Category: Africa
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What Monkeys Have Died In Hong Kong Zoo?
Nine monkeys were found dead within a short time at the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. Speculating over the cause of death before the necropsy report is released is never a good idea. Now how about I share some of my knowledge and experience about these monkeys? De Brazza’s monkey (Cercopithecus neglectus) is the…
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I Was About To Meet Anne Innis Dagg
I was scheduled to meet the world’s first giraffologist on Monday during her trip to Hong Kong. I have been preparing for welcoming this pioneering zoologist from Canada. But now, this meeting will never be possible. R.I.P. Dr. Anne Innis Dagg (1933-2024) My deepest condolences to the family and the Anne Innis Dagg (AID) Giraffe…
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Wandering The Avenue of The Baobabs, Madagascar
The video includes baobab trees, Pachypodium, other succulent plants, friendly Malagasy people, and spectacular scenery of beautiful scenic roads shot in rural Madagascar during one of my many field trips to The Great Red Island. Locations: The Avenue of the Baobabs, Marofototra, Morondava, Isalo, Madagascar, Africa Music: Toni Kingston – October Passed Me By –…
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How To Tell A Millipede From A Centipede
Every time when I say I want to show you some creepy crawlies people are expecting spiders and snakes but no one will expect these. I think these are creepier than spiders. Shongololo, The Giant African Millipede these are the African giant millipedes. when I was in south Africa local people called them an interesting…
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Why I Ain’t Black But Have Dreadlocks | Kids Asked Me Hard Questions About Animals And My HAIR!
Questions for me from students of FabSummer School: 00:46 How old are you? 01:29 What type of animals are spiders? 02:19 What does nocturnal mean? 03:09 Why you don’t afraid of animals? 05:52 What animals do you like the most? 06:59 Can Axolotls actually regenerate their bodies? 08:25 How do pets eat Mr. Toni? 09:55…
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Wild Elephant’s Foot Plants in Isalo, Madagascar | 我在馬達加斯加伊薩盧遇見象牙宮
Yes, this is one of the rare succulents “trending” recently especially in Asia. Keeping them in pots at home is a really good hobby. Finding wild ones in their natural habits is just on another level. Even photos of wild ones are not as easy to find as most other objects. Here is one of…
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How Could Black Lives Not Matter?
Africa was the birth-place of Homo sapiens. Diamond, sugar, salt, gold, iron, cobalt, uranium, copper, bauxite, silver, petroleum and cocoa beans, coffee – All happiness in life is from Africa!
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Wild Boar – Hong Kong Wildlife | 野豬 – 香港野生動物
The Wild boars (Sus scrofa) is also known as wild swine, common wild pig, or simply wild pig. Sus scrofa (Linnaeus, 1758)Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: MammaliaOrder: ArtiodactylaFamily: SuidaeGenus: SusSpecies: scrofa See more of my encounters with Hong Kong Wildlife. 野豬, 山豬
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Scarab Beetle – Hong Kong Wildlife | 金龜子 – 香港野生動物
Because of its glamorous metallic colors, these were the popular bugs Hong Kong kids used to spend their springs and summers finding them in the bush back in the 1970’s to 80’s. There are over 30,000 species of scarabs in the world. In Hong Kong, the more common scarabs include The green chafer beetles (Anomala…
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Wild Ploughshare Tortoise Is The Rarest Species I’ve Ever Found
Today is Endangered Species Day. (瀕危物種日) The rarest animal I’ve ever found was the Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis). Only around 20 of them are in the wild. But that’s a subspecies of leopards. In terms of a full species, this is the rarest one in my experience. Let me introduce the most endangered species…
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Jumping Spider – Hong Kong Wildlife | 跳蛛 – 香港野生動物
These teeny weeny little spiders have huge eyes! Jumping spiders have 4 pairs of eyes – 1 principal pair that is movable and 3 secondary pairs that are fixed. There are over 6,000 described species of jumping spiders in the world, making it the largest family of spiders at 13% of all species. Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum:…
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Harvestman – Hong Kong Wildlife | 盲蛛 – 香港野生動物
Before you want to learn about Harvestmen (also called Daddy longlegs or Harvesters), let me explain a little about invertebrate classification – Fun fact: They are not spiders. Because of having 8 legs, these bugs are not insects. However, it does not necessarily make them spiders. There are many other bugs with 8 legs. They…
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Green Sea Turtle – Hong Kong Wildlife | 綠海龜 – 香港野生動物
Did you know that sea turtles would come to Hong Kong? There are 7 species of sea turtles in the world, and surprisingly all of them have been spotted in Hong Kong waters. How amazing! Our most frequent visitor is the Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas). Young turtles are carnivores, preying on crabs, shrimps, jellyfish,…
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Big Cats Roaming Freely In The Wild May Not Always Be The Lucky Ones
Everyone is talking about “Tiger King”. Now you probably have an idea how big cats like lions and tigers are kept in captivity. You may think that they could have a better life if they were in their natural habitats. I have spent a lot of time in Africa, and I did not always see…
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Why Kobe Bryant is called Black Mamba but The Snake is Not Black
Why did Kobe Bryant choose Black Mamba when there are cobra, viper, rattlesnake, tiger snake, krait, and 600 other venomous snakes in the world? Let me recap a few cool things about this snake probably most people didn’t know: Why “Black” Mamba When It’s Not Black?Its body is not black but olive, yellowish-brown, khaki or…
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Redemption Song Of My 2 Months In Madagascar
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Wild Hedgehog Facts & Differences From Porcupines, Echidnas, and Tenrecs
