Foreword of the book:

AFRICA'S MAMMALS - Discovering 101 species, written by our patron, Michelle Garforth-Venter (Conservation Journalist & Executive Producer: Ezinkulu Productions).

FOREWORD:
This book comes at a time when animal life faces a great number of threats; the remorseless decline in species numbers is a sobering landscape to our modern living. Africa's Mammals – Discovering 100 species, will give you great value during your bush adventures, with a deeper level of detail per species listed.

Having worked with dr. Madelein Grundlingh on SABC 2's conservation series Wild Ltd and Bush Radar Kids, I'm thrilled her knowledge is now accessible through this book to ignite a passion for all things animal. My greatest hope is that you will be inspired to become more conservation conscious and work towards preserving what is left in the diverse biomes of our beautiful country.

As a conservation journalist, wild spaces and the creatures that inhabit them is the backdrop for my daily bush office, where I'm invited to observe the intimate governance and function of their eco-systems. On the surface, it all seems to function rather well, as we take an annual vacation to the bush, spending a week viewing large mammals, birds a twitter in their wetland habitats and watching dolphins surf the Kwazulu-Natal coastal warm waves.

Game rangers, veterinarians and dedicated volunteers appear to have it all under good conservation control, managing species population numbers through culling, cleaning penguins after oil spills, re-locating oxpecker birds to KZN after numbers were depleted due to chemical intakes of cattle dip, and surgically removing plastic from turtles' stomachs to prevent their death. What must be noted is that the majority of animal catastrophes are taking place due to the sustained assault on biodiversity triggered by a single species – one that dominates life – human beings, be it through unsustainable exploitation and loss of wild habitat, never-ending pollution, litter, irresponsible development and acid rain generated through carbon emissions.

The resulting buzzword is "green" because we are responsible for most of the global warming effects observed over the past 50 years. A carbon footprint is the environmental impact each human has – and it is measured in hectares. In the West, our carbon footprint is now 22 hectares per person. The Earth's capacity is just 16 hectares per person! Makes you think.

A direct result are disappearing animal population numbers and species becoming extinct on our watch. South Africa has had 5 species of frogs go extinct in the past eight years, and considering that frogs are an indicator species as to the health of an eco-system, I am concerned. Our amphibian friends are literally croaking to tell us something. Frogs also breathe through their skins and the mucous mucosa of their mouths, making them susceptible to pollution in the waterways and wetlands. There are only 480 breeding pairs of wattled crane left in our wild wetlands - a cousin to South Africa's national bird, the blue crane. We should be sitting up and asking how we can limit our unsustainable flow of waste into their habitats. The list of affected species is endless, as classed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - a host of well-known species  such as the tiger, the black rhinoceros and the orangutan, as well as a collection of amphibians, fish, insects and other invertebrates, whose general status is poorly noted. Some like the spix's macaw may be preserved in captivity but as for those gene pools not alive in captivity, like the Pel's fishing owl, they are likely to vanish forever.

Ecological links are disturbed when species become extinct, and the checks, balances and rhythms that operate in nature risk being broken. The result is ecological instability; a state of being that will have critical implications for plant and animal life, and for human welfare.

Sustainable living in the 21st century is the successful marriage of technology's benefits and the healthy respect for the planet. If we continue to hurt Mother Nature with the current steep decline in the earth's biodiversity, we destroy our future life-support system. This is one riddle mankind must solve: how to find a harmonious way of living with our planet, and all living creatures in the animal kingdom. Wildlife can no longer be taken for granted, and the wish to conserve rather than exploit our natural heritage will connect all humans globally in solving the problems our environment and animals face across continents and environments.

Knowledge and awareness are vital first steps. I urge you to study this book well and delight in the animals featured like film stars. The unique information and morphological adaptations discussed will give you the ammunition to delve deeper into the wonderful world that is the animal kingdom.

If you learn about it, you will love it and once you love it, you will want to conserve it.