Articles tagged as South Africa | Smithsonian Magazine

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

South African food culture fosters connection, he says

February 9, 2017

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

November 7, 2016

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

October 4, 2016

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

September 29, 2016

“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

September 19, 2016

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

September 14, 2016

Cool Finds

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

July 22, 2016

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

May 5, 2016

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.

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

March 28, 2016

A tiny camera is embedded in the horn of a black rhino.

How Technology May Help Save the Rhino From Extinction

Horns grown in a laboratory and hidden cameras could be the key to tackling this conservation challenge

November 2015

A beach at Durban reserved for whites. An amendment to the Separate Amenities Act extended the laws to beaches. January 1, 1976

A Look Back at South Africa Under Apartheid, Twenty-Five Years After Its Repeal

Segregated public facilities, including beaches, were commonplace, but even today, the inequality persists

October 15, 2015

A rhinoceros in South Africa's Kruger National Park, where the Black Mambas anti-poaching task force protects animals.

The “Black Mambas” just received a prestigious award for their work on behalf of rhinos, lions and cheetahs

September 11, 2015

Cool Finds

Ever Heard of the Bontebok? It’s an African Animal Humans Nearly Destroyed, Then Saved

Part of this conservation success story relies on the bontebok’s inability to jump

July 10, 2015

Researchers discovered a red ochre- and milk-based paint on a stone flake from 49,000 years ago.

New Research

In South Africa, People Painted with Cow Milk Long Before They Domesticated Cattle

The need to hunt wild cow relatives would have made this paint valuable

July 9, 2015

Stunning Photos of Africa’s Oldest Trees, Framed by Starlight

“Diamond Nights” captures the surreal beauty of ancient trees after nightfall

June 25, 2015

A customs officer in Thailand examines specimens from a three ton ivory seizure, estimated to be worth $6 million.

Anthropocene

DNA and Databases Help Untangle the Web of the Illegal Wildlife Trade

Two new data-driven approaches help identify key hotspots for poaching and trafficking

June 18, 2015

South Africans celebrate at a gay pride event outside Johannesburg in 2013. While other countries have passed legislation criminalizing homosexuality, South Africa has advocated tolerance.

Some African Countries Are Trying to Use Science to Make Homophobic Laws, Now African Scientists are Pushing Back

Some African countries have tried to use science to justify laws that criminalize homosexuality

June 17, 2015

Members of the Xhosa tribe, like the young initiates seen here in Khayelitsha, are among the South African groups that practice ritual circumcision. The affiliation of the young man who received a transplant is not known.

The doctors who announced the first successful procedure last week had a particularly difficult time finding willing organ donors

March 19, 2015

A system in testing off the coast of Cape Town uses an electric field to safely ward off predators.

An Electric Fence Wards Off Sharks

South Africa has begun testing a humane way to make its beaches safer

November 25, 2014

Cheetahs taking it easy in the Kalahari desert, Botswana.

New Research

Cheetahs Spend 90 Percent of Their Days Sitting Around

When human presence forces cheetahs to expend more energy, however, it put the animals’ survival at risk

October 2, 2014