The largest Sesarmid crab in our Mangroves, the Red Clawed Mangrove Crab was counted last at the end of 2006, and boasted a population of about 904,000. Their numbers are now well into the millions on our Reserve. They are shy, solitary & territorial, and occur in dense shade under Black Mangrove trees which grow in the shade of the White Mangroves. These crabs have a special relationship with Black Mangrove trees, as the crab has lots of hairs to detect vibration from leaves falling onto the ground, which they drag down into their burrows to eat. Their burrows can reach about 1,5m in depth.
Although the preferred food is Mangrove tree leaves, the crab often appears to be eating mud. It is in fact eating the rotting vegetation in the mud. This crab therefore provides a janitor function in the Mangroves. This is most noticeable in winter when the crabs are less active, and leave more leaf litter than normal.
These crabs are particularly popular with our younger visitors who enjoy feeding them and watching the ensuing tug of war over a leaf. The picture above shows a female “in berry”. What looks like a clump of mud under her belly is actually a collection of tiny eggs.

See the home of "Manfred Mann the Tango Man‟.
It was in December 2008 that the North Durban Honorary Officers first became aware of the presence of a much larger crab who seemed to be intently watching them watching the Red crabs!
When a second of these large crabs, not previously seen in the Reserve, was spotted a week later, attempts were started to positively identify and find out more about it. The Group's interest was really sparked when internet searches seemed to indicate that it was the Cardisoma carnifex or Tangoman Mangrove Crab which had last been seen in South Africa, according to the articles found, in Sodwana Bay, having disappeared sometime between 1963 and 1972.
The Honorary Officers immediately started monitoring the crabs on a regular basis, recording numbers and burrow positions as well as taking photographs and noting behaviour patterns. There was much excitement at our regular 3rd Saturday Open Morning at Beachwood in January 2011 when our first juvenile Tangoman was seen. Measuring only 5cm across the carapace as against the adults 8 to 10cm, the presence of this small individual indicated that the crabs were settling in the area and breeding. By January 2012 this count increased to 4 juveniles. There is no record of any Tangoman less that 5cm having been seen and it is presumed that the babies live underground in the burrows until reaching this size. The following information was obtained from various sources but mainly an article by Prof. Bourquin who worked for the Natal Parks Board (now Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) before emigrating to America.
The Tangoman‟s scientific name, Cardisoma carnifex (Cardi = heart and soma = body) literally means the “public executioner with a heart-shaped body”.
According to Bourquin (2001), C. carnifex is the same species which had occurred in South Africa at least as far south as Sodwana Bay from which area it seemed to have disappeared some-time between 1963 and 1972, probably because of the development by man causing habitat loss and change, and predation by local people. In a survey of the same area conducted between 1972 and 1980 by Bruton and Cooper, not a single specimen of this crab was recorded.
They are Omnivorous. Their diet includes gastropods and crustaceans as well as the leaves of both the black and white mangrove trees. Their favourite food on this reserve is the Red Clawed Mangrove crab. They forage above ground at night and are more active around dusk and dawn although burrowing is mainly done during the day. Individuals smaller than 5.0 cm carapace length have not been observed. Nothing is known about when they start to dig their own burrows or how they avoid being cannibalised within the adult burrows. The females carry a large concentration of eggs under their body. When they are ready to spawn they head for the sea, usually at night prior to a new moon, where they submerge in the surf and shake the eggs loose in the waves before returning to their burrow.

The definition of an estuary is the widening channel of a river where it meets the sea, with a mixing of fresh water and salt (tidal) water. i.e. An arm or inlet of the sea at the lower end of a river.
The Umgeni River estuary provides a nursery for baby fish which offers some protection against predation from larger fish and humans, and increases the survival rate of the young fish. Being a meeting point of the Indian Ocean (salt water) & Umgeni River (fresh water); it provides the perfect conditions for Mangrove trees to develop in a tropical/sub-tropical environment.

