Results tagged “egg” on Earth Touch Blog
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.
Tags: africa, aquatic, blyde canyon, egg, freshwater, hluhluwe, imfolozi, marsh, reptile, shell, south africa, terrapinThe Earth-Touch baby album Apr 30 2008
Over the months, Earth-Touch has been privileged to witness the early days, survival struggles and playful moments of many young animals. Here is a selection of these video clips.
Tags: africa, baboon, baby, bath, bird, botswana, burrow, calf, cape, chick, coast, colony, cub, delta, den, dog, egg, elephant, endangered, fish, fly, foal, giraffe, herd, hluhluwe, imfolozi, juvenile, karoo, kite, kwazulu-natal, lion, mammal, meerkat, monkey, moremi, mud, okavango, piglet, reef, sodwana, south africa, thailand, tree, trunk, video, warthog, water, western cape, whale, young, zebraDid you know? Symbiosis Apr 29 2008
Symbiosis can easily be understood and explained as two organisms living together. There are various sub-divisions of symbiosis, though, and that is where it gets a bit tricky. As a student of biology, I always felt it was easier to understand these complicated scientific relationships when I put them into practical situations.
Tags: anemone, animal, benefit, clownfish, commensalism, egg, fly, hermit crab, immune, interact, mutualism, parasite, parasitism, plant, poison, predator, protect, relationship, shell, sting, symbiosis, tentacle, woundDid you know? Turtles Feb 12 2008
Turtles are one of only three groups of reptiles that live in the sea. The others are sea snakes and marine iguanas.
Tags: beach, dive, egg, endangered, indian ocean, kwazulu-natal, loggerhead turtle, marine iguana, reef, reptile, scuba, sea, sea snake, south africa, turtle, underwaterToads, frogs and tadpoles Feb 4 2008
Toads and frogs are both tailless amphibians and begin life in water as tadpoles.
Tags: amphibian, anatomy, asia, blyde canyon, egg, fertilise, frog, khao yai, metamorphosis, mpumalanga, national park, south africa, tadpole, thailand, toadFirst find your turtle Jan 30 2008
I had grand visions of all the turtles I was going to find and film for Earth-Touch in southern Mozambique. I’d decided to walk a 5km (3mi) stretch every night and guessed that, according to the law of averages, I’d be onto an egg-laying leatherback or loggerhead turtle every three nights.
Weavers at work Jan 29 2008
The spectacled weaver is an impressive nest-builder, as you can see in the Earth-Touch clip, Weavers work on a nest.
First, the birds strip the leaves off the stem on which they are going to attach the nest, unless the tree is a fir or palm. They then tightly weave strips of fine plant material into a structure which has a downward-pointing entrance tunnel.
Tags: bird, blyde canyon, chin, egg, female, fir, incubate, leaf, male, nest, palm, plant, south africa, spectacled weaver, weave, weaver, yellowWildlife news from around the world
Pretenders to the bee throne Jan 29 2008
The Cape honey bee (Apis mellifera capensis) is the only bee species whose workers can produce females from unfertilised eggs. This allows them to compete with the colony’s queen in producing the next queen. A queen bee develops from an ordinary larva if it gets special food.
University of Sydney researcher Lyndon Jordan carried out a genetic study of South African bees showing that 23 out of 39 new queens were the offspring of workers, not old queens. What is more, most of the eggs were laid by workers from other colonies, not resident workers.
Tags: bee, blyde canyon, cape honey bee, colony, egg, honey bee, larva, queen, south africa, swarm, university of sydney, workerDid you know? Loggerhead turtles breeding Dec 21 2007
From October to February, loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) come to breed on the southern coast of Mozambique and the northern coast of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Female loggerheads are believed to mate once in a season as the male’s sperm is apparently copious enough to fertilise as many as 10 batches of eggs. The male, however, can mate multiple times in a season.
Tags: breed, egg, loggerhead turtle, reptile, turtleThe skimmers have returned Oct 23 2007
After a period of absence from the sandbanks of the Nxamaseri Channel in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, the African skimmers appear to have returned.
The Earth-Touch film crew spotted these endangered birds after it was thought that they had left the Nxamaseri area for the season.
Tags: african skimmer, bird, chick, egg, skimmer, threatenedWhat happened to the skimmers? Oct 10 2007
Much to everyone’s surprise, the migratory African skimmers have already left the sandbank at Nxamaseri in the Okavango Delta, where they were nesting and attempting to raise their chicks. This abrupt departure brings to an end a spectacularly unsuccessful season for the endangered birds.
Did you know? Pythons as incubators Oct 10 2007
Although snakes are cold-blooded creatures, the female southern African python (Python natalensis) is able to raise her body temperature and regulate it to within a few degrees of the required 30ºC (86ºF) throughout the incubation period of her eggs (65 to 80 days). During this time she seldom leaves the nest.
Living the hide life … is for the birds Oct 2 2007
By Graham Springer, field crew
I’ve been filming out of Nxamaseri for the past three weeks. The Nxamaseri Channel is a major tributary of the Okavango River, about halfway up the panhandle area of the Okavango Delta in Botswana.
Tags: basin, bird, chick, cubango river, cuito river, egg, hide, hippo, kalahari desert, monitor lizard, monkey, panhandle, papyrus, reed, reptile, sitatunga, snakeDid you know? Ostrich eggs Sep 27 2007
Ostrich eggs are the largest of any bird species, and are hard and smooth. They are larger than a grapefruit, and weigh more than 20 times as much as a chicken’s egg.
Ants on the go Sep 20 2007
The creatures in the Earth-Touch clip The march of the leafcutter ant are truly amazing.
Leafcutter ants cut up leaves with their jaws, which act like miniature power tools and vibrate at a thousand times a second.
Tags: ant, ecuador, egg, fly, fungi, jaw, larvae, leaf, leafcutter ant, south americaUp close with endangered loggerhead turtles Sep 10 2007
Loggerhead turtles are the world’s second biggest marine turtle, after the leatherback, reaching a length of up to 1m (3’3’’) and a weight of 160kg (353lb).
Did you know? Malachite kingfishers Aug 23 2007
Malachite kingfishers, unlike most other bird species, do not nest in trees but rather burrow in river banks. There is no nest, per se, in which eggs can be incubated and therefore three to six eggs are laid on the bare floor of the burrowed chamber. If the chamber has been used previously for egg laying, the floor may be littered with fish bones and scales.
Endangered birds’ eggs adding up Aug 21 2007
The African skimmers’ eggs are adding up on the sandbank in the Nxamaseri Channel in the Okavango, where Earth-Touch has been filming them - the total for this year so far now stands at 18. Watch African skimmers’ eggs nestle safely to see the eggs, and the ingenious nest design which keeps them safe from crocodiles.
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