GUIDING LEVEL II A TRAINING MANUAL DESIGNED TO ASSIST WITH PREPARATION FOR THE FGASA LEVEL II AND TRAILS GUIDE EXAMS All rights reserved. No part of the material may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by an information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of Lee Gutteridge. (INCLUDING MORE THAN FOUR HUNDRED PHOTOS AND DIAGRAMS) COMPILED BY LEE GUTTERIDGE THIS STUDY MATERIAL CONFORMS TO THE SYLLABUS SET BY FGASA FOR THE LEVEL II EXAMS AND IS APPROVED BY PROFESSOR W.VAN HOVEN OF THE CENTRE FOR WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA P.O. Box 441, Mookgopong, 0560, Limpopo, South Africa. Cell 083 667 7586 2 LEVEL TWO TRAINING MANUAL This manual has been compiled from the perspective of a guide in the field. In writing it I asked myself what can I use on a game drive, or game walk as regards information. These aspects covered in this manual will give the guide good, interesting and factual information for direct discussion with the guest. No one book will cover every aspect so here I have included sections on the following topics. 1. Ecology 2. Mammals 3. Birds 4. Reptiles and Amphibians 5. Astronomy 6. Botany 7. Insects, Arachnids and their relatives 8. Geology and Climatology 9. Fish 10. Survival 11. AWH and VPDA The problem for guides is not always finding the answers, but also what is the question to be researched in the first place? It is difficult for a guide to pre-empt what guests will ask them over their guiding careers, but many of the questions and answers which will come into play have been covered here. There are some peculiar questions and glossaries of terms pertinent to the subjects at hand, which in particular are important to understand the many field guides and books available on the particular subjects. This manual was designed to assist with F.G.A.S.A. level 2 and F.G.A.S.A. Trails Guide candidates exam preparation and has been endorsed as such. Some of the information is obscure (albeit interesting) and only available from specific reference materials, not all of which are easily obtained, so I have decided to produce this as an informative manual to assist guides. Anyone with an enquiring mind should use all resources available to improve upon and add to the existing information and definitions, as there is always more to be learned. I have purposefully kept it simple however as this is not a level three manual. In FGASA level two there is also a need to cover Trail procedures, Bush craft and First aid in order to fully prepare for the said exams. There are many excellent works covering these topics, but they are not discussed in this manual. Wherever possible diagrammatical representations have been inserted for clarification on certain topics, and in order to make the subjects at hand more understandable. Lee Gutteridge Entabeni Nature Guide Training School 083 667 7586 Cover photograph- Young Lions by Lee Gutteridge © Lee Gutteridge – 2 December 2005 3 Centre for Wildlife Management 5 Feb 2006 Mr Lee Gutteridge Training manual for FGASA level 2 course and the trails guide exams The manual that has been prepared to serve as handbook for the above mentioned course has been studied by myself. This manual and course is certified to be correct in terms of the factual content thereof and further certified to be at the correct standard for the purpose of this training course. Sincerely Prof. W van Hoven © Lee Gutteridge – 2 December 2005 4 Contents of manual INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................2 LETTER OF CERTIFICATION………………………………………………………………3 CONTENTS …………………………………………………………………………………..4 ECOLOGY.................................................................................................................................5 MAMMALS...............................................................................................................................27 BIRDS.........................................................................................................................................58 REPTILES...................................................................................................................................98 ASTRONOMY...........................................................................................................................121 BOTANY………………………………………………………………………………………138 INSECTS AND ARACHNIDS……………………………………………………………..….168 GEOLOGY……………………………………………………………………………….….....204 FISH…………………………………………………………………………………………….219 SURVIVAL…………………………………………………………………………………….226 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………….…...251 AWH and VPDA……………………………………………………………………………….252 © Lee Gutteridge – 2 December 2005 5 ECOLOGY GLOSSARY 1. Abiotic factors - non-living components of an ecosystem. 