The White mangroves are considered the pioneer, land claiming species. They have an extensive shallow root system, with numerous cable roots growing horizontally from the tree base, anchoring it in the loose soil. Growing upwards from these are the pencil roots that re-emerge from the ground and stick up in the air to provide extra oxygen for the tree. The leaves are small to prevent fresh water loss and are thick and leathery.
White mangroves tend to be on the perimeters of mixed mangrove swamps, as their incredible root system gives them the strength to withstand rough seas and bad weather. In our reserve they provide shelter and shade for the Black mangrove trees which grow behind them. The seed pods are round but slightly flattened on the sides.

About Mangrove Trees in general:
About Mangrove trees in general
Mangroves are only found in tropical or sub-tropical waters due to their need for consistently warm conditions. Although Man-grove trees are salt-resistant, they need fresh water to achieve moderate salinity levels. An estuary is thus the ideal place as it provides a mix of salt water and fresh. It is however a harsh environment for plants to survive in, as it is constantly changing (with the movement of the tides) and due to the fact that the water-logged soil contains little oxygen. Mangrove trees thus, have special adaptations enabling them to survive and develop.
Their aerial breathing roots have become adapted to absorb oxygen from the air, having spongy tissues, and their seeds germinate quickly, anchoring almost immediately, when they fall to the ground. The leaves of the Mangrove trees as well as the seeds, are a favorite food of the red clawed crab, and therefore have another reason besides the tides, for the seeds to anchor themselves very quickly once falling to the ground. The seeds germinate on the tree, and begin to anchor themselves in the ground within 2 hours of having fallen.

Being a secondary coloniser, this tree is often found in the shelter of the White mangroves. The cable roots of the Black mangrove also grow horizontally from the tree base. But these emerge from the soil and re-enter it again, leaving large knuckle/elbow shaped root sections sticking out of the earth. The bark of the Black mangrove tree is also slightly darker and rougher in texture and colour than the White mangrove tree. The Black Mangrove tree has a unique salt filtration method of sending most of the salt to a single leaf in each bunch, which quickly turns yellow and drops off the tree. The seed pods are cigar shaped, and designed to stick into the soil when they land, giving them a better chance to germinate.

These are the most characteristic mangrove molluscs in SA. They have a soft body and a hard elongated spiral shell on their backs, with a blunt tip and deep ridges indicating the spirals. These whelks live on the mud surface but climb up the trees as the tide rises. They travel back down again as the tide goes out. Thus they spend more time in the trees that in the mud. They live on algae on the tree bark and the rotting vegetation in the mud. A fair sized population of whelks is usually an indication of a healthy ecosystem. Experiments with Whelks have proved that if the creature is removed from its habitat and taken to a different location, the whelk will continue to move up and down a tree in time to the tides of its original home.

Commonly found near Mangrove trees, but out of reach of the high tide, these trees are essential for stabilising beach sand. They have bi-coloured leaves, with the top being dark and leathery, which protects them from salt absorption and absorbs light. The other side of the leaf is white and covered in soft hairs.
Zulu Use = Zulu diviners use roots & stems to communicate with ancestors.

The flowers on this tree change from bright yellow to bright red, and then drop off in the space of a day. Vervet monkeys love eating the flowers.
Zulu Use = Bark is used as a binding material during hut-building

Our Water Mongooses are shy and do not live in big family groups like the Banded Mongoose does. They are not seen often, but if you look you might see their tracks. (Although their spoor is similar to the genet, mongooses cannot retract their claws, so look for little nail marks above the pad prints.) They are brown and have a long shaggy coat which, when they are frightened, will stand up to make them look bigger. They search for food in the mud with their long toes, and feed off crabs, bird's eggs, insects, frogs and any small creatures they find.

Mudflats, also known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of estuarine silts, clays and marine animal detritus. Most of the sediment within a mudflat is within the inter-tidal zone, and thus the flat is submerged and exposed approximately twice daily. Tidal flats, along with inter tidal salt marshes and mangrove forests, are important ecosystems. They usually support a large population of wildlife, and are a key habitat that allows migratory shorebirds to migrate from breeding sites in the northern hemisphere to non-breeding areas in the southern hemisphere. They are often of vital importance to migratory birds, as well as certain species of crabs, molluscs and fish.
The maintenance of mudflats is important in preventing coastal erosion. However, mudflats worldwide are under threat from predicted sea level rises, land claims for development, dredging due to shipping purposes, and chemical pollution.

