African Wildlife Environment Issue 75 FINAL

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

A Southern Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus) sitting in a tree canopy within a residential estate, Houghton. These birds are usually associated with intricate nest designs (photo by johschaefer: www.inaturalist.org/observations/19090810).

biodiverse city on Earth! Cape Townians exceeded their targets, recording 57 000 observations and 4 400 species, with 7 000 observations and 900 species more than any other city. The City Nature Challenge reaped more observations for Cape Town in four days than over the last ten years. Cape Town will be back in 2020 to defend its title and is calling on people from all walks of life to participate. Is your city ready to take up the challenge? There is no doubt that South Africa has incredible biodiversity. With such great beauty, comes great responsibility. We are custodians of our natural capital and it is ours to protect. If you are worried about the state of South Africa’s wildlife, including our threatened species going extinct, global warming, chytrid fungus on amphibians, polyphagous shothole borer beetles decimating our urban trees or poaching of our wildlife and succulents, be part of the solution and join naturalists all around the world in providing the data to make a difference!

largest of all, the City Nature Challenge. The challenge is an international four-day event where the public use iNaturalist to record as many observations of wildlife in their city. The City Nature Challenge gives metro areas the opportunity to contest against each other to see who can make the most observations of nature, who can find the most species, and who can engage with the most people. It is a way for land managers, scientists, and the community to work together to document what species are found in their cities and use this information to manage and protect them. In April 2019, Cape Town became the first African city to take part in the City Nature Challenge. Despite it being autumn, Cape Town pulled out all the stops and won the challenge, beating over 130 other cities worldwide and officially claiming the title as the most Phymateus viridipes ssp. viridipes , a Gaudy Grasshopper, photographed within the hub of urbanisation in Marshalltown, Johannesburg (photo by igmar: www.inaturalist.org/ observations/13739918).

Megan Smith Restoration Ecology and Conservation Planning Intern m.smith2@sanbi.org.za

37 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 75 (2020)