Nesting ecology and parental care of the Sabota Lark (Calendulauda sabota) in a savanna landscape in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
pp. 272 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Derek Engelbrecht ◽  
Mmatjie L. Mashao
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Nesting Ecology

scholarly journals DAMAGES FOR DEPRIVATION OF PARENTAL CARE: INITIATING A GROUNDBREAKING NEW REMEDY FOR CHILDREN M v Minister of Police 2013 (5) SA 622 (GNP)

Obiter ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Parker ◽  
F Noel Zaal
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
South African ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
The Law

In South Africa, as in many other jurisdictions, it is well established that where a parent is unlawfully and culpably killed by a third party any surviving children may claim for loss of support. Detailed rules on damages available in terms of the common law loss of support action have developed over a long period of time. However, the action has generally remained subject to a major limitation. The loss which can be claimed for must be pecuniary or material. This is in accordance with the principle that only patrimonial damages may be awarded in terms of the loss of support action. Thus, damages which can be claimed by children unlawfully deprived of a parent are restricted to compensation for loss of future maintenance they will no longer receive. In reality, the harm and deprivation children experience after death of a parent tend to be much more than what has been recognized as suitable for compensation by means of patrimonial damages. Particularly where there was a close relationship, bereavement may cause long-term emotional harm. The child may also lose out on important life-skills training and guidance that the parent would foreseeably have provided for many years until the child reached maturity. Without such guidance, the child may never achieve his or her full potential. So the child may be significantly disadvantaged even beyond maturity. Unfortunately, in the face of centuries of entrenchment of the law, our courts have been unable to extend the loss of support action to fully cover all aspects of a deprivation of nurturing. They have thus not been able to address some of the most severe dimensions of harm typically suffered when children are wrongfully deprived of parents. South Africa has not been alone in this. Such claims are blocked by the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 in England, where damages can only be claimed for pecuniary loss. Although this was criticized by the Court in, for example, Hay & Anor v Hughes, there appears currently to be no attempt to amend the Act. Similar legislation in Australian states and territories also does not make provision for claims by children for non-pecuniary damages. This is with the exception of the Northern Territory of Australia where the Compensation (Fatal Injuries) Act allows a child to claim damages for loss of care and guidance of a parent wrongfully killed. Fortunately, in the democratic era South Africa has benefited from an infusion of modern, children’s rights-based legislation. Some of the new statutory provisions allow for a reconceptualization of the law governing parent-child relationships. Of foundational importance is the declaration that “every child has the right − … to family care or parental care …” in section 28(1)(b) of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1996. As will be further discussed below, the actual content of parental care has been to some extent clarified in section 15 of the Children's Act 38 of 2005 (the Act). The references to parental care in modern South African legislation provide scope for judges to develop the detail of the law in accordance with a children’s-rights approach. In M v Minister of Police (M) Mohle J grasped an excellent opportunity to do so and opened the way for future compensation of children for non-material aspects of parental loss. He did this with creative and ground-breaking interpretations of section 28(1)(b) of the Constitution and section 15 of the Act.  In our discussion we provide an analysis and appreciation of the judgment. We show that, whilst M is important for its initiation of a new remedy from which many children can benefit in the future, it is in some respects less than perfectly clear, and therefore leaves important aspects for further development. We consider the implications of the judgment and how South African law needs to be further evolved if children unlawfully deprived of their parents are to be fully compensated for resulting harm.

Effects of female pairing status and timing of breeding on nesting productivity in western meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta)

1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (12) ◽  
pp. 3093-3101 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. Dickinson ◽  
J. B. Falls ◽  
J. Kopachena
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Brood Reduction ◽  
Timing Of Breeding ◽  
Middle Portion ◽  
Initial Attempt ◽  
Nesting Ecology ◽  
Aggressive Interactions ◽  
Asynchronous Hatching ◽  
Sturnella Neglecta

The nesting ecology of western meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) in southern Manitoba is strongly influenced by the timing of breeding. Physical characteristics of nests change, apparently in response to seasonally altered thermal demands. The largest eggs and the largest clutches are produced in the middle portion of the breeding season, and nests initiated at that time produce the greatest number of young. Nevertheless, nesting productivity is highest for females that begin nesting earlier in the season and that can therefore renest if their initial attempt fails. Females breeding with already-mated males have, on average, as high a reproductive success as do primary females. Nevertheless, nestlings of secondary females frequently starve if they do not receive a male's parental care. Asynchronous hatching and facultative brood reduction may decrease the total losses incurred through nestling starvation, and may be adaptations that allow successful polygyny in this species. Aggressive interactions between resident and unmated females may protect a primary female's "preferred" status and may affect a male's ability to breed bigamously.