African Four-Toed or Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) In this video I’m talking about: – The differences between African hedgehogs, European hedgehogs, Porcupines of Asia, Echidnas of Australia, and Tenrecs of Madagascar – Relationship with other mammals through evolution – Self-anointing behavior – Crepuscular animals – How to stay cool while being bit by a hedgehog…
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My Accomplishments in 2018
A lot has happened this year. To the now me, 2017 is so five years ago. January & February Kenya- Went on a decent, British colonial style safari which was not quite typical of me. Uganda- Found and got up close and personal with a band of wild Mountain Gorillas up to 400+ lbs. and…
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Kong Boy vs Kong Band
Kong boy is me (Hong Kong). Kong band is a group of gorillas (not Gorillaz the band but band is the collective noun for gorillas). I’m going to share my Kong moment – The biggest animal I’ve touched in the wild in 2018 was the Silverback Mountain Gorilla of Uganda! I also bear-hugged the “more…
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The Rarest in Madagascar
The Ploughshare tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora), or Angonoka tortoise, may look like just any tortoise to most people. But if you know a bit about reptiles you would realize this is the number 1 rarest tortoise in the world. It is also one of the top 10 rarest animals on earth – significantly rarer than the…
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Chameleons in Madagascar I Encountered
In my last 6-week trip to Madagascar, I have been to most of the districts in the country except the extreme north such as Nosy Be where I already visited a few times in the past. I went on field trips every day (and night). There have been 183 chameleons in my findings. Here I’m…
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Frogs in Madagascar I Encountered
Frogs are the only amphibians in Madagascar. There are no toads, salamanders, newts, or caecilians. Malagasy painted mantella (Mantella madagascariensis)
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Lizards in Madagascar I Encountered
There are over 300 species of lizards in Madagascar. During the trip, I’ve come across countless lizards that were mostly Chameleons, Leaf-tailed geckos, and Day geckos. Other than these 3 popular types of lizards, there had been some lesser-known species I found that are no less interesting. Three-eyed lizard (Chalarodon madagascariensis) One of the 8…
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Day Geckos in Madagascar I Encountered
Phelsuma is a genus of geckos mostly found in Mauritius and Madagascar. Day geckos are especially easier for me to spot than other geckos not only because of their bright green color but also their unusually diurnal behavior. I found them not only in the field but also in many of the rooms I stayed…
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Leaf-tailed Geckos in Madagascar I Encountered
Uroplatus is a genus of geckos, commonly known as leaf-tail geckos, which are endemic to Madagascar. If you think chameleons are experts at camouflage I’d say the leaf-tailed geckos are the masters of camouflage. At some point, they could be at the same difficulty level to spot in the jungle as stick insects. Not only does…
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Lemurs in Madagascar I Encountered
Indri (Indri indri) Once upon a time, there were extinct lemurs as big as gorillas. Today, the Indri is the largest extant lemur species. But it is critically endangered, too.
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Mammals in Madagascar I Encountered
Most of my sightings of mammals in Madagascar are lemurs, obviously. I’d put them in another post – Lemurs in Madagascar I Encountered Lemurs are attractive but I wouldn’t forget that there were many interesting and lesser-known mammals I encountered in Madagascar. Lesser hedgehog tenrec (Echinops telfairi) Surprisingly, the tenrecs are related to sea cows and elephants…
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Aye-aye, Devil of Madagascar
This is one of the Aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) I found in Madagascar. They are lemurs but quite a different one. Despite their large body size, the Aye-ayes took me a lot longer to find than other lemurs. It means death when its elongated middle finger points at someone, locals believe. The Aye-aye would scare the…
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Baobab and Tortoise Symbiosis
The largest succulent and the most trafficked tortoise. So old, so slow, yet (probably) not too wise. The other night with the full moon, I was there in the extreme south of Madagascar watching these 2 symbolic Malagasy creatures living in harmonic symbiosis. I was sitting next to both of them all night and loving…
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I Climbed up a Big Fat Baobab
To celebrate my encounter with the super rare Ploughshare tortoises in Madagascar, I decided to free climb the biggest baobab in the area barefoot. These chubby beauties are straight and surprisingly smooth. Baobabs are so much harder to climb than most trees. I still ain’t sure how I managed to climb up so high. I…
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My Oldest New Friend The Aldabra Giant Tortoise
200+ years old is the age of this tortoise I was told. It might be exaggerated but still, I think this is the oldest animal I have ever met. I had to check history books to imagine how the world was like when this old folk was a 3-inch small hatchling. Giant tortoises are proven…
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World’s Last Male of This Rhino Dies
So long, Sudan! As a dinosaur fan when I was a kid, co-existing with some still living triceratops on earth inside the timeline of my life was hope, heuristic and what made me go on. But now I’m grown and I’ve learned more. It just leaves tears. After Suni died 4 years ago, Sudan became…
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Face to Face with the Biggest Shoebill
No, it’s not the bill you pay for your Air Jordan. The shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) or whalehead, is a very large stork-like bird. This is one I’ve come across in Uganda. In front of such a prehistoric looking creature with a wingspan of over 8 feet, you better stay low like what I did in…
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Typical Safari Is Not Typical of Me
I just went on a decent, British colonial style safari watching the big five in Maasai Mara, Kenya. Such a typical safari for some who’s been working with wild animals for decades. Why did I feel brand new? It’s because it’s not hands-on. My eyes had plenty to see but my hands had nothing to…