GEORGE NEWS - Well-known amateur photographer Colin Ralston has appealed to dog owners to keep their dogs away from the area near the stream at the Garden Route Botanical Garden (GRBG) known as the Mushroom Meander.
"Four bushbuck and two water mongooses have been killed by dogs in this part of the garden," said Ralston.
Ralston was speaking at the recent Garden Route SPCA's annual general meeting and cautioned that the same area is frequented by porcupines and bush pigs, which are able to seriously harm dogs.
Ralston is a contributor to iNaturalist.org, a website where experts examine photos taken of animals and plants around the world and give their scientific details, and is known for his ability to find and record many creatures and fungi in the GRBG, some of which are world firsts. He captivated those present with photos he had taken over the years at the garden and surrounds. It is not widely known that there are some record-breaking little beasts hiding in the foliage at the garden at the top of Caledon Street.
"The world record holder for the longest snout is the Hose Nose Cycad Weevil female, whose snout can reach a length up to three times the length of their bodies," explained Ralston.
"They use the mandibles at the tip of their snouts to drill a hole through the cycad cone scales into the deeply hidden cycad seeds. They then reverse and use their unusually long ovipositors to lay one egg in each seed they have drilled into. We have recorded their existence at the garden."
Ralston was the first person to take photos of the long and aggressive mating of the Cape dwarf chameleon during which the female is so stressed that she turns black.
The garden also has the second highest number of dragonflies.
He said 937 species have been recorded in the garden, including 53 butterfly species, which is the third highest number in the world for an area of its size. The garden also has the second highest number of dragonflies.
He has set four movement-activated trail cameras in the GRBG that have recorded many of the shy nocturnal animals that hide in the garden. The cameras have captured footage of Cape genets, bushbuck and water mongooses, amongst others.
Article: Wendy Jones, SPCA volunteer
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