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Bounty on Sodwana reefs May 13 2008

There’s always a lot to see at Bikini and Ribbon reefs in Sodwana Bay, which is part of the Isimangaliso Wetland Park on South Africa’s Indian Ocean coast.

The colours, shapes, patterns and textures of corals, sponges and the reef fish themselves are a constant source of wonder. It’s also fascinating to watch the creatures interacting: anemones and clownfish in symbiosis, cleaner shrimps attending to morays, fish defending their territory, or a turtle feeding.

Portly puffer fish, thin ribbon eels and ghost pipefish, flat rays, geometrically patterned morays and raggedy paperfish are among the amazing creatures to be seen in these Earth-Touch clips:

Bright colours on Bikini Reef
Rare species on Ribbon Reef
Pink paperfish waft in the surge

Images of anemonefish or clownfish and puffer fish © Earth-Touch 2008

Did you know?

Did You Know? Marsh terrapin May 13 2008

The marsh terrapin (Pelomedusa subrufa) belongs to the family of side-necked terrapins. This genus is found in Africa, Madagascar and the Seychelles, and the species is the most common terrapin in southern Africa.

These terrapins withdraw their head into their shell by turning it sideways. One eye can still be seen when they do this.

Marsh terrapins have webbed hind feet. Males grow bigger than females (up to 325mm or 13in) and have longer tails and flatter shells. The males’ shells are turned upwards at the edges towards the back legs.

These terrapins are found in a variety of freshwater environments and can remain buried in mud or soil during dry periods.

They eat insects, fish, tadpoles, crabs, frogs, birds, carrion and vegetable matter.

In courtship, the male rubs his chin tentacles on the back of the female’s head, while water flows from his nostrils onto her face. When mating, the male hooks his claws over the edge of the female’s shell.  Females dig holes in soft soil in which to lay their soft-shelled eggs. Juveniles have a lengthwise ridge along their shells.

When disturbed, the animals produce an unpleasant-smelling substance from musk glands.

Watch a marsh terrapin from the Blyde Canyon, South Africa, in the Earth-Touch clip, Rain entices terrapin out and several of the creatures at a waterhole in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve in the clip Muddy movement turns out to be terrapins.

Images © Earth-Touch 2008

Alexander G & Marais J 2007, A guide to the reptiles of Southern Africa, Struik Publishers, Cape Town.

Branch B 2008, Tortoises, terrapins and turtles of Africa, Struik Publishers, Cape Town.

Photography

Flickr group: pic of the day – sea slug May 12 2008

This strange creature is a type of nudibranch (a marine mollusc or, colloquially, sea slug). It is referred to by the Latin name, Phidiana hiltoni, and sometimes called a Californian nudibranch or Hilton’s phidiana.

Phidiana hiltoni are found in a relatively small area of the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and California.

This photo was taken by our Earth-Touch Flickr group member Ken Bondy while diving off Santa Rosa Island, one of the California Channel Islands, United States.

It is our Earth-Touch Flickr group “picture of the day”.

Ken said: “I have always considered Phidiana to be one of the most beautiful of the eastern Pacific nudibranchs. Nudibranchs, as a group, may be the most beautiful animals on earth.”

Image © Ken Bondy 2008

Featured on Earth-Touch

Flower makes a meal for a beetle May 12 2008

It’s not only the “big five” that are worth watching in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve: the wonderful construction and function of smaller creatures like the CMR bean beetle (Mylabris oculata) have also fascinated the Earth-Touch film crew.

In the clip CMR bean beetle eats flowers, the insect feeds on a wild cotton plant and in doing so pollinates the plant.

This beetle is one of the family of blister beetles. The secretion it can produce from the joints of its legs can blister the skin of a human being.

The CMR part of its name comes from its colours, the same as those of the Cape Mounted Rifle Corps, a police force in the old Cape Colony.

More Earth-Touch footage of insects can be found here:
Beetles roll dung balls (filmed in the Blyde Canyon, South Africa)
Mossy old tree hosts tiny creatures (Hawaan Forest, South Africa)
Island life (Okavango Delta, Botswana)
Beetle and adder on Namib sands (Namib Desert, Namibia)
Ants and spider work at sunrise (Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa)
Bees busy at tree trunk hive (Khao Yai National Park, Thailand)

You can also see the large-scale effects of insects on the environment in the Yellowstone National Park clip, Fire in the life of the forest.

Image © Earth-Touch 2008

Featured on Earth-Touch

Hornbills feed in banyan tree May 12 2008

On a cool, breezy morning in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand, the Earth-Touch crew visited a banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) to watch birds and other wildlife feeding on the fruit.

