VOLUME 16. 2013 / 14

BIRD’S EYE VIEW

SAFE HAVENClaire Hodgkinson recounts the story

of saving orphaned baboons and

keeping Durban’s Centre for the

Rehabilitation of Wildlife alive.

David Allan reveals the frightening decline in waterbirds in Durban Bay over the last 14 years.

A museum about the earth, its historyand life on earth, both past and present.

Letter fromthe Editor

welcome

Thola Magazine is published by:The Durban Natural Science Museum

P. O. Box 4085, Durban, South Africa 4001165 Anton Lembede Street, Durban, South Africa 4001

Tel: +27 31 311 2256. Fax: +27 31 311 2242Director: Allison Ruiters

Editor: David AllanDesign and Layout: Science™

The editors wish to extend a special thanks to Emil von Maltitz for donating his photographic expertise

Durban Natural Science Museum TrustThola is a non-profit educational magazine and any financial

contributions to the Durban Natural Science Trust are welcomed.

Mr. David R. Bennett (Chairman)Mr. David G. Allan (Secretary/Treasurer), Mrs. Nicky F. Armstrong,

Mrs. Marilyn N. Bodasing, Mr. B. Themba T. Mathe

David Allandavid.allan@durban.gov.za

thola

All material is copyright protected and may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without the prior written permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher or editor, who reserve the right to amend articles. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure accuracy of information, the publisher and editor cannot be held responsible for any errors or views expressed. Readers are invited to express their views to the editor.

© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.

(Ph

oto

: Ch

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s Kreb

s – w

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.kreb

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.com

)

VOLUME 16. 2013 / 14

Thola first emerged as the Museum’s popular magazine in 2011. At that time,

I’d just finished serving a stint as ‘acting-director’ of the Museum. Well this year

I drew a similar, but much less onerous, sentence as your ‘acting-editor’. As you

will read elsewhere in this edition, our regular editor, Kirstin Williams, was on

a sabbatical completing her PhD and Allison Ruiters, our Director, asked me to

steer Thola through to publication. I’ve edited the Museum’s scientific journal

Durban Natural Science Museum Novitates since I joined the Museum as long

ago as 1996, so I’ve some experience with the pleasure and pain of the task. As

a popular product, Thola has been more fun to work with than the Novitates but

its multi-faceted nature has rendered it equally challenging.

In the pages that follow, there are the usual departmental report-backs, packed

with evidence of exciting progress on many fronts, and we welcome no less than

five new staff appointments, all involving young and dynamic individuals. Perhaps

most thrilling is the landmark announcement of the Museum’s new mobile facility:

GO-WILD! As in the past, some of our like-minded collaborators weigh in with

stories of shared interest. Crispin Hemson exposes us to one of our City’s gems of

a nature reserve. Martin Clement describes the City’s new partnership with the

South African National Biodiversity Institute. Ginny Stone extolls our hosting of a

major science-centre symposium. Claire Hodgkinson reveals the heroic work of

her centre for the rehabilitation of wildlife. Craig Richards shares his insights into

the interaction between wind-energy and the environment. Finally, Paulo Candotti

spells out some ground-breaking advances in sustainable, community-based

conservation initiatives that are happening right in our own backyard.

Hope you enjoy these varied offerings. I know I did!

3 Comments Page

4 Director’s Report

8 Pigeon Valley

10 SANBI Collaboration

13 Library Department

14 Mammalogy Department

20 SAASTEC Conference 2013

22 Special Report: CROW

26 Palaeontology Department

30 Exhibitions Department

35 Wind Repowering Project

38 Herpetology Department

44 Entomology Department

48 Education Department

54 Conservancies

58 Ornithology Department

64 Events

65 Museum Diary

VOLUME 16. 2013 / 14

BIRD’S EYE VIEW

SAFE HAVENClaire Hodgkinson recounts the story

of saving orphaned baboons and

keeping Durban’s Centre for the

Rehabilitation of Wildlife alive.

David Allan reveals the frightening decline in waterbirds in Durban Bay over the last 14 years.

YOUR COMMUNITY NEEDS YOU.

KWAZULU-NATALCONSERVANCIES

ASSOCIATION

Private Bag X 3, Congella 4013

SELECT YOUR WEAPON.

A conservancy is a voluntary, co-operative initiative to help owners and residents provide environmental management and promote stewardship of our natural resources at a community level. All conservancies are registered with our provincial conservation authority, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.The first urban conservancy was established in 1991 with the Everton Conservancy in Gillitts. Twenty one years later, we now have a proud record of voluntary environmental work with over 40 other urban conservancies in and around eThekwini.We hold regular bi-annual workshops to empower our residents with valuable knowledge and information and use many of our local experts for advice. Contact Jean Lindsay on 082 550 4427 or email her at lindsayjd@mweb.co.za

Form a conservancy with like-minded people in your area to control invasive alien plant life and maintain your local environment.

Visitor’s comments

3

inbox

Tell us what’s on your mind, we’d love to hear from you. Send your news, views and suggestions to David Allan at david.allan@durban.gov.za

Ekuphakameni Primary School 05-09-2013‘Noma Khoza’s presentation to my learners was brilliant! Thanx lots.’

Belinda Upfold 28-06-2013‘Very enjoyable and educational. An asset to Durban.’

Ruth Rhodes 12-01-2013‘We were very impressed – fantastic displays, nice new ones and the old ones much improved. Loved the rhino poaching focus. Just a note that some of the bird noises were not working.’

Limpopo Junior Chess Team 18-12-2013‘The guides did a great job with the large groups of children. Love it!’

Salomi Kirsten 29-06-2013‘Awesome experience for my 11-year-old son. Good attraction for Durban. Friendly staff helped to make the experience good as well. Thanks.’

Skyset Tours 18-07-2013‘The Museum is well-organised, self-explanatory and educational. Staff are friendly and accommodating.’

Jessica Broom 03-07-2013‘Really enjoyed it! Schools should come here. Very educational, I loved the whole experience. Will be back soon!’

Karyn Muruyan 06-09-2013‘It was very educational and everything so beautiful and life-like. Will come back very soon, would love to learn more.’

Ebrahim Ahmod 23-01-2014‘Most memorable and educational place in Durban. Learnt a lot.’

B. D. Yerakiah 18-12-2013‘The museum contains great artifacts of prehistoric information. The tour guide was quite informative. This building and it’s contents is an amazing heritage site.’

M. Potgieter 04-09-2013‘I was really impressed. Displays were top-class.’

Gabriella Broom 03-07-2013‘Really lovely museum. Will definitely come back soon!’

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

Museums are presented as

places that produce, hold and

disseminate knowledge. At

the same time our institutions

are all grappling with the challenge of how

we can become agents of change; how we

can become more relevant. Despite the many

efforts that are being made, there still

remain many questions around most

museums’ civic role in addressing the critical

social needs of our communities.

Furthermore, there is a general perception

that science is isolated and accessible to only

a few members of society. This view is

reinforced by the mind-sets and practices of

most scientists and science-linked institutions

that focus on insular research needs.

Museums today need to operate from a

position of shared authority, a concept that

pushes beyond the idea of collaboration

and partnership, but rather promotes the

stance that all stakeholders involved must be

understood to be authorities who are able to

offer something of value to the relationship.

We need to let go of positions of actual and

perceived privilege and embrace the wisdom

and experiences of co-creators, adding this to

our own areas of expertise, thus providing a

new lens through which to consider our work

and our goals.

This authentic, reciprocal engagement

needs to be centred on Jacques Rancière’s

philosophy, where those who know something

engage with those who know something

else. In doing this, we then transform the

knowledge and skills of all collaborators,

as long as we engage in genuine equal

relationships and conversations, better serving

both institutional and social needs.

Our collaborations with Kloof Conservancy

and KwaXimba Conservancy during this

year are evidence of such partnership. The

International Museum Day (IMD) activities at

Krantzkloof Nature Reserve fitted well into the

2013 IMD theme - Memory + Creativity = Social Change - which aimed to contribute to

community development, in promoting social

cohesion and in creating community interest

and involvement with our museums and the

natural environment. This initiative, borne out

of an existing relationship with our Mammalogy

Department and Kloof Conservancy, then

prompted the KwaXimba Natural Heritage Day

event with KwaXimba Conservancy, which

formed part of the Parks, Recreation & Culture

(PRC) Month programme. This particular

activity was an excellent example of cross

pollination between departments, as well as

with two different communities, ultimately

“bringing the museum to the people”.

Whilst great strides have been made to

expose the insulated world of science to

our public, a strong statement needs to be

made that science is part and parcel of the

cultural life of a city. Although there are a

few existing models, there needs to be more

focus on the development of centralised

“science knowledge campuses”, a unified

network of relevant internal and external

City stakeholders working towards achieving

similar objectives. These campuses need to

incorporate the elements of science research,

a science museum / centre, science education

and career development, encompassed

within the City’s urban planning and

regeneration framework and economic

development plan.

In May 2013, vast progress was made

in the new Natural Science Museum

development project, with a seminar

facilitated by Imagine Durban and MILE

(Municipal Institute of Learning), in which

Architectural Services, Skills Development

and our museum participated. Invited

external stakeholders included Prof. Michelle

Hamer, Director of Zoological Systematics,

South African National Biodiversity Institute

(SANBI), Mr David Kramer, CEO of Sci-

Bono Discovery Centre, Johannesburg, and

Dr Beverley Damonse, Group Executive,

Science Advancement at the National

Research Foundation (NRF). Discussions

were held in the context of perhaps one

of the most exciting projects for our City;

the development of the Arts and Cultural

precinct within the CBD on the Centrum

site, of which a new Durban Central Library

will serve as a central resource centre

for residents, and will also help drive the

economic revitalisation of the CBD area,

and be a new attraction for visiting tourists.

This has initiated a major move in the urban

redevelopment efforts to revitalize the area

and also lends itself to envisaged plans of the

creation of a knowledge hub.

There are plans to include within this

knowledge campus a new Natural Science

Museum that will also include a science

centre. The Durban Natural Science

Museum (DNSM), with a history of 126

years, will continue to position itself as a

Director’s Report: Allison Ruiters

“Museums today need to operate from a position of shared authority, a concept that pushes beyond the idea of collaboration and partnership.” - Allison Ruiters

Whilst great strides have been made to expose the insulated world of science to our public, a strong statement needs to be made that science is part and parcel of the cultural life of a city.

4 Director’s Report

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

5

leading institution, both at a national and

international level, in pioneering knowledge

and creating awareness of the richness and

benefits of our biodiversity.

This is especially important given that,

following the DNSM being identified as one

of five regional collections hubs in South

Africa in the National Audit of Natural History

Collections conducted by the NRF, we have

just been awarded funding, together with

KZN Museum, of R1 million per annum

over a 3-year period towards upgrading,

maintaining and managing our collections,

thus increasing our absorptive capacity for

collections from other institutions that may

fall into disrepair.

A vast amount of work has already gone

into the City’s vision of creating a new

Natural Science Museum on the Centrum site

alongside the Central Library. In keeping with

the City’s vision, this Precinct envisages “to

create a leading-edge footprint and digital

gateway in Africa that provides knowledge,

opportunity and experience of culture,

heritage and science”. It is this vision that

informs the mission of the Libraries & Heritage

Department “to provide access to information

and knowledge; to develop, interpret and

preserve culture & heritage; to enhance

the quality of life, promote creativity and

encourage life-long learning through libraries,

museums, art galleries, science centres,

performing arts and living heritage centres.”

Contributing to this mission, and

reinforcing the philosophy of “those who

know something engaging with those who

know something else”, was our various

initiatives within the Education and Exhibition

Departments. Our National Science Week

activities were made possible through funding

received from the Department of Science &

Technology and was done in collaboration

with youth ambassadors from different wards

within eThekwini Municipality. Our “Green

Heroes for a Changing Climate” exhibition

was developed to recognize members of

our communities who are doing simple but

inspiring acts within their everyday lives

to reduce the impact of climate change.

A “living” extension of this exhibition, a

permaculture garden at the Research Centre,

was developed with the assistance of Durban

Botanic Gardens. The Joint Biodiversity

Seminar Series has been developed in

partnership with our sister organizations,

the South African Association for Marine

Biological Research (SAAMBR) and the Royal

Society of South Africa, and has seen our

audience grow, due to the rotation of these

monthly seminars to different venues. All

these programmes have been centred on

the DNSM embracing the knowledge and

capabilities of our co-creators, thus adding

value to our own areas of expertise.

The highlight of our activities to dispel

the perception of science being narrow and

exclusive was our involvement with Prof.

Mpilo Pearl Sithole, Associate Professor at the

Community Development Programme at the

University of KwaZulu-Natal, who delivered

our keynote addresses at both our Annual

Magqubu Ntombela – Ian Player Lecture and

the 15th Annual Conference of the South

African Association of Science & Technology

Centres (SAASTEC). Pushing boundaries, by

bringing a social scientist within a natural

science environment, dispelled the apparent

notion that science is accessible to only a few,

elitist individuals and organizations. Professor

Sithole challenged the distinction between

“science” and “indigenous knowledge”,

and expanded on “science not being owned

exclusively by certain sections of society and

the globe, but is a feature of every society;

scientific production is a shared practice”.

The curation and research on our

collections by both our voluntary and

permanent Research Scientists has resulted in

the continued expansion of our collections,

as well as re-iterated the need for this

fundamental biodiversity research. Leigh

Richards’ contribution to the Education

Department’s Volunteer Programme to

include training some of our volunteers in

field surveys, not only enabled her to continue

to support the Environmental Planning and

Climate Protection Department’s mandate of

The DNSM, with a history of 126 years, will continue to position itself as a leading institution, both at a national and international level, in pioneering knowledge and creating awareness of the richness and benefits of our biodiversity.

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

6 Director’s Report

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

surveying the City’s nature reserves, but also

contributed to the ongoing development of

our enthusiastic volunteers, providing them

with an opportunity to improve their skills and

knowledge in an area quite foreign to most

of them. Assisting Leigh with this programme

and other technical tasks within the

Mammalogy Department, is Zama Mwelase,

the latest addition to our team. Leigh, along

with balancing the Mammal Department’s

many research collaborations, field work,

skills development, ongoing Chiropteran

research and her co-ordination of the GRAP

103 exercise and the NRF Collections Funding

Proposal, also completed her PhD in Biological

Sciences. Truly a proud moment for her, her

family and her other family, at the DNSM!

Kirstin Williams was awarded a Sabbatical

Grant from the NRF, enabling her to take time

away from her administrative and curatorial

responsibilities to work on the completion of

her PhD. The arrival of Natasha Govender, an

addition to our team within the Entomology

Dept, assured the day-to-day running of

the department during Kirstin’s absence.

The vision and support of the PRC Executive

Team, namely Mr Guy Redman (Deputy Head

responsible for Libraries & Heritage) and Mr

Thembinkosi Ngcobo (Head of the PRC Unit),

enabled Kirstin and the DNSM to benefit

from this funding programme, ensuring

that we remain at the pinnacle of our

profession. I am proud to reveal that Kirstin

has also completed her PhD, even though

this will only officially be awarded to her in

2015 due to Rhodes University’s graduation

process. I look forward to the new projects

and collaborations that this will bring to the

museum, amongst these a fully functional

Forensics Entomology Laboratory.,

David Allan’s monthly field surveys of

waterbirds in Durban Bay for the past 14 years

has resulted in him, with the assistance of

many partners over these years, being able to

produce a convincing account of the changing

diversity and numbers of waterbirds within

this site. It has been David’s dedication to his

profession and area of expertise that has driven

this programme, and resulted in a worthwhile

monograph being added to the Novitates journal publication. David’s continued

involvement in various wind-energy projects

has ensured that expert avifaunal input has

been provided to wind-energy developments

ensuring that important precedents are set.

The Ornithology Department welcomed a new

technician, Onica Mukhuwana, who served as

a DST intern in 2012, and was already part of

the DNSM team.

The voluntary assistance of Dr Angelo

Lambiris, and Prof. Mike Cooper and Mrs

Betsie Greyling, with the Herpetology and

Palaeontology collections respectively has

enabled these “departments” to grow,

supporting the medium-term plans of the

DNSM. Angelo’s meticulous reorganisation

of the Herpetology collection has resulted

ABOVE: Busi Gumede, Sindi Nzama and Theshnie Naidoo of the Education Department. ABOVE RIGHT: The Museum family at the City Stars Awards evening.RIGHT: The concept for the realignment of Soldiers Way that has yet to be approved by the City Council.

The curation and research on our collections by our voluntary and permanent research scientists has resulted in the continued expansion of our collections.

7

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

in it now being fully data-based, and huge

progress has been made in producing

taxonomically definitive inventories of the

collection, which should be complete in the

near future. Angelo’s resurrection of this

collection has also resulted in a significant

donation of specimens from Mr Richard

Boycott, as well as a visit to our collection,

and loan of specimens, by Dr Mike Bates

from the National Museum in Bloemfontein.

Mike and Betsie’s curatorial research

work on the Palaeontology collection has

revealed in our collection a significant

holding of type material, with this number

set to increase as they are in the process of

describing several new marine invertebrate

species. The NRF’s Collections Funding will

enable the DNSM to provide an honorary

stipend for continued work on this

collection, as well as forge a relationship

with the DST’s Palaeosciences Strategy team

to engage interns.

Our Education Department has been

enriched with the addition of two new staff

members, Theshnie Naidoo and Sindi Nzama,

to add to the good work already being done

by Busi Gumede, who is to be commended for

maintaining this department single-handed

for over a year, with the competent assistance

of our volunteers, Zamo Shazi and Deron

Dlamini. The achievement of a complete

Education team enabled the DNSM to host a

hugely successful SAASTEC Conference, with

the assistance of partner departments and

organisations within the Municipality, as well

as further develop the Biodiversity Curriculum

Programme, which now includes Educator

Skills Development, Gallery Education

Programme, KwaZuzulwazi Programme

development and Facilitator Training.

Definitely the highlight of this department’s

work, and indeed for the Museum generally,

has been the culmination of a project started

in 2011, GO-WILD, eThekwini Municipality’s

first mobile museum. This ambitious

enterprise was made possible through joint

funding from the KwaZulu-Natal Department

of Arts & Culture and the Municipality. This

initiative has been enhanced by the above

biodiversity education programme, developed

specifically for this mobile unit and ensuring

easier accessibility to the DNSM education

programmes for learners, educators and the

community. It has also led to the GO-WILD

branding application being relevant to our

entire Education offering. This service to our

communities will contribute to closing the

gap between science and the public, again

highlighted in the Human Sciences Research

Council’s 2013 publication, which found that

there still remains a disparity between public

attitudes towards science and science literacy.

Congratulations are again in order in this

department, as Theshnie was also awarded

her PhD. Well done – we are proud of you!

In terms of the National Heritage Resources

Act, No. 25 of 1999, heritage resources have

lasting spiritual value in their own right and

provide reference to historical moments in the

construction of South African society. Since

they are valuable, finite, non-renewable and

irreplaceable, they must be carefully managed

to ensure their survival in the places where

they are located. Every generation has a moral

responsibility to act as trustee of the national

heritage for succeeding generations and

the government has a political mandate to

manage heritage resources in the interest of

its citizens. It is in light of this sentiment that

the GRAP 103 project was started in 2013 in

the DNSM, Local History Museum and the

Durban Art Gallery.

All our achievements within the past year

are again testament to the amazing team of

people that form part of our DNSM family.

I am truly blessed, humbled and privileged

to have such a remarkable mix of staff and

volunteers that are always giving of their

best, going beyond what appears in their

job descriptions, and all with their unique

strengths, expertise and quirkiness, making

us an exceptional team. This was duly

recognised when we were nominated in

the 2013 City Stars Awards. Our Exhibitions

Department, headed by Dudu Hlatshwayo

(who is supported by Immie Mostert and

Andrew Carter), through their Rotating

Exhibitions initiative, secured this accolade for

our institution.

