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The black musselcracker hails from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans off of South Africa. These fish are ray-finned, which are in the bony fish classification. Due to high residency, slow growth, late maturity, longevity, and hermaphroditism (being both male and female), they suffer from overexploitation. Male and female sex ratios […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The mole snake is native to most of southern Africa. These nonvenomous colubrids are known for their ferociousness, and can deal a painful bite. Even though they face the threats of habitat loss and degradation at the hands of residential and commercial developments, and agricultural intensification; plus persecution due to […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The mountain zebra is native to southern and southwestern Africa. There are 2 subspecies, the Cape mountain zebra and the Hartmann’s mountain zebra. These zebras face the threats of habitat loss and division at the hands of residential and commercial developments, farming, and ranching; hunting; trapping; and climate change, that […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The sable antelope can be found in the southern Savanna regions of Africa. They prefer grasslands and savanna woodland habitats. These antelope go by many names such as kwalat and kwalata (Tswana), swartwitpens (Afrikaans), umtshwayeli (Ndebele), kgama and phalafala (Sotho), kukurugu, ngwarati (Shona), mBarapi and palahala (Swahili), iliza (Xhosa), and […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

Touted as the world’s largest known mole species, it’s the giant golden mole. There are 21 known species of golden moles and all are endemic (live nowhere else) to South Africa. They can only be found in Pretoria (the Nylsvley region) and southwestern parts of Kruger National Park. Like all […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The springbok is a species of antelope that hails from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. They prefer bushlands, deserts, grasslands, open plains, scrublands, and semi-arid areas. Even though they face the threats of hunting and habitat segregation – at the hands of property dividing fences that interfere with migration […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The abalone is a gastropod mollusk (snail) that inhabits tropical and temperate coastal waters off the coasts of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, and North America. These sea snails have a rather bland and camouflaged outer shell yet a brilliant opalescent inner shell appearance. Most are listed as Least […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The nyala is a species of antelope that can be found in thick lowland woodlands, thickets, and green river country in the Lower Shire Valley in Malawi all the way through Zimbabwe and Mozambique to eastern South Africa and even Swaziland. Even though they have to compete with agricultural needs […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The African clawless otter is renown for its amazing, luxurious fur coat. Like all otters, they are cute and can be very playful. These critters are the second largest known freshwater otter species, after the giant river otter. They can be found in sub-Saharan Africa. African clawless otters like streams, […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

1 of the smallest of Africa’s wild cats and definitely the most deadly, it’s the black-footed cat. These highly attuned predators have a knack for being lethal and are the most successful hunters in the wild cat kingdom. There are 2 known subspecies of black-footed cat in South Africa. They […]

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