The little brown Marsh Crabs, also of the family Sesarmid, lives alongside the Red Clawed crabs quite happily. These crabs can also often be seen climbing the trunks of trees. They are not shy and continue to scavenge for food while people walk among them.

There are many species of this Uca crab found on the mud flats. Gregarious & territorial, the male crab has 1 very large pincer and one small pincer. His big claw could be either on the left or the right, making him left or right 'handed'. This large claw is constantly waved in the air to attract mates and intimidate other males, and fights can often be seen between rival males. The female crab chooses her partners and mates about every 2 weeks. Fiddler crabs re-absorb their shells rather than shedding them as they grow. Fiddlers use their claws to pick up sediment and scrape food particles into their mouths. The males can only use their single small claw for feeding so they have to work twice as hard as the females do to get food.

A member of the Gobi family and found along waterways, this well-camouflaged amphibian with its big blunt head and bulbous eyes, can swim, skip on top of the water and skip along the surface of the mud. About 7cm in length with pectoral and pelvic fins adapted for life on land, it takes in a big gulp of water before going ashore, and circulates that water through its gills. It does not breathe through lungs like a frog.

This grass was traditionally collected to make sleeping mats, baskets and as a means of sieving Zulu beer. The fermented mash was poured into a long cone shaped funnel made of the dried grass. This was then wrung and squeezed until all the liquid was collected in pots. The mash stayed behind in the reed funnel and was often fed to the chickens. Being partly fermented, the chickens sometimes became a bit wobbly.

Very few people have seen mud crabs mating in the wild. This is because the male can only inseminate
the female while her shell is soft, a period of about 48 hours following moulting. He climbs on top of the female, clasps her with his legs, and carries her underneath him for up to four days. The male releases the female when she begins to moult and, when the process is complete, turns her upside down to mate. When the eggs are ripe, they pass down the oviducts and are fertilised. The stored sperm may fertilise up to three
batches of eggs. Following mating, which lasts between seven to 18 hours, the male flips the female over to the upright position and holds her beneath him for a few more days while her shell hardens. When the female mud crab is ready to spawn, she creates a shallow divot in the substrate with her abdominal flap. She then releases the eggs into the depression and immediately begins to gather them up with her pleopods. 'Berried' females are rarely caught in pots because they consume little or no food when carrying eggs.
The eggs are about 0.3 mm in diameter and a single batch may contain over two million eggs. While mud crabs produce large numbers of offspring, the mortality rate of larvae and juveniles is high. Hence, few crabs survive long enough to mate. Mud crabs are best described as opportunistic feeders; they are carnivores and herbivores, scavengers and cannibals. They will eat just about anything that they encounter, including worms, fish, plant material and smaller crabs. Their feeding activity depends on environmental factors such as temperature and physiological factors such as moult condition. Mud crabs use a range of senses to locate their food. The eyes of mud crabs are set on stalks, which allow them to see 360 degrees, both in and out of the water. They also have a pair of antennae, located between their eyes that can detect minute changes in water movement and water chemistry. In addition, the tips of the legs (known as the dactyls) are covered in tiny hairs that are highly sensitive to touch and taste.
When handling food, mud crabs use the larger claw as a 'crusher' and the smaller claw as a 'cutter'.
Both claws are extremely powerful. A study on a related species showed that an 80mm crab was able
to crush shells that required up to 40kg of force to break. Mud crabs also use their claws to defend
themselves and can even drop a claw to facilitate escape. A new, fully functional claw will grow back in three to four months.

This tree looks very similar to the Black mangrove Tree. It's aerial roots originate from quite far up the tree trunk, and then arch away before they enter the soil. These 'prop' or 'stilt roots' form a tangled root mass at the base of the tree. The leaves resemble those of the Black Mangrove tree but have a sharp, needle like tip. The fruit is longer than the Black Mangrove, and is torpedo shaped. This plant is also a secondary coloniser and is most often found along water courses that cut through the mangroves.

