Earth’s Environmental Path
Specialist wildlife scientist, consultant and lecturer (Ecology, Zoology, Game Production).
Studied at Pretoria University, 3 years fieldwork studies in the Kruger National Park, 12 years ecosystem analysis of Eastern Cape valley bushveld, 26 years expertise in southern African game ecology and management and 18 years part-time academic lecturing – 41 years career as expert wildlife scientist.
Sea levels rise and retreat sporadically in response to changes in global climate, as described in Part 1 & 2 of this series (Private Game Issue 1 & 2). Consequently, the size of low-lying coastal land decline or increase accordingly, and with huge effect on the movement, distribution and speciation of large and medium-sized animals of greater than 20kg body mass. In South Africa such areas include the sandy plains of northern KwaZulu-Natal and the presently submerged Agulhas Bank, that stretches from East London in the Eastern Cape to Saldanha/Langebaan on the West Coast.
Agulhas Bank
“The most southern continental shelf of the African continent. It is better described as the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain.”
It is the most southern continental shelf of the African continent. It is better described as the , an area exceeding 7,8 million ha (almost four times the size of the Kruger National Park) and consisting mostly of flat plains and river deltas. The Agulhas Bank is at its widest at 170km (for the -140 m contour, Figure 1) directly south of the coastal town named Stilbaai. To
