july 25 updated

July 25, 2016

Today we had the opportunity to visit the natural history museum (I was not able to take any pictures there).  Here are some of the things I found interesting...

The Matobo- the Matopos grant is traversed by two main joint systems which control the landscape formation.  Great bare "deal as" are formed when successive layers of rocks are detached by exfoliation along huge curved joints.  Blocky "castle kopjes" occur when erosion along the rectangular joints predominates.  The distinctive Matopos hills are the result of Aeons of erosion along natural lines of weakness caused by jointing in the granite.  

Victoria falls- the Victoria Falls flows over basalt rock which is traversed by two sets of faults.  The waterfall has eroded along these weaknesses leaving a series of zig zag gorges in its retreat.  

Zebras and wildebeests have a symbiotic relationship ...  The zebra graze and trample the vegetation which allows new more nutritious shoots to come up which the wildebeest them consume.  Grazing by zebras also opens up lower layers of leafy vegetation for other smaller ruminants. 

There was also a display about the digestive systems of the ruminants and hindgut fermenters and the information was totally backwards.... So even though we weren’t supposed to take pictures. I couldn’t help myself and took pictures of the information about digestive systems that is WRONG!!  Sorry it’s so dark and hard to read..

There are over 2000 species of bugs in Zimbabwe.    

A true insect

3 parts of the body

6 legs attached to the thorax

2 antenna or feelers

Often 2 or 4 wings attached to the thorax 

Compound eyes and often simple eyes

A breathing system consisting of a branching network of tubes opening at apertures or spiracles along the side of the body 

A spider is not an insect because

Only two parts of the body are seen

There are three legs attached to the cephalothorax 

No antenna

Never any wings

Only simple eyes

Breathing is accomplished by gill like structures called lung books 

There are two parasitic protozoans in Africa that affect humans...  Plasmodium which is the malarial parasite and typanosomes which are carried by the tsetse flies and cause sleeping sickness.  

Honey badgers are extremely aggressive, relying on their powerful jaws, remarkably thick skin, and offensive odor.  (Wasn’t able to see any honey badgers in person, but there were multiple pictures of them on the cameras in Matopos).