This co-creation within the DNSM, in

relation to our custodianship of collections

and the knowledge that we derive and

share from these assets, feeds into the

long-term sustainable development plan

of our communities and City. In doing this,

we are further entrenching our institution

as a relevant agent of change, protecting

the environment, driving social equity and

promoting economic prosperity, so that we

inspire our citizens to develop a relationship

with science, ultimately creating access to

lifelong learning so that they are personally

empowered and confident.

ABOVE: The new GO-WILD mobile museum. ABOVE RIGHT: The Museum’s volunteer staff 2014.

All our achievements within the past year are again testament to the amazing team of people that form part of our DNSM family.

Pigeon Valley

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

8

Durban residents often fail to realise

the richness and complexity that

our urban reserves offer. They are

rich both in the number of species

– trees, shrubs, birds, butterflies, mammals,

reptiles and insects – and in their diversity.

Pigeon Valley, the small reserve on the Berea

(co-ordinates 29.86444°S 30.98861°E), barely

11 ha in extent, is a case in point. There are

larger reserves, such as Burman Bush to the

north and Stainbank to the west, but Pigeon

Valley is a jewel of a reserve.

The reserve slopes down towards the east,

as is typical on the Berea, but it is unusual in

also having north-facing and south-facing

slopes. The south-facing slopes have tall trees

such as fluted milkwood (Chryophyllum viridolium) and relatively little undergrowth,

while the north-facing side has thorny thickets

and trees like the coast monkey-orange

(Srychnos gerrardii). Perhaps for the same

reason it has different habitats, and is notable

for having two very rare tree species. The

majestic Natal elm (Celtis mildbraedii, or

uZinhlu) is

found here in large numbers, as is the Natal

loquat (Oxyanthus pyriformis). One tree, a

Cryptocarya, has yet to be clearly identified,

and may be a hybrid or possibly a species

typically found far from here. A recent survey

has identified no less than 109 locally

indigenous tree species. For purposes of

comparison, the equivalent number for the

British Isles is 33.

The visitor who walks along the leaf-strewn

trails may encounter unexpected delights.

The number of bird species recorded in the

reserve is 145. Most notable perhaps is the

Spotted Ground-Thrush, an endangered

species typically present from April to August,

often detected by the rustle of leaves as it

pushes them aside in search of food. Green

Twinspots were recorded as breeding in the

reserve in 2013-2014, while the stern call of

the Black Sparrowhawk is regularly heard.

The attentive observer may see the Buff-

spotted Flufftail, whose strange hooting can

be heard on damp evenings, or the deep

yellow of the Dark-backed Weaver (in

Afrikaans, Bos Musikant), with its strangely

attractive squeaky-gate song. In the

background there is the constant hooting of

a Tambourine Dove, shy beauty of the forest.

Dotted around the reserve are the red

duikers, while every few years the prevailing

understorey plant, buckweed (Isoglossa woodii), dies back, revealing the shy blue

duiker. While the blue vervet monkeys and

banded mongooses are evident in large

troops, so are other mammals. A hot day in

spring brings out the hordes of alates (flying

ants or izinhlwabusi); which attract flocks of

birds, as the slender mongoose hides quietly

in the grass, ready to partake in the feast.

Adjoining the reserve is a reservoir

managed by eThekwini Water, adding an

area of coastal grassland and thus another

habitat. The interface between the two

areas is often rich in birdlife.

Pigeon Valley brings together the

management of the reserve, which falls

under the Natural Resources division of the

NATURALLY RESERVED FOR YOUCrispin Hemson of the Friends of Pigeon Valley, sings the praises of Durban’s urban reserves for bringing a delightful and rich biodiversity to our doorsteps.

Reserves play an educational role as a place where people can learn about the complexities of life around them.

LEFT: A KwaZulu dwarf chameleon(Photo: Adrian Armstrong)

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

9

eThekwini Metro, and Friends of Pigeon

Valley, a network of local residents linked to

WESSA, who support the management

through reporting of problems and assistance

with alien clearing. They are well placed to

address the invasive plant problems in the

areas around the reserve. The presence of

volunteers plays a role in enhancing security

and provides a rapid response to such

matters as a tree falling onto a fence that

may otherwise be missed.

A recent joint initiative is a tree labelling

project sponsored by one of the Friends,

Doug Kirton. This project started at Pigeon

Valley but is moving to other reserves and

parks of the city. The aim is to encourage

the conservation and understanding of the

trees of the city. While young people are

increasingly distanced from nature there

is also a strong desire amongst them to

explore and to connect with nature

around them.

Recent work by the Friends has included

building up databases of trees, butterflies,

birds and mammals. The aim of this work is,

in part, to improve the monitoring of our

biodiversity so that we can respond to threats

more effectively. It also serves to reveal to the

public the richness of this natural diversity.

The reserves play an important role in

tourism, attracting visitors with a strong

interest in accessible urban reserves.

Increasingly the reserves play an

educational role as a place where people can

learn about the complexities of life around

them. The Friends have worked with

different groups of visitors to Pigeon Valley,

promoting a space that reveals far

more than can easily be

grasped in a classroom.

For young people

working on environmental

issues, these reserves are a

valuable context to explore.

The reserves also provide access

for scientific research. Some of the

reserves, such as Pigeon Valley,

harbour individual plants that may differ in

their genetic makeup from those of the

same species elsewhere. For this

reason, we do not favour planting trees

from outside the area in the reserves.

This approach, combining a high

standard of management with ample

information to sustain the most demanding

of visitors, demonstrates what is possible in

an urban reserve where there is effective

collaboration between local government and

civil society.

For the average visitor, though, reserves

simply provide an opportunity to enjoy the

peace and diversity that restore the soul and

bring a sense of connection to nature.

LEFT: A tall Natal elm (Celtis mildbraedii) shows its striking buttressing. (Photo: Richard Boon) TOP RIGHT: The author talks to youth delegates to the COP17 summit on climate change about Pigeon Valley. MIDDLE: A cautious blue duiker. RIGHT: An African Goshawk on the watch for prey. (Photo: Hugh Chittenden)

BELOW: A Green Twinspot(Photo: Hugh Chittenden)

eThekwini’s Integrated Development

Plan (IDP) is a transformational tool

for achieving the eThekwini

Municipality’s commitment to developing a

“caring and liveable city”. This includes the

long-term sustainability of Durban’s natural

resource base, which requires appropriate

research; the regulation and management of

development; the development of relevant

policy; and the implementation of a

monitoring programme of key biodiversity

indicators. To achieve this, the eThekwini

Municipality has initiated several programmes

in key areas such as education, awareness,

incentives, green economy, town-planning

mechanisms and public-private partnerships.

Critical to the achievement of these aims is

eThekwini’s collaboration at a local,

provincial, national and international level.

SANBI, as mandated by the

National Environmental Management

Biodiversity Act (NEMBA), has in place

a number of internationally esteemed

programmes in research, gardens,

conservation, education and training,

and many are being strengthened by its

partnerships with other organisations.

Given the mandates, collaboration is a

critical base upon which to plan and

implement land policy objectives,

mainstreaming, information exchange,

resource sharing, research, education

and capacity development to achieve

the conservation and sustainable use

of biodiversity.

The eThekwini-SANBI Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) addresses the

following areas of collaboration:

i. Making the Case for BiodiversityeThekwini and SANBI have acknowledged

the need for increased investment in

biodiversity conservation, particularly within

the development context. Political decision-

makers are seen as key to this initiative and

the message regarding managing biodiversity

and ecosystem services will address the

social, political and economic development

paradigm of the Government of South Africa.

ii. Biodiversity Management Plans for Ecosystems (BMPE)This collaborative area will address norms

and standards for Biodiversity Management

Plans for Ecosystems (BMPE) that have been

requested by the Department of

Environmental Affairs (DEA) in terms of the

Biodiversity Act (NEMBA).

10 SANBI Collaboration

The eThekwini Municipality and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen biodiversity collaboration between the two organisations. Martin Clement, Curator of the Durban Botanic Gardens, further elaborates on this beneficial union.

ONE BIG STEP FOR BIODIVERSITY

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

iii. Green EconomicsFurther work is required on the economic

benefits of healthy natural systems that

remain poorly understood and

communicated to the private and public

sectors. Green-economy initiatives will

include industries derived from biodiversity,

for example: ecotourism and game farming,

catchment rehabilitation and alien clearing.

iv. Municipal Property RatesStrengthening legislative and fiscal

frameworks for ensuring the protection of

biodiversity in local governments includes

the need to develop or amend national

guidelines for the inclusion of biodiversity

considerations in municipal property rates

policies and valuations.

v. Climate Change CommunicationAddressing climate-change issues remains a

strong area of collaboration for both SANBI

and eThekwini Municipality. This includes

key policy reports such as the ad hoc

Technical Expert Group report for the

Convention on Biological Diversity. There is

scope to build on this, especially as the

second national communication exercise

moves to implementation through the DEA

Policy Framework for Biodiversity and

Climate Change Response. An opportunity

exists for collaboration in preparation for

the third national communication report.

vi. Protected Area ExpansioneThekwini Municipality will be trialling

innovative protected-area management

arrangements and developing new

mechanisms for possible national uptake as

part of the protected area expansion

toolbox. This includes potential

development of new incentives.

vii. Threatened SpeciesOne of the objectives of species

conservation or range expansion projects is

to improve the body of knowledge on focal

species in South Africa and the Southern

African Development Community (SADC).

eThekwini Municipality and SANBI will share

any available and relevant knowledge

pursuant to species conservation and trade-

policy issues.

viii. Climate Change AdaptationThe mutually beneficial relationship

between societal adaptation via the use of

natural resources – also known as

“ecosystem-based adaptation” – provides

opportunities to research, document,

formalise and communicate these co-

benefits more widely, especially through the

development of well-monitored pilot

projects; as is the need to detect and

attribute ongoing changes in natural

ecosystems to climate-change drivers. This

is especially important in light of the high

degree of uncertainty that still remains in

this important area, and which is

obstructing political support for a fair and

equitable global climate policy regime that

will protect biodiversity. South Africa is a

key world region that could contribute

these necessary insights.

ix. Botanical GardensBotanic gardens in South Africa focus on

core areas of biodiversity, education,

heritage, research, horticultural excellence

and green innovation. Both parties are

responsible for managing, maintaining and

developing botanical gardens, and potential

areas for collaboration between SANBI’s

National Botanical Gardens and the Durban

Botanic Gardens include: garden-, estate-,

data- and collections-management;

interpretation; capacity building and skills

development; curriculum-based

environmental education work; joint

publications; commercialisation; fund-

raising; support for Mozambican botanical

gardens; links with museums; and

biodiversity research.

x. ResearchAs both Parties manage natural

conservation areas, with their associated

biodiversity, there is scope for collaborative

research projects to survey the fauna and

flora in these areas to monitor the health of

these biomes. Knowledge of the Red-Listed

species that occur in the municipal area is

important for informing biodiversity

planning. SANBI is dependent on the

network of 11 institutions carrying out

research on animal taxonomy for input into

projects such as SABIF, SAEoL and SAIBOL.

11

LEFT: Christo Swart, Deputy Head of Parks, Recreation & Culture, representing the office of the City Manager of eThekwini Municipality, with Carmel Mbizvo, Head of Biodiversity Research, Policy and Knowledge Management, SANBI, following the signing of the Memorandum of Understating on Biodiversity Collaboration between eThekwini and SANBI (photo: Jody Fuchs).

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

eThekwini and SANBI have acknowledged the need for increased investment in biodiversity conservation, particularly within the development context.

The loneliest tree in the world Wood’s cycad (Encephalartos woodii) is endemic to Ongoye Forest in KwaZulu-Natal. It is one of the rarest plants in the world, being extinct in the wild with all specimens being clones of the single remaining type. The specific and common name both honour John Medley Wood, curator of the Durban Botanic Garden and director of the Natal Government Herbarium of South Africa, who discovered the plant in 1895. Cycads evolved 240 million years ago and are the ancestors of flowering plants. Like all other cycads, Wood’s cycad is dioecious (meaning that there are male and female plants). Wood’s male specimen is the only representative of the species ever found. Luckily, the plant regularly forms side-shoots at the base of the stem which are cultivated. By sending these stems to other botanical gardens worldwide, the survival of this unique prehistoric plant species is ensured.

12 Collaboration

xi. Collections ManagementAs both Parties manage natural conservation

areas with their associated biodiversity and

hold important plant and animal collections:

• The Parties can explore mechanisms for

collaboration in curation of collections to

promote potential synergies and best

practice; and

• The Parties can facilitate access to such

collections for staff and students from

both Institutions.

xii. Invasive Alien Species – SANBI’s Early Detection and Rapid Response (EDRR) Programme Collaboration between SANBI and the

eThekwini Municipality with regards to

control of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) is

expected to take place in a number of ways,

including the following:

• Collective strategy development, or at least

integration of relevant strategies and action

plans, as well as collective input into current

and appropriate legislation and regulations;

• Development of appropriate co-

management agreements/arrangements

which incorporate collaborative mapping

and monitoring of IAS and, in particular,

of IAS within the eThekwini Municipal

Area (EMA);

• Setting priorities of important IAS or IAS

populations to be targeted for eradication;

• Sharing of relevant IAS data and general

information including best practices for IAS

control and IAS locality data;

• Developing pilot IAS control projects; and

• Working together to develop and distribute

IAS education and awareness tools or

hosting informative workshops,

presentations, etc.

In addition to the above, it is recognised that

both Parties play a significant role in

developing, promoting and supporting green

job opportunities, and that successful IAS

control programmes are likely to form the

foundation of many green job projects within

the EMA.

xiii. Biodiversity PlanningeThekwini Municipality has produced a

fine-scale Systematic Conservation Plan

(SCP) in order to identify and prioritise areas

for the conservation of biodiversity and the

ecosystem services they provide. The

Municipality has worked closely with

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife in terms of a

MoU and the Municipality’s plan will

replace the provincial plan for its

jurisdictional area. Furthermore, the

Municipality plans to develop biodiversity

sector and bioregional plans.

There is a justifiable fear amongst

practitioners that plans, in themselves, serve

only the planning process, and are never

effectively put into operation. The

Municipality’s longstanding work in the field

of environmental planning lends itself to

effective implementation through integration

at all levels and types of municipal planning

and decision-making, and by proactive

initiatives such as land acquisition and a drive

for ‘green jobs’.

Knowledge of the Red Listed species that occur in the municipal area is important for informing biodiversity planning.

13

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

During the course of 2013, all the

Museum library holdings published

before 1900 were formally

categorised as ‘rare’ material. A

total of 481 of these items were barcoded,

listed and submitted. This was in line with the

Generally Recognised Accounting Practices

(GRAP 103) issued by the South African

Treasury relevant to the accounting of natural

heritage collections. One of the oldest books

in the GRAP 103 list is ‘The Aurelian: or natural history of English insects; namely, moths and butterflies’ written by Moses

Harris and published in 1766.

Unfortunately there was a delay during

2013 with the renewal of subscriptions due to

the challenges encountered with internal

processes. Happily, the journals were renewed

just before the end of the financial year and

the first issue for 2013 was received in July.

The Journal of Museum Education and Curator: the Museum Journal are two new

additions to the journal subscription list.

There were also challenges with acquiring

books and DVDs during 2013 due to

modifications to internal processes, and

only 24 books and four DVDs were

acquired. These processes have now been

rectified and we look forward to more

acquisitions during 2014.

Library Committee meetings have been

revived and take place every quarter. The

Library Committee forms an advisory board

and comprises representative staff from the

library, the curators, and the education and

exhibition departments. The purpose of the

committee is threefold: 1) review and make

recommendations on planning for library

resources; 2) review the performance of the

library in supporting museum activities; and

3) consult and advise on the library budget.

Miriam Natalwalla was appointed

Departmental Senior Librarian. This led to

changes in reporting lines, with the

departmental librarians reporting to the

Senior Librarian who reports in turn to the

District Manager.

A keen youngster, Mondli Ngcongo, was

hosted by the Museum library for work-

integrated learning. He spent a busy eight

weeks at the library learning a range of

tasks. He assisted with the onerous GRAP

103 process, as well as with sorting the

reprints on birds.

The Museum exchanges publications with

many international and local partners. It also

publishes a formal scientific journal, the

Durban Natural Science Museum Novitates,

and a popular magazine, Thola, which are

sent to exchange partners annually. In return

the library receives free copies of a variety of

valuable publications from its exchange

partners. In the absence of a Library

Assistant, a post that remains vacant, the

Museum volunteers assisted with the mailing

of material to exchange partners.

A process currently underway is to ensure

that all the materials in the Library collection

are correctly categorised. In addition to

typical print material, such as books and

journals, these items include

photographic slides, photographs, video

cassettes, DVDs, posters, pamphlets

and reprints. Once this cataloguing task

is complete, staff will be able to check

the Museum’s entire library collection,

as well as the full eThekwini libraries’

collection, from their desktops. On

completion of this process a full stock-

take will be conducted. This will be

followed by the compilation of a

manual detailing how to search the

library’s database.

MATERIAL MATTERSLibrarian, Lumka Ludwaba, reports on categories, catalogues, collections, compilations and committees.

ABOVE: Lumka Ludwaba and Mariam Natalwalla examine new journals in the Museum library. BELOW: One of the oldest book in the Museum library, The Aurelian.

A process currently underway is to ensure that all the materials in the Library collection are correctly categorised.

Library Department

14

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

Mammalogy Department

It was another bumper year for the Mammal Department. In 2013 we accessioned no fewer than 350 specimens. We received a sizeable

donation from Prof. Peter Taylor, former Curator of Mammals, comprising approximately 250 small mammals collected from the Limpopo Province, particularly the biologically diverse Soutpansberg area. Most of the collected material emanated from various post-graduate student projects supervised by Prof. Taylor.

Amongst the donated material were 100 bat specimens that included several individuals of the newly described Smither’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus smithersi). This newly described species of horse-shoe bat is known only from

the Limpopo Valley, Soutpansberg foothills and North-west Zimbabwe. (For more on the bats of the Soutpansberg read Taylor et al. (2013) Diversity of bats in the Soutpansberg and Blouberg Mountains of northern South Africa: complementarity of acoustic and non-acoustic survey methods. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 43: 12–26.)

UNDER THREAT Other notable acquisitions included the donation of three serval specimens by Dr Tharmalingam Ramesh, a postdoctoral fellow based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg Campus. Dr Ramesh has utilised several methods, including camera-trap data, to assess the influence of changing land-

use patterns on the abundance of serval within the KZN Midlands. This medium-sized cat is currently listed as Near Threatened within South Africa, owing to the dependence of the species on ever-dwindling wetland habitats. The donated animals were casualties discovered during the course of survey work in the Midlands. Dr Ramesh’s on-going research will undoubtedly provide valuable data to support the conservation and management of the species. NEW SHREW The mammal collection boasts yet another series of type specimens in the form of the newly described Meester’s forest shrew (Myosorex meesteri). Using genetic and morphological data,

15

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

Leigh Richards, Curator of Mammals, reports on the comings and goings of people and other creatures in her department.

WILD NEWDISCOVERIES

The Mammal Collection boasts yet another

series of type specimens in the form of

Myosorex meesteri (Meester’s forest shrew).

LEIGH RICHARDS

16 Mammalogy Department

African Serval(Leptailurus serval)

Male: 960–1205 mm; Female: 970–1230 mm

Male: 8.5–13.5 kgFemale: 8.5–11.5 kg

Nocturnal hunter, feeding mostly on rodents, especially vlei rats and multimammate mice. Shrews, reptiles and birds are also taken. Birds can be captured in mid-air flight.

Gestation takes approximately 2.5 months, with young (1–4 kittens) typically born in the summer months. Females tend to give birth in clumps of vegetation in grasslands or in underbrush.

Servals have a wide distribution range throughout Africa, yet are absent from the drier regions of the continent. Estimated home ranges for males within KZN are 15–30 km2.

Estimated to live up to 23 years in the wild.

