10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Approximately 2,300 bird species inhabit Africa, however as impressive as that sounds, much smaller South America boasts nearly 1,000 species more. Madagascar’s mammals are equally remarkable; over 100 species of endearing lemurs and bizarre carnivores amongst them!

Papua New Guinea 255

Papua New Guinea Equatorial Guinea Madagascar Tanzania 255

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2014

In other words, the group of mammals that includes all the monkeys, which is rather large (and not accurately defined because I’ve not said what a “monkey” is … am I including lemurs?) and contains apes is referenced to indicate the complete clade.

Camels 258

Camels Whales Whaling Apes 258

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

There wasn’t much around, and aside from a lifer Yellow-bellied Bulbul the two most impressive species were heard not seen – a Blue-headed Pitta an a Banded Kingfisher. The highlight again happened before we left the camp, a family of Crested Firebacks. An oversubscribed night drive didn’t help.

Lemurs 182

Lemurs Rhinoceros Uganda Leopards 182

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2018

There are important details within that dictum that we will ignore here, but this has to do with knowing when a characteristic doesn’t really tell you about the relative position of species on a “tree of life” vs when the characteristic works for that purpose. Rather, cladistics is a way of looking at the process of evolution of species.

Monkeys 196

Monkeys Gorillas Whales Whaling 196