Cane rats range in body length from 35 to 60 centimetres. They commonly weigh 6-7 kilograms in captivity, and can attain weights up to 10 kilograms in the wild. They are heavily-built rodents, with bristly brown fur speckled with yellow or grey. They live in marshy areas and along river and lake banks, and are herbivores, feeding on aquatic grasses in the wild. In agricultural areas they will also, as the name suggests, feed on the crops in cane plantations, making them a significant pest. Females give birth to litters of two to four young at least once a year, and more frequently in some areas. Cane rats are sexually mature and able to reproduce at 6 months of age.
Cane rats are widely distributed and farmers expend substantial energy fencing the rodents out of their fields, but they are also valued as a source of "bush meat" in West and Central Africa. Like the guinea pig, the meat is of a higher protein but lower fat content than domesticated farm meat and it is also appreciated for its tenderness and taste.

Sand Dunes
The dunes bordering Beachwood are fragile. Our dunes are the home Natal Dune Vygie and the Bush-Bean Canavalia. Look for the purple flowers. The Bush Bean pods are collected by our cane rats and stored in a pile for later consumption.

Most chameleons lay eggs as they are from the reptile family. The Dwarf Chameleon gives birth to live young! Presenting a comical picture being so small and having such a large stomach prior to the event, the female gives birth about 4 times a year while resting on her perch. Numbers of this chameleon have declined significantly over the past 30 years and it has become a threatened species due to the loss of its natural habitat to human advancement. Not long after the discovery of the Tangoman Crabs, the North Durban Honorary Officers saw and recorded the first KZN Dwarf Chameleon at the Mangroves in April 2009. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife were (and still are) studying these little cham-leons. "The unusual thing about these chameleons is that they're found in little pockets all over KZN," explained Linda Swemmer, one of the researchers. Studies are being done by environmentalists at the University of Natal on the DNA of these chameleons to determine whether the different groups are related and whether it was one large group that split up. Since April 2009 about 45 individual sightings were recorded, five of which were baby chameleons no bigger than a five-cent piece. According to studies, the chameleon population needs at least 1000 chameleons to continue the line, any less and interbreeding occurs which weakens the species. "It's difficult to determine how many chameleons there are here," said Linda. "They're hard to see during the day because they're usually foraging closer to the ground. We try to study them at night, when they go to the top of the stalks and appear white when a torch is shone on them."

Beachwood has one of the largest KZN lizards, and one of the smallest. We have both the rare KZN Dwarf Chameleon and the big Nile Monitor!

In South Africa they are commonly referred to as leguaan, from the Dutch for iguana.
The Nile Monitor (Varanus niloticus) is a large member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae).
Nile Monitors can grow to about 4–6 feet in length with rare specimens exceeding 8 feet. They have muscular bodies, strong legs and powerful jaws. The teeth are sharp and pointed in juvenile animals and become blunt and peg-like in adults. They also possess sharp claws used for climbing, digging, defence, or tearing at their prey. Like all monitors they have a forked tongue, with highly developed olfactory properties. Their nostrils are placed high on the snout, indicating that these animals are highly aquatic, but are also excellent climbers and quick runners on land. Nile Monitors feed on fish, snails, frogs, crocodile eggs and young, snakes, birds, small mammals, large insects, and carrion.

This species prefers gravel banks along rivers or large lakes, and also beaches. A single egg is laid in a bare scrape on the open shingle or sparse grass. Be-cause they don't nest in a tree, the birds rely strongly on their naturally camouflaged plumage to hide. If anything gets too close to the nest or chicks, one of the parent birds will feign an injury and lead the predator away, crying loudly and falling about as if badly hurt, but always keeping just out of reach, and leading the predator away from the nest.

