BATELEURS
The French author, explorer and naturalist François Levaillant gave the bateleur both its scientific and common names.
Terathopius ecaudatus, reportedly meaning ‘marvellous face, without tail’, is both appropriate and descriptive. The bright scarlet of the facial skin, which contrasts starkly with the yellow and black bill, could easily be described as marvellous, while in its adult form, the bird has almost no tail.
Dr Ian John Whyte is an independent environmental consultant who retired from SANParks in 2007. He was previously engaged in full-time wildlife research in Kruger National Park from 1970-2007. At the time of retirement, he was responsible for the coordination of all research projects pertaining to elephant, buffalo and other large herbivores and rare antelope. He is a member of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission’s African Elephant Specialist Group. He has co-authored two field