Several species of hornbill arrived: oriental pied hornbills, great hornbills and wreathed hornbills. A gibbon also had a meal of figs and some thick-billed pigeons (Treron curvirostra) waited in another tree.

A crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela) on a branch started to turn its head and gape widely, apparently a sign that it was about to cast a pellet. This raptor specialises in eating snakes.

Watch the Earth-Touch clip, Birds feast on figs, and some of the other Earth-Touch footage from Khao Yai:

Hornbill feeds figs to his mate
Gibbons swing through the trees
Bengal monitor basks in the sun
Snake explores rocky stream

Image of great hornbill © Earth-Touch 2008

Did you know?

Did you know? African penguin May 12 2008

Formerly known as the jackass penguin, the African penguin (Spheniscus dermersus) got its original name from its call, which is uncannily similar to that of a donkey.

African penguins are endemic to the Southern African countries of South Africa and Namibia, and mostly occur within a few kilometeres of the coastline. Non-breeding birds spend most of their time at sea.

Their natural predators include great white sharks, Cape fur seas, and occasionally killer whales.

African penguins eat mostly fish, which they most often catch from below, during the daytime. They can easily dive to a depth of about 50m (164ft), but have been recorded diving as deep as 130m (427ft) and more.

While these birds look comical and ungainly on land, in the water, they are efficient, streamlined swimmers that move quickly and gracefully through the ocean, often in synchronicity with one another.

According to the latest assessment of this species for the World Conservation Union’s Red Data List, conducted in 2005, there are only about 180 000 African penguins left, and the birds are classified as “vulnerable”: “This species is classified as Vulnerable because it is undergoing an observed rapid population decline, largely as a result of egg-collecting and habitat degradation caused by guano-collectors and commercial fisheries. A catastrophic oilspill recently occurred, affecting c.40% of the population, and resulting in the world’s biggest seabird rescue operation.”

Watch the Earth-Touch clips:

Penguins follow each other to the water
Penguins line up at sunrise
Penguins dive into stormy sea
Penguin launch

Image: African penguin © Earth-Touch 2008

Sources:

Hockey, PAR, Dean, WRJ and Ryan, PG 2006, Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, VIIth Ed, The Trustees of the Jon Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town

International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Species 2007, Red List of Threatened Species: African penguin.
Retrieved May 10, 2008, from “http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/20608/all"

Featured on Earth-Touch

The week’s most viewed stories May 9 2008

The most popular stories on Earth-Touch in the past week (from Friday 02 May to Thursday 08 May 2008) were:

Number 1

Unusual reef is full of surprises

It’s a special day at Sodwana, as the Indian Ocean offers up everything from coral and shrimps to dolphins and the world’s largest fish.

Number 2

Male lions defend territory by roaring in the night

We believe that Gochathebe, the island in the Okavango Delta in Botswana where we are currently based, is an overlapping territory for different lion prides.

Number 3

Close encounter with a leviathan

A female whale, seemingly enjoying the company, links up with me and follows me around, careful not to swipe me with her huge fluke.

Images © Earth-Touch 2008

Photography

Flickr group: pic of the day – woodland kingfisher May 9 2008

Woodland kingfishers (Halcyon senegalensis) are found widely throughout most of Africa. They are a common species, identifiable by their two-tone beak.

This photo was taken by our Earth-Touch Flickr group member Palko72, in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

It is our Earth-Touch Flickr group “picture of the day”.

Palko used a Canon EOS 5D, and a 300 mm f/2.8 lens, with a 2x extender for this image.

Image © Palko72 2008

Featured on Earth-Touch

Impala herd grazes in the morning May 9 2008

On a beautiful, rain-refreshed morning in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve, in South Africa, the first animal the Earth-Touch crew saw was an impala ram, belonging to a herd of about 200.

In days gone by, herds of impala (Aepyceros melampus) reportedly contained millions of individuals. Today, despite the hunting that has reduced their numbers over the centuries, these adaptable grazers are still numerous and easily taken for granted.

They are an important part of the food chain, being prey for all the large and medium-sized predators on the African savannah.

On this occasion, young males tested their strength, horn against horn, but it wasn’t the season for serious battles.

Watch the Earth-Touch clip, Impalas graze at ease.

Image © Earth-Touch 2008

Photography

Flickr group: pic of the day – plumed basilisk May 8 2008

The plumed basilisk (Basiliscus plumifrons) is a species of lizard native to South America. The male of the species has three crests on its head and body, the female has only one small crest on its head.

It is omnivorous and eats insects, small mammals, other smaller lizards, fruits and flowers.

This photo of a female plumed basilisk is our Earth-Touch Flickr group “picture of the day”.

It was taken by our Earth-Touch Flickr group member Mikul (AKA eyesplash Mikul).

Image © Mikul / eyesplash Mikul 2008