Dandelion

"Dandelion" pencil sketch and watercolour - Maree©

We have clumps of the weed Dandelion growing all over our smallholding and it is absolutely fascinating watching the tiny, fine, little white hairy tufts floating off in the wind, to settle somewhere and somehow penetrate the hard ground to bring forth new life. The tiny yellow flowers are a joy, and many insects, including bees and butterflies, seem to enjoy them immensely. And the flowers last a really long time in a tiny vase.

Other names

Taraxacum, foreign dandelion, wild endive, piss-a-bed, lion's tale or tooth as well as pu gong ying.

Description of the herb dandelion

Dandelion is a perennial with a thick tap root. The saw-toothed leaves form a rosette at the base of the plant. Solitary, bright yellow flowers appear from spring to autumn. Ribbed fruits bearing tufts of fine, white hairs follow flowers. Dandelion is well known as a garden weed.

Parts used

The whole plant is used in herbal preparations - the leaves, roots and flowers.

How It Is Used

The leaves and roots of the dandelion, or the whole plant, are used fresh or dried in teas, capsules, or extracts. Dandelion leaves are used in salads or as a cooked green, and the flowers are used to make wine.

Properties

Dandelion is a bitter-sweet, cooling herb that has diuretic, laxative effects. It also stimulates liver function, improves digestion and reduces swelling and inflammation.

It contains sesquiterpene lactones (tetrahydroridentin B and taraxacolide B-D-glucoside), phenolic acid derivative (taraxacoside), triterpenoids (taraxasterol and its derivatives), potassium and insulin.

Safety precautions and warnings

None

Internal use

Dandelion is used internally for gall bladder and urinary disorders, jaundice, cirrhosis of the liver, dyspepsia and constipation, oedema associated with high blood pressure and heart weakness.

The bitter substance in the herb also stimulates digestion.

In Chinese medicine it is used for lung and breast tumours, abscesses as well as hepatitis.

The high content of insulin makes it useful for people with diabetes.

External use

Chronic joint and skin complaints including acne, eczema, psoriasis. It is used in facial steam, as well as face packs. Folklore recommends dandelion poultices for snakebite.

The young leaves may also be boiled as a vegetable, spinach fashion, thoroughly drained, sprinkled with pepper and salt, moistened with soup or butter and served very hot. If considered a little too bitter, use half spinach, but the Dandelion must be partly cooked first in this case, as it takes longer than spinach. As a variation, some grated nutmeg or garlic, a teaspoonful of chopped onion or grated lemon peel can be added to the greens when they are cooked. A simple vegetable soup may also be made with Dandelions.

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Bush Babies

Galagos, also known as bushbabies, bush babies or Nagapies (meaning "little night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small, nocturnal primates native to continental Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They are sometimes included as a subfamily within the Lorisidae or Loridae.

According to some accounts, the name bush baby comes from either the animal's cries or appearance. The South African name Nagapie comes from the fact they are almost exclusively seen at night.

Galagos have large eyes that give them good night vision, strong hind limbs, acute hearing, and long tails that help them balance. They have nails on most of their digits, except for the second toe of the hind foot, which bears a 'toilet' claw for grooming. Their diet is a mixture of insects and other small animals, fruit, and tree gums


Bush baby

Galagos have remarkable jumping abilities, including the ability to jump up to 2 meters vertically. This is thought to be due to elastic energy storage in tendons of the lower leg, allowing far greater jumps than otherwise possible for an animal of their size. They often urinate on their feet as this enhances their grip capability

After a gestation period of 110-133 days, young Galagos are born with half-closed eyes and are initially unable to move about independently. After a few days (6–8 days), the mother carries the infant in her mouth, and places it on branches while feeding.

Females maintain their territory but share them with their offspring. Males leave their mothers' territories after puberty but females remain, forming social groups consisting of closely related females and their young. Adult males maintain separate territories, which overlap with those of the female social groups; generally, one adult male mates with all the females in an area. Males who have not established such territories sometimes form small bachelor groups.


Galago moholi
Photo: Gerald Doyle

While their keeping as pets is not advised (like many other non-human primates, they are considered likely sources of zoonoses, diseases that can cross species barriers) it is certainly done. Equally, they're highly likely to attract attention from customs officials on importation into many countries. Reports from veterinary and zoological sources indicate captive lifetimes of 12 to 16.5 years, suggesting a natural lifetime of the order of a decade

Galagos communicate both by calling to each other, and by marking their paths with urine. At the end of the night, group members use a special rallying call and gather to sleep in a nest made of leaves, a group of branches, or a hole in a tree.


Bush Baby at night

Habitat
Both bush babies and galagos often share habitats with monkeys, but as bush babies are nocturnal they do not compete ecologically with monkeys. Bush babies are found throughout East Africa, as well as in woodlands and bush lands in sub-Saharan Africa. They generally do not inhabit areas above altitudes of 6,500 feet. Most often they live in tree hollows that provide shelter. Sometimes they construct nests in the forks of branches, but these are not as commonly used as are natural holes. Bush babies prefer trees with little grass around them, probably as a precaution against wild fires. They will also shelter in manmade beehives.