TOTAL LENGTH:

WEIGHT:

DIET:

BREEDING:

HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION:

LIFESPAN:

the team of scientists led by Prof. Taylor,

found that shrew populations from Mount

Gorongoza in Mozambique and the Eastern

Highlands of Zimbabwe were clearly

distinguished from other Myosorex species

found within southern African. Myosorex meesteri, named after J.A.J. Meester,

evolved as a separate species approximately

2 million years ago. Relative to other

southern African species this shrew has a

smaller cranium and has a minute fourth

upper singular-cusped tooth that is encircled

by the adjacent teeth.

ANIMAL RE-HAB The department forged a new partnership

with the Centre for the Rehabilitation of

Wildlife (CROW). Regarded as the first

rehabilitation centre established in South

Africa, CROW has been in existence for over

30 years. The organisation is dedicated to

the rescue, rehabilitation and release of all

indigenous wildlife found in KwaZulu-Natal.

Animals that unfortunately succumb to

their injuries are donated to the Museum,

ensuring that they retain a long-lasting value

to science. Mammal specimens donated

within recent months have included a large

male bushbuck, blue duikers, scrub hare and

a bushbaby.

TALKING HEADS In July my MSc students and I attended the

2013 symposium of the Zoological Society

of southern Africa (ZSSA), co-hosted by the

University of Venda and the University of

Limpopo. The conference was held at the

beautiful Tshipise Resort located north of

the majestic Soutpansberg. The theme of

the conference was “Biodiversity Value

and Changes”.

I presented a paper on “The utility of

geometric morphometric data in delimiting

taxa within the Afrotropical Hipposideros caffer-ruber complex (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae)”. The systematic

relationships amongst bats belonging to

the H. caffer-ruber complex have often

been questioned due to the existence of

morphologically similar cryptic species and

difficulties in delimiting species. Genetic

studies have begun to clarify the

evolutionary patterns within this species

complex and have revealed cryptic lineages

within the species H. caffer and H. ruber. My preliminary research, based on cranial

morphological data, supported the

recognition of cryptic lineages within the

H. caffer-ruber complex and revealed

lineage-specific morphological traits that

can be used in taxonomic diagnoses.

My students, Sylvana Reddy and Tarin

Ramsaroop, both presented papers on the

morphological diversity of Afrotropical bats

within the Molossidae (free-tailed bats)

family. Tarin was awarded third place for

the student oral presentations – certainly a

proud moment for her supervisor!

During the course of the conference I

also attended the ZSSA AGM and was

elected to serve as a ZSSA Council

member during 2014-2015. I have been

tasked with managing the archives of

the organisation.

ABOVE: Meester’s forest shrew – Myosorex meesteri. (Photo: Julian Kerbis, www.planet-mammiferes.org)RIGHT: Hipposideros ruber. FAR RIGHT: Hipposideros caffer. (Photos: Ara Monadjem)

Mammal specimens donated within recent months have included a large male bushbuck, blue duikers, scrub hare and a bushbaby.

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

Citation: Skinner JD, Chimimba CT (2005) The mammals of the southern African subregion. 3rd Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (and references therein).(Photo: Jiri Bohdal, www.naturfoto.cz)

17

GOING BATTY Most of the year was dedicated towards

finalising my doctoral thesis which was

submitted for examination in November. I

did, however, manage to devote some

time to other research projects.

My collaborative research work on

the bats of West Africa culminated

in another publication: Monadjem A.,

Richards L., Taylor P.J., et al. (2013) Diversity

of Hipposideridae in the Mount Nimba

massif, West Africa, and the taxonomic

status of Hipposideros lamottei, published

in Acta Chiropterologica. Mount Nimba

represents one of the most biologically

diverse habitats for hipposiderid bats in

West Africa. Research efforts have focused

on a better understanding of the

distribution and evolutionary relationships

of the taxa occurring within the region.

My research on the biogeographic

distribution of KZN small mammals through

field-based surveys continued in 2013. The

focus of 2013 was directed towards the

eThekwini Municipal area. Of the

approximately 30 recognised nature reserves

within the Municipality, many remain largely

under-sampled.

The Mammal Department has in recent

years partnered with eThekwini’s

Environmental Planning and Climate

Protection Department (EPCPD) and

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) to

undertake small mammal surveys of the

Municipal reserves.

In 2013 three reserves were surveyed:

Bluff Nature Reserve, Kenneth Stainbank

Nature Reserve and Treasure Beach Nature

Reserve. I was assisted by five Museum

volunteers (see below) and Rohan Boer, an

MSc student registered with the University

of Groningen in the Netherlands. Rohan

collected ticks from various small mammals

to screen them for Borrelia bacterium which

is known to cause Lyme’s disease in humans.

Our surveys resulted in the collection of 30

voucher specimens belonging to six different

small mammal species. We added two new

occurrence records: the least dwarf shrew

(Suncus infinitesimus) for Treasure Beach

Nature Reserve, and pygmy mouse (Mus minutoides) for Kenneth Stainbank Nature

Reserve. A small mammal survey of Giba

Gorge Environmental Precinct in Hillcrest is

scheduled for January 2014.

SMANGELE SHABALALA I have worked as a volunteer in the Mammal Department since February 2011. I am currently studying towards my BSc in Life Sciences. I was privileged to be part of the field survey team. During the field surveys, I learnt everything from how to capture the animals to processing and collecting important research samples used in a wide variety of studies.

LEROY NALAI was afforded the chance to assist the Curator of Mammals with research on the distribution of small mammals within eThekwini. It was a great experience and I gained new insights into small mammal biodiversity and the important role that these animals play in ecosystems.

NOMPUMELELO DLOVAI have been working as a volunteer in the Mammal Department since March 2013. I assist the mammal technical assistant with the day-to-day activities in the department. I was given the opportunity to be part of the team that surveyed three natural areas within eThekwini. I gained valuable training in the capture of small mammals, their identification and the processing of voucher specimens.

HLENGIWE HADEBE I completed my National Diploma in Chemical Engineering at Mongosuthu University of Technology. I have been a volunteer since March 2013. I accompanied the Curator of Mammals on three field surveys and learnt a great deal during this time. The most interesting part of the surveys was learning how to process the study specimens.

KWAZI NTOMBELA I joined the field survey group that worked in various reserves in eThekwini. The part that I enjoyed the most was finding out that I had captured something in the live-trap that I had set. Small mammal surveys certainly teach you perseverance. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again!

VOLUNTEER FIELD ASSISTANTS

18 Mammalogy Department

GOODBYE ... It was with heavy hearts that we bid farewell

to mammal technical assistant, Sindisiwe

Nzama. Sindisiwe left the department at the

end of June 2013 to take up her position as

one of the two new Museum Education

Officers. During her relatively short tenure

with the department Sindisiwe oversaw the

accessioning of an astounding 310 small

mammal specimens. She assisted with various

outreach activities and several small mammal

surveys within KZN. We hope her time spent

in the Mammal Department will serve her

well in her new career.

AND HELLO! Zamawelase Mwelase was appointed as the

new technical assistant in the Mammal

Department and commenced her duties on 1

January 2014. Zama worked as an intern at

the South African Sugar Research Institute

(SASRI) during 2012–2013. She obtained her

BSc from UKZN. We welcome her as the

newest member to our team.

The Department also welcomed the arrival

of a new volunteer, Nompumelelo Dlova.

Mpumi, as she is affectionately known, is

from Mthatha and holds a National Diploma

in Information Technology (Business

Applications) from Walter Sisulu University.

She commenced work in March 2013 and has

been trained by Smangele Shabalala, another

volunteer in the department since 2011.

Both were instrumental in getting the

ichthyology collection fully inventoried and

data-based (read more in the article on

GRAP103). They have also completed an

audit of the Pringle Collection that contains

2000 mammal specimens on permanent loan

from the KwaZulu-

Natal Museum.

In July 2008, the South African Treasury

issued the Generally Recognised

Accounting Practices (GRAP 103) for the

accounting of natural heritage

collections. GRAP 103 applies to all

institutions operating under the Public

Finance Management Act (PFMA) or the

Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA)

and requires the recognition, valuation, and

disclosure of all heritage assets of an

organisation. Heritage assets are regarded as

items “that have cultural, environmental,

historical, natural, scientific, technological or

artistic significance and are held indefinitely

for the benefit of present and future

generations” (Accounting Guideline: GRAP

103, Heritage Assets. South African National

Treasury). In this respect, heritage assets may

include artworks, rare books, artefacts, and

biological specimens held by libraries,

galleries, and museums.

GRAP 103 came into effect on

1 April 2012. The Durban Natural Science

Museum (DNSM) and its sister institutions the

Durban Art Gallery (DAG) and Local History

Museums (LHM), geared up to conduct full-

scale inventories of their collections in

compliance with GRAP 103 guidelines. The

months of May to August 2013 saw a flurry

of activity with Museum departmental staff

industriously cataloguing, data-basing and

verifying their heritage assets. All efforts

were supported and supervised by the

Finance Department supporting the Parks,

Recreation and Culture (PRC) Unit.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GRAPLeigh Richards, Curator of Mammals, explains how heritage assets of the Durban Natural Science Museum were inventoried according to GRAP 103.

The months of May to August saw a flurry of activity with departmental staff industriously cataloguing, data-basing and verifying their heritage assets.

Welcome to Zamawelase Mwelase.

19

For further information on GRAP 103 please visit:

http://www.asb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6 or

http://oag.treasury.gov.za/Publications/Forms/AllItems.aspx

The natural heritage collections of the

DNSM comprise 11 sub-collections

distributed across three main sites, namely

City Hall, Research Centre, and the

KwaZuzulwazi Centre (KwaMashu). The 11

sub-collections were divided according to

three categories: scientific research

collections (three); collections on permanent

or temporary display (two); and ‘orphan’

research collections (six). The ‘orphan’

research collections include the following;

spiders, echinoderms, amphibians and

reptiles, fish, fossils, and mollusc shells.

Honorary curators and research associates

Dr Angelo Lambiris, Prof. Michael Cooper

and Mrs Betsie Greyling kindly assisted with

inventories of the amphibian and reptile,

and fossil collections.

All but two of the DNSM heritage

collections have been fully inventoried,

databased and specimen records verified. The

next step is the valuation of all heritage

assets. This process will be conducted over a

three-year period.

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

Give us five days of your life and we will give you an experience that

might change the rest of it.

Tel: +27 (0)31 462 8642Email: info@wildernessleadershipschool.co.za

www.wildernesstrails.org.za

20

On 4 November 2013 the science-

centre community from around

South Africa converged on

Durban to attend the 15th

SAASTEC Conference hosted by the Durban

Natural Science Museum. SAASTEC, short for

Southern African Association of Science and

Technology Centres, is a network comprised

of all the science centres in southern Africa.

However, membership is not only limited to

science centres but also includes museums

and any other like-minded institutions. This

conference is an annual event and in 2013,

Allison Ruiters, SAASTEC Board Member and

Director of the Durban Natural Science

Museum (DNSM), offered to host the

conference in Durban.

Last year the event was held at the National

Zoological Gardens in Pretoria. The

conference moves around the country each

year to give different science institutions the

opportunity to profile their centres. In

addition to the DNSM, there are a number of

science centres in KwaZulu-Natal: the KZN

Science Centre based at Gateway, STEC

(University of KZN), the SA Association for

Marine Biological Research, as well as the

UniZul Science Centre in Richard’s Bay.

Delegates from further afield in KZN also

attended, including representatives from the

Isibusiso Esihle Science Discovery Centre in

Kosi Bay, ArcelorMittal Science Centre in

Madadeni and Olwazini Science Centre which

is based at the Golden Horse Casino in

Pietermaritzburg. Traditionally, many science

centres experience financial constraints and

rotating the conference annually enables

local centres to send more staff to attend the

conference as they don’t have to pay travel

and accommodation costs.

Registration and the ice-breaker were held

on the afternoon and evening of 4 November

at the KwaMuhle Museum. Here delegates

had the opportunity to explore the museum

and catch up on some local history before

the evening function began. Indeed, the ice

was well and truly broken in traditional warm

Durban style with the excellent entertainment

that the DNSM had literally drummed up with

the musicians from the Drum Café. Delegates

also had the chance to let their hair down

and unleash their own musical abilities under

the guidance of the talented musicians.

The conference was held at Durban’s

famous Royal Hotel. Most of the delegates

stayed at the Garden Court South Beach

Hotel and were transported daily by bus to

and from the conference venue and

functions. For locals and others with their

SAASTEC Conference 2013

Ginny Stone, Secretary of SAASTEC, talks about the science-centre community dropping in on Durban for three days of learning, skills-honing and fun.

PEOPLE-CENTRED SCIENCE

134 people registered and attended the 15th SAASTEC conference. This included three delegates from Kenya, one from Germany and one from the United Kingdom.

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

21

own transport, free parking and shuttles

were kindly sponsored by City Fleet of

eThekwini Municipality. In addition, the

eThekwini Municipality’s Energy Office

donated 20 bicycles for the delegates to

use freely during the conference. This gave

people the chance to dash off during

lunch and tea breaks and go and explore

the City and surrounds. These bikes were

greatly appreciated and enjoyed by all who

used them.

Michael Peter (SAASTEC Chair) opened

the conference bright and early on Tuesday

5 November before handing over to His

Worship, Mayor of eThekwini Municipality,

Counsellor James Nxumalo, who heartily

welcomed delegates to the City of Durban.

“Science centres have become an

indispensable asset in the creation of

bridging the gap between science and

society and we are getting closer to a

knowledge-based economy” said Minister of

Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, in

his opening speech. He noted that while

science centres play an extremely important

role in assisting teachers, most South African

learners cannot read, write or compute at

grade-associated levels and that science

centres need to rise to this challenge. “We

need to work harder to address this situation.

Take bold steps!” reiterated the Minister

before announcing that the Department of

Science and Technology will be spending

more than R50m in supporting science

centres over the next three years.

After his address to conference delegates,

Minister Hanekom was given an extended

tour of the Durban Natural Science Museum

Research Centre.

A total of 134 people registered and

attended the 15th SAASTEC conference.

This included three delegates from Kenya,

one from Germany and one from the

United Kingdom. The theme of this

conference was aligned to the 7th Science

Centre World Summit 2014 that was

recently held in Mechelen, Belgium. The

topics were as follows:

• Research and communication of research

• Formal and informal learning

• New technologies for learning and

engagement

• Monitoring and evaluation.

A total of 61 presentations based on these

topics were delivered over the three days.

Feedback from conference delegates

suggests a high standard of talks and the

general consensus was they learnt a lot.

Hands-on, capacity building workshops

were also hosted during the course of the

conference, the highlight being a post-

conference workshop on “How to conduct

visitor research and evaluation in your

institution” by Marie Hobson of the

Natural History Museum and Science

Museum in London.

To spice things up, delicious lunches were

served in the beautiful DNSM City Hall

galleries. Big beasties from the past loomed

over the tables creating a unique ambience.

Of course, no conference is complete

without a really special closing function. On

the evening of 6 November delegates were

bussed to the Presidential Suite at the

Moses Mabhida Stadium for a slap-up

dinner and some great music. They were

also treated to a sky car tour, courtesy of

the DNSM. Nobody noticed that the

weather did not exactly play ball and a

marvellous time was had by all.

SAASTEC would like to thank the

Durban Natural Science Museum for

generously sponsoring all lunches and teas

for the conference and the eThekwini

Municipality for their wonderful hospitality.

Last, but by no means least, SAASTEC

would also like to thank the Department of

Science and Technology for their continued

and valued support.

LEFT: Delegates at the 15th SAASTEC Conference 2013 held at the Royal Hotel in Durban. MIDDLE: Opening Address by Minister Derek Hanekom (Department of Science and Technology).BOTTOM LEFT: Tour of the DNSM Research Centre by Minister Derek Hanekom (with Leigh Richards – Curator, Michael Peter – SAASTEC Chair and Allison Ruiters - Director).BELOW: Conference delegates enjoying the entertainment and dinner at the Moses Mabhida Stadium and having a blast at the 15th SAASTEC Conference Gala Dinner.

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22 Special Report: CROW

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23

Tucked away in the quiet, leafy

Durban suburb of Yellowwood

Park, this 3.8 ha facility provides

life-saving care and treatment for

up to 450 sick, injured and orphaned animals

at any given time. As KwaZulu-Natal’s only

registered wildlife rehabilitation centre

permitted to work with all indigenous

species, the organisation’s team of staff and

volunteers work tirelessly to treat and return

to the wild as many of their special patients

as possible. As a member of both SAWRA

(South African Wildlife Rehabilitators

Association) and the IWRC (International

Wildlife Rehabilitation Council), CROW’s

rehabilitation programmes and facilities are

strictly regulated and must conform with

both local and international minimum

standards.

The vast majority of the 3000 animals that

CROW rescues, rehabilitates and releases

every year have been injured, orphaned or

displaced as a result of human interference,

conflict or abuse. Some of the most

common cases treated by the organisation

include wildlife injured on our roads,

attacked by domestic animals, hunted for

muthi or illegally sold on the black market

as part of the rapidly growing illegal pet

trade, whereby all manner of indigenous

Founded over 34 years ago by Isolde Mellet, the Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) serves as a beacon of hope for thousands of injured, orphaned and displaced wildlife across KwaZulu-Natal. Claire Hodgkinson, Director of CROW, discusses some of the challenges faced by the organisation.

CROW’s rehabilitation programmes and facilities are strictly regulated and must conform with both local and international minimum standards.

SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT

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Durban’s Centre for Rehabilitation of

Wildlife prides itself on giving KZN’s injured

and orphaned wildlife a second chance.

24 Special Report: CROW

wildlife – from vervet monkeys and chacma

baboons to banded mongoose and genets

– are increasingly seen as the latest “must-

have” pet.

We see countless cases every week

whereby people have attempted to keep

a wild animal illegally as a pet, only for it

to be handed over to us once the “owner”

has grown weary of it or it’s become too

difficult to care for.

Bob, the chacma baboon is one such

victim of this growing phenomenon.

Rescued by CROW in early 2012, Bob, then

18 month’s old, was living with a herd of

sheep after being kept as a family pet by

a local farmer and his family in the Natal

Midlands. On order of the farmer, Bob’s

mother was hunted down and shot by

local farm workers to ensure the farmer’s

three-year-old daughter could have the

cute and fluffy newborn baby baboon she

craved at the time. A year or so later, Bob

the baboon was inevitably not so cute and

cuddly anymore. Fearing for the safety of

his family, the farmer banished Bob from

the farmhouse and chased him into the

outlaying fields where he lived with a small

herd of sheep. It was here, riding on the

back of one of the sheep, that Bob was

found by CROW.

Following months of intensive

rehabilitation at the CROW centre, which

is licensed to care for up to 25 baboons at

any one time, Bob was gradually introduced

and merged with 13 other injured, orphaned

and displaced baboons. In November 2013

Bob was released to roam free with his

adopted troop on a private game farm near

Richmond. As part of the stringent permit

conditions applied to the release of primates

in KZN, the small troop is being closely

watched by an onsite monitor responsible

for overseeing and recording the troop’s

progress during the first phase of their post-

release programme.

In keeping with CROW’s mission to

educate the public and involve communities

in the conservation and protection of

indigenous wildlife, the organisation is

working closely with local leaders to ensure

the fledgling troop’s long-term survival and

sustainability in the Richmond area.

“Educating local communities and instilling

a sense of pride and ownership is crucial

ABOVE: Free at last! Two of CROW’s recently released baboon’s exploring their new release site. LEFT: Nelson, another of the chacma baboons in the released troop. BOTTOM: EKZN Willdife DCO, Mike Tyldesley releases CROW’s baboons from their transport boxes.

“Educating local communities and instilling a sense of pride and ownership is crucial to the success of this and future primate releases in KZN”

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to the success of this and future primate

releases in KZN,” explains CROW Primate

Manager, Mabel Watts. “It is imperative

that we work with local wildlife authorities

to address the myriad of cultural myths and

fears that currently exist about our wildlife,

particularly in the more rural areas where

the conservation of these animals is not only

crucial from a biodiversity point of view, but

also as a way to help alleviate socio-economic

problems such as poverty and unemployment

through eco-tourism.”

