Clique sur
l’Afrique du Sud
On trouve beaucoup d’animaux sauvages en Afrique du Sud, et ce, depuis
très longtemps.
Pourras-tu reconnaître les animaux représentés dans les peintures
rupestres?
Une de ces peintures ne date pas de
l’époque préhistorique, peux-tu trouver
laquelle?
SOUTH AFRICA WILDLIFE
The Buffalo {Syncerus Caffer}
Buffalo are extremely large, ox-like animals. Standing approximately 65 inches
at the shoulder, adult males have a mass of up to 1760 pounds and females
weigh up to 1650 pounds. To support the large body, the legs are very heavy.
Front hooves are larger than the hind because of the extra mass they carry in
the huge head and thick neck. Both sexes carry horns, which in the males can
grow to 1.5m. Buffalo varies considerably in size, with some of the forest
populations half the size of those from the plains and Savannah.
SOUTH AFRICA WILDLIFE
The Elephant {Loxodonta Africana}
The African Elephant is the largest living land mammal, one of the most impressive
animals on earth. The Elephant's muscular trunk serves as a nose, hand, extra
foot, signaling device and a tool for gathering food, siphoning water, dusting,
digging and a variety of other functions. The long trunk permits the elephant to
reach as high as 23 feet. It is capable of powerful twisting and coiling movements
used for tearing down trees or fighting.
The trunk of the African elephant has two finger-like structures at its tip. The tusks,
another remarkable feature, are greatly elongated incisors (elephants have no
canine teeth). Tusks grow for most of an elephant's lifetime and are an indicator of
age. They are "right or left tusked" using the favoured tusk as a tool, shortening it
from constant wear.
SOUTH AFRICA WILDLIFE
Leopard {Panthera Pardus}
The most secretive and elusive of the large carnivores, the leopard is also the
shrewdest. Pound for pound, it is the strongest climber of the larger cats and is
capable of killing prey far larger than itself.
The coloring of the leopard varies from white to bright golden brown, spotted with
black spots and rosettes. The rosettes consist of groups of 5 to 6 spots arranged in a
tight ring.
The tail is longer than half the body length measured from head to tail. This fierce
animal has small round ears and long whiskers growing from dark spots on the upper
lip. The size of the leopard varies considerably. The leopard differs from the cheetah
in having shorter legs, and rosette-like spots and is without the cheetah’s black "tear"
marks from eye to mouth.
SOUTH AFRICA WILDLIFE
The Lion {Panthera Leo}
Lions are the second largest members of the feline family in the world. Lion are
tan in colour and have a slightly white under-body, with a tuft of black hair at the
end of their tails.
Most cat species live a fundamentally solitary existence, but the lion is an
exception. It has developed a social system based on teamwork and a division
of labour within the pride, and an extended but closed family unit centres
around a group of related females. The average pride consists of about 15
individuals, including five to 10 females with their young and two or three
territorial males that are usually brothers or pride mates.
SOUTH AFRICA WILDLIFE
The Rhinoceros
The rhinoceros is a large, primitive looking mammal that in fact dates from the
Miocene era millions of years ago. In recent decades rhinos have been
relentlessly hunted to the point of near extinction. Since 1970 the world rhino
population has declined by 90 percent, with five species remaining in the world
today, all of which are endangered.
The white or square-lipped rhino is one of two rhino species in Africa. It in turn
occurs as two subspecies, the southern and the northern. The southern dwindled
almost to extinction in the early 20th century, but was protected on farms and
reserves, enabling it to increase enough to be reintroduced. The northern white
rhino has recovered in Democratic Republic of Congo from about 15 in 1984 to
about 30 in the late 1990s. This population has been threatened by political
conflict and instability.
Rhinos are being poached in South Africa.
“Poaching” is when people (“poachers”) illegally kill a wild animal.
This year so far 341 rhinos have been poached in South Africa. That’s the most, ever, for one
year.