Food and Feeding
During the rainy season, bush babies eat mainly insects such as caterpillars & dung beetles, which they catch by pouncing on them. They are quick enough to catch mice & lizards. In addition, they raid birds' nests for eggs. Bush babies eat flowers, fruits, pollen, nectar, & honey from wild bees as well. In the dry season, their diet changes as food becomes scarce. They rely on the resin of Acacia & Albizzia trees, & they only survive in areas where these trees grow.

Porcupines

Porcupines on the red Kalahari dunes, Kgalagadi, South Africa
©South African Tourism

The porcupine is the prickliest of rodents, though its Latin name means "quill pig." There are about two dozen porcupine species, and all boast a coat of needle-like quills to give predators a sharp reminder that this animal is no easy meal. Some quills, like those of Africa's crested porcupine, are nearly a foot (30 centimeters) long.

Porcupines have soft hair, but on their back, sides, and tail it is usually mixed with sharp quills. These quills typically lie flat until a porcupine is threatened, then leap to attention as a persuasive deterrent. Porcupines cannot shoot them at predators as once thought, but the quills do detach easily when touched.

Many animals come away from a porcupine encounter with quills protruding from their own snouts or bodies. Quills have sharp tips and overlapping scales or barbs that make them difficult to remove once they are stuck in another animal's skin. Porcupines grow new quills to replace the ones they lose.


Porcupine roaming in the Northern Cape, South Africa
©South African Tourism

You might be pondering why on earth mother nature endowed this creature with such a crest of formidable spikes. Well, if you knew how tasty and succulent their plump flesh is under that bristle of quills – you would know why the great creator of all beasts and evolution itself provided such a veritable armoury of spines.


"Porcupine Quill" watercolour - Maree

Porcupines occupy a wide range of habitats in tropical and temperate parts of Asia, Italy, Africa, and North and South America. Porcupines live in forests, deserts, rocky outcrops, hillsides and grasslands. Some new world porcupines live in trees, but old world porcupines stay on the ground. Porcupines can be found on rocky areas up to 3,500 m (11,000 ft) high. Porcupines are nocturnal.

The porcupines found in North and South America are good climbers and spend much of their time in trees. Some even have prehensile (gripping) tails to aid in climbing. The North American porcupine is the only species that lives in the U.S. and Canada, and is the largest of all porcupines. A single animal may have 30,000 or more quills. North American porcupines use their large front teeth to satisfy a healthy appetite for wood. They eat natural bark and stems, and have been known to invade campgrounds and chew on canoe paddles. North American porcupines also eat fruit, leaves, and springtime buds.


Porcupine in a relaxed state


Porcupine showing his discontent at being disturbed.

Porcupines in search of salt sometimes encroach on human habitats, eating plywood cured with sodium nitrate, certain paints, and tool handles, footwear, clothes and other items that have been coated in salty sweat. Porcupines are attracted to roads in areas where rock salt is used to melt ice and snow, and are known to gnaw on vehicle tires or wiring coated in road salt. Salt licks placed nearby can prevent porcupines from injuring themselves.
Natural sources of salt consumed by porcupines include varieties of salt-rich plants (such as yellow water lily and aquatic liverwort), fresh animal bones, outer tree bark, mud in salt-rich soils, and objects imbued with urine.

COLLECTING AND STORING YOUR PORCUPINE QUILLS
• Store quills in a cool, dry place. A plastic storage container is a good option.
• Always handle porcupine quills with care. They are very delicate and splinter easily.
• Handle uncut porcupine quills with care. The tips are extremely sharp.
• Keep porcupine quills out of the reach of small children and pets because of the sharp edges


Porcupine quills are sharp as needles. Unlike needles, quills have backwards facing barbs that catch on the skin making them difficult to extract.
Magnification x50


Porcupines and baby


A North American porcupine foraging for grubs in the grass.

Our friend, the porcupine is a vegetarian who prefers roots, tubers and sometimes a little bark or wild fruit. Well trodden trails are easily identified by shallow holes, exposed plant roots and bulbs and the odd quill. If by chance it rambles into a farmer’s patch it will feast gloriously upon the tatties, pumpkins and any other root vegetables in its path. It gobbles away noisily until just before dawn and then slips away into the foliage to slumber in a burrow - a veritable Winnie the Pooh. After overly sampling the forbidden delights it leaves a trail of destruction to greet the hapless farmer in the morning.


A wary porcupine with crest erected, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
©South African Tourism

Porcupines have also been known to raid cultivated gardens adjoining nature reserves, mystifying gardeners with the nightly disappearance of their beloved arum lilies. A single sighting of these remarkable creatures roaming around the garden by moonlight tends to be ample compensation to the gardener for the pilfering.


Status: Their population is stable although the increasing demand for their quills as interior decorations and tourist souvenirs sadly spells untimely death to this benign creature – as distasteful as the fur and ivory trade. It has been given Least Risk status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species


When you’re most likely to spot porcupines: Porcupines are nocturnal and start foraging well after dusk until just before dawn. Sometimes they bask in the sun just outside their burrows.