Working closely with Ezemvelo KZN

Wildlife, the SPCA, and other animal

welfare and conservation stakeholders,

CROW is currently the only wildlife

rehabilitation centre that is registered to

rescue, rehabilitate and release injured,

orphaned and displaced chacma baboons,

such as Bob, within KwaZulu-Natal. The vast

majority of these highly intelligent and social

animals arrive at the CROW centre severely

traumatised, and face a long and complex

road to recovery.

Keeping the doors of the centre open is

an on-going concern for the organisation.

As a registered non-profit and public benefit

organisation, CROW does not currently

receive any government subsidies and has

always relied on donations from the public

to fund its programmes.

In addition to covering their monthly

animal feed, veterinary and other

operating costs, CROW is also dependant

on donations to build and maintain its

extensive network of pre- and post-release

enclosures to house patients during

rehabilitation. For instance, the organisation

is currently raising funds to expand and

upgrade its main pre-release baboon

enclosure following the release of the

latest troop at the end of 2013. The project

includes expanding the current enclosure,

running a new electric fence around the

perimeter of the enclosure, and repairing

the sheltered hides and jungle gyms within

the enclosure itself.

To ensure CROW can accommodate

the growing number of baby baboons

currently in the nursery enclosure, it needs

to raise R130 000 to proceed with urgent

renovations. Anyone who would like to

donate towards CROW’s Chacma Baboon

Rehabilitation Programme and facility

upgrade project, is asked to please

visit www.crowkzn.co.za or make a

donation directly:

Bank: First National Bank

Acc Name: CROW

Acc No: 50770230859

Branch Code: 221426

25

Super TroopersThe CROW team is very pleased to report that following the release of our troop of 14 rehabilitated baboons in November last year, they are now thriving in their new home. Over the past five months, the troop’s progress on the 10 000 hectare private game farm up in Richmond where they’ve been released has been carefully monitored by CROW’s onsite baboon monitor. From the onset, the baboons were happily foraging for themselves, so much so that they walked right passed the supplementary food offerings that were put out for them by our monitor! The troop will continue to be closely monitored over the coming autumn and winter months, when they will have to work a little harder for their food as the natural vegetation in the area starts to dry up and become less plentiful.

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

• Visit CROW: CROW holds one guided tour for members of the

public on the last Sunday of every month at 11 am.

• Volunteer at CROW: CROW has a very active local and

international volunteer programme. All volunteers aged 16 and

over are welcome.

• Support CROW: Become a member, sponsor an animal or join

CROW’s One Thousand, One Hundred Club, for more details

go to www.crowkzn.co.za on how to support CROW’s work.

• Follow CROW: follow CROW’s work on Facebook: CROWKZN

or Twitter: Crowkzn@crowkzn1

Chacma baboon Fast Facts: NAME: Chacma baboon or Cape baboon (Papio ursinus)

SIZE: A mature male measures 1.5 m from head to tail and weighs up to 33 kg, whereas the more slender female measures 1.1 m and has a mass of about 15 kg.

DIET: Omnivorous, under natural conditions they feed on wild fruits, seeds and insects, even scorpions, and on occasion even the flesh of small mammals and birds.

BREEDING: Baboons are sexually active throughout the year. Gestation period is around 140 days, after which a single young is born.

PREFERRED HABITAT: Baboons inhabit a wide range of habitats, from woodlands to open grasslands.

Reference: http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_chacma_baboon.html

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26 Palaeontology Department

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Among the large number of marine

invertebrates in the Palaeontology

Collection of the Museum we

currently have 35 holotypes and

225 paratypes, by far the largest in the

holdings of the museum. In addition,

Honorary Curator Prof. Mike Cooper and I are

in the process of describing several new

species, which will add more type material to

the already invaluable collection.

Type specimens are the basis for the

recognition of all species. They are an

important part of any museum collection

and contribute enormously to the

international standing of the museum. They

provide the basis for all subsequent

comparison. In describing a new

species, a specimen that best reflects the

characters of the species is selected as the

holotype. Where possible, a number of

specimens from the same population are

selected as paratypes so as to provide

supplementary information about the

species. Additional to the type material,

there are also around a thousand specimens

in the collection that are figured and

referred to in formal publications.

Unfortunately, because the collection was

without formal curation for at least 80 years

and was put in storage for a number of

years, a number of type specimens have

Palaeontology Department Research Associate, Betsie Greyling, delves into matters concerning lost specimens, dynamite-wielding fossil hunters and Cretaceous trigonias.

NEW LIGHTON OLD FOSSILS

AmmonitesAmmonites are an extinct group of marine invertebrate animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs lived throughout the world’s oceans and are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e. octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) than they are to shelled nautiloids such as the living Nautilus species. The earliest ammonites appeared during the Devonian (420 Ma), survived the Permian (250 Ma) and Triassic (206 Ma) extinctions and the last species died out during the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event (65 Ma).

Ammonites are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which a particular species or genus is found to specific geological time periods. Their fossil shells usually take the form of planispirals, although there were some

helically coiled and non-spiraled forms (known as heteromorphs).

The name ‘ammonite’, from which the scientific term is derived, was inspired by the spiral shape of their fossilised shells, which somewhat resemble tightly coiled rams’ horns. Pliny the Elder (d. 79 AD near Pompeii) called fossils of these animals ammonis cornua (“horns of Ammon”) because the

Egyptian god Ammon (Amun) was typically depicted wearing ram’s horns. It was to the glory of this most revered deity of the Egyptians that the vast Karnak temple was built on the east bank of the Nile, near the city of Luxor, a well visited attraction for thousands of tourists. Often the name of an ammonite genus ends in -ceras, which is Greek (κέρας) for ‘horn’.

BETSIE GREYLING

27

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gone missing. The search is now on to find

these “lost” items. Should they never be

found it will become necessary to select

another individuals from the remaining

specimens to serve as neotypes.

Finding specimens was the order of the

day in June-July 2013 as part of a drive to

draw up a detailed inventory of the

palaeontological collections. Out of the

approximately 180 000 reported specimens

in the collections, 7500 numbered specimens

could be accessed and inventoried. This

exercise entailed checking specimen

numbers against the 25 year-old written

catalogue and entering all available data into

a database. For each specimen the unique

number, generic and specific names,

lithostratigraphic unit, chronostratigraphic

level, locality data, collection date and

inventory date had to be entered.

Good teamwork among Curator Leigh

Richards, myself and volunteer Siyasanga

Mrawusi, saw the project through to

completion on time. Leigh set up the

database, organised volunteer assistance and

took the photographs, while I supervised and

coordinated the project, Siya did much of the

online recording. During 2013 we also spent

many hours producing a comprehensive

catalogue of the type and referred material of

marine invertebrates, which we hope to

finalise for publication in the coming year.

Also in preparation is a paper on the

geology and palaeontology of the Mzamba Formation the type locality of which is the

“fossil forest” just south of the Wild Coast

Casino. This fossil site, dated to the Late

Cretaceous (85-82 million years ago), was

first brought to the attention of science in

1824 by H.F. Fynn. In 1855 fossils were

TOP: Fossiliferous packstones north of the Mzamba estuary. ABOVE: Fossil corals from the 1.7 Ma False Bay Coral Limestone along the shores of Lake St Lucia. RIGHT: Upper Cretaceous strata of the Mzamba Formation. (All photos: Betsie Greyling)

The Mzamba Formation whose type locality is the “fossil forest” just south of the Wild Coast Casino is dated to the Late Cretaceous (85-82 million years ago)

28 Palaeontology Department

collected from the site by Captain R.J.

Garden of the 45th Regiment, and taken to

England. He gave the material to Mr W.H.

Baily who formally described them in 1855.

This paper represents the first record of

fossils from South Africa.

Subsequently the Mzamba deposit was

extensively collected by E.C. Chubb, then

Director of the Durban Museum, and W.J.

Plows in 1919. Mr Plows reported:

“…I accompanied Mr Chubb, Curator of the Durban Museum, on a visit to Pondoland, for the purpose of exploring the Cretaceous deposits there and making a collection of their fossils. The district is somewhat wild. Roads deserving the name are absent in the vicinity. Natives, a few coloured people, and an occasional European storekeeper are the only human denizens. Mr Chubb and I went by motor car as far as the mouth of the Umtamvuna, and after crossing the river by boat, journeyed on foot three miles or so along the sea shore to the mouth of the Umzamba River.”

Another spirited geologist, Prof. T.W.

Gevers, also took a keen interest in the

Mzamba fossils. During the summer

vacation of 1923-1924 Gevers spent three

months at the mouth of the Mzamba River.

To reach the fossils in the higher sections of

the steep cliff, he laid his own ingenious

plans. In his report he wrote:

“Held by two trusty Pondo henchmen I lowered myself by rope and laboriously cut a small platform into the fossiliferous marls and shelly limestone. For a brilliant idea had illuminated my mind: Why not blast a lot of fossiliferous rock down the cliff? Suspended in mid-air I myself turned a long chisel while a Pondo hanging above my head hammered it to make two holes for dynamite.”

He promptly borrowed a horse from a

Swedish trader named Anderson and secured

some sticks of dynamite, detonators and a

length of fuse from a nearby farmer. The

farmer warned him that the dynamite was

very old and temperamental. Heeding this

advice he wrapped the dynamite sticks in

newspaper and stuffed the parcel into his

right hip-pocket, far out of reach of the

detonators, which he stowed in his left

pocket, and the fuse, which he tied around

his tummy like a belt. But the horse was high-

spirited too, and no sooner had he leapt into

the saddle when:

“that brute of a horse bolted and careered down the road. The horse had the bit firmly between the teeth and tugging at the reins

was useless. So I just let it gallop full tilt, standing in the stirrups like a jockey in the endspurt of a race. A farm gate loomed up and the horse halted its mad gallop with a sudden jerk, all four legs stemmed forwards. Through the sudden stress the right stirrup straps snapped and I fell heavily to the ground, bang on my right hip…It was only when I put my right hand behind my back and felt my pants to be all oily, that I suddenly remembered the dynamite. Gingerly I felt my hip-pocket. The four sticks had been smashed flat!

Back at the Umzamba, I gingerly kneaded the sadly deformed sticks of dynamite back into something at least resembling a cylindrical shape – shoved two, equipped with detonators and very short fuses, with a stick in the holes near the top of the cliff, tamped them down with sand and, hanging in mid-air, set the fuses alight, yelling ‘phezulu’ to my two Pondos holding the rope at the top of the cliff. They pulled smartly and I had just arrived at the top where we threw ourselves flat on the grass, when two loud booms sent highly fossiliferous rock into the air, large chunks clattering down the cliff and landing with a thud on the sand below.

Eventually oxen dragged three tons of rock on forked tree branches three miles to the Umtamvuna. I rowed them across in a boat, bag by bag, carted them by ox wagon to Izingolweni and from there dispatched them by train to Cape Town, thereby greatly enriching knowledge of Maestrichtian and Danian fossil stratigraphy and the various possible modes of transporting dynamite.”

Today the area is not as wild, with a

suspension bridge over the river to carry

travellers from Durban to the Eastern Cape

on the paved highway in style and comfort.

For fieldwork at the mouth of the Mzamba

River, however, we still have to hike from the

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There are still no access roads other than an overgrown bush track, formerly used by ORI to check their shark nets.

Wild Coast Casino with all our gear in our

backpacks, not to mention the weight of the

fossils on the return journey. There are still

no access roads other than an overgrown

bush track, formerly used by ORI to check

their shark nets.

Not much has changed at the river mouth

since the endeavours of these pioneers 80

years ago. Plows commented that:

“It is curious that the few observers who have visited the spot differ so much in their descriptions, and I have to differ from all of them. The probable explanation is that at different times rocks are hidden by sand, or uncovered by the waves, as tides and currents vary.”

This is still the case today, so that with

every visit we have to make the most of the

fleeting opportunities that nature allows.

While working on the deposit in 1991, we

were fortunate enough to observe the

lowest stratigraphic levels ever recorded

since the first record of 1827, with several

hitherto unknown beds exposed by high

springtide swells, adding unique and

invaluable knowledge of the deposit. A later

slump at the type section presently obscures

part of the cliff face.

The material (numbering about 100

specimens) that Chubb and Plows collected

in 1919 formed the bulk of the invertebrate

palaeontological holdings of the Durban

Museum for the next 65 years. The Mzamba Formation is the type locality for

a substantial number of new species,

including ammonites, gastropods (snails),

bivalves (clams), echinoids (sea urchins),

foraminifers and fossil wood. Unfortunately

for our Museum many of these type

specimens landed up in overseas museums,

such as those collected by Garden and

Gevers. Since the late 1980s Prof. Cooper

and I have been adding countless specimens

of marine invertebrates to the collections,

ranging from the Cretaceous to the Tertiary

and Quaternary, a period spanning more

than 130 million years and collected from

numerous sites along the southeastern coast,

stretching from Port Elizabeth in the south to

Ndumo in the north, on the border with

Mozambique. While this material is housed

in the Museum, it is mostly unnumbered and

begs proper curation.

Prof. Cooper is finalising a paper on

Pleistocene molluscs from the Quaternary

False Bay Coral Limestone which is

exposed along the shores of Lake St Lucia.

This 1.7-million-year-old deposit, in the

Isimangaliso wetlands, is fascinating in that

it records substantial environmental and

ecological change, when sea levels were

some 7m higher than at present and the

lake was filled by a clear shallow sea in

which corals flourished. Conditions were

much like the present-day Red Sea. In

addition he is finalising his work on the

Cretaceous trigonias (extinct clams) of

Maputaland and has just completed an

illustrated book entitled The Cretaceous fossils of Southern and Central Africa,

with illustrations from his own pen. This

will be invaluable to field geologists,

teachers and naturalists.

29

References:

Gevers, T.W. 1977. Fossils and dynamite. Quart. News Bull. Geol. Soc. S Afr., 19:10-11.

Plows, W.J. 1921. The Cretaceous rocks of Pondoland. Ann. Durban Mus., 3:39-66.

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TOP LEFT: Ammonites from Maputaland. MIDDLE: Trigonia type specimens, a group of extinct clams. BOTTOM LEFT: Prof. Cooper contemplating the characters of a specimen from the collection. BELOW: Compiling an inventory of the palaeontological collections.

Exhibitions Department:

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The year 2013 proved to be

another extremely busy one for

the Exhibition Department.

Besides the usual maintenance of

dioramas and exhibitions, and the

production of various promotional and

educational materials, the Department

ensured that the Museum retained a fresh

approach in its interactions with the public.

The on-going ‘Stop Rhino Poaching’

exhibition in the Temporary Exhibitions Gallery

was upgraded with the construction of a new

light box to highlight the title of the exhibition.

This exhibition was also updated with the

latest poaching figures and new labels were

printed and fitted for this purpose. A new

display case was constructed in the Mammal

Gallery to house our black and white rhino

skulls and horns, using steel, armour-plated

glass and a state-of-the-art alarm system. New

labels were made for the exhibit and a

specially designed light box was also installed

to illuminate the exhibit from above.

One of the more ‘unusual’ requests came

from artist Tom Van Herrewege who asked to

place some of his sculptures in selected

dioramas and photograph them for his solo

exhibition ‘Paradise Lost’, hosted at the

KZNSA Gallery. GRAP 103In the first half of 2013 we were occupied

with GRAP 103 procedures, involving the

formal auditing of heritage assets - as were

all the Museum departments. One of our first

tasks was to locate all the ’homeless‘

exhibition specimens and move them into our

workshop so that they could be accessioned.

This required fitting shelving, achieved with

the aid of our able-bodied volunteers, storing

the specimens thereon, allocating unique

numbers to each specimen, and collating this

information into a database. A total of 249

specimens were added.

Thereafter every specimen in all the

Museum galleries was accessioned. The most

time-consuming gallery was the Insect Gallery,

with 722 specimens. This took over a week to

complete, as each display case had to be

opened and each specimen removed, pinned

with a unique number and then replaced.

Other galleries included the Bird Gallery with

718 specimens (of which 351 were eggs in a

single display case), 337 shells and assorted

specimens and artifacts in the front-of-house

display cabinets, 203 specimens in the

Mammal Gallery, 139 specimens and artifacts

in the Palaeontology & Geology Gallery, and

30 specimens in the Reptile Gallery. In all,

2401 specimens were accessioned.

FOR THE RECORDResident photographer Andrew Carter was

kept busy documenting various events hosted

The Exhibitions team gives us an update of the department’s work in 2013.

THE REAL SHOW OFFS

A new display case was constructed to house our black and white rhino skulls and horns, using steel, armour-plated glass and a state-of-the-art alarm system.

Exhibitions Department

31

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by the Museum and the Libraries and Heritage

Department generally. Sixteen events were

covered during the September Heritage

month, with over 12 000 photographs taken.

The SAASTEC Conference hosted by the

Museum in November resulted in over 7 000

photographs. Other functions and events

photographed included nine Biodiversity Series

Seminars,hosted jointly by the Museum, South

African Association for Marine Biological

Research (SAAMBR) and the Royal Society of

South Africa, the Hillcrest Christian Academy

Winter Fair, which also used our ‘Stop Rhino

Poaching’ rotating exhibition to promote their

world record attempt in anti-rhino poaching

fund raising, International Museums Day held

at the Krantzkloof Nature Reserve, National

Science Week, and KwaNunu Exhibition. Some

23 000 photographs, covering approximately

33 events were taken, in addition to general

photography of specimens, galleries, exhibits,

museum patrons, GRAP 103 procedures, etc.

TAKING THE MUSEUM TO THE PEOPLEOver the years the Museum has produced

numerous temporary exhibitions which were

displayed in our old coffee shop area,

commonly referred to as the ‘Waterhole’.

Each exhibition usually lasted for six

months, before being replaced with a new

one. Due to space restrictions, the old

exhibitions were either placed in storage or

were discarded, which seemed a pity given

all the work that went into researching and

developing them.

In 2012 the idea of developing these into

travelling or ’rotating‘ exhibitions was

mooted. Information from previous temporary

exhibitions was restructured to fit onto pull-

up banners, as these were determined to be

the best means of transporting the exhibitions

and displaying them in areas not generally

designed for this purpose. We have developed

rotating exhibitions covering the following

ABOVE: ‘Stop Rhino Poaching’ rotating exhibition – HCA Entrepreneur Week (August 2013) anti-rhino poaching fundraiser. LEFT: New rhino horn case displaying black and white rhino skulls and horns.FAR LEFT: Dudu Hlatshwayo, Immie Mostert and Andrew Carter of the Exhibitions Department.

Man vs beast‘Paradise Lost’ is a series of photographic prints from UK-based artist Tom Van Herrewege. It depicts synthetic material sculptures placed within selected dioramas, providing a foil to the natural beauty of the long-dead diorama inmates. These juxtapositions acquire an alien, almost apocalyptic feel. These works do not humanise, rather they speak to inhumanity. They appear as assemblages of litter in a constructed natural environment (the dioramas) that may have been created out in the wild. And they are placed so the animals are encountering them in various ways, from protecting, attacking and investigating the object.

topics: ‘Curators and Collections’, ‘I am an

African’, ‘Invasive Alien Plants’ and ‘Stop

Rhino Poaching’. We currently have 35

exhibition sets that are moved around the

municipality and are placed in municipal

libraries, Sizakala Centres, schools and

exhibition halls – and even once at King Shaka

International Airport.

This initiative has proved an excellent way

for the Museum to reach out to the public in

the eThekwini region, particularly in

previously disadvantaged areas. People who

usually can’t afford to come to the Museum

can now have the Museum come to them!

This has enabled us to disseminate the

information in a cost-effective manner and

has saved the public the costs of travelling to

and from the Museum; not to mention saving

the municipality the cost of establishing

further museums in the metro.

For this endeavour, the Museum was

nominated in the “Best Innovation and

Cost-saving” category of the 2013 City

Stars Awards.

GREEN HEROES FOR A CHANGING CLIMATE“Seriously, why should I care about this thing

called climate change?”

