Gauteng Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza joined the Sustainable Use of Environment Chief Director Pirate Ncube and his team in the Abe Bailey Nature Reserve game count. Nature Conservation team from Head Office, Roodeplaat, Suikerbosrand and Abe Bailey Nature Reserves ensured a successful game count. Have you ever wondered why GDARD nature conservationists are always in boots and dressed like soldiers?
They are the soldiers of nature. On this day, the team, led by Willem de Lange, had to go around 4 250 hectares counting animals in Abe Bailey and that is hard work.
Nico Grobler explained that there are four dominating wild animals that can be found in Abe Bailey Nature Reserve: zebra, springbok, black wildebeest and red hartebeest. These four main animals are the most economically preferred when it comes to selling. He also emphasised that although all the species are equally important in the reserve, the black wildebeest is the most important and a rare animal found only in South Africa.
How do they differentiate the sex of these animals? Zebras' male genitals are not visible from the outside; they have a thin black line running down the middle of the buttocks from tail to the stomach while female lines are broader. Springbok males have thicker horns than females and females mainly stay in groups. Male black wildebeest have thicker and bigger horns and females are smaller. “Wild animals take care of themselves, they are not like domestic animals, the only thing nature conservators can do is to offer a conducive environment such as grazing space so as to keep a healthy genetic population,” Grobler said.
The MEC congratulated and encouraged nature conservators to keep up the good work. The MEC also visited the nursery in Abe Bailey where indigenous medicinal plants like African potato are planted.
Issued by: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gauteng Provincial Government
16 April 2010
Source: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gdard.gpg.gov.za/)
