The nyala (Nyala angasii or Tragelaphus angasii), also called inyala, is a South African spiral-horned antelope. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus Nyala. It is also considered to be in the subgenus Tragelaphus. It was first described in 1849 by George French Angas. The body length is 135–195 cm (53–77 in), and it weighs 55–140 kg (120–310 lb). It is the most sexually dimorphic among the spiral-horned antelopes.
Mainly a herbivore, nyala feeds upon foliage, fruits and grasses, with adequate fresh water. It is uncomfortable in open spaces and is most often seen at water holes. Nyala do not show signs of territoriality, and individual areas can overlap each other. Nyalas are shy and very cautious creatures. Old males live alone, but single sex or mixed family groups of up to 10 individuals can be found. These inhabit thickets within dense and dry savanna woodlands.
It is native to Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Nyala has been introduced in Botswana and Namibia, and reintroduced in Swaziland, where it was extinct since the 1950s. Its population is stable and it has been listed as of Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
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Friday, July 27, 2012
The Nyala, a South African spiral-horned antelope
Meerkat by Pappu Photography
Meerkat
The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan". A meerkat clan often contains about 20 meerkats, but some super-families have 50 or more members. In captivity, meerkats have an average life span of 12–14 years, and about half this in the wild.
"Meerkat" is a loanword from Afrikaans. The name has a Dutch origin but by misidentification. Dutch meerkat refers to the "guenon", a monkey of the Cercopithecus genus. The word "meerkat" is Dutch for "lake cat", but the suricata is not in the cat family, and neither suricatas nor guenons are attracted to lakes; the word possibly started as a Dutch adaptation of a derivative of Sanskrit markaţa मर्कट = "monkey", perhaps in Africa via an Indian sailor on board a Dutch East India Company ship. The traders of the Dutch East India Company were likely familiar with monkeys, but the Dutch settlers attached the name to the wrong animal at the Cape. The suricata is called stokstaartje = "little stick-tail" in Dutch.
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