With these words Museum volunteer,

Londiwe Mthemba, represented as a

cardboard cut-out, challenges Museum

visitors on the staircase below the foyer.

And the answer is provided by another

cardboard cut-out, representing Museum

Volunteer Coordinator Zamo Shazi, who

says: “… because unfortunately, it will touch

every part of our lives …”.

How do we inspire a green shift in

lifestyle without scaring our visitors into

hopelessness and passivity given the

daunting challenges posed by our

planet’s changing climate?

From the outset Dudu Hlatshwayo,

Exhibitions Curator, and Immie Mostert,

Museum Officer, knew that success would

depend on a delicate balance between

depicting the harsh reality on one hand and

providing inspiration to change personal

behavior on the other. Initially we focused

on selected staff members who had already

adopted a greener lifestyle, but Director

Allison Ruiters suggested casting the net

further to include the greater eThekwini

community.

An advertisement placed in the internal

e-newspaper, iThekuNet Bulletin, formerly

INFO INFO, called on members of our

society involved with small but vital activities

that lessen the impact of climate change to

contact us. Anyone in the greater eThekwini

area who was growing food, even on a very

small scale, destroying alien invasive plants,

harvesting rainwater, keeping earthworms,

composting kitchen or garden waste,

recycling their waste products, and so forth,

was asked to record their activities and

share their stories.

The advertisement elicited a swift

response and Dudu and Immie set about

visiting a range of potential ‘green heroes’,

starting with a food gardener. Considering

that 21st century food production greatly

contributes to the carbon footprint through

CO2 emissions, growing or buying locally

produced food that is in-season is a great

way of going green.

At Umzinyathi near Inanda Dam we met

Mrs Edith Shezi, a gracious and hospitable

person who showed us around her

substantial food garden, which undulates

down a gentle slope. It supports a variety

of mature fruit trees and neat rows of

vegetables. The well-established garden

sustains the Shezi household

and surplus crops are sold

in the community. To

collect fresh water for the

garden, the gutter

downpipes have been

modified to catch

the rainwater

in large plastic drums. Kitchen scraps are

composted to enrich the garden soil. We

had found our first green hero and to our

delight Mrs Shezi was happy to step into

that role.

Climate change, with its altered

temperature and rainfall patterns, is an issue

that affects us all as it is set to impact on

food production. Future food scarcity cannot

be ruled out. Roughly 70% of Africans live

by farming and 40% of all exports are

farming products. In some African countries,

crops dependent on rainfall could be

reduced by up to 50% by 2020.

Next on our list was Jabulani Memela, a

former Museum volunteer and the

permaculture coordinator at the Durban

Botanic Gardens. The organic methods of

permaculture gardening are ideally suited

for ameliorating the negative impacts of

climate change. Organic matter which

decomposes in a landfill creates

methane, a potent greenhouse gas

with 21 times the impact of CO2.

Local composting avoids this

problem and creates natural

fertilizer and soil conditioner.

With over 50% of oil

produced worldwide used

for transport, and with road

transport responsible for a

large and growing

proportion of human-made

CO2 emissions, we went

looking for green transport

heroes. Several members

of the eThekwini Energy

Office led the way with their

preferred mode of transport

for commuting: bicycles and

e-bikes. Clinton Jackson and

Alison Stanley were selected to

introduce the energy

consumption and energy saving

aspect of the display.

Biodiversity, the fragile and

crucial web of interconnected

life, plays a vital buffering role in

the natural world. The protection of

We had found our first green hero and to our delight Mrs Shezi was happy to step into that role.

32

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

Exhibitions Department

ecosystems and biodiversity are therefore

crucial as climate change threatens havoc

across the globe. Museum Officer Andrew

Carter does his bit by protecting the

biodiversity of indigenous forest on his

Hillcrest property by destroying alien

invasive plants. As climate change takes

hold, the rapid growth of alien invasive

plants will impact more severely on

biodiversity and ecosystems.

Our small planet, dominated by members

of a single species and awash in their waste

products, especially the petroleum

byproduct plastic, desperately needs to

implement the three R’s: reduce, reuse and

recycle. Renusha Baldev, supervisor at the

Museum’s Research Centre, is in charge of

recycling the Centre’s waste and was one of

the green heroes featured in the display.

With ecosystems under pressure, we

decided to include the issue of discarded

waste and Museum Volunteer Coordinator,

Zamo Shazi, a fierce anti-litter campaigner,

was the natural choice to address this

substantial problem.

“eThekwini Municipality is aware of

the seriousness of climate change, but

cannot tackle it alone. It needs support

and daily action from you and me to make

a difference” – Zamo Shazi, DNSM

Volunteer Coordinator.

SOWING THE SEEDS OF PERMACULTURE AT THE MUSEUM RESEARCH CENTREThe term permaculture refers to

“consciously designed landscapes which

mimic the patterns and relationships found

in nature, while yielding an abundance of

food, fibre and energy for provision of local

needs” – David Holmgren, co-founder of

the permaculture movement.

The new food garden, which is sending

out its first roots and shoots, is an organic

extension of the Museum’s current display

on climate change. It was specifically

conceptualised to inspire and inform, in

particular with regard to the impact of

climate change on food availability and

water scarcity. Furthermore, it aims to

highlight the role and importance of

biodiversity, with particular emphasis on

biodiversity as a buffer zone during times of

climatic turbulence.

The outlook is harsh. Climate change will

harm food markets and food security on a

household level in many parts of the world.

Africa, in particular, will be hard hit, as most

of the continent relies on farming that is

rainfall-dependent. Temperature and rainfall

patterns will change and this will influence

planting seasons, which in turn will affect

the amount of food that can be produced.

To add to this, natural disasters like floods

and droughts will be more severe and pest

outbreaks affecting both crops and farm

animals will occur more often.

Right from the onset, Dudu, Immie and

Zamo forged a partnership with one of our

green heroes, Jabulani Memela. True to form,

he gently but firmly tucked the Museum’s

‘food-gardening pioneers’ under his wing

and guided us through the permaculture

approach of growing food in a sustainable

manner. Words like ‘mulching’, ‘compost’ and

‘worm farms’ started to crop up in our

ABOVE: Museum volunteers nurturing the Research Centre’s food garden.FAR LEFT: Our green hero, Mrs Edith Shezi.

Top of the listTree Tops School is one of several WESSA/WWF Eco Schools in Durban and was therefore high on our green heroes list. Debi Wells, former design and technology teacher and environmental coordinator at the school, kindly granted us a visit and a photo session. At Tree Tops a love and respect for the natural world is nurtured and the seeds of social and environmental responsibility are sown from a young age. The school shows an appreciation of the fragile nature of our planet and carefully considers how the actions of its community affects the Earth and the future of all who share our planet. This outlook was abundantly clear as we inspected their Eco-Schools portfolios and viewed the school’s permaculture garden, worm farm and rain-harvesting tank.

33

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

conversations, and as the days lengthened

into summer we set off for the hills to collect

bakkie-loads of straw and horse manure

from the Durban Shongweni Club, cheerfully

donated by Hetty Blake, the affable

manageress of the stables.

Back at the Research Centre, cardboard

and dried leaves were collected and stored

and Dudu raided Materials Management for

gardening gear and tools. Renusha donated

a wheelbarrow and additional gardening

implements, while Dudu and I foraged for

madumbe bulbs and pumpkin, butternut

and mielie seeds amongst the food crops on

offer from the informal traders of Warrick

Triangle. Jabulani donated brinjal seedlings

and rosemary plants on behalf of the

Durban Botanic Gardens.

After visiting the proposed site, Jabulani

planned the layout of the first beds and

pathways, and selected the location for a

compost heap. We were ready to start.

Under a sweltering Durban sky, the team of

staff and volunteers prepared the first

beds, planted seedlings and sowed the first

seeds. As a fitting tribute to the merits of

the permaculture approach, the young

plants are reaching for the sky from their

protective straw mulch cover, in spite of a

roasting sun and some neglect during the

Christmas holidays.

The Curator of the Durban Botanic

Gardens, Martin Clement, suggested the use

of marigold flowers as insect deterrents and

horticulturist Ricky Chetty from the Parks

depot at Malvern responded with a generous

donation, and added a few lavender plants to

boot. To line the garden pathways, Senzo

Sibiya, a Parks senior horticulturist, offered

woodchips from Albert Park.

The indigenous plant spekboom

(Portulacaria afra) has exceptional

carbon-storing capabilities. It is said that

a hectare of spekboom is capable of

capturing up to four tons of carbon a year.

It is therefore justifiably known as a carbon

sink when occurring en masse. Lining the

driveway at the Research Centre with a plant

that conveniently guzzles car emissions

seemed appropriate, and horticulturist Justin

Oxland, Manager of Production & Display,

made that possible by generously donating a

veritable forest of spekboom plants.

From this year, members of staff and

volunteers, as well as the Research Centre

gardener, will receive training in permaculture

at the Durban Botanic Gardens.

We have embarked on an organic journey

in sustainability!

Exhibitions Department:Dudu Hlatshwayo, Immie Mostert and Andrew Carter

“eThekwini Municipality is aware of the seriousness of climate change, but it cannot tackle it alone. It needs the support and daily action from you and me to make a difference.” Zamo Shazi, DNSM Volunteer Coordinator

LEFT: Museum staff and volunteers offloading straw and preparing a dedicated area for permaculture at the Research Centre. ABOVE: The permaculture process reaping healthy young plants.

34 Exhibitions Department

35

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

Figure 1: Estimated bird mortality rates for various wind farms in the United States (National Wind Coordinating Collaborative 2010).

ethekwini’s first wind-energy

project, entitled the ‘Ethekwini

Wind Repowering Project’ was

initiated in 2010 during the lead

up to the COP17 climate-change meeting

hosted by the City. It stems from

collaboration between the Bremen Overseas

Research and Development Association and

the Municipality. Bremen is one of

eThekwini’s ‘twin cities’. The project involves

the transportation of two 150 kW wind

turbines from Bremen to eThekwini and their

installation somewhere in the metropolitan

area. The project has proved to be complex

and finding a suitable site in eThekwini has

been challenging. This article highlights

some issues around the impacts of wind

energy on birds and bats, a subject which

many in the Municipality knew little about

prior to the project.

The wind-energy industry has expanded

significantly over the last decade. This

growth looks set to continue as the cost of

wind-energy decreases and the need for

more energy while reducing greenhouse gas

emissions increases. It is forecast that wind-

energy costs will drop substantially in the

future and that wind will become a more

cost-effective solution than traditional coal-

fired power generation. In the face of

climate change and the associated need to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions, eThekwini

needs to assess the local viability of wind

energy, gain expertise in wind-project

development, and understand the

environmental and technological impacts

and how to mitigate these.

The wind-repowering project received

extensive media focus in the lead up to

COP 17. Much of this attention was due to

the proposed location, the Bluff Military

Base, being near a colony of Egyptian slit-

faced bats. This is not a threatened species

but the colony at the Bluff is the largest in

South Africa. The base is also an important

foraging area for the large-eared free-tailed

bat, which is a more vulnerable species.

Primarily due to pressure from wildlife

groups, the Municipality decided not to use

Bluff as a site for these turbines.

BIRDS AND WIND ENERGYConcern around birds colliding with the

blades of wind turbines has existed since the

1970’s but until the late 1990’s the topic

received little scientific attention. The

significance of such bird fatalities was first

pinpointed through experiences from the

Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, one of

the first regions in the United States to be

Craig Richards of the City’s Energy Office considers the impact of wind energy on birds and bats.

AGAINST THE WIND

Wind Repowering Project

Buff

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developed for wind-energy on a commercial

scale. Altamont Pass drew attention because

of the number of endangered bird species

involved and the high concentration of wind

turbines (Altamont Pass Avian Monitoring

Team 2008).

Subsequently, numerous studies have

been carried out to assess bird fatalities

caused by wind turbines (e.g. see Figure 1)

and while much is still unknown, our

understanding of the interactions between

wind turbines and birds is improving. Most

studies have indicated that fatality rates are

generally low and that location is a crucial

factor in avoiding bird fatalities.

In assessing wind-energy impacts on

birds it is important to put such fatalities

into context. Figure 2 gives an indication of

bird fatalities due to other human activities.

Such comparisons are often used by wind-

energy backers to oppose the arguments of

conservationists. This can be misleading,

however, as it does not reflect the different

types of birds impacted by each activity,

e.g. factors such as oiling, fishing by-catch,

electrocution and wind turbines can kill

substantial numbers of large, rare and

formally threatened bird species, whereas

casualties through window collisions and

feral cats are typically restricted to smaller,

abundant passerines.

In a similar fashion, bird fatalities from

other traditional energy sources are rarely

compared and fatalities due to wind energy

are often presented without comparing

them with coal or nuclear facilities.

Benjamin Sovacool (2009) attempted to

do this (see Figure 3) and concluded that

fossil fuels represent a threat 17 times

greater to birds than wind energy. This

author makes three very telling conclusions

in his paper:

1. “Firstly, far more detailed, rigorous, and

sophisticated analysis is called for that

takes into account the complexities of the

wind, fossil-fuelled, and nuclear energy

fuel cycles.”

2. “Second, while the avian deaths

attributed to fossil-fuel, wind, and

nuclear power plants do vary, they also

imply that there is no form of electricity

supply completely benign to birds. The

best strategy for preserving avian wildlife,

therefore, would be to encourage the

more efficient use of energy before any

type of new power plant or wind farm

is constructed.”

3. “Third, and perhaps more important, for it

applies to many types of assessment

beyond the electricity sector, is the lesson

that the most visible impacts from a given

technology are not always the most

egregious. Wind turbines seem to present

a significant threat to birds because all of

their negative externalities are

concentrated in one place, while those

from conventional and nuclear fuel cycles

are spread across space and time. Avian

mortality and wind energy has

consequently received far more attention

and research than the avian deaths

associated with coal, oil, natural gas, and

36 Wind Repowering Project

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

Figure 2: Estimated annual bird fatalities in millions of birds in North America stemming from various anthropogenic sources (Barnard 2013).

hunting

fishing by-catch

oil waste pits

oils spills

pesticides

electrocution

cars

wind turbines

high tension wires

communications towers

feral cats

windows

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 Wind Energy Nuclear Power Fossil Fuels

Tota

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14

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Figure 3: Estimated annual avian mortalities due to wind, nuclear and fossil fuels in the United States (Sovacool 2009).

nuclear power systems, even though this

study suggests that wind energy may be

the least harmful to birds.”

Although it can be argued that wind may be

less harmful to birds overall because the

impacts of wind energy are highly localised, if

a wind facility is poorly located, say in the

vicinity of populations of a threatened or

endemic species, e.g. Cape and Bearded

vultures, it could represent a significant threat

to avian biodiversity (Subramanian 2012).

Bats and Wind EnErgyWhile the issue of birds has been around for

some time, the problem relevant to bats is

newer and even more poorly understood. In

fact, it is not even certain what causes bat

fatalities associated with wind farms and in

many ways the wind industry has highlighted

how little we know about these animals,

particularly in South Africa.

The prevailing current theory as to why

bats are particularly vulnerable to wind-

turbine fatalities is related to the low-

pressure zone behind a rotating turbine

blade which causes the bat’s lungs to

expand rapidly – a phenomenon known a

barotrauma – causing internal bleeding

which can be fatal. The alternative theory,

supported by the most recent research, is

simply that direct turbine strikes are primarily

responsible for most bat deaths.

Bat turbine fatalities are strongly related to

the bat species involved – it seems that some

bats are far more vulnerable than others. Of

fatalities recorded in North America, 11 of

the 45 species inhabiting this continent were

involved. In the United States, more than

75% of all collisions involved foliage-roosting

eastern red bats, hoary bats and the tree-

cavity-dwelling silver-haired bats. The

available information seems to indicate that

migrant bat species in particular seem to be

most vulnerable to wind-turbine fatalities.

iMPaCt On Bat and Bird sPECiEs in KZnBecause impacts appear to be very specific to

species, findings from one study cannot

simply be extrapolated to another, particularly

when these projects are in different regions.

This means that many of the findings from

international studies may not be applicable to

South Africa. Taking this further, findings from

the western and southern Cape, where most

of the wind-energy development in South

Africa is currently occurring, cannot be applied

willy-nilly to the eastern regions of the

country. This means that when attention

begins to shift to areas like KwaZulu-Natal,

the lack of information available on bird and

bat impacts on species specific to this province

may become a major barrier to the effective

roll-out of wind energy.

While small, the Ethekwini Wind Repowering

Project aims to gather sound scientific data

on the impacts of birds and bats in a local

context. This will be achieved by recording the

pre-existing conditions on the site selected

through a pre-construction monitoring

program and measuring the impacts thereafter

through a similar post-construction program. In

addition to this, the experience gained by the

Municipality regarding wind-energy

development and related environmental issues

should improve policy development, legislation

and spatial planning, which will benefit project

developers and conservationists alike.

37

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

References:

Altamont Pass Avian Monitoring Team. 2008. Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area Bird Fatality Study. July. (ICF J&S 61119.06.) Portland, OR. Prepared for Altamont County Community Development Agency.

Barnard. M. 2013 “How significant is bird and bat mortality due to wind turbines?” Available online: http://barnardonwind.com/2013/02/15/how-significant-is-bird-and-bat-mortality-due-to-wind-turbines/.

National Wind Coordinating Collaborative. 2010. Wind turbine interactions with birds, bats and their habitats.” Available online: http://nationalwind.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/publications/Birds_and_Bats_Fact_Sheet_.pdf.

Sovacool, B.K. 2009. Contextualising avian mortality: a preliminary appraisal of bird and bat fatalities from wind, fossil-fuel, and nuclear electricity. Energy Policy 37: 2241-2248.

Subramanian, M. 2012. The trouble with turbines: an ill wind. Nature 486: 310-311. [Available online: http://www.nature.com/news/the-trouble-with-turbines-an-ill-wind-1.10849.

KwaZulu-Natal MuseumA never ending journey of discovery!

237 Jabu Ndlovu Street, Pietermaritzburgt: 033 345 1404 | f: 033 345 0561 | www.nmsa.org.za

Open on weekends and public holidays

There is always somet hing new to see!

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

38 Herpetology Department

39

MODERN MUSINGS OF AN ANCIENT GREEKAngelo Lambiris poses some penetrating questions regarding the role of the Herpetology Department and its specimen collections in our ever- evolving society.

In the previous edition of Thola I

outlined the principal issues that

needed urgent attention in order to

resurrect the moribund Department of

Herpetology. Progress has been slow,

frequently beset with problems, both

foreseen and unexpected. Nevertheless, we

have made huge strides and the

computerised databases for the amphibian

and reptile collections have now been

completed, providing a firm foundation for

further developments.

Despite many frustrations, it has been an

illuminating and rewarding task, and has

given many tantalising glimpses into the

history of the collections. These glimpses

will, I hope, be developed into fuller stories

once the essential steps forward are fully

under way. I often feel (perhaps unjustly?)

that researchers tend to focus almost

entirely on the specimens and tend to ignore

the collectors who provided the material,

and the conditions and circumstances under

which these were collected.

Often, of course, many a specimen is

brought in by someone who has never

We have made huge strides with the amphibian and reptile collections, providing a firm foundation for further developments.

“Theories pass. The frog remains.”

ANGELO LAMBIRIS

JEAN ROSTAND

The spotted bush snake is a widespread species, and also shows some spectacular colour variations. The front half is usually as shown here, but whereas most South African snakes have the posterior half of the body more or less uniform green above, those from Zimbabwe and northwards are a beautiful bronze colour. They are often killed for boomslangs or mambas, but are completely harmless.

Source: www.africaimagelibrary.com

Spotted bush snake (Philothamnus semivariegatus)

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

40 Herpetology Department

The English “museum” comes from the Latin word, and is pluralised as “museums”. It is originally from the Ancient Greek “Mouseion”, which denotes a place or temple dedicated to the Muses (the patron divinities in Greek mythology of the arts), and hence a building set apart for study and the arts. especially the Musaeum (institute)

for philosophy and research at Alexandria by Ptolemy I Soter

about 280 BC.

