South Africa

Genetic Study Shows Skin Color Is Only Skin Deep

Genes for both light and dark pigmentation have been in the human gene pool for at least 900,000 years

Africa’s Largest Contemporary Art Museum Opens in Cape Town

But some critics have questioned whether the institution adequately represents black African artists

Oxpeckers hang out with large ungulates–animals with hoofs like rhinos, giraffes and water buffalo.

Those Little Birds On The Backs Of Rhinos Actually Drink Blood

You think that’s ticks they’re eating?

Mount Hora, the site in Malawi where an 8,100-year-old skeleton was found, yielding the oldest-known DNA from Africa.

Ancient DNA Helps Scientists Shed Light on How Ancient Africans Moved and Mixed

New techniques help explain why there is little genetic overlap between modern and ancient Malawi people—and promise much more

The skull of Neo, one of the bodies found in the Lesedi Chamber

Ancient Human Cousin May Have Lived Alongside Early Homo Sapiens

<i>Homo naledi</i> may have been much younger—and more advanced—than previously thought

Later Stone Age paintings

New Technique Shows San Rock Art Is 5,000 Years Old

Using a highly refined form of carbon dating, researchers were able to date the pigments in art in Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa

Rhinos grazing in a South African park

South Africa to Legalize Domestic Rhino Horn Trade

A court ruling overturns a 2009 ban, a move that conservationists worry will increase poaching

A San man prepares his arrows for hunting in the Living Museum of the Ju’Hoansi-San, Grashoek, Namibia

San People of South Africa Issue Code of Ethics for Researchers

This much-studied population is the first indigenous people of Africa to develop such guidelines

A humpback supergroup off the coast of South Africa

Scientists Spot Hundreds of Humpback Whales Feeding in Massive Groups

The normally solitary creatures gathered off the southwestern coast of South Africa, puzzling researchers

Furano, Japan

12 Mesmerizing Places to Watch Flowers Bloom

Because there's no better way exalt the end of winter than with millions of tulips, poppies and roses

A Leaky Roof Has Forced the Johannesburg Art Gallery to Temporarily Close

But there’s some good news to comes out of this soggy situation

Reuben Riffel on Becoming a Top Chef in Post-Apartheid South Africa

South African food culture fosters connection, he says

Workers from the Kenya Wildlife Service carry elephant tusks from shipping containers full of ivory transported from around the country for a mass anti-poaching demonstration.

Most Ivory for Sale Comes From Recently Killed Elephants—Suggesting Poaching Is Taking Its Toll

Carbon dating finds that almost all trafficked ivory comes from animals killed less than three years before their tusks hit the market

Botswana Unexpectedly Reverses Course on Ivory Trade

The southern African nation now supports protection for the animals instead of limited sales of ivory

African penguins at the Cincinnati Zoo

The Search for Buddy the Kidnapped Penguin Continues

Two students stole and released an endangered African penguin from an Oceanarium. The problem is Buddy doesn't have the skills to survive

“Three days after the attack on the armored train, Churchill arrived in Pretoria, the Boer capital, with the other British prisoners of war. Surrounded by curious Boers eager to see the new prisoners, he glared back at them with unconcealed hatred and resentment. Although he respected the enemy on the battlefield, the idea that average Boers would have any control over his fate enraged him.”

Even When He Was in His 20s, Winston Churchill Was Already on the Verge of Greatness

The future Prime Minister became known throughout Britain for his travails as a journalist during the Boer War

A sculpture of Hendrick Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid in South Africa.

How Should South Africa Remember the Architect of Apartheid?

Fifty years after H.F. Verwoerd was assassinated in Parliament, the nation he once presided over reckons with its past

Common African Union Passport to Allow Free Movement Across the Continent

The African Union unveiled a new passport earlier this week that will allow citizens to cross between its 54 member states without visas

Drought Forces Zimbabwe to Sell Its Wild Animals

Facing food and water shortages, the country hopes to save it's wildlife

A black rhino takes to the air in the first stage of its venture during the 2013 World Wildlife Fund's Black Rhino Expansion Project.

Rhinos Will Be Airlifted to Australia to Avoid Poachers

A new project is flying rhinos from South Africa to Australia to create a "biological insurance policy" against increased poaching

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