Category: Science
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West African Bush Viper is a venomous, rough-scaled, arboreal viper, Atheris squamigera, called Paramole in Yoruba. Bush Viper has a wide range across Central Africa and can be found in southeastern Nigeria. They usually come in green but is also available in other flavors, including red, orange, gray, yellow, black, blue, olive, and brown. Adults…
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West African Ilisha, Ilisha africana, called Shawa in Yoruba, is a species of longfin, fairly small, silvery fish which occurs in large stocks in inshore waters of Nigeria. This species has a small pelvic fin, and a long anal fin with finrays originating from below dorsal fin base. The dorsal fin is at or before…
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West African Manatee, Trichechus senegalensis, is the only sirenian in Nigeria, an order of herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, and marine wetlands and coastal marine waters, historically taken for the Mermaid mythical figure. The species occurs within the lower reaches of the Niger River. In the Benue River, they seek refuge during the…
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Western Green Mamba, Dendroapis viridis, is a highly venomous arboreal snake native to West Africa. It has a long slender body, mainly dark and light green becoming more yellow towards the tail. Scales are black in the edges. It is the largest of the arboreal mambas. The average length of an adult snake of this…
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White-throated Monkey is one of Africa’s most threatened primates. Cercopithecus erythrogaster, belonging to the suborder Haplorrhini, Infraorder Simmiiformes, and Family Ceropithecoidae, Called Obo in the Yoruba language and used as a simile for stupidity, or foolishness. The White Throated Monkey is Diurnal, arboreal, and lives in rainforests or tropical areas of southwestern Nigeria, southern Benin…
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Williams Davies, born to Saro parents in 1833, was one of the pioneer modern medical practitioners in Nigeria. His primary education was from a village school in Wellinton, Sierra Leone, where his Yoruba Sierra Leonean resident parents lived. From there, he entered in 1950, the Fourah Bay Institute in Freetown to train as a catechist.…
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Senegal Chameleon, Chamaeleo senegalensis, is more ordinary looking than the Graceful Chameleon, the other species of Chameleon found in Nigeria. The dorsal crest is a single line of conicals that fade away towards the posterior without ornamentations. Color in this species range from grey to brown to green but, like all chameleons, they can change…
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Yaba Medical School was a colonial medical training college founded in 1930 to train medical assistants with the award of a diploma. This school, which signaled the commencement of medical education in Nigeria, was merged with the newly formed University College of Ibadan in 1948, which graduated its first medical class in 1960. By this…
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Yellow-backed Duiker, Cephalophus sylvicultor, is named after the patch of white to orange wedge of erectile hair on its rump, which is conspicuous against the rest of its blackish-brown coat. This slender-legged duiker, found within the dense vegetation of southern Nigeria, is the largest of the diver antelopes. It weighs from 45 to 80 kg,…
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Aardvark, Orycteropus afer, is the only extant species in the order of mammals, called Tubulidentata, distinguished by their none-enameled, eroding and constantly regrowing tube-like teeth. The body of an aardvark is very stout and back is arched. It is covered in coarse hairs. The thickness of the skin protects these animals from biting ant. Like…
