in the introductory remarks to each chapter. In this way it is hoped that readers will be aware of the probability of positive identification.
• Text has been kept single-mindedly on features which aid identification. Peripheral information has been sacrificed in favour of more comprehensive coverage.
• Where more than one similar species or group occurs, one is illustrated and described in full and the others are identified by providing very brief diagnostic features by which they can be separated reliably.
• In the case of invertebrates, the unit of description is generally the family, rather than individual species. The latter would be impractical because of the large numbers involved and the difficulty of identification in the field. Exceptions to this principle do occur and these are explained in the introductory sections to each chapter.
• Other devices to keep the book compact yet comprehensive are the use of a concise language style, abbreviations and a small typeface.
The book is divided more or less into halves, one dealing with animals and the other with plants.
Animals are dealt with in accordance with zoological classification, the basic unit of which is the species.
A species is a group of individuals evolved from common ancestral stock and capable of breeding with one another to produce fertile offspring.
A genus is a group of species with certain common characteristics and believed to have a relatively recent common evolutionary line.
A family is a group of genera with common characteristics.
An order is a combination of families with common characteristics.
A class is the broad category of classification, e.g. birds, mammals, reptiles. In this book, each of the animal chapters, except Lower invertebrates, deals with a single class.
A phylum is the largest unit of classification. There are 25 phyla in the animal kingdom, only five of which are of relevance to this book.
The accompanying table shows how the eight animal chapters are arranged to accommodate the systematic classification.
Phylum |
Class |
Chapter |
20 phyla of lower animals: mostly marine, microscopic or internal parasites |
|
Not covered by the book but listed in the chapter on Lower invertebrates |
Molluscs |
Gastropods |
Lower invertebrates (certain terrestrial snails) |
Annelids |
Oligochaeta |
Lower invertebrates (earthworms) |
|
Hirudinae |
Lower invertebrates (leeches) |
Onychophora |
Peripatus |
Lower invertebrates (velvet worms) |
Arthropods |
Myriapods |
Lower invertebrates (centipedes and millipedes) |
|
Crustaceans |
Lower invertebrates (freshwater crabs and wood lice) |
|
Arachnids |
Spiders and other arachnids |
|
Insects |
Insects |
Chordata (vertebrates) |
Fishes |
Freshwater fishes |
|
Amphibians |
Frogs |
|
Reptiles |
Reptiles |
|
Birds |
Birds |
|
Mammals |
Mammals |
In botany the basic unit of classification is - as in the case of animals - the species. At higher levels of grouping, however, scientific classification is a less useful basis for arranging the plant section of the book. Chapters are therefore arranged in non-systematic groups which are more easily observed in the field: grasses, sedges, ferns and fungi (although completely different visually and systematically, these are placed in one chapter because the section on each is relatively brief); wild flowers; and trees.
The area covered by The Wildlife of Southern Africa is that part of the African continent south of the Cunene and Zambezi rivers. It includes all or part of seven countries:
• Namibia
• Botswana
• South Africa
• Zimbabwe
• Mozambique
• Swaziland
• Lesotho
The region includes widely different habitats, climates and topography with a consequent diversity of plant and animal species.
• Coastal bush This consists of dense evergreen vegetation with thick undergrowth and some tall trees. It grows on sandy soils along a narrow strip along the east and south coasts.
• Forest The indigenous forests of southern Africa, comprising large trees that form a closed canopy, occur only in patches in high rainfall areas along the south coast and eastern escarpment at various altitudes.
• Desert The extremely dry Namib Desert along the coast of Namibia varies from sandy flats to mountains and is characterised by very sparse, highly specialised plants and animals. The only regular source of moisture is coastal fog. The Kalahari Desert lies further inland and is less arid.
• Grassland Open, undulating grassland is typical across the central highveld regions and on mountain slopes. Under natural conditions it would be lacking in all but a few indigenous trees, but copses of introduced species are now common.
• Karoo (semi-desert) The arid south-central and west-central areas are stony with low, flat-topped koppies and sparse scrub vegetation.
• Fynbos This unique and strikingly diverse floral kingdom lies in the winter rainfall area of the southern and southern-western Cape. It includes mountains and coastal lowlands.
• Mangrove Confined to isolated pockets on the northeast and east coast, these specialised communities of estuarine and intertidal fauna and flora are dominated by mangrove trees.
• Woodland (savanna, bushveld, mopanieveld, miombo) This is an extensive and variable region of open woodland with trees that are spaced sufficiently apart so that there is an understorey of grass and no closed canopy. Moist savanna, in the northeastern, higher rainfall areas, has a predominance of broadleaved, often deciduous, trees. Arid savanna, in the northwestern parts, is dominated by acacia species and is generally more open.
• Tropical east coast region (including the Zambezi and Limpopo valleys) The rivers are generally low-gradient mature systems with floodplain reaches. Other water bodies include coastal lakes, swamps and temporary, rain-filled pans.
• Tropical interior region (upper Zambezi-Okavango-Caprivi) This region includes relatively large, well-watered catchments with a distinct annual flood regime in response to seasonal rainfall, and mature stretches with extensive floodplain and swamp reaches.
• Highveld (temperate) region (a) the interior plateau of Zimbabwe, with comparatively higher numbers of tropical species as a result of connections to the Zambezi systems; (b) South African highveld, extending to the southeast coast, and west along the Orange River valley.
• Montane escarpment region (Drakensberg and eastern Zimbabwe) Generally high-gradient streams with cool temperatures.
• Cape fold mountain region Cool, generally clear waters.
• Kalahari-Karoo-Namib region Intermittent rivers and temporary pans; isolated springs and sinkholes.
Knowing where different species of plants and animals occur often assists with correct identification. Natural distribution ranges seldom coincide with political boundaries of countries or provinces with which most readers will be familiar. Instead, nine broad distribution regions in southern Africa are shown in different colours in the map below and superimposed over the national and provincial boundaries. Species descriptions throughout the book make reference to these regions, and the locality of specimens identified in the wild should always be checked against their probable distribution range.
The distribution regions are not rigidly delineated and the natural ranges of species do not precisely fit the shapes of the regions as depicted. Localities may also be influenced by climate, altitude, topography, geology and soils, and distribution may vary seasonally or as a result of human or natural impacts. However, the use of the map, which is reproduced on the inside front and back covers, should allow readers to establish the distribution ranges of species with moderate accuracy.
For every plant or animal described, the scientific name and the common name (if there is one) are given. Where there has been a recent change in the scientific name, the earlier name is given in brackets. Scientific nomenclature is associated with the system of classification (see Arrangement of contents on p. 2). The scientific name of a species of animal or plant always includes the genus (spelt with a capital letter) and the species (spelt without a capital), both written in italics, e.g. Passer melanurus, Cape sparrow.
Names of families, orders and classes are not written in italics even though they are Latinised, e.g. Ploceidae, the family to which sparrows, weavers and others belong.
English common names exist for most familiar plants and animals and many people find these easier to remember than scientific names. The widely used names also tend to remain unchanged, whereas scientific ones are constantly under revision as our understanding of taxonomic relationships expands. However, common names are subject to the whims of their users and different local names for a single species often occur.
Technical biological terms have been kept to a minimum in this book but are sometimes unavoidable if accuracy and brevity are to be maintained simultaneously The glossary on p. 282 and the morphological diagrams at the beginning of chapters should enable readers to understand any unfamiliar words.