The origins of the museum

done so before, and probably never will

again; but much material may be deposited

by investigators who have collected often

substantial series of specimens in the

course of their studies. A tiny number of

the collectors whose names are recorded in

the catalogues are known to me personally;

others are familiar only historically; and the

majority, sadly, I have no knowledge of at

all. Here is a rich field for the historians of

science to explore!

It is all very well to report that the

herpetological collections are being

reorganised, and that soon we shall have an

active and viable department that shall play

an important role in serving the community,

but first we need to ask and address some

very important questions. What are the

primary purposes of the collections? Who

are we serving? What are their needs? What

is the best way forward? How can we strike

a balance between activities intended to

benefit people in a multitude of ways, and

still provide scope for “pure research”?

Pure research is often seen, especially by

administrators whose concern is managing

money and people, as something not really

necessary, a more or less unjustifiable and

unproductive extravagance that could

better be directed to serving the community

(whatever that means) in concrete ways.

But pure research is not an unjustifiable

extravagance. What seems nebulous and

impractical today may well be essential for

human survival two years hence. The history

of medicine is fairly bursting with such

examples – penicillin being one such case to

which countless millions owe their lives.

It is instructive to recall the origins of two

things that have their roots in antiquity,

museums and libraries. A Mouseion,

Museum, was a literary and educational

(secondarily religious) centre dedicated

to research and lectures. Of these, by far

the most famous was that of Alexandria,

founded by Ptolemy Soter in about 280

BC, and the library created in association

with the museum was a major development

in bibliographical history. The Muses,

Greek deities, represented the arts and,

later, astronomy, philosophy and all other

intellectual pursuits. The one whom we

would now associate with museums, in the

modern sense of the word, would be the

goddess Polymatheia – “much learning”.

This little diversion into history and classics

is intended to remind us that museums

should not be mere mausoleums filled

with pitiful remnants of once-living plants

and animals and dusty caverns haunted

by troglodytic scientists whose arcane

communications are comprehensible

to only a chosen few. No, indeed,

a museum would have been, to

a Hellenistic Greek, a vibrant

multidisciplinary place open to all,

where both learning and teaching

were open to all who wished to

avail themselves of it.

It is precisely in this spirit that I wish to

see the Department of Herpetology grow

and develop – a department possessed of

specimens and reference literature, staffed

by specialists who are equally interested in

research and education, interacting

with the whole community.

Let us, then, return to the

questions that I posed a

little earlier, with one other

not previously asked.

It is instructive to recall the origins of two things that have their roots in antiquity, museums and libraries. A museum, was a literary and educational centre dedicated to research and lectures.

RIGHT: Polymatheia in Greek mythology was one of the three Muses recognised at the ancient Greek city of Sicyon. Her name literally means “much knowledge, erudition”, and the Greek historian Plutarch compares her to Polyhymnia to whom he ascribes precedence over accumulation and preservation of knowledge.

WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY PURPOSES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HERPETOLOGY? It is clear from what I wrote

about the origins of museums,

that they were essentially

what we would these days

call universities at their best.

As a relatively ancient Greek,

I have always followed the

precepts of my even more

ancient ancestors. My most

important objective as a teacher

is to produce students who

can think clearly, critically and

independently, with innovative

and constructive work based on a

solid, broadly based foundation.

The Department, then, should

be directed to both research and

to education. What these two words

actually mean is a large issue, but we can

summarise them briefly without excessive

distortion. Research does not mean mindlessly

following what received wisdom decrees

is the latest fashion or the One True Way.

Research is about asking a good question

and doing your best to find a good answer

to that question. Good questions come from

within the person, not from some magisterial

supervisor. Education, among other things, is

what enables one to decide what are good

questions and good answers, and what are

not; it also enables you to build, solidly, on

what you have learned so that you, in turn,

can educate others. I do not feel that it is

the function of this Department to decide

what kind of research should or should

not be permitted. All too often University

departments do little more than to turn out

clones of their professors. There is no place

for that kind of mentality in this Department.

We want original thinkers, in both research

and in education, who are encouraged to

think differently, to explore new paths, and to

defend or reject their own ideas according to

the best evidence available.

WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY PURPOSES OF THE COLLECTIONS? Museum collections have traditionally been

regarded as repositories of material to be

used for research by a select few specialists.

In the last few decades, however, their value

as historical artefacts has risen to prominence,

and they can well be described as a legacy

41

BELOW: Copy of the first page of the original Durban Museum register, which listed all acquisitions together.

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ABOVE: The first use of new labels for the herpetology collection, on which important data are permanently recorded for each specimen.

42 Herpetology Department

from the past and the present to the children

of generations yet unborn. What that legacy

is depends entirely upon what we have, and

how well we document it and care for it.

As curators, we must ensure that museum

specimens of any kind are preserved in the

best possible condition for as long as possible,

for once they are damaged or destroyed they

can never be properly restored or replaced;

our loss is the future’s irretrievable loss. We

have a great burden of responsibility to curate

and preserve our material in the best possible

way. But if to curate means limiting access

for study, then while honouring one essential

obligation of care we deny another equally

important one: promoting the wise use of

the material for the purpose of acquiring and

transmitting knowledge; education, in a word.

Museums have, quite rightly, placed a

premium on information relating to collected

artefacts. Sir Leonard Woolley said of

archaeology that all excavation is destructive;

that once a dig is completed, all that is left

is a hole in the ground and an artefact in a

museum; that any evidence not recorded

during the course of excavation is lost forever;

and that such an excavator has defrauded

science – to which we may add, that he has

defrauded the whole community – and had

better not have dug.

As with archaeology, so it is with

biology, but with one difference. A piece of

sculpture, even if its provenance is unknown

or doubtful, may still have a great deal

of meaning to most museum visitors. A

biological specimen without data is often

considered totally useless and is generally

discarded. We need to re-think this attitude.

It is becoming more and more difficult,

and very much more expensive, to collect

biological specimens these days. It should

not be heretical to suggest that even

specimens without data may have immense

value, if not to taxonomists, to whom such

information is essential, at least to teachers

and students of comparative anatomy,

adaptive radiations, and pretty well anything

else that you may think of.

Museum collections, like the dead

organisms whose diversity in life they

Cape wolf snake(Lycophidion capense)

IDENTIFICATION:

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT:

FOOD:

PREDATORS:

LIFESPAN:

MEDICAL IMPORTANCE:

The common wolf snake is identified by its black or brown colouration, white speckling, a flattened head and a nocturnal lifestyle. The average length is 40 cm but may reach up to 64 cm.

Widespread throughout eastern South Africa. It is also present in southern and central Mozambique, Zimbabwe, parts of Botswana and northern Namibia.

Lizards (including geckos and skinks), other snakes.

Eaten by other snakes.

Between 15 and 20 years.

Non-venomous and not dangerous to man and not likely to bite.

Doctors quite often need to have snakes identified when dealing with known or suspected snake-bite cases, and there is much that museums can do to help in this respect.

BELOW: Dr Angelo Lambiris is an Honorary Curator and an eThekwini Living Legends Awardee. He has published over 180 scientific papers and two books, studied reptiles and amphibians for over 50 years and owns a priceless research collection comprising close on 5000 specimens of over 480 species. Dr Lambiris is also an expert in herpetological veterinary medicine and has been nominated for the Fredric L. Frye Lifetime Achiever’s Award in this field.

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Photo: R. van der WeijdeSource: www.pbase.com/corotauria

43

represent, should also evolve and diversify.

There is much more to scientific life than

taxonomy and systematics, and museum

collections can and should illustrate these

other aspects as fully as possible. The scope

of interests is potentially unlimited; we can

only hint at it here and move on to the

other questions.

WHO ARE WE SERVING? To the ancient Greeks this question was

easy to answer: the Museum was there for

all who wished to learn. These days the

answer is not so easy to formulate, not least

because populations are so unimaginably

larger, but also because there are so many

modern constraints that simply did not

exist in the civilised world two and a half

thousand years ago.

We do, of course, serve those scientists

who wish to avail themselves of our

resources, if the costs can be met one way

or another. We serve, to a much lesser

extent, senior students at some universities.

Whether we serve the general public upon

whom our existence ultimately depends, is a

moot point. I do not think that we do so at

all well. That is not necessarily the Museum’s

fault, for this one at least does have an

active community outreach programme

vigorously and ably promoted by dedicated

people. Much of the fault lies, alas, with

the general public, or to be more honest,

with an education system that has betrayed

that public by signally failing to inculcate an

awareness of, and interest in, what should

be one of any civilised country’s most

priceless assets, their national, provincial

and municipal museums as resources in, and

aids to, teaching and to education. (These

two words are not at all synonymous, and

the reader is urged to contemplate the

differences very carefully.)

WHAT ARE THEIR NEEDS, AND WHAT IS THE BEST WAY FORWARD? Researchers will know their own specific

needs pretty well, but where we have a

department in which diversity of activities and

interests is encouraged, it becomes necessary

to look beyond our own narrow interests and

actively seek out the needs of others pursuing

other lines of thought.

WHO SHOULD WE BE REACHING OUT TO?

Researchers in other institutions can, and

do, make use of our material. But we need

to make others aware of what we have

and how it can be used. School teachers

are an obvious primary target, for once

they know something about the wonders

and beauty of reptiles and amphibians they

can pass that awareness on to their pupils,

who are of course our future. There is far

too little interaction between conservation

organisations and museums, and there is

plenty of scope for enrichment on both

sides and to the ultimate benefit of both

wildlife and the general public. Doctors quite

often need to have snakes identified when

dealing with known or suspected snake-bite

cases, and there is much that museums can

do to help in this respect. Animal rescue

and rehabilitation workers often need

information when dealing with unusual or

obscure animals. All too often they resort to

the Internet (sometimes helpful, quite often

devastatingly inaccurate), and all too rarely to

local museums. The list could be expanded

almost indefinitely.

WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD? We can provide plenty of preserved

specimens for study purposes. At present

we can provide, (I speak of the Department

of Herpetology only), pretty poor field data

associated with those specimens. We need

to ensure that, in future, all specimens

coming in to the Museum are documented

as thoroughly and as comprehensively as

possible, so that they can be used for a

multiplicity of purposes. This is best achieved

by outreach programmes offering carefully

planned guidance.

One of the highest priorities is to offer

interns at the Museum a well-structured

course in the principles of applied

herpetology that addresses not only the

essential aspects of curatorial best practices,

but which also provides a solid foundation

for independent research.

Another high priority is developing a

broad-based research programme into the

biology and natural history of our reptiles

and amphibians. There are vast gaps in

our knowledge of even the commonest

species, and nowhere near enough people

sufficiently interested in filling those gaps.

Amateur naturalists can contribute much

invaluable knowledge, but only if they are

encouraged to collaborate with museums.

Such contributions require pursuing answers

to as many as possible of a relatively short

list of about 40 questions, for which the

essential requirements are only an enquiring

mind, patience, a supply of note books,

two thermometers and, perhaps, a pair of

binoculars. Surely a small investment for a

lifetime’s worth of profound enjoyment

and enrichment!

The scope for developing the Department

of Herpetology is, in principle, unlimited even

though funds are not! However, much can be

achieved with even a limited budget. Simply

follow the principle: “Decide, very clearly,

exactly what you want to do, and why, and

the rest is largely a matter of common sense

and ingenuity.”

LEFT: Scholars crowding around the herpetology display during International Museum Day.

One of the highest priorities is to offer interns at the Museum a well-structured course in the principles of applied herpetology.

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44 Entomology Department

Atlas moth (Attacus atlas)The Atlas moth is a large saturniid moth found in the tropical and subtropical forests of Southeast Asia, and is common across the Malay Archipelago. Atlas moths are considered the largest moths in the world in terms of total wing surface area, reaching upwards of 400 cm2. Their wingspans are also amongst the largest, reaching over 25 cm. They are said to be named after either the Titan of Greek mythology, or their map-like wing patterns. In Hong Kong the Cantonese name translates as “snake’s head moth”, referring to the apical extension of the forewing. In India, Atlas moths are cultivated for their silk in a non-commercial capacity; unlike that produced by the related silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), Atlas moth silk is secreted as broken strands. This brown, wool-like silk is thought to have greater durability and is known as fagara.

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NUNUS &GOGGAS

45

As Kirstin Williams continued her

research work on blowflies, she

was very fortunate to be awarded

a National Research Foundation

(NRF) sabbatical grant which afforded her

the opportunity to take a six-month

sabbatical to complete her PhD. This NRF

sabbatical programme is aimed at people

currently working on and completing

doctoral degrees. It is designed to give them

the opportunity to complete their studies

with funding for a six- or 12-month

sabbatical from work commitments.

When Kirstin went on sabbatical at the

start of October, Eleanor (Kate) Richardson

was appointed to work on a specialised

project in her absence. Kate has been

affiliated to the Museum for the past 21

years and has been involved with curating

the mammal collections, working on the

EcoRat project and volunteering in the

mammal collection. Kate is chair of Bats KZN

and has lectured in physiology, mammalogy,

psychology and conservation at University of

KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). She has also lectured

on invertebrate systems at UKZN and

currently tutors UNISA conservation students

on invertebrates.

The project entailed updating the

taxonomy of the moth (Lepidoptera) and

true bug (Hemiptera) collections. There are

24 888 local and international moths and

5 241 true bug specimens that required

evaluation and possible name changes.

Kate updated the specimen names on the

entomology database with the aid of online

references such as ZipcodeZoo and the

Rhodes University checklist. She then

“Time’s fun when you’re having flies”KERMIT THE FROG

NATASHA GOVENDER

Entomology technician Natasha Govender reports on sabbaticals, insect collections, mouldy ceilings and the largest moth in the world.

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Garden fruit chafer (Pachnoda sinuata)The species is part of the large family Scarabaeidae, which also include the scarabs and dung beetles. This species is large with a smooth carapace. Colouration is variable but basically yellow with dark brown central area broken by yellow spots and a transverse yellow line across the rear of the elytra.

Adult beetles feed on flowers and fruit, often destroying them in the process which makes them unpopular with gardeners. While commonly found on exotic plants like roses and camellias, these beetles also feed on a range of indigenous plants including Acacia. (Photo: Bart Wursten)

BELOW: Scholars inspecting the butterfuly collection during the Background Science tour, during Science Week. INSET: Kirstin Williams informing scholars on the bug collection on display. BOTTOM: Kate Richardson busy arranging a drawer of moths.

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updated the names of the specimens in the

collection drawers and rearranged

specimens where necessary to sort them

into their correct families, tribes, genera

and species. Kate completed the update of

the true bug collection in December 2013

and finished with the moth collection by

the end of March 2014 when Kirstin

returned to work.

PUBLIC EDUCATION AND OUTREACHNational Science Week, from 29 July to 3

August, showcased what the Museum has

to offer and the Entomology Department

was an integral part of this

event. The first day

brought a number of

school groups for behind-

the-scenes tours of the

collections. This was

quite challenging as we

had to conduct six

consecutive tours to keep

up with the demand!

However, with the help

of two volunteers,

Pilasanda Mngupane and Noma Khoza, we

were able to provide learners with an

informative insight into the daily activities of

the Entomology Department.

At an exhibition at Medwood Gardens I

engaged with school children, workers and

passers-by drawn by the sight of insects they

don’t usually get to see up close. During the

KwaNunu exhibition, Kirstin and I were

overwhelmed by the sheer number of school

children who attended the event. They

listened intently and gasped intermittently at

the strange creatures on show, such as the

largest moth on earth. Mixed reactions of

disgust and fascination greeted the

introduction of our live Madagascan hissing

cockroaches. It was very fulfilling to be able

to impart some knowledge to the general

public, about insects, their behaviour and

the role they play in their natural habitats.

47

DONATIONS AND ExPANSIONRenzo Perisinotto of UKZN has provided a

fantastic addition to our collection with a

donation of 569 chafer beetles. Renzo

collected these beetles from various locations

around KwaZulu-Natal. We always welcome

donations such as these; and those of Adrian

Armstrong of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, who

regularly deposits specimens with us from

the reserves around KZN.

The Department was also delighted to

obtain five new wooden cabinets which will

assist in providing more space for our

expanding collection.

CEILING RECONSTRUCTIONIn October, the ceiling of the insect collection

room was taken down and replaced. Mould

had began to develop on the old ceiling due

to the poorly insulated aircon vents which

were not only unsightly but also unsafe. Not

an ideal situation, especially since the

collection room is open to the public from

time to time. As the protection of the

collection cabinets is a high priority, the

cabinets had to be moved to avoid damage

to the specimens.

Leroy Nala and Kwazi Ntombela, two

Museum’s volunteers, and I undertook the

task. They moved the cabinets to one end of

the room (and back again after construction

was completed) and covered them with

heavy-duty plastic to prevent the odd piece

of ceiling from damaging the cabinets

housing the delicate specimens. A nifty

technique I learned from Kirstin entailed the

use of blankets placed under the cabinets to

enable easy movement.

After the cabinets had been moved and

the air-conditioning vents, smoke detectors

and light fixtures had been removed, the

month-long process of discarding the old

ceiling and installing a new one could begin.

It was far from pleasing entering the

collection room daily and seeing the dust,

rubble and a hole where the ceiling should

be! However, all the effort has been worth it

because we now have a brand new, mould-

free ceiling, with, thankfully, no damage to

the collection.

During the KwaNunu exhibition, Kirstin and I were overwhelmed by the sheer number of school children who attended the event. They listened intently and gasped intermittently at the strange creatures on show, such as the largest moth on earth.

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Madagascan hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa)The Madagascan hissing cockroach, also known as the hissing cockroach or simply hisser, is one of the largest species of cockroach, reaching 5.1–7.6 cm at maturity. They can be found in rotting logs and are one of some 20 known species of large hissing roaches from Madagascar, many of which are kept as pets. They feed primarily on vegetable material and unlike most cockroaches, they are wingless, are excellent climbers and can scale smooth glass. As the name suggests, the Madagascar hissing cockroach is characterised by its hissing sound, produced when they force air through the respiratory openings (spiracles) found on each segment of their abdomen. The hiss takes three forms: the disturbance hiss, the female-attracting hiss, and the fighting hiss.

Welcome to NatashaAfter a period of 10 years with no technical assistant the Entomology Department is very happy to

welcome Natasha Govender into this position. Natasha started with us at the Museum at the beginning

of June. Natasha joins us from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife where she was a DST/NRF intern and gained

experience in field surveys and data collection. Natasha obtained both her B.Sc and B.Sc (Hons)

degrees from UKZN and is currently completing her master’s degree through UKZN in conjunction

with the South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI). While conducting field work with SASRI

for her project on moth diversity in wetlands adjacent to sugarcane crops, she learnt a number of skills

that will stand her in good stead in her new position such as pinning, labeling, accessioning and

databasing of specimens. Natasha is a bright, cheerful and very capable person and we hope she will

enjoy her time with us at the Museum.

Museum education is devoted to

both developing and

strengthening the role of

museums as public institutions.

The core function of museum educators is to

enhance the visitors’ ability to understand

and appreciate museum collections. Today

museums are faced with the complex

challenge of engaging a diverse audience in

vital and significant learning experiences. This

increased responsibility has resulted in the

museum educators’ role being shifted,

revised, transformed, and extended in

unexpected ways.

The Durban Natural Science Museum has

made huge strides in emphasising the

importance of interdepartmental teamwork

in the achievement of the museum’s

education mission, and by focusing on the

key elements of rigorous planning,

implementation and assessment. The

Education Department acknowledges the

importance of public advocacy to the future

stability and strength of museums.

2013 proved to be an exciting year and as

we reflect on the highlights and

accomplishments, we take this opportunity to

applaud the efforts of our team, partners and

collaborators, and look forward to another

year of positive contributions.

MUSEUM DAY International Museum Day is celebrated

annually on 18 May. Working with the Kloof

Conservancy, a programme was developed

to celebrate the day at Krantzkloof Nature

Reserve with each department showcasing

their displays and specimens to the public.

People were delighted by the opportunity to

interact with the curators, ask questions and

handle the specimens at the touch table.

