AGEING EGYPTIAN ROUSETTE FRUIT BATS
By: Teresa Kearney - Curator: Vertebrate Department, Small Mammals, DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History (DNMNH) Rousettus aegyptiacus observed in Uganda by Yizhar Amir (licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) Volume 25, issue 1 of the Journal Acta Chiropterologica, a scientific journal dedicated to bat
A HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL WITH THE ISANDLWANA CLASP (1879)
By: Anzel Veldman- Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History King Cetshwayo kaMpande (*1826 -1884†) ascended to the throne in 1872, succeeding his father king Mpande, and inheriting the internal and external socio-political pressures that had marked his father’s reign. The Anglo-Zulu
THE INFLUENCE OF COCA-COLA ON CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS
By: Frank Teichert, Curator – DITSONG: National Museum of Cultural History When we think of Christmas, certain iconic images come to mind: twinkling lights, decorated trees, and without a doubt, the jolly figure of Santa Claus. However, few people are aware
THE TORCH COMMANDO
THE TORCH COMMANDO By: David Rilley-Harris, Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History (DNMMH) Photograph from a Torch Commando Rally with signs reading “They plan a fascist republic” and “They oppose free unions”.(Picture: www.samilhistory.com/tag/the-torch-commando/page/2/). In 1941, during the Second World War, service members
KEEPING A SECRET WHILE RETAINING VIGILANCE
THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON PRESIDENT PAUL KRUGER by Jan van den Bos, Curator: Weapons: DITSONG: National Museum of Cultural History & Jaco Schoonraad, Site Curator: DITSONG: Kruger Museum and DITSONG: Sammy Marks Museum In 1898, the ZAR government bolstered security in front of the Kruger
MASSOSPONDYLUS
By Heidi Fourie: Curator: DITSONG NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Massospondylus is a prosauropod dinosaur, a group of saurischian dinosaurs with lizard hips. It lived during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. It stood 4 m tall with an unusually small
SOLIFUGES: THE ULTIMATE SUPERHERO
By Tharina Bird, Curator General Entomology DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History I asked a friend what she knows about solifuges. Her answer: “Apart from them being repulsive, nothing.” Unfortunately, this would be the answer from most – that is, from those
WARTIME RELIGIOUS TEXTS
By: David Rilley-Harris, Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History (DNMMH) Second World War military edition New Testament provided to South African forces by the Gifts and Comforts Fund with the cypher of King George VI.(Picture: DITSONG: National Museum of Military
NORTHERN CHINA’S OPPOSITION AGAINST JAPANESE AND WESTERN INFLUENCE THE BOXER REBELLION (1899-1901)
By: Jan van den Bos, Curator: DITSONG: National Museum of Cultural History While South-Africa and Britain were engaged in a war (1899-1902) in southern Africa, a group of young peasants in the northern parts of China, attacked and killed foreigners, diplomats,