Botswana’s National Animals

Botswana’s National Animals

Botswana’s national animal is the zebra (pitse e tilodi), while her national bird is the kori bustard (kgori).

National Animal: Zebra [Pitse (e Tilodi)]

The Equus quagga, as taxonomists call it, has an interesting place in the modern history of Batswana. Although it had its original Setswana name “stolen” by the horse (Equus caballus) after their first arrival with immigrant humans several hundred years ago, it has been able to make a comeback to become Botswana’s National Animal. And not only is it our national animal, but it is also the name of the national soccer team, The Zebras, which extends to the woman’s national team, The Mares, and the junior sides were collectively known as the Diamond Zebras. The zebra has also found itself a comfortable place, not once but twice, on our Coat of Arms, and its colours (black and white) form two of the three colours of our national flag.

The zebra is a feral, striped horse-like animal that often lives and travels in very large groups, numbering in hundreds or even thousands. Zebra herds have a particular affinity for wildebeest herds, who have established themselves as reliable travel companions, as the two animals enjoy a good complementary symbiotic relationship. Known for their yappy high-pitched barking, zebras which sometimes bray like donkeys, are not as gentle as one may think from first sight. In fact, they can be ruthless aggressors, known to kill predator’s who attack them, and even their own kind and their erstwhile wildebeest companions, and have yet to be domesticated and trained by humans.

Before the arrival of Europeans in Southern Africa in the mid 17th century, there were no horses here, and the word pitse meant zebra. Just plain, unadjectived or qualified pitse. But with the arrival of these new zebra-like domestic animals (together with donkeys), and their familiarity with humans, they soon became known as pitse as well. This turned “pitse” into a more generic term like equine, rather than specifically referring to one animal. The horse was at this time probably called something qualified like “pitse ya selegae” (domestic equine). This would lead to the need to add adjectives to the name of the other equine (the zebra), which would now become feral equine (pitse ya naga) or striped equine (pitse e tilodi). The latter has been more commonly accepted as feral equine (pitse ya naga) could also simply mean a wild horse. Eventually the “domestic” was dropped, and horse was now just known as pitse (without the adjective “ya naga”).

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of how the horse stole the zebra’s Setswana name. But this was not without a decent fight, as we still sometimes come across the use of the pitse to mean zebra which often results in confusion, like with the seane (proverb) “Re tla re re re ke dipitse re bo re di bonye mebala” [We will believe they are zebras only after having seen their colour patterns] – not horses. Zebras.

National Bird: Kori Bustard [Kgori]

 

The Ardeotis kori, as taxonomists call it, is the largest (heaviest) bird that is capable of flight. It gets its Scientific species
name its Setswana name kgori. The English name, on the other hand, tends to create discomfort with polite children who cringe each time they hear bustard, thinking the speaker is saying bastardWell I can tell you “bustard” is actually a good thing – almost the polar opposite of the shameful “bastard”, it gets its origins from majestically slow and deliberate.
Following the successful hosting of the Youth Netball World Cup in 2017, Botswana went on to host the AUSC Region 5 Youth Games in Gaborone in 2018. It was here that we first saw a kgori being used as a mascot, and the mascot was simply named Kgori. Kgori the kori.

In old traditions, the kori is associated with royalty, and has a rather grandiloquent seane (proverb) that goes “Bana ba kgori monokana o seng tshika e ya baneng e a kgaogana”.

Click these links to read more about national plants and national symbols.

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