Where porcupines roam: They range widely but prefer broken veld, occurring throughout southern Africa except in the Namib desert.


Reproduction & dwellings: During the day they sleep in caves, rock crevices, burrows or hidden in dense vegetation. Although they are solitary foragers, they often share their burrows. They usually have one or two young but can have a litter of up to four. The young are well developed at birth and suckle for about 3 months. They start foraging under the protection of their parents during the weaning stage.

Black Eagles Up-date - May 2009

MAY 2009 - UP-DATE on the ‘Black Eagles of Roodekrans.’



Survival of the fittest

Last month, (April 2009), the Verreaux’s (Black) Eagles laid two eggs after collecting sticks and leafy branches in preparation for their breeding season. They are resident in the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort, Gauteng, South Africa.

The female performs most of the incubation for a period of 45 days after which a completely white chick hatches. The second chick hatches 4 days later and, once again, the so-called “Cain and Abel” struggle will commence in which Cain (the elder chick) kills Abel over a period of 3-4 days.

For the first few weeks the chick is fed and nurtured almost exclusively by the female with food that is brought in by the male. As the chick grows it can be left unattended for longer periods and both parents hunt.

For more information on these birds visit the Black Eagle Project.

More Hedgehog Facts 🐾

The Southern African Hedgehog is a small, nocturnal animal covered in short, prickly spines. Their faces, limbs and tails are covered with dark brown or greyish-brown hair. When in danger, they roll into a ball, and are then safe from most predators: a notable exception to this is the eagle owl, whose long, sharp talons are more than a match for the hedgehogs short spines.


Hedgehogs search for food after dark, and locate their food by smell and hearing rather than sight. The hedgehog can eat up to one third of its weight every day. Its diet consists of worms and insects, small rodents, frogs, slugs, the eggs and young of ground nesting birds, and vegetable matter which includes roots and fruit. Hedgehogs can sometimes be seen after rain foraging for earthworms.

Their resting time is mostly in daylight, when they curl up under cover of bush or grass or in a hole in the ground. They change shelter daily, except when the colder months come, as they hibernate during that time, only emerging to eat during warm spells. Southern African Hedgehogs are fairly vocal, and communicate in a series of grunts and snuffles. When alarmed, they emit a high-pitched cry. Although they generally move slowly, they are capable of moving quickly by rising high on their long legs. Usually litter size is two to four (although it has been known to reach 11), and the young are born during the summer months. My Hedgehog had 8 little hoglets at her last litter.


Baby African Hedgehogs at San Diego Zoo -
Photo Credit: Ken Bohn, San Diego Zoological Society

When alarmed, a hedgehog will roll into a ball, with his head and limbs tucked in, and his spines pointing outward, resembling a spiny ball. A hedgehog can remain in this position for hours. One should never try to force a hedgehog out of this rolled position. Hedgehogs rarely bite, but if frightened, especially males, may hiss.

An interesting behavior of hedgehogs is called "anting" or "self-anointing." When a hedgehog encounters an unusual or unfamiliar smell, or the presence of new food, she will place the new material in her mouth and start to salivate excessively, creating a foamy saliva. She spits this foam onto herself and spreads it over her quills. The reason for this behavior is unknown.

The main predator of the hedgehog is man, being used as food and for their perceived medicinal purposes in traditional medicine. Hedgehogs are also killed on roads. As well as this, the loss of habitat and agricultural expansion are both detrimental to the hedgehog’s survival. Veld fires in South Africa are also responsible for the loss of great numbers of hedgehogs.



TERMINOLOGY : Males, Females, Hoglets or pups, Herd, Quills or Spines

SIZE: Length 20cm, mass 350 g.

AVERAGE LIFESPAN : 3.5 years
MAXIMUM LIFESPAN : 9 YEARS
COMMON LIFESPAN : 4-6 YEARS

DIET IN THE WILD :
Beetles
Ants
Termites
Grasshoppers
Moths
Centipedes
Earthworms

DIET IN CAPTIVITY :
Dry Cat food
Mink and Ferret food
Cooked poultry (never raw meat)
Cooked egg (never raw)
Insects (mealworms, crickets, etc)
assorted fruits and vegetables

COLOUR: Brown and white spines on upper part of body, including flanks; grey-brown to dark brown hairs on head, limbs and tail. A band of white hair is across the forehead. The under parts vary from off-white to black.

GESTATION PERIOD: approx. 35 days

MOST LIKE: Occasionally confused with the Porcupine although the hedgehog's brownish colour, small size and short spines easily distinguish it from the much larger, long-spined, black and white porcupine.

HABITAT: A wide variety of habitats providing dry soil and dry cover for daytime shelter. A plentiful supply of insects, worms and roots is essential.

Classification : CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Insectivora

Number of Genus : 4
Number of Species : 14


African Hedgehog


'Cupid'
African Hedgehog - picture from EXOTIC PETS

(Some info from "EcoTravel"

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