The curators of the Museum hosted various

talks, and the highlight of the day was a

presentation by Nicholas Liebenberg from

Natural Resources that furthered public

awareness on snakes and snake bites.

Museum Day provides an excellent

opportunity for introducing the Museum to

the public and making people aware of our

role in the community.

NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEKNational Science Week is a joint initiative

between the Museum and the Department

of Science and Technology (DST) to generate

excitement around the subject of science.

Our aim is to inspire learners to develop an

48 Education Department

A YEAR IN THE MUSEUMEducation Officer Theshnie Naidoo describes how the Museum celebrates another year of bringing knowledge of nature to communities across eThekwini.

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RIGHT: A volunteer from DNSM showcasing specimens during International Museums’ Day celebrations. CENTRE: Our little visitors at Medwood Gardens during National Science Week.

interest in science as well as provide an

opportunity for learners and the public to

engage with scientists. Working with youth

ambassadors from different regions within

the municipal areas we encouraged schools,

communities and the general public to

participate in this celebration from 29 July to

3 August 2013.

Guided tours of the Museum galleries were

conducted to showcase the diversity of our

ecosystems, biomes and fauna with the

objective of building a more environmentally

conscious society and to identify the ‘green

heroes’ in our midst.

Behind-the-scene tours of our Research

Centre introduced the public and

participating schools, George Campbell High

and Cwebezela Senior Primary, to our

research collections. Learners were exposed

to the inner workings of the museum and the

vast areas of knowledge represented by the

diverse collections, while given the

opportunity to interact with the curators.

At a public exhibition at Medwood

Gardens we again took the Museum to the

people with the public given the opportunity

to ask questions, touch taxidermy specimens

and interact with staff and team members on

a wide range of topics surrounding

biodiversity and key environmental issues.

On 1 August an event was initiated to

celebrate Women in Science in lieu of

National Women’s Day. The objective was to

share experiences, career orientate and

inspire female learners regarding the

importance of science in our society. The

highlights of the day were talks by our guest

speaker, Dr Jeanne Tarrant of the Endangered

Wildlife Trust, and our very own women

scientists, Leigh Richards and Kirstin Williams.

KWAxIMBA NATURAL HERITAGE DAYVarious events are held at the Parks,

Recreation and Culture (PRC) facilities in the

month of September to celebrate multiple

facets of our heritage. On 26 September

Kloof Conservancy and the newly developed

KwaXimba Conservancy hosted a joint event

in celebration of Natural Heritage Day.

KwaXimba Councillor, Mr Mkhize,

welcomed the guests and PRC Unit Head,

Mr Thembinkosi Ngcobo, highlighted the

49

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FAR LEFT: Busi Gumede, one of the Museum’s Education Officers. TOP LEFT: ‘Detective work’ enjoyed by the public during International Museums’ Day. BELOW LEFT: The Museum’s public display for National Science Week.

50

purpose of the event. The crowd was

enthralled by the exhibitions and the

interactive presentations by Balungile Gcaba

(KZN Wildlife) on nature conservation,

Nicholas Liebenberg (Natural Resources) on

snakes, and Zodwa Msweli and Jabulani

Memela (Durban Botanical Gardens) on plant

propagation and permaculture respectively.

The crowd was also entertained by traditional

dancers from KwaXimba .

The day ended with certificates awarded to

the local ‘Green Heroes’ who work tirelessly

in the KwaXimba Conservancy.

MAGQUBU NTOMBELA–IAN PLAYER ANNUAL LECTURE

This lecture honours two men, Magqubu

Ntombela and Ian Player, who formed a

profound relationship that played an integral

role in the conservation of South African’s

biodiversity. One of their most celebrated

conservation efforts was the capture and

translocation of the white rhino that was

then on the verge of extinction.

One of the most prestigious events on the

Museum’s calendar, The Magqubu

Ntombela-Ian Player Annual Lecture provides

a platform for leaders in the field of

biodiversity conservation and related social

sciences to address the public on topics of

the environment, culture and social cohesion.

Our esteemed guest speaker this year was

Associate Professor Mpilo Pearl Sithole of the

University of KwaZulu-Natal, Department of

Social Sciences. Her talk, ‘Communal

Activism versus Elite Activism: Working

towards embracing Community and Expert

Partnerships in Environmental Management’,

focused on the obligation and necessity for

community views, perspectives and insight in

designing and establishing environmental

conservation strategies whilst still

appreciating specialist and expert knowledge.

In her thought-provoking presentation,

Prof. Sithole urged the audience to

challenge ‘traditional’ thinking, recognise

the skills and knowledge of both the public

and the expert, and to enable more

effective community practitioners.

‘GREEN HEROES FOR A CHANGING CLIMATE’ ExHIBITIONThe evening of the annual lecture saw the

launch of our ‘Green Heroes for a Changing

Climate’ Exhibition. It served as an

introduction to climate change and as a

celebration of our local ‘green heroes’:

ordinary people making a difference by

adopting lifestyles that enhance the

sustainability of our natural resources.

Zamo Shazi, Volunteer Coordinator at the

Museum and after-hours permaculture

volunteer at the Durban Botanical Gardens, is

one such ‘green hero’ at the forefront of

change. “Climate change needs action from

you and me, from our local government,

from our national government and from all

international governments to really show

results,” she explains. “eThekwini

Municipality is aware of the seriousness of

climate change, but cannot tackle the

problem alone. It needs support and action

from you and me to make a difference”

Theshnie NaidooEducation Officer

Education Department

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TOP: Rotating exhibitions at Inchanga Community Hall. MIDDLE: Magqubu Ntombela and Ian Player, (Photo: Trevor Barrett). ABOVE: Guest speaker for the evening Mpilo Pearl Sithole

The Magqubu Ntombela-Ian Player Annual Lecture provides a platform for leaders in the field of biodiversity conservation and social sciences to address the public on topics of the environment, culture and social cohesion.

Promoting ScienceRecognised excellence in research & scholarship

Membership is open to all who have an interest in science.

For more information on the activities of KwaZulu Natal branch contact:

Mike Perrin: 033 260 5118 | Judy Mann: 031 328 8188

Royal Society of South Africa

Established by Royal Charter in 1908

51

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Theshnie NaidooThe Education Department welcomes an entirely

new staff member, Theshnie Naidoo. Theshnie

is a University of KwaZulu Natal graduate.

She completed her PhD majoring in

molecular genetics. Her research focused

on the genetic diversity of the Chaerephon

species complex from Madagascar and

the western Indian Ocean islands.

She has a number of publications in

both local and international peer-

reviewed journals. She worked as

a Laboratory Manager at UKZN

and later accepted a research

position at a diagnostics

company based in Durban. In

August 2013 she joined the

education team. We hope

she will enjoy her stay with us.

Sindisiwe NzamaSindisiwe is not entirely new to the Museum.

She previously worked in the Mammal

Department as a Mammalogy Technician.

In July 2013, she was promoted to

Education Officer. Her job as an

Education Officer entails designing and

implementing dynamic education

programmes for education

institutions and the general

public, maintaining outreach

programme to increase the

visibility and accessibility of

the main museum and

satellite museums, and

coordinating the

Museum’s volunteer

programme. “So far, I’m enjoying

my stay with the Museum!“

Please help us give injured and orphaned wildlife a second chance by joining our

exclusive One Thousand, One Hundred Club. CROW is looking for 1000

extraordinary individuals, families, schools and companies that are able to make a

monthly donation of R100 and in so doing, help us provide life-saving care and

treatment to thousands of wildlife in distress throughout KZN. To join this Club and

find out more about our work and how you can get involved, please contact us:

CROW (Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife), 15A Coedmore Avenue, Yellowwood

Park, Durban 4011, P O BOX 53007, Yellowwood Park, Durban, 4011

T: +27 31 462 1127 F: +27 31 462 9700 E: info@crowkzn.co.za

www.crowkzn.co.za

CROW is a registered Non-Profit organisation (NPO Reg No: 046-598) and

Public Benefit organisation (PBO Reg No: 18/11/13/4901)

WELCOME to new staff members

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

The Museum is taking to the streets

in style in its continuing efforts to

bring a diverse and exciting mix of

experiences to our various

audiences. Our latest innovation is a vehicle

designed to take the museum to the people:

GO-WILD, eThekwini Municipality’s first

mobile museum!

The mobile museum is yet another means

by which we can realise our full potential

and benefit the broader community at large,

especially schools and the general public.

The demand for the GO-WILD vehicle grew

out of increasing educational outreach visits

in the past to schools and communities

throughout the eThekwini area and beyond

using existing smaller Museum vehicles

crammed with collections and other

educational resources that were just not

optimal for the need. In GO-WILD we now

have a proper nomadic museum on wheels,

fitted with spacious exhibit shelves holding

museum specimens, educational materials

and other essential resources. GO-WILD’s

colourfully branded exterior is set to turn

heads as it blazes a trail across the city. The

incredible 1.2 m-wide mouth of a gaping

hippopotamus on the back door is certain to

catch the eye, not to mention the other

intriguing and engrossing images

emblazoned across the vehicle’s exterior.

GO-WILD will not substitute for the main

museum or any of its amenities, but rather

will serve as a complement to our traditional

services. GO-WILD is destined to travel

widely around eThekwini and to appear at

municipal and provincial expos and events.

It will promote the museum and offer

informed engagement with the public

wherever a road can take it. The messages

imparted by GO-WILD will be effective,

efficient and inclusive. Its educational

material will be aimed to develop

observation and exploration skills, critical

thinking and lasting excitement about life

and environmental sciences among users.

GO-WILD will serve as a school’s effective

practical tool to strengthen and increase

learners’ understanding of class work, thus

improving their results. This will be achieved

through its offering of school educational

programmes that target specific areas of

the curriculum.

We are aiming for a local product that

meets national, indeed international,

standards. Best of all, GO-WILD means that

the Museum is now truly an institution on

the go!

Busisiwe GumedeEducation Officer

TOP: Trial fitting of the specimens into shelves. ABOVE: “GO-WILD”s first public appearance during the city parade for the opening of eThekwini Council for 2014 in Dr Pixley kaSeme Street on 29 January 2014.

ON THE GO!Busisiwe Gumede, a Museum Education Officer, gets super-excited as the city’s first mobile museum hits the road in its mission to take the people of eThekwini on a memorable learning adventure.

52 Education Department

53

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Help Mr. Bee find the flower Connect the dots by numbers

Find and circle insect wordsDraw a line from each insect to it’s name

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KIDSKIDS#

54

T o find a compromise between

human development and the

preservation of our biodiversity

requires a complex and creative

balancing act. There are a growing number

of examples throughout Africa and the world

where these challenges are being tackled

with ingenuity and technology, and which

have resulted in sustainable conservation

models tailor-made to suit specific

communities and environments.

These successful examples share a

number of common factors and include a

delicate infusion of insight, knowledge

and experience.

Firstly, these projects preserve the area’s

biodiversity and integrate it into the culture

of the local inhabitants. Secondly, individuals

in the local population are trained as

stewards and learn conservation concepts

as well as skills to improve community

standards. Thirdly, the creation of income-

generation opportunities becomes a high

priority. Lastly, all programmes are

buttressed by a high environmental

educational component.

Conservation has traditionally involved

setting aside tracts of land as National Parks

or Protected Areas. These are usually the

preserve of ecologists, botanists and other

technical specialists who manage these parks

as independent units. Partly to justify their

existence and partly to generate income,

tourists are encouraged to visit these

biodiversity reserves which often become the

exclusive preserve of those who have the

means to use these resources.

Over the past 30 years the sustainability of

these relatively exclusive protected areas has

been under severe threat, particularly in

Africa and other underdeveloped areas

where human needs are pressing and

expanding. In these scenarios it is often

difficult to explain to impoverished

communities why the biodiversity must be

“protected” when the communities derive

little or no direct benefit from these areas.

There is a growing realisation that the

sustainability of conservation efforts is

increasingly dependent on a much broader

network of interactions in which people are a

key component. This has led to the rise of the

concept of Community Conservation. To

quote one such initiative:

“The Community Conservation Programme’s role is to ensure that communities are aware of the important role conservation can play in the development of sustainable livelihoods. The direct interest which neighbouring communities have in the management of protected areas is facilitated by this programme. Partnerships and interactions are processes whereby communities of all descriptions engage with Ezemvelo in co-defining and realising nature conservation value and opportunities to protect biodiversity and ecological processes in the province.”

– Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife

Conservancies

Kloof Conservancies Chairman, Paolo Candotti, introduces a conservancy perspective to community conservation.

THE ART OF BALANCE

To find a compromise between human development and the preservation of our biodiversity requires a complex and creative balancing act.

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55

TRADITIONAL PRIORITIESThe conservancies’ movement in South

Africa, of which Kloof Conservancy is a

part, can in some ways be described as a

community conservation initiative. The

focus, certainly as far as urban

conservancies are concerned, is very

much on using volunteers to run

educational and conservation programmes

for the benefit of the broader community

which are the direct beneficiaries of a

healthier environment.

The programmes are aimed at protecting

the local biodiversity within the wealthier

suburbs where there is already a basic

understanding of the need for conservation.

Most urban conservancies rely heavily on

volunteers while the creation of income-

generating opportunities is not a factor.

Organisational skills levels are generally very

high, and while financial resources are never

enough there is sufficient fund-raising

capability within urban conservancies to

make substantial progress and create

relatively healthy environments as evidenced

by the generally lush and reasonably

environmentally friendly suburbs of the

Upper Highway.

This is typically so in Kloof where we can

pride ourselves on clean air, open green

spaces and the added bonus of a protected

area of exceptional biodiversity value in

Krantzkloof Nature Reserve.

ExTENDING OUR GREEN FOOTPRINTHowever, if we look beyond the boundaries

of Kloof to our north-east, in Lower and

Upper Molweni, and even closer at Wyebank,

we find no organised conservation

movement, rapid and possibly unregulated

housing construction and a generally

degraded environment which places what is

left of local biodiversity at high risk.

Additionally, the absence of a strong

partnership between the Reserve and the

neighbouring Molweni Community may well

place the long term sustainability of the

reserve in question as it will be increasingly

difficult to protect its boundaries from the

bordering environmental degradation that is

encroaching on its integrity.

As a conservancy we are very much aware

that the environment does not take municipal

boundaries into account and it is important

that we protect biodiversity across eco-

systems and not suburbs. We acknowledge

that we are part of a greater whole and that

we cannot hope to preserve our small

domain while ignoring the world around us.

We also understand that extending our green

footprint does not mean we impose the

solutions that worked well in Kloof to

communities that have a different and often

seriously disadvantaged background.

The solution, we believe, lies in transferring

our skills, knowledge and resources to our

neighbouring communities in a manner that

takes their priorities into account and

combines these with the universal priority to

protect what is left of our biodiversity.

CROSS-FERTILIZING THE INITIATIVESKloof Conservancy has, and continues to

run, numerous environmental projects

within the Kloof boundaries. These include

the educational Back-to-Nature Series, an

annual indigenous Open Gardens Show,

the rehabilitation of a number of

environmentally degraded areas such as the

Msinsi CCA, a project to clear public land in

Kloof of all invasive alien plants by the end

of 2015, and the highly successful Adopt-a-

Highway Project which maintains the M13

from Fields Hill to Hillcrest free of invasive

alien plants and litter.

ABOVE: Children at the Kwa-Ximba National Heritage Day exhibition. LEFT: Trail running in the Krantzkloof Nature Reserve, (Photo: Antony Grote). RIGHT: Installing picnic benches at Molweni River Community Park.

thola: VOLUME 16. 2013/14

56

We also co-operate with all our

neighbouring conservancies whenever there

is scope for joint projects. However, where

there are no organised environmental

initiatives, as in Molweni, then we seek more

direct interventions.

We have initiated a number of additional

projects that aim to utilise the concepts of

Community Conservation and a Joint-Venture

approach with organisations that can

contribute specific technical skills.

THE MOLWENI RIVER HEALTH SCHOOL PROJECTThis is a good example of a project involving

an entire eco-system, The Molweni River

catchment which spans several “suburb” and

community boundaries.

Seven high schools – from advantaged and

disadvantaged areas – utilise the miniSASS

system to bi-annually monitor the health of

the Molweni River, in an interactive and

educational manner, and the information on

the river’s health gathered through the

project is fed back into the local population.

This project is a joint venture with GCS

Water and Environmental Consultants,

various departments within eThekwini

Municipality, DUCT, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife,

KZN Department of Agriculture and

Environmental Affairs, and Umgeni Water.

THE MOLWENI RIVER COMMUNITY PARKThis community has been assisted to

establish a river park 50 m on either side of

the Molweni River over a distance of

approximately 3 km. Key to this project is

the protection of the river banks from new

housing construction, and plans include the

appointment of river custodians and the

creation of picnic sites where the local

residents can benefit and enjoy the park.

A programme of environmental education

is also planned for 2014. The project will not

only protect the river but will also benefit

the community by providing a recreational

and educational facility, as well as generate

jobs for the establishment of the park and

its ongoing maintenance.

This project is a joint venture with the

Durban Green Corridor.

TRAIL RUNNINGThis project is a good example of how the

beautiful natural scenery of an area can be

used to raise much-needed funding and also

create work opportunities.

The Kloof Conservancy 3 Falls Trail Run

utilises the stunning scenery and trails of the

Reserve and has generated over R70 000 for

the upkeep and improvement of the reserve.

Futhermore, all the medals and trophies used

for the event are sourced from local bead and

wire craftsmen.

A new trail-running event, The Molweni

Trail, organised by 369Communications and

supported by Kloof Conservancy, will also

take place in 2014. This event will use trails

in the reserve and in the Lower and Upper

Molweni areas, directly involving local

residents. Runners from the Molweni

community will be sponsored to participate

both events, helping integrate the local

community with the reserve.

GUIDED WALKS IN KRANTZKLOOF NATURE RESERVE Most residents in Lower and Upper

Molweni have little or no interaction with

the reserve, so following a successful test

run in 2013, further educational guided

walks are planned for 2014.

Kloof Conservancy will fund these walks

which aim to introduce learners from local

high schools to the reserve and to help them

understand the role which it plays in

preserving the biodiversity of our area.

THE MOLWENI RIVER COMMUNITY ECO-TOURISM CAMPThis project is at an early feasibility study

phase and aims to create a community run

eco-tourism camp on the boundary with

Krantzkloof Nature Reserve. The target

market will be foreign tourists, hikers,

bird watchers, rock climbers and trail

runners who can combine their interest

in nature with a local cultural experience

in the community.

The establishment of this camp will be

one means of giving the Molweni

community a real interest in Krantzkloof

Nature Reserve, something which is

currently not afforded to them.

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Conservancies

Most residents have little or no interaction with the reserve, so following a successful trial run in 2013 educational guided walks are planned for 2014.

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THE KWA-xIMBA CONSERVANCYKloof Conservancy has helped to establish

the Kwa-Ximba Conservancy near Cato Ridge

where we have provided administrative

assistance and mentored the management

team. Two highly successful events were held

during 2013.

The first event was a Green Day at

Nomfihlela Primary School which involved

greening the school and environmental

education on reptiles. The event itself was

hailed as a success and there was undoubtedly

a raising of environmental awareness – the

live reptile show made sure of that!

However, the greening project failed due

to lack of continuity and poor support from

the school. This highlights some of the pitfalls

which can be encountered when working in

under-developed areas.

The second event was a joint venture with

the Durban Natural Science Museum

(DNSM). The museum ran a number of

educational environmental exhibits for a

crowd of several hundred learners while the

logistics were managed jointly by the Kwa-

Ximba and Kloof Conservancy as part of a

skills-transfer exercise. The resources of the

DNSM were well utilised to bring an

educational opportunity to a community

that would otherwise have very little

possibility of experiencing what the DNSM

has to offer.

Further joint ventures with DNSM are

planned for 2014, which include a small

mammal survey and a Museum Day.

