African Wildlife Name Origins

Wonder where some of our wildlife go their names from?

Aardvark: Afrikaans word translation “earth pig” as ears and nose resemble those of a pig, also burrows a lot.
Bat-eared Fox: Refers to the big ears resembling those of egyptian slit-faced bat
Blesbok: Afrikaans word translation “bald buck” referring to the white blaze on the face
Bushbaby: Lives in the “bush” and their call sounds like that of a crying baby
Caracal: From the Turkish name “garah-gulak” meaning black ear, with reference to the black ear tufts
Cheetah: Hindu word “chita” meaning “spotted one”
Duiker: Afrikaans meaning “diver” from the action of the antelope when running away
Eland: Dutch word for elk, thought to be related or similar
Elephant: Greek word “elphas” and latin word “elephantus” for the species
Gemsbok: Dutch word “gems” meaning chamois in reference to colour
Genet: Name of area in Spain the species inhabited in the 18th century
Giraffe: Arabic word “xirapha” meaning “one who walks swiftly”
Hartebeest: Afrikaans word translation “heart cow” with reference to the shape of the horns
Hippopotamus: Greek “(h)ippo” meaning horse, and “pot-amus” meaning flowing river ñ a river horse
Honey Badger: Eats honey, badger from French word “becheur” meaning digger
Impala: Zulu name “imphala” and Tswana name “phala” for the species
Jackal: Persian name “sagal” for the golden jackal
Klipspringer: Afrikaans word translation “stone jumper” with reference to the bounding action in rocky habitat
Kudu: Khoikhoi name for the species
Leopard: Greek words “pardus” for panther and “leo” for lion, shortened to leopard from leopardus
Lion: Greek word “leon” for the species
Mongoose: Indian name “mangus” for the species
Nyala: Zulu name “iNxala” for the species
Pangolin: Malay name for “peng-goling” for the species, which means “the roller” from their habit of rolling into a ball for protection
Porcupine: Greek word “porcus” meaning pig and “spina” meaning species, direct translation “spined pig”
Rhinoceros: Greek word “rhis” meaning nose and “keras” meaning horn, direct translation “nose horn”
Springbok: Afrikaans meaning “jumping back” in reference to their unique jumping action called “pronking”
Warthog: Refers to the outgrowths or warts on the face
Zebra: Portuguese or Italian name of the species in the Congo region

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Man Eaters - The Legend of the Tsavo Lions

There has been much speculation about the man-eaters of Tsavo with a fair amount of sensationalizing and dramatizing especially in the movie based on the story. "The Ghost and the Darkness" was an entertaining film but definitely a spiced up version. "Tsavo" translates to "Place of Slaughter" which is aptly named if true. Between Lt. Col John Patterson, who was building a railway bridge over the Tsavo River (Kenya) during 1898, who hunted a wide variety of wildlife extensively, and the 2 Tsavo lions that allegedly killed and ate over 130 Indian workers the name certainly fits the bill. During a period of 9 months the Tsavo lions hunted those working on the bridge despite erecting bomas (fences built from thorn tree branches) and burning fires at night in an attempt to keep the lions away from the camp. The attacks came mainly at night when the lions would enter a tent and drag out the unfortunate victim and then proceed to devour him nearby. Work
Read more

Wildlife in Africa - Fun Facts to take on Safari

Image
Animals are all uniquely adapted for life in the wild on the African continent. Below are some fun facts to take on safari. Spotted hyaena often sit in water to cool off. They are unable to perspire and so pant nasally, the evaporation from the moist mouth and nasal cavities cooling the inhaled air and the blood going to the brain. At certain times of the year during winter, sparse vegetation or drought, a leopard tortoise will eat calcified dung to help with shell development or egg laying; giraffe will suck on large bones, using their tongue to manipulate the bone in and out of their mouth to obtain trace elements such as calcium and phosphorous. Wild dogs are not a feral species. They are naturally occurring, evolved in Africa and have maintained their current form for a few hundred thousand years. Wild dogs grab small prey and give the “death shake”, violently shaking the small animal with rapid side to side movements of their head which usually breaks the preys neck or
Read more

A Game Farm in Africa

Image
There is a special joy that comes with living on a game farm. Not a commercial game farm, but our home where my parents and I share the property with a variety of wildlife, all of them with their own individual natures who provide a lot of amusement and sometimes exasperation. It has taken years to build up the game population from when we arrived here and had problems with poachers and masses of snares. The property is now securely game fenced and protected from these threats. We have resident wildebeest, zebra, impala, nyala, kudu, duiker as well as a hand reared gemsbok who still gets a bottle of water fed to her daily (at 2 years old) so that we can administer medicine if we need to. Gemsbok are not indigenous to this area and are susceptible to tick born diseases. Throw in a host of guinea fowl, peacocks, ostriches and monkeys all moving around freely and you get a lot of activity. We have had to fence off our living areas to keep the bigger wildlife away from our offices, sheds a
Read more