Samoan Flying Fox - Deutsch-Samoa

Tensions between Germany, Great Britain, and the United States culminated into the Second Samoa Civil War; 1898 to 1899. The resulting Samoa Tripartite Agreement granted Germany all islands west of 171 degrees longitude. Germany retained control of Samoa for only 14 years, but managed to develop a successful colony. 

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Pteropus samoensis - Referred to as fruit bats or flying foxes, there are about 60 living species in the Pteropus genus, all living in the tropical regions of Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Eastern Africa and a few Pacific islands. The Samoan flying fox, known as pe’a vao in Samoan, bears one young each year after a gestation period ranging between 140 to 192 days. The mother carries her infant tucked safely beneath a wing until the developed juvenile can fly; about 3 months. Juveniles are weaned when 4 to 6 months old.

Yellow Baboon - Deutsch-Ostafrika

Located in the African Great Lakes Region, German East Africa, covered present day Burundi, mainland Tanzania, and Uganda. Corruption and scandal plagued the colony for the first few years, but when a new governor was installed in 1907, the colony became a model of economic and administrative efficiency.

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Papio cynocephalus - Each of the five species of baboons found in Africa have their distinctive home range; the yellow baboon inhabits the southern section spanning across Central Africa. The yellow baboon begins the day with a brief period of grooming activities before casually foraging their neighborhood for food. By mid-afternoon, they begin the return journey to their sleeping grove. They, like all baboons, spend the night in trees to avoid predators ranging from lions to pythons and surprisingly, a list including chimpanzees.

Günther's Black Snake - Kamerun

Germany established Kamerun in 1884; the colony was much larger than present day Cameroon. The first trading settlement was located at Douala, then a small village on the estuary of the Wouri River. Germany retained control of the colony until 1916, when it was invaded by France and Great Britain during World War I.

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Bothrolycus ater - Günther's black snake is part of the largest family of snakes, the Colubridea family. The black snake can be found in Western Africa extending from Cameroon to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With most snakes, the females are usually larger than males, but the black snake is one of the few with another notable feature of sexual dimorphism; the females have 19 dorsal scale rows, the males have 17. Snakes have dorsal, ventral, anal, and sub-caudal scales. These scales can be keeled or smooth.

Oribi - Deutsch-Südwestafrika

German-Southwest Africa began as a commercial enterprise in 1882. Adolf Lüderitz, a tobacco merchant from Bremen, gave Chief Josef Frederiks II 200 rifles and 100£ in gold for the rights to a small strip of land fronting the Atlantic coast. Germany, fearing British encroachment, made the colony an imperial entity in 1884.

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Ourebia ourebi - The Oribi breeding season usually occurs during the rainy season, August to September. Depending on geographical location, oribis practice all three forms of partnership selections: polyandry, polygyny, and polygynandry. Polyandry is rare in the animal kingdom and describes a female seeking out more than one male partner. Polygyny describes a single male holding and defending multiple females for his exclusive mating rights. Polygynandry has both male and female mating with different partners.

Jacobin Cuckoo - Schutzgebiet Togo

With the signing of an agreement between Germany and King Mlapa III in 1884, Germany gained and rapidly extended its control over Togo. An intensive infrastructure was built consisting of over 1,200 kilometers of rail and an efficient port facility at Lomé to deliver the colony’s cocoa, coffee, and cotton to world markets.

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Clamator jacobinus - Jacobin cuckoos are year round residents in Central Africa and Southern India while those in Northern India winter in dry and open woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa. It is mostly arboreal, hopping or fluttering between trees and shrubs searching for hairy caterpillars, its preferred food. The body length is 34 centimeters and it weighs 66 to 72 grams; the permanent flocks of Africa are heavier than those residing in India. Like the common cuckoo, the Jacobin is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds.

Sugar Glider - Deutsch-Neuguinea

German merchant associations from the Hanseatic League were the first to gain a foothold in the Pacific region in the establishment of two German colonies; New Guinea and Samoa. By 1910 the New Guinea colony had been expanded to include all or part of Nauru, Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall and Solomon Islands.

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Petaurus breviceps - Sugar gliders are marsupials, animals giving birth to under-developed young requiring additional time for growth in the mother’s pouch. The sugar glider is a nocturnal and arboreal animal able to glide distances of 50 meters by extending its gliding membrane. Gliding between trees reduces danger and the amount of energy needed for climbing up and down a tree. The eyes are large enough to allow the animal to see in the dark and set far apart to assist in calculating the launching and landing of each glide.