CONTINENTAL STATS
THE STATS
AFRICA
BBC Wildlife December 2019 Seven Worlds, One Planet 31AFRICA
behind to fertilise them. Once in the
cichlid’s mouth, the catfish young
have the advantage. They hatch out
first and gobble up the cichlid eggs,
finally turning on each other until
the nastiest one is left for the cichlid
mother to bring up.Still surprising
It was scientific revelations like these
that the Seven Worlds production
team were able to uncover. They
filmed a small bird – the ant-eating
chat – that took advantage of the
digging behaviour of pangolins
and aardvarks, and oxpecker birds
that roosted between the back legs
of giraffes. They also discovered
elephants at Mana Pools in
Zimbabwe standing on their back
legs like circus performers so they
could reach the highest fruits of the
apple-ring acacia. What was even
more revealing is the life-cycle ofthe tree. During the drought, it still
functions when all of the other trees
have shut down.
The apple-ring acacia loses most of
its leaves during the wet season, and
grows them again, along with dangly
yellow flowers, at the beginning of
the dry. It is often the only tree with
flowers and leaves during droughts,
so its nectar is a vital resource for
pollinating insects and for the
birds that catch them, and the plant
eaters browse the fresh leaves. Its
characteristic fruiting pods then
mature at the end of the dry season,
a critical time for herbivores.
Wildlife film-makers have been
visiting Africa since 1909, when
English pioneering photographer
Cherry Kearton took the first moving
pictures of elephants, rhinos, hippos
and lions. Yet, even now, over 100
years later, the continent continues
to throw up so many surprises.To t a l l a n d a r e a : 30.37 million km
Human population: 1.3 billion
Population density: 43 per km
Number of countries: 54 (+ 4
dependencies and 2 disputed)
Country with the most threatened
species: Madagascar, 2,373*
Conservation threats:
deforestation, habitat loss, degradation
and destruction, human population
increase and encroachment, poaching,
civil unrest, invasive alien species,
diseases and climate change*Includes IUCN Red List categories: Critically
Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable.They hatch out first
and gobble up the cichlid
eggs, finally turning on
each other until only
the nastiest one is left.
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5
AFRICA In a nutshell
Home to a quarter of global
wildlife and the greatest
numbers of large mammals,
beyond well-known safari
‘stars’, many species face
pressure from rapid
human encroachment.
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5
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4 On the Namib coast,
brown hyenas have
found a convenient
meat store along
the shore.
5 During winter in
Tswalu Kalahari
Reserve, South Africa,aardvarks, which
are usually active at
night, are out and
about in the late
afternoon. This new
schedule has not
gone unnoticed by
an ant-eating chat.