50|50 Episode 24 Season 7: 28 July 2016

In die Spervuur: Butterflies

For those who don’t enjoy the cold, spring is not too far away and soon the bees and butterflies will again be hard at work. We’ve often carried stories on 50|50 about the plight of our poor bees, but they are not the only pollinators facing a tough future – butterflies are also ‘In die Spervuur’.

Wonderwêreld: Wild dogs

Join us for the first of this two part Wonderwêreld that follows a pack of Wild dogs in the Djuma Game Reserve. In this first instalment, the alpha male and female lead a hunt through the varied landscape, encountering a few different animals along the way. They hone in on a herd of impala, and the chase is on. But it is not only themselves they have to feed, and we meet their small puppies for the first time, which have just reached an age where they are beginning to accompany the adults on the hunt.

Ötzi the Iceman:

A stomach bug found in a 5 300-year old glazier mummy, has opened new doors into our recent past. It all started in 1991 when hikers came across the mummy while walking in a remote part of Northern Italy. Scientists gave him the name Ötzi the Iceman, named after the river and valley where he was discovered. It was assumed that the strain of the bacterium in Ötzi’s stomach would be the same as is found in Europeans today. But it was not the case. The strain was one that is mainly observed in Central and South Asia today. Dr Yoshan Moodley, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Venda, was one of the scientist that came to the conclusion. His ground-breaking research proves that evolution occurred even in bacteria and that humans migrated in different directions to what was previously thought.

Baboon matters:

We follow the journey of a group of rehabilitated baboons on an epic cross country adventure, from the Western Cape all the way to the Limpopo province where hopefully Aaron, Margie, Gumble and Bean – all orphans of human conflict – will finally find their final home and a place where they will be able to return to their lives as wild baboons.

VeldFokus:

Cheeky behaviour is the order of the day in VF tonight – a chameleon surprises us with a very brave display, a jackal buzzard has a silly 5 minutes, and a warthog stands up to one of the grumpiest of bush dwellers.