Banded mongooses are 12 to 16 inches long with an eight inch tail and weigh 3.5 to 5 pounds. They feed on invertebrates, especially beetles and millipedes, and small vertebrates. After a two-month gestation, a banded mongoose gives birth to a litter of two or three young. But a litter may be as large as six. Banded mongooses live in groups of ten to 20 individuals, but may include as many as 40 individuals. Banded mongooses are middle-sized mongooses with a head-body length of about 47 cm, a tapered tail of 28 cm, and a weight of about 1.4kgs. They are characterized by a series of thin, dark bands across the back, which are most noticeable on the lower back, and fade away on the lower flanks. The body colour ranges from whitish to reddish-brown, with variation among specimens, with darker legs and tail tip. They have five fingers on each 'hand', and four toes on each foot. Their fore claws are longer and more curved than their back claws and are used for scratching and digging. The muzzle is relatively long and conical in shape. They lack a groove on their upper lip, found in other mongoose species. There is no apparent sexual dimorphism. Females have three pairs of abdominal teats.
Every member of the group will care for the very young and the elderly, providing food and protection, as well as grooming them. They are diurnal, emerging from their dens, in the morning sun and returning to them in the late afternoon. Banded mongooses tend to be nomadic, as they will not stay in a particular area for more than a couple of days to a week. Females become sexually mature around 9 to 10 months of age. There are usually 3-4 breeding females in one band, which seem to inhibit breeding of lower ranked females and about as many reproductive males. Gestation is approximately 2 months, and litter size is variable, ranging from two to six. The cubs are born blind with a sparse amount of hair and will leave the den for short excursions around 4 weeks of age. At Beachwood we have other less commonly seen species of Mongoose as well.

Of the primate family, the Vervet Monkey has long canine teeth and eats fruit, small animals, birds eggs, insects and unfortunately any edible rubbish discarded by humans. Troops have well defined territories, and have highly social bonds within the group, indicated by who grooms whom within the ranks.

Duiker in Afrikaans means diver. Named for their habit of diving into the bush, Blue Duikers have large eyes, fairly small ears and a wide, flexible mouth adapted to feeding on fruit. Sexes are similar in appearance, and both possess short, spiky horns, though these are sometimes absent in the female or hidden by a short crest of hair. Females may also be slightly larger than males. All Duikers have a good sense of smell and possess large, obvious, slit-like pre-orbital glands in front of the eyes, used in scent-marking.

An extremely shy little cat, the markings of the Large Spotted Genet are beautiful. Slightly smaller than a house cat, with a more elongated body and short legs, this cat is nocturnal and has adapted to humans by feeding on edible rubbish and left-overs from braais and picnics on our reserve. It also eats any insects, birds, eggs, frogs etc that it can find, and even occasionally fruit. The little cat forages on the ground, and when scared, quickly disappears into the trees.

Bull sharks can survive quite a distance up river in relatively fresh or brackish water, whereas most sharks are restricted to salt water.
Bull sharks in fresh water possess several organs with which to maintain appropriate salt and water balance; these are the rectal gland, kidneys, liver and gills. All elasmobranchs have a rectal gland which functions in the excretion of excess salts accumulated as a consequence of living in seawater. Bull sharks in freshwater environments decrease the salt-excretory activity of the rectal gland, thereby conserving sodium and chloride. The kidneys produce large amounts of dilute urine, but also play an important role in the active re-absorption of solutes into the blood. The gills of bull sharks are likely to be involved in the uptake of sodium and chloride from the surrounding freshwater, whereas urea is produced in the liver as required with changes in environmental salinity.
Bull sharks are large and stout, with females being larger than males. (One recorded weight of a bull shark was 315 kg!) Bull sharks are wider and heavier than other requiem sharks of comparable length, and are grey on top and white below. Bull sharks have a bite force of up to 600 kilograms, the highest among all investigated cartilaginous fishes.
A bull shark's diet consists mainly of bony fish and sharks, including other bull sharks, but can also include turtles, birds, dolphins, terrestrial mammals, crustaceans, and rays . They hunt in murky waters because it is harder for the prey to see the shark coming, thus Bull sharks have been known to use the bump-and-bite technique to attack their prey.
Bull sharks are typically solitary hunters, but occasionally hunt in pairs. They often cruise through shallow waters. They can accelerate rapidly and can be highly aggressive. They are extremely territorial and attack animals that enter their territory. Since bull sharks often dwell in very shallow waters, they may be more dangerous to humans than any other species of shark, and along with the tiger shark, oceanic whitetip and great white shark, are among the four shark species most likely to attack humans.
Bull sharks mate during late summer and early autumn, often in the brackish water of river mouths. After gestating for 12 months, a bull shark may give birth to four to ten live young. They are viviparous; they are born live and free-swimming. The young are about 70 cm (27.6 in) at birth and take 10 years to reach maturity. Coastal lagoons, river mouths, and other low-salinity estuaries are common nursery habitats. Bull sharks are apex predators and rarely have to fear being attacked by other animals. Humans are their biggest threat.