A key goal in 2014 for the Kwa-Ximba

Conservancy is to develop a stewardship

programme for a section of undeveloped

land in the area to protect the local

biodiversity, and possibly also create an

income-generating opportunity through a

trail run in the area.

GET INVOLVED!The Kloof Conservancy’s community

conservation initiatives are aimed at

stimulating personal involvement by residents

in understanding, appreciating and managing

the biodiversity of the area for the mutual

benefit of all. Therefore the creation of

employment opportunities has a high priority

and the projects are carefully designed to

simultaneously provide benefits for the

community as well as the environment.

We do not underestimate the difficulties of

this balancing act and fully understand that

socio-economic and political factors may

pose significant dangers for these projects.

Some of these projects may even fail, but the

alternative of returning to the comfort of

protecting our own small domain is no longer

environmentally viable.

LEFT: The Molweni River. MIDDLE LEFT: Scholars conducting the miniSASS analysis at Molweni Valley, (Photo: Kelly Taylor). MIDDLE RIGHT: Visitors overlooking the Kloof Gorge (Photo: Charlie Mitchell). BOTTOM: View of the Kloof Gorge, (Photo: eThekwini Municipality: EPCPD department).

Kloof Conservancy is an active,

vibrant organisation run by

volunteers who aim to promote

environmental awareness and

conserve our area’s outstanding

natural heritage for present and future

generations. Special attention is paid

to habitat restoration, invasive alien

plant eradication, sustainable living

issues, educational outreach and

public participation. We believe that

the efforts and contributions of people

and businesses are key to the

sustainability conservation in Kloof.

Your membership, whether active or

passive, is valuable to us as it adds

public legitimacy to our efforts.

CONTACT US:

Email: info@kloofconservancy.org.za

Website: www.kloofconservancy.org.za

Protecting Nature. Inspiring Change.

58 Ornithology Department

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Greater Flamingo(Phoenicopterus ruber)

Flamingos inhabit expansive open-water areas, such as lakes, pans and estuaries. These birds are filter feeders with uniquely structured beaks designed to strain small food particles from water.

Flamingos nest in huge colonies in remote, vast saline pans, where they build nests comprising mud turrets to support their eggs above water-level. They are amongst the tallest of birds, with extraordinarily long legs and necks, and the Greater Flamingo reaches almost 1.5 m in height.

There is evidence to indicate that flamingos first evolved at least 30 million years ago, perhaps longer.

Flamingos tend to stay out in shallow water, which usually protects them from most predators. Nesting adults and their young, however, sometimes fall prey to predators such as hyenas, eagles and vultures attracted to breeding colonies.

Flamingos are social birds, typically feeding, flying and nesting in large flocks. When breeding, thousands of birds will engage in astonishing mass nuptial displays, running backwards and forwards through the shallow water in tightly massed formations.

HABITAT:

DIET:

REPRODUCTION:

ANATOMY:

EVOLUTION:

PREDATORS:

SOCIAL STRUCTURE:

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To say that the monthly counts of waterbirds in Durban Bay have become a Museum institution would be no understatement.

The first iteration was done in July 1999 and since then we have never missed a month. The counts are made from a South African Navy patrol vessel (a ‘Namacurra’) that navigates around the perimeter of the entire Bay. The observers (up to six on each outing) are drawn mainly from the ranks of the local branch of BirdLife South Africa. It is the combination of military discipline and the dedication of a large local pool of birding enthusiasts that has ensured the consistency and longevity of this effort.

The 2013 edition of the Museum’s scientific journal, the Durban Natural

Science Museum Novitates, was devoted to a lengthy monograph summarising the results of the past 14 years of monthly counts and comparing this information with earlier censuses of waterbirds intermittently carried out in the Bay dating back to the 1960s. This 74-page document, packed with detail, is a fitting tribute to the efforts of the Navy, for having made the entire initiative logistically feasible, and to the BirdLife membership.

Over the 14 years, covering no less than 168 individual counts, some 130 observers have participated. Many have been long-term contributors and the following deserve special mention in this regard: Lyn Bingham, Herman Bos, Barbara Couzens, Sally Horne, Alistair

McInnes, Barry Swaddle, Martin Taylor, Dan Thomson, Tessa White, Laurie Wicks and Tim Wood. All have taken part in over 15 counts and some in over 50.

The author has been no slouch himself and is a veteran of 148 of the excursions, which translates to some three months of working time on the water! In addition, a succession of Museum interns has participated over the years and these hard-working youngsters have also helped with the recording, entry and analysis of count data. I hope that Greg Davies, Vusi Dlamini, Nikhat Hoosen, David Maphisa, Alistair McInnes, Paschalis Mofokeng, Onica Mukhuwana and Tuba Nsani retain fond memories of the hands-on outdoor training opportunities that these counts have presented.

David Allan, Curator of Birds, has coordinated the waterbird counts in Durban Bay over the past fourteen years and shows us what an alarming decrease there has been in the diversity and numbers of these birds visiting our shores.

The waterbirds of Durban Bay have decreased

frighteningly compared with historical times and

many of these decreases continue to this day.

COUNTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY

DAVID ALLAN

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Ornithology Department

The bulk of the monograph is devoted to

outlining the population trends of the 57

waterbird species in the Bay common

enough to allow such insights. These

waterbirds range in size from the portly Pink-

backed Pelican and stately Goliath Heron to

the diminutive Malachite Kingfisher and

African Pied Wagtail. The accounts present

and discuss complex graphs detailing how

each species has fared in the Bay over the

long and short term. Also identified are the

areas of the Bay that are most important for

each species, as well as any patterns of

seasonality to their occurrence. Each account

is enlivened by a thumbnail photograph of

the species in question.

The bottom line of this entire endeavour

emphasises that overall the waterbirds of

Durban Bay have decreased frighteningly

compared with historical times and that many

of these decreases continue to this day.

Several species have essentially disappeared

from the Bay entirely, including such

charismatic characters as Black Heron, which

died out in the 1960s, and Greater Flamingo

and Yellow-billed Stork, both of which died

out in the 1970s. During the course of our 14

years of counts, we observed how three small

Plovers, Kittlitz’s, White-fronted and Greater

Sand Plovers, after long periods of gradual

retreat since the 1960s, finally dwindled to

essential local extinction in the Bay. By

illustration, not a single Kittlitz’s Plover was

counted during the last three years of our

counts, whereas the species was still regular

during the first six years of the study period.

Many other waterbirds, although still

present in the Bay, have plummeted markedly

in numbers over time. Striking and depressing

examples include Common, Marsh and

Curlew sandpipers, Little Stint, Red Knot,

Ruff, Grey Plover and Ruddy Turnstone, all

Palaearctic migratory shorebirds.

It is not all ‘doom-and-gloom’ though.

A fair number of species are holding their

ground surprisingly well, and have perhaps

even increased in numbers in some cases.

Examples include Pink-backed Pelican, White-

breasted and Reed cormorants, Common

Whimbrel, Common Greenshank, Kelp Gull,

and Swift and Common terns. There are even

a few species that seem to have colonised,

and become quite common in the Bay

despite being essentially absent in historical

FAR LEFT: An adult Kelp Gull utters its raucous call. This is the common large gull in the Bay, especially during the winter, and the numbers of this versatile opportunist seem to have remained stable over time. ABOVE LEFT: The Woolly-necked Stork is a recent colonist of the Bay and the greater Durban area generally, being surprisingly able to adapt to urban conditions. BELOW: Swift Tern numbers have apparently remained stable in the Bay. This species feeds exclusively at sea and only uses the Bay as a roosting site. MIDDLE: Yellow-billed Storks disappeared from the Bay in the 1970s. BOTTOM: A startled Egyptian Goose takes to the air.

A fair number of species are holding their ground surprisingly well, and have perhaps even increased in numbers in some cases.

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times, i.e. Egyptian Goose, Woolly-necked

Stork and Blacksmith Lapwing. The increase

in the last species since the 1990s can best

be described as meteoric.

Looking at the broader picture, it is

apparent that overall it is the more numerous

(at least ancestrally), smaller-bodied,

invertebrate feeders, epitomised by the

migratory Palaearctic shorebirds, that have

fared the worst, while the less abundant,

larger-bodied, piscivorous species, such as

pelicans, cormorants and terns, have persisted

best. This dietary dichotomy is perhaps no

surprise, as it is the intertidal sandbanks and

mudflats supporting the invertebrate feeders

and their prey that have been most hard hit

by past harbour development. By contrast,

such development typically increases, through

dredging, the amount of open water favoured

by piscivores and their quarry.

In terms of the areas most favoured by

waterbirds, an average of 69% of the

waterbirds are concentrated at the Centre

Bank and adjacent Bayhead intertidal flats,

the combined area of which covers only 11%

of the Bay. The conservation of these two

relatively small areas, especially the former, is

critical to preserve the core of what remains

of the Bay’s aquatic avifauna.

A particularly disturbing trend in the data

from the past 14 years is that many of the

Palaearctic migratory shorebirds are

continuing to decrease in the Bay, in most

cases quite markedly, despite an absence of

any major new harbour developments

impacting their habitat over this period. This

suggests that negative impacts elsewhere in

the ranges of these wide-ranging birds are

driving an ongoing global decline in their

fortunes, which bodes ill for these birds on a

scale far wider than our local port. There is

also some indication from the most recent

years that a major fish kill in the Bay in late

2007 may have precipitated an ongoing

decrease in the numbers of several of the

piscivorous species that otherwise had

seemed stable up until that event.

At the time of writing our monthly counts

continue unabated with the milestone of 15

years almost upon us. It is a source of pride

that we have kept up this effort so

consistently, but this is profoundly tempered

by the disheartening realisation that

waterbird counts at a waterbody can persist

for longer than some of the actual waterbird

species being covered.

David AllanCurator of Birds

A colleague of mine recently

contacted me with an intriguing

request. Could I assist Hadoram

Shirihai in arranging a pelagic

seabird trip off Durban? Hadoram is a legend

in ornithological circles. He was the founder

and first director of the International Birding

and Research Centre in Eilat, and has

authored a string of leading natural history

books. These include Sylvia Warblers, The Birds of Israel, The Macmillan Birder’s Guide to European and Middle Eastern Birds and A Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife. Each

has won prestigious Best Bird Book of the

Year Awards. Examples of his seabird

prowess include the re-discovery of Beck’s

Petrel off Papua New Guinea and the first-

ever observations of the Fiji Petrel at sea.

Hadoram would be travelling through

southern Africa in November and wanted to

photograph Great-winged Petrels, which

should be present in the deep waters off

Durban at that time.

Niall Perrins, one of southern Africa’s

leading birders, Martin Taylor, of BirdLife

South Africa, and I regularly organise

pelagic trips off Durban using the luxury

20-berth ‘Isihuwa’, with the proceeds being

donated to BirdLife. We put out the word

and soon had enough people interested to

fill not just one but three consecutive

outings in late November.

Hadoram gave us some homework to do

before he arrived in Durban. Pelagic seabirds

are among the few birds to have a strong

sense of smell and the odour from fish offal

thrown overboard can attract these birds

over several kilometres. Such ‘chum’,

however, quickly sinks, reducing the efficacy

of this technique. But Hadoram has

perfected a method whereby buckets of

mixed fish offal, anchovy oil and water are

frozen solid. When thrown overboard, this

icy block floats on the surface, slowly

releasing its contents over an hour or so.

Martin took on the horrible job of preparing

these evil-smelling concoctions for the

expeditions. We were even able to add

chopped-up shark’s liver to the mix, thanks

to Geremy Cliff of the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks

Board. Hadoram had emphasised that this

was the first prize in attracting seabirds, due

to its pungent odour and because it floats of

its own accord.

The so-called ‘gadfly petrels’ in the genus

Pterodroma, of which Hadoram’s quarry the

Great-winged Petrel is one, favour deep-sea

conditions and shun inshore areas.

Hadoram identified a deep drop-off zone

some 60 km south-east of Durban and

targeted this as our destination. This was a

good bit further than we normal venture

and it took some persuasion to get John

Jarvis, our skipper, to acquiesce.

PETRELHEADSThe visit of ornithology legend, Hadoram Shirihai, to our shores inspires three epic trips in search of elusive avifauna. David Allan shares his experience.

62

Over and above Hadoram’s quest for

Great-winged Petrel, we also had our own

agenda for these trips. In early October we

had done a pelagic trip and Niall had

convinced us to venture a little further than

the fairly close-inshore trawler zone which is

our usual target. Trawlers attract large

numbers of the more common seabirds,

such as albatrosses, shearwaters and skuas

which scavenge around these vessels. But

the specialised gadfly petrels steer well clear

of these melees. A few kilometres beyond

the trawlers we had a brief glimpse of a

delicately patterned Barau’s Petrel, another

gadfly, and one far rarer than the Great-

winged Petrel in South African waters. It

was my first sighting of this species off

Durban. The entire world population of

Barau’s Petrel breeds on Réunion Island in

the tropical Indian Ocean and it is thought

to be an extremely rare vagrant to the coast

of South Africa, with only a handful of

confirmed records. We were hopeful that

the three trips might render further insights

into the status of Barau’s off our shores.

On the morning of the first trip we set off

into fairly choppy seas heading for the distant

drop-off zone. On the way we passed a

trawler with its attendant horde of free-

loaders and quickly spotted species such as

Indian Yellow-nosed, Shy and Black-browed

albatrosses, White-chinned and Pintado

petrels, Flesh-footed and Cory’s shearwaters,

Subantarctic Skua and a few Cape Gannets.

But we could not afford to lose focus and

pressed on to our more far-flung destination.

Arriving at the deep-water drop-off area

we dumped the first of the frozen chum

blocks overboard. We did not have to wait

long. Within minutes, the first Great-wingeds

arrived, wheeling and towering over the chum

before swooping down to pluck up fishy

fragments from the surface. Soon the

cameras were clicking away furiously. This

species is all-dark in colour and, typical of

gadflys, has an erratic and fast flight – not an

easy target to photograph, especially from the

unstable platform of a small boat heaving in

the restless Indian Ocean. Another bird

attracted in good numbers was the diminutive

Wilson’s Storm Petrel, a bird about the same

size and colour as a Little Swift and an even

greater challenge to capture on camera.

Several hours later, with camera cards full

and our chum for the day exhausted, we set

course for home. The wind in the meantime

had gathered force and was blowing head-

on. Every time we crashed with towering

spray into a monstrous oncoming wave the

curses emanating from John at the helm

were in the finest maritime tradition. Not

long after we started back a shout of

“Wandering Albatross!” went up and in the

distance we glimpsed the lazy flight of this

legendary ocean monarch – the bird with

broadest wingspan in the world. It was my

first off Durban and a clear testament as to

just how far we had ventured into the

oceanic realm.

The trips on the following two days were

almost as exciting. We did not get as a far

offshore, John made sure of that, but we

ventured deep enough for our chumming to

lure fair numbers of Great-winged Petrels

within range of the waiting cameras.

What of Barau’s Petrels? Well, on the first

day we saw no less than six and this was

followed up by more sightings on the

second and third days. We were ecstatic.

Taking the October trip into account, this

meant that we had encountered Barau’s on

four pelagic trips in a row. Clearly this

enigmatic ocean wanderer is more than just

a sporadic vagrant to our waters.

David AllanCurator of Birds

It was my first sighting of Barau’s Petrel off the coast of Durban.

ABOVE: A Flesh-footed Shearwater. This species is more common off Durban than anywhere else in South Africa and visits us from Australian breeding grounds. RIGHT: The adult Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross sports a colourful beak. BELOW RIGHT: A Barau’s Petrel. FAR RIGHT: a typical seabird feeding melee behind a trawler.

Thola: Volume 16. 2013/14

Ornithology Department

63

Thola: Volume 16. 2013/14

BirdLife Port Natal congratulates David Allan on the publication of ‘The waterbirds of DurbanBay, current and historical population trends’. This research is invaluable when considering the impact of any developments in the Port of Durban.

We love helping you David! It is our privilege to be part of this ongoing research project

Allan, DG, 2012 – ‘The waterbirds of Durban Bay, current and historical population trends’. ‘Novitates, vol 35, Special Edition. Durban Natural Science Museum’.

For more information, contact us:Lesley Frescura: 083 231 3408Arnia van VuurenL 083 271 2919birdlifeportnatal@gmail.com | http://blpn.org

Bird club assists with 14 years of bay counts

Join our club & help conserve birds

RIA WINTERSTwo years after the visit by Prof. Leon

Claessens to the Museum to study our

famed Dodo skeleton, this priceless

exhibit attracted another celebrity in early

January 2014 in the form of the famous

Dutch artist Ria Winters. Ria was on her

way to Cape Town to research ancient

archives that she hoped might throw

further light on live Dodos shipped to

various corners of the world in the bygone

era. She recently published a fascinating

historical account of a living Dodo

transported to Japan in 1647 – the last

known captive individual. Ria was recently

commissioned by the Artists for

Conservation Foundation to produce the

magnificently illustrated book ‘A Treasury of Endemic Fauna of Mauritius and Rodrigues’. She has a particular interest in

painting parrots, many of which are highly

endangered and some of which are

restricted to isolated oceanic islands. Ria

has travelled the globe in pursuit of her

passion. She was clearly in awe of our

prized skeleton – let’s hope it entices her

to return one day!

Onica Mukhuwana Onica Mukhuwana served as a DST/NRF

intern at the Museum in 2012, including a

six-month stint in the Bird Department. In

June 2013 she joined the

Museum as a fully-

fledged staff member

taking up the technical

assistant position in

the Bird Department

vacated by Ezra

Mdletshe some back.

Onica’s assistance as an

intern was vital and

we are sure she will

be even more

invaluable as a

formal member

of staff.

Welcome Onica!

WELCOME

64 Events

EVENTS OF 2013International Museums’ Day KwaXimba Heritage Day National Science Week

Some of the many educational events organised by the Museum last year.

Thola: Volume 16. 2013/14

Frogs in our backyard12 FebruarySea World

Jeanne Tarrant & Carl Schloms

Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in eThekwini and Renewable Energy in eThekwini

5 MarchDurban Natural Science Museum

Dr Susanna Godehart & Craig Richards

A naturalist’s sabbatical in Brunei, abode of peace3 AprilUKZN

Dr Serban Proches

Indigenous trees of Durban21 MayDurban Natural Science Museum

Richard Boon

“Primates, Parasites and Palm Oil.” The plight of the Sumatran Orangutan

4 JuneSea World

Dr David Pearton

Medical Research6 JulyUKZN

Dr Paula Sommer

Rhino Conservation6 AugustSea World

Cedric Coetzee (Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife)

Conservancies – conservation for the future3 SeptemberDurban Natural Science Museum

Jean Lindsay

Marine Film Festival1 October Sea World

Jone Porter

Bats5 NovemberUKZN

Dr Corrie Schoeman

Museum Diary: 2013/14

BATS KZN

Join us and bring a new thrill and purpose to your life!The Bat Interest Group of Kwazulu-Natal is proud to have been

associated with the Durban Natural Science Museum since 1994

WHAT WE DO:•Outings to batty places in KZN.

•Talks to members, schools and clubs.

•Advice to homeowners with bats.

•Training courses such as “Introduction to Bats”, “Pest Control Workshops”, “Bat Worker Training”, and “Bat Rehabilitation Training”.

•Scientific field work, organise wind farm working groups and attend the eThekwini Biodiversity Forum.

•Long term monitoring of KZN bat roosts and populations.

www.batskzn.co.za email: info@batskzn.co.za

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Go-Wild, eThekwini’s new, burst-of-colour, mobile museum is zooming off to take the learning adventure that is

the Durban Natural Science Museum to the people of our great metro. Go-Wild is a museum on wheels packed

with exhibits, specimens and educational resources to complement the Museum’s mission and extend its reach to

the schools and communities of the region. Offering a fun and engaging experience, Go-Wild promotes life and

environmental studies amongst a range of audiences, with educational programmes that target specific areas of the

school curriculum. Don’t miss out on a world of wonder – catch Go-Wild in a neighbourhood near you!

To find out where GO-Wild is going to be next or to invite us to your school, please contact us on 031 311 2256.