50|50 Episode 33 Season 8: 19 November 2017

Bees of the garden Route: rising from the ashes

Facing challenges from disease, poisons, habitat destruction and now runaway fires… The devastating fires in June this year along the SA’s garden route saw massive destruction to both infrastructure and natural environments. Somehow the Cape honeybee persisted and populations are apparently bouncing back after having their homes and food sources obliterated. Hermien went in search of all the details on how our hardest working insect is faring.

Wilde bure: African wild cats

Usually found melting between the shadows on the edges of urban environments, the African wild cat slinks onto our screens and into our hearts. Although these felines may closely resemble our domesticated kitty cats, do not be fooled – this ancient breed of cat is living proof that dynamite really does come in small packages.

Wonderwêreld: Africa’s last tuskers

The elephant bulls that historically roamed Africa are legendary, carrying ivory that arched gracefully to the ground and brushed the dirt as the enormous pachyderms lumbered through the bush. Poaching and habitat loss has taken a heavy toll, spelling the end of the age of these massive elephants but every now and again, the impressive gene that translates into really huge tusks re-emerges and endows a bull, lucky enough to dodge poachers for long enough, with tusks that earn him the enviable title of “big tusker”.

VeldFokus:

The animals are being very coy in this week’s VeldFokus episode. A hippo bull tries to hide his bulk in half a foot of water, a litter of jackal pups do their best to behave while mum is away, while a strange sea-creature is not ready to come out of his shell just yet.