People are starting to notice missing chameleons
People of East London are starting to notice species which are missing from their lives.
The causes, scientists said, were climate change, habitat destruction, and, surprisingly, domestic pets.
Chameleons, for instance, are so rarely spotted that a sighting becomes a special moment.
Kwelerha journalist Janette Bennet said: "Fireflies ... Don’t see much of them these days."
Brite Designs creative Vicky Schlimper, of Vincent Gardens, said: “I always used to see chameleons as a child. Never see them any more.”
East London Museum natural scientist Mary Cole said cats were known to kill a range of birds and reptiles, while dogs frightened and disrupted wildlife in places such as the Nahoon Point Nature Reserve.
Save Nahoon’s Kevin Harris is worried about declining Eastern Cape Rocky fish, penguins and the coelacanth.
“Leopard is all but gone here too,” he said.
Teacher Chay Bachar said it worried her that the only two female northern white rhino left were “functionally extinct”. They are in Kenya.
The SA National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) states: “Nearly a quarter of SA flora is considered either threatened with extinction or of conservation concern.
“Major threats are identified in terms of the number of plant taxa (species) and are Red-listed as threatened with extinction as a result of each threat.
“Habitat loss, which includes the irreversible conversion of natural vegetation for infrastructure development, urban expansion, crop cultivation, timber plantations and mines, is by far the most severe threat to SA plants, affecting more than 1,600 taxa.
“Invasive alien plant species outcompeting indigenous plant species is another severe threat.
“Habitat degradation includes threats such as overgrazing, inappropriate fire management (which may be either too frequent, too infrequent or out of season fires), and clearing of woody shrubs and trees from forests and savannahs.
“These threats may appear to leave natural vegetation intact, but cause a disturbance and breakdown of essential ecosystem processes, resulting in the loss of sensitive species.”
Species were threatened by small population size, poor breeding success and skewed male-female ratios.
“Pollution indicates species that are threatened by water, land or air pollution, typically species affected by harmful industrial and agricultural chemicals such as fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides.
Disturbing nature had led to “the loss of pollinators”.
Sanbi said the impact of climate change on different species was not well understood.