This Week in Conservation Highlights

This week our Research and Conservation team assisted PhD candidate Kei Prior from Witwatersrand University to look for pyrotechnic charcoal - visiting some of the recent burn areas and wetlands. Kei's study hopes to identify different methods to standardize signatures ancient fires, looking at soil samples that are thousands of years old!

Joining him was Marc Humphries and Matthew Estment from WITS.

This is Mr Boom, a regular visitor at the Grootbos Environmental Centre.  Boomslang (Dispholidus typus) shed their skin, starting from the head, to accommodate growth and remove parasites. Before shedding, the snake’s skin turns dull and its eyes become opaque or blue. During this time, the snake is nearly blind and tends to hide - this is called the Blue Phase.

In the shedding process, the old skin is shed in one complete piece, often likened to pulling off a sock.

Our parting shot this week is the Koggelmander! Isn't it beautifully camouflaged in our recent burnt veld as it uses ambush tactics in a real life snack attack.

From all of us at the foundation, we wish you a weekend full of surprises.