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Picathartes – Africa’s strangest birds

10,000 Birds

The family Picathartidae consists of two very unusual birds; White-necked or Yellow-headed Picathartes , endemic to the Upper Guinea forests of West Africa; and Gray-necked or Red-headed , restricted to Lower Guinea forests of Central Africa. However this classification is no longer widely accepted, and in my opinion quite correctly so.

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Can we talk about Cecil the Lion?

10,000 Birds

If tourists are too dim to tell Sierra Leone from Botswana or Tanzania, do we really want to rely on them to save Africa’s species? Reasonable people can disagree on the conservation impacts on hunting, on the benefits and costs, and on the morality and wisdom of using it as a conservation tool.

Lions 205
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The Bee-eaters of Africa

10,000 Birds

The wonderful family Meropidae contains 27 dazzling species, of which Africa is endowed with no less than 20 species, the balance occurring across Asia and with one as far afield as Australia. The former occurs from Kakamega Forest in Kenya westwards to Cameroon and the latter from Cameroon westwards to Sierra Leone.

Africa 263