2. Arboreal – tree dwelling. 3. Biomass – the physical mass of a population or community in nature i.e. the biomass of prey animals consumed in a year by Lions. 4. Biome – a specific area type based on vegetation groups i.e. fynbos. 5. Biosphere – the total area in which life occurs. 6. Carnivore – meat eating. 7. Carrying capacity – the amount of animals which can successfully survive in an area naturally. 8. Commensualism – a form of symbiosis where one party benefits and the other is unaffected. 9. Community – a group of organisms within an area. 10. Coprophage – to eat dung. It is done by many mammals and the young of some herbivore species. 11. Crepuscular – active at dusk and dawn. 12. Diurnal – active by day 13. Ecological niche – where an animal fits into the ecosystem as compared to potential competitors. 14. Ecology – “oikos” and “logos”, Greek words meaning home and study. The study of the biotic and abiotic components of our world. 15. Ecosystem – a functioning interconnected part of the environment. 16. Edaphic factors – factors pertaining to soil. 17. Endemic – a species occurring in only a specific restricted geographical region. 18. Environment – specific surroundings of any organism including medium, substrate, climatic conditions, other organisms, light and PH. 19. Ethology – the study of mammal behaviour in their natural habitat. 20. Folivore – leaf eating. 21. Fossorial – living predominantly underground. 22. Frugivore – fruit eating. 23. Gene pool – sum total of relevant genetic source material of a population represented by gametes. 24. Geophage – eating of soil for mineral acquisition purposes. 25. Herbivore – an animal which eats vegetation. 26. Home range – an area lived in but not defended actively. 27. Insectivore – an insect eating animal (not necessarily from order Insectivora). 28. Interspecific – an interaction between different animals of different species. 29. Intraspecific – an interaction between different animals of the same species. 30. Mutualism – a symbiotic relationship between two organisms in which both benefit. 31. Natural selection – mechanism by which gradual evolutionary changes take place. Organisms which are better adapted to their environment will produce more viable offspring and increase in population, and therefore be selected. 32. Nocturnal – animals which are active at night. 33. Oestrus (estrus) – the time when a female animal is ready to mate, ovulates and conceives. 34. Omnivore – an animal which eats both meat and plant material. 35. Osteophage – an animal that eats or chews bones to facilitate mineral acquisition. 36. Parasitism – a form of symbiosis where one organism benefits to the detriment of another. © Lee Gutteridge – 2 December 2005 6 37. Piloerection – the raising of hairs along the spine, by muscular action. 38. Population – the number of individuals of a specific group within a community. 39. Sexual dimorphism – the presence in a population of two sexes, each with a different phenotype. (Male and female look different). 40. Succession – the progression from initial colonization of an area by organisms to the climax population or community. 41. Symbiant – the two organisms composing a symbiotic relationship. 42. Symbiosis – the relationship between two different organisms, which ends in mutual benefit, or to the benefit of one species of the two. 43. Terrestrial – living on land, ground dwelling. 44. Territory – an area actively defended by an animal against members of its own species to protect its food and mating sources. © Lee Gutteridge – 2 December 2005 7 SYMBIOSIS Types of symbiosis found in nature, and some examples of these interactions. Symbiosis refers to an interaction in nature, and for this assignment there are examples of mutualism, commensualism, hemi-parasitism (epiphytes (epi means on top, phyton means plant)) and parasitism. There are no examples here of neutralism (neither affected), or amensualism (1 species inhibited with no effect on the other). (Prof. J.Du P.Bothma 2001) The symbiotic relationship between the Buffalo and bird species. The Red and the Yellow Billed Ox-peckers are birds commonly associated with this large bovid. These two birds provide a degree of benefit to the Buffalo in that large numbers of ectoparasites are removed. This zygodactylous species easily gathers the parasites from all parts of the body including eyes, ears, under the tail and groin area. There is an aspect to the detriment of the Buffalo in that wounds in the fur are worried and caused to bleed as they will utilize the blood as a food source, this can slow the healing process considerably but would keep maggots from the wounds.