Rhino horns are believed by some people, particularly in Asia, to be able to cure ailments
like nosebleeds and fevers. No one knows if this is actually true. Even if the horns did have
medicinal properties, there are many modern medicines available that are likely to be much
more effective.
They are also used as handles for ornamental daggers in some countries. The horns can sell
for $35,000 per kilogram.
The poaching is leading to a crisis in the rhino population, which is dwindling.
Some Rhino facts:
*Rhinos can sleep standing or lying down.
*Rhino is short for rhinoceros.
*Rhinoceros is made of two ancient Greek words: rhino (“nose”) and keras (“horn”).
*A rhino’s horn is made of keratin, the same type of protein your hair and nails are made of.
*The plural of rhinoceros is rhinoceros or rhinoceroses.
•South Africa is called the Rainbow Nation.
•South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world.Extensive
fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO
World Heritage site and has been termed the Cradle of Humankind.
•Modern humans have inhabited Southern Africa for at least 170,000 years. At the time of European
contact, the dominant indigenous peoples were Bantu-speaking peoples who had migrated from other
parts of Africa about one thousand years before. The two major historic groups were the Xhosa and Zulu
peoples.
•In 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias led the first European voyage to land in southern
Africa.
•In 1652, a century and a half after the discovery of the Cape Sea Route, Jan van Riebeeck established a
refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope, at what would become Cape Town, on behalf of the Dutch
East India Company.
•The discovery of diamonds, and later gold, was one of the catalysts that triggered the 19th-century conflict
known as the Anglo-Boer War, as the Boers (original Dutch, Flemish, German, and French settlers) and
the British fought for the control of the South African mineral wealth. Cape Town became a British colony in
1806.
•On 31 May 1961, following a whites-only referendum, the country became a republic and left the
Commonwealth. Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be head of state, and the last Governor-General became
State President.
•Despite opposition both within and outside the country, the government legislated for a continuation of
apartheid.
•In 1990 the National Party government took the first step towards dismantling discrimination when it lifted
the ban on the African National Congress and other political organizations. It released Nelson Mandela
from prison after twenty-seven years' serving a sentence for sabotage.
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Afrikaans
Rolihlahla Mandela was born in 1918. On his first day at school, he was given an English
name : Nelson.
Mandela began to study for a Bachelor of Arts at the Fort Hare University, he took an interest
in boxing and running. At the end of Nelson's first year, he became involved in a Students'
Representative Council boycott against university policies. He was told to leave Fort Hare
and not return unless he accepted election to the SRC.
After the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party, which supported the apartheid policy of
racial segregation, Mandela began actively participating in politics.
Initially committed to nonviolent resistance, Mandela and 150 others were arrested on 5 December 1956 and
charged with treason.
In June 1961, Mandela sent a letter to South African newspapers warning the government, that if they did not meet
their demands, the Umkhonto we Sizwe would embark on a campaign of sabotage.
On 5 August 1962 Mandela was arrested and was imprisoned in the Johannesburg Fort.
Mandela remained twenty-seven years in prison. Whilst in prison Mandela undertook study with the University of
London by correspondence and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Local and international pressure mounted
on the South African government to release him, under the resounding slogan « Free Nelson Mandela ».In 1989,
Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced as president by Frederik Willem de Klerk. De Klerk announced Mandela's
release in February 1990.
Mandela was released on 11 February 1990.
South Africa's first multi-racial elections were held on 27 April 1994. The ANC won 62% of the votes in the election,
and Mandela, as leader of the ANC, was inaugurated on 10 May 1994 as the country's first black President.
Mandela became the oldest elected President of South Africa when he took office at the age of 75 in 1994. He
decided not to stand for a second term and retired in 1999, to be succeeded by Thabo Mbeki.
After his retirement as President, Mandela went on to become an advocate for a variety of social and human rights
organisations.
•Among the nation's gold mines are two of the deepest mines in the world. The East Rand Mine, in Boksburg, extends to a depth of
3,585 metres (11,762 ft).
South Africa has been a world leader in diamond production.
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