Aloise Garvey

Name: Aloise Garvey
Address: Kaunda Street, Nairobi, 4393-00100, KE
Telephone: +254768887835
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Aloise Garvey

From a naturalist's point of view...

21/01/2025

SPEED OR ENDURANCE?

Speed is a crucial aspect of movement in many animals. Animals that are able to move faster increase their chances of hunting or escaping. Animals that run fast are unable to keep up with the speed for long distances. Hyenas, however, are known to gallop at speeds of 40-48 kph for 1.6-3km, chasing their prey to exhaustion. To put it in perspective, cheetahs can reach speeds of upto 112kph for only a few hundred metres.
📷 A Spotted Hyena trotting.

15/01/2025

There are various sizes found in the animal kingdom. From tiny flies to majestic elephants, how size is controlled during animal development remains a captivating problem despite years of research. Nutritional and hormonal inputs together with selector genes are believed to work together or in part to influence size.

📷The Hippopotamus is the second heaviest animal after the elephants, weighing between 1 - 3 tonnes.

11/01/2025

The naming of species using eponyms (names based on people) is currently controversial and debated. A recently published commentary revealed that 1,565 African species have scientific eponyms, notably of white, male Europeans from the 19th and 20th centuries.
One of my favourite names in the field is the Impala. Impala is a Zulu word meaning a gazelle. In the wake of renaming eponyms, Impalas are good examples of species with names that better connect with local culture.

09/01/2025

A dazzle of Plains Zebras.

06/01/2025

You are what you eat!
Food is probably one of the most contentious subject on the planet. The truth, however, is that our looks can be influenced and molded by what we eat.
Bee-eaters are colourful birds; about half of their diet consists of bees and wasps.
📷White-fronted Bee-eaters.

12/11/2024

A male Amethyst Sunbird (Chalcomitra amethystina). A shade of purple on male's throats give rise to the common name for this species.

Birds are released safely to the wild after ringing.

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07/11/2024

Many different types of sea creatures live in the ocean. From tiny organisms to massive sea creatures, each one has special adaptations to survive in their aquatic habitats.

25/08/2024

A Black-backed Jackal (Lupulella mesomelas). The jackals ability to obliterate its tracks, feign death, immerse in water to avoid fleas and being a nimble opportunist are among reasons why this species is represented in African folk tales as a trickster.

01/06/2024

Pareidolia!
Many people tend to see strange things like faces, animals and shapes in other materials like clouds, walls, mountains, trees, e.t.c. This phenomenon is very common, but seeing strange things has nothing to do with nature processes, but with the working mechanisms of the human brain.

26/05/2024

There is safety in numbers!
Birds often move or feed together in massive numbers, a behavior which is called murmuration. Scientists are still looking for explanations on why birds and wildlife stick together in groups. The most acceptable explanation so far is, by staying in groups, birds have a better surveillance of the landscape and are able to forage more, while they worry less.

23/04/2024

There are 11,000 bird species, over a million insects, 10,000 reptiles, 391,000 plant species, a million animals species on earth, all of which have unique appearance and habits.
However, naming all living things remains a work in progress for humans. Humans have derived species names from indigenous names, physical appearance, behaviour, cultural beliefs among other sources, and these names when studied tell alot about a species.
📷The Waterbuck derives its name from Afrikaans waterbok, after the animal's habit of associating with water sources and escaping to waterways.

14/04/2024

Individual birds of the same species looking different.

It's important to understand (especially for starter birdwatchers) that birds of the same species could look different depending on the season. Learning immature forms of the birds around you and learning their breeding and non-breeding plumages is a huge step to bird identification.

📷Lesser Flamingos at Elmenteita Kenya.

13/04/2024

Wetlands are one of the most supportive environments on the planet. From large flocks of waterbirds, floats of amphibians, reptiles and mammals, wetlands are home to a huge diversity of wildlife. Unfortunately, wetlands all over the world are in decline. You could get involved with conservation action near you, and this will help a great deal in their conservation.

13/03/2024

Rains often give life to many different species, making this season one of the best to observe and learn insects around you.

01/03/2024

Great White Pelicans flying low just before sunrise.
Many waterbirds (including Pelicans) tend to fly close to the surface of water. This helps them conserve energy. The air between the underwing and the water surface is compressed, creating more air pressure, which then results in more lift. This is referred to as the "ground effect".
The picture illustration is courtesy of asknature.org

27/02/2024

Brood parasitism is a breeding strategy where one bird (the parasite) lays eggs in the nest of another bird (the host). The brood parasite manipulates the host to raise its young. Brood parasites use egg mimicry as their main strategy; they lay eggs that mimic the appearance of host eggs. Hosts that haven't fine-tuned their discriminative abilities incubate eggs and raise chicks of other individuals. Brood parasites are relieved from the investment of rearing, feeding and building nests for their young. This possibly helps them spend more time feeding and producing more offspring hence, leading to the survival of the species.

📷beautiful pictures courtesy of -Simon Odhiambo

16/01/2024

The prescence of hair in animals plays an active roll in thermoregulation under extreme environmental conditions. Mud wallowing is done by a variety of animals for different reasons. However, animals that wallow are generally those with sparse hair on their hides—species such as Cape Buffalos, among others. Due to fewer hair follicles, cape buffalos are susceptible to thermal stress due to the enormous amounts of solar radiation that their bodies absorb. As a result, buffalos prefer to wallow in muddy ponds or stay in shady areas.
📷Cape Buffalo at Nakuru National Park after a mud bath.

18/12/2023

Bird ringing is the attachment of an uniquely numbered tag on a bird's tarsus. It involves catching birds, securing a tag around one of their legs, and recording the bird's data; such as, age, wing length, weight, moulting e.t.c. Birds are released safely to the wild immediately after ringing. Bird ringing remains to be one of the best scientific way of studying birds. NB. Bird ringing is only done by trained and licensed fellows. It is therefore a crime to handle birds without a licence!

Please read more on my wordpress website via the link below! https://aloisegarveynaturalist.wordpress.com/2023/12/16/ngulia-bird-ringing-2023/

Address

Kaunda Street
Nairobi
4393-00100

Telephone

+254768887835

Website

http://aloisegarveynaturalist.com/

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Videos

A dazzle of Plains Zebras. #wildlife #nature #biodiversity #safari #kenya