scholarly journals Yellow-throated Honeyeater Nesoptilotis flavicollis parental care, foraging ecology and social behaviour compared with the White-eared Honeyeater N. leucotis

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 157-163
Author(s):  
Richard Donaghey ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Foraging Ecology ◽  
Sister Species ◽  
Nesting Ecology ◽  
Male And Female

The Yellow-throated Honeyeater Nesoptilotis flavicollis (Meliphagidae) is endemic to Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands. A watch at a nest attended by a colour-banded male and his mate revealed that the three nestlings were fed at a mean rate of 18.3 meals per hour 2 days before fledging. The female delivered more than half the meals and the male contributed at least 34% of them. Thus, this study showed that both the male and female of a pair fed the nestlings, contrary to previous reports that only the female feeds nestlings. Both male and female fed the fledglings. The foraging ecology, social behaviour and nesting ecology of the Yellow-throated Honeyeater and its sister species, the White-eared Honeyeater N. leucotis, are compared.

scholarly journals Flood Tides Affect Breeding Ecology of Two Sympatric Sharp-Tailed Sparrows

The Auk ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 552-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Gregory Shriver ◽  
Peter D. Vickery ◽  
Thomas P. Hodgman ◽  
James P. Gibbs
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Lunar Cycle ◽  
Freshwater Wetlands ◽  
Tidal Wetlands ◽  
Breeding Ecology ◽  
Nesting Ecology ◽  
Breeding Synchrony ◽  
Coastal Salt Marshes ◽  
Young Breeding

AbstractBreeding synchrony with the lunar cycle has been reported for many marine organisms but is essentially unknown for birds. Most organisms shown to breed synchronously with the lunar cycle provide no parental care to young, and such explosive breeding assemblages are usually promiscuous. Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows (Ammodramus caudacutus caudacutus) nest exclusively on salt marshes and are subjected to predictable, catastrophic flooding caused during flood tides every 28 days. Here, we show that Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow males were nonterritorial and promiscuous and provided no parental care to young. Breeding behaviors of both sexes were synchronized with the lunar cycle. By contrast, males of a sympatric sister species, Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow (A. nelsoni subvirgatus), consistently mate-guarded females, and breeding was not synchronized with the lunar cycle, yielding 21% lower reproductive success compared with Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows. Saltmarsh and Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrows renested 2.9 ± 0.6 (SE) days and 10.3 ± 1.7 days after nest flooding, respectively. Patterns of vicariance between Nelson's and Saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrows may explain the differences in social behavior and nesting ecology. Ancestral sharp-tailed sparrows diverged from Seaside Sparrows (A. maritimus) in tidal wetlands, and Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows then diverged from Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows in nontidal freshwater wetlands of interior North America. Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows' range recently expanded into coastal salt marshes, where Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows are better adapted to tidally influenced inundations. Adaptation to tidal flooding partially explains the evolution of the unique Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow mating system.Las Inundaciones Mareales Afectan la Ecología Reproductiva de Dos Especies Simpátricas de Ammodramus

Time and Latitude in South Africa

1972 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
J. Hers
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Astronomical Observations ◽  
Royal Observatory ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Astronomical Determination ◽  
Limited Accuracy ◽  
Better Than

In South Africa the modern outlook towards time may be said to have started in 1948. Both the two major observatories, The Royal Observatory in Cape Town and the Union Observatory (now known as the Republic Observatory) in Johannesburg had, of course, been involved in the astronomical determination of time almost from their inception, and the Johannesburg Observatory has been responsible for the official time of South Africa since 1908. However the pendulum clocks then in use could not be relied on to provide an accuracy better than about 1/10 second, which was of the same order as that of the astronomical observations. It is doubtful if much use was made of even this limited accuracy outside the two observatories, and although there may – occasionally have been a demand for more accurate time, it was certainly not voiced.

Combining Professional Interests and Travel: People to People Citizen Ambassador Program

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-54
Author(s):  
Alex Johnson ◽  
Amanda Hitchins
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Exchange Program

Abstract This article summarizes a series of trips sponsored by People to People, a professional exchange program. The trips described in this report were led by the first author of this article and include trips to South Africa, Russia, Vietnam and Cambodia, and Israel. Each of these trips included delegations of 25 to 50 speech-language pathologists and audiologists who participated in professional visits to learn of the health, education, and social conditions in each country. Additionally, opportunities to meet with communication disorders professionals, students, and persons with speech, language, or hearing disabilities were included. People to People, partnered with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), provides a meaningful and interesting way to learn and travel with colleagues.

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