Life in the Overgrowth

MEET SOME FERNCLIFFE RESIDENTS

CONSERVATION STAR The near-threatened African crowned eagle, the most powerful eagle on the continent. Connor has seen vervet monkey and rock hyrax fall victim to its claws. The eagle also supplies news editors with fodder: stories of pets being snatched from gardens abound.

MY PRECIOUS The African emerald cuckoo. A disco ball on legs, and yet so hard to spot…

CUTEST A difficult choice. Probably rainfrogs, small grumpy frogs that blow themselves up in fury when disturbed. Or the typically big-eyed and sticky-toed Natal forest tree frog, a lovely animal that can live for up to 10 years in trees and other plants along streams and rivers.

SNAKIEST Strangler figs, which embrace their host trees as closely as Kaa hugged Mowgli.

BEST-NAMED The large-leaved dragon tree seems to love deep forest, often shadowy and atmospheric, with mist trickling between trunks like dragon’s breath. Appropriately, its flowers open at night to attract moths. THE KING The majestic Henkel’s yellowwood, sometimes referred to as Natal yellowwoods. Males have cones; females produce fruit that provides an excellent source of food for birds. Cape parrots (Poicephalus robustus) eat yellowwood seeds in other mistbelt forests and we like to dream that one day, Ferncliffe will see the flash of their iridescent feathers overhead.

OOH-ER Quekett’s cannibal snail is known only from Ferncliffe Nature Reserve. Its shell has a low spire and rounded whorls and is olive-brown to olive-green. A fascinating study by DG Herbert and A Moussalli notes unverified stories of how cannibal snails fed on the fallen following Zulu War conflicts. Such stories may well be legend but the researchers believe the snails would be partial to carrion.