Bellevue Wildlife
Wildlife
Bellevue Garden
In the garden of Bellevue you can spot a lot of wildlife. The monkeys play around the pool and the restaurant and bush babies can be seen at night. Also you can see beautiful butterflies around the flowers and insects in the plants.
Blue Monkey
Cercopithecus mitis
Despite what the common name suggests, the Blue monkey is not blue. In fact, the species is so called due to the hairless face, which seems to be colored in blue. Blue monkeys are active during the daytime hours. They are highly social creatures, forming groups of 10 - 40 individuals.
This is a female-dominated society, consisting of a single male and multiple females with their young. Blue monkeys are arboreal animals, living in trees. Group members spend a lot of their active time playing and grooming.
Red Colobus
Piliocolobus kirkii
Red colobuses are monkeys that are native to Zanzibar. These medium-sized monkeys have little potbellies, as is typical of leaf-eating monkeys. Their coat ranges in color from dark red to black and is sometimes accented with a black stripe on the shoulders and arms. They have black hands, feet, and faces, topped with long white hair. All species of the colobus monkeys have a stumped thumb, as well as long tails, which are used for balance and posture purposes.
Their notably long hind limbs help facilitate large leaps between trees, as do their long digits, or fingers, that form a hook-like grip, allowing them to grasp branches with ease.
Bush baby
Galagos
Galagos, also known as bush babies, or nagapies (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae.
The name "bush baby" comes from either the animal's cries or its appearance. The Ghanaian name aposor is given to them because of their firm grip on branches.
In both variety and abundance, the bush babies are the most successful strepsirrhine primates in Africa.
Meller Chameleon
Chamaeleo (Trioceros) Melleri
Chameleons can be found throughout Zanzibar, one of the most common species is the Meller chameleon also known as the giant one-horned chameleon. This species came from the mainland of Africa and it is one of the largest chameleons in the world. Generally the largest they get is around 24 inches.
The species was found in 1865 and named after Meller who catalogued it.
The first of these chameleons was found in Malawi, but they are also found in bushy areas throughout the islands of Tanzania and Zanzibar.
They are known for the various spots on their body. Their basic color is usually a deeper forest green with wide stripes, however, they can change colors to match their surroundings when they are threatened.
Beetle
Sternotomis bohemani
Sternotomis bohemani is a species of beetle belonging to the family Cerambycidae. It can reach a body length of about 25 mm. The upper surface of the body is of a pale green colour, varied with white fasciae and patches. Femora and tibiae are green. Antennae are green and longer than the insect. This widespread species can be found in Tropical and Southern Africa.
African Golden Weaver
Ploceus subaureus
The eastern golden weaver (Ploceus subaureus) is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. It is found in eastern and south-eastern Africa. Alternative names used for the eastern golden weaver include yellow weaver, olive-headed golden weaver, and African golden weaver.
African Queen
Danaus chrysippus
Also known as the Plain tiger, African queen, or African monarch, is a medium-sized butterfly widespread in Asia, Australia and Africa. Because of their emetic properties, the plain tiger is distasteful to most predators. As a result, the species' coloration is widely mimicked by other species of butterflies.
The plain tiger inhabits a wide variety of habitats, although it is less likely to thrive in jungle-like conditions and is most often found in drier, wide-open areas.
Crab Spider
Platythomisus
Crab spiders are not active hunters and make more use of the camouflage techniques than other spiders. They remain unmoved until the prey arrives and catches it. With a venomous bite (not dangerous to humans) they kill their prey. Often the crab spider remains for days, even weeks at the same spot. When they spot a possible enemy, they move quickly at the other site of the flower or leave.
Rainbow Shield
Bugcalidea dregii
The rainbow bug is most active during the hottest hours of the day. Males perform a “courting dance” prior to copulation; females may mate immediately after emergence as adults, and the first batch of eggs is usually laid about 10 days after the first mating. Adult longevity is about 1.5 months for males, 2 months for females.
