Naming South African frogs and reptiles in nine Indigenous languages

Identifying and naming every plant and animal in nature is a challenging endeavour. Zoologist, Dr Fortunate Phaka has taken on this task by leading the first in-depth study of how frogs and reptiles are named and classified across nine South African languages. 

The paper, titled “Naming South African frogs and reptiles in nine Indigenous languages” features in Volume 74, Issue 1 of African Journal of Herpetology and documents 136 frog species and 407 reptile species, all of which have been scientifically recognized. 

Dr Phaka emphasizes the significance of capturing the names people use in their native languages, underscoring the cultural and scientific value of this knowledge. Knowing local names can provide assurance that people from different cultural backgrounds are talking about the same species.

The project started as a pilot study in 2016, carried out in the Zululand area of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, where frog biodiversity is high and Indigenous cultural practices are still part of everyday life. Results of the pilot were published as a book in 2017 and as a scientific publication in 2019.

The authors document that on the whole conservation isn’t inclusive and that knowing indigenous names and the local perspective around the names is one method in starting to be aware of the multiple other perspectives. 

“Naming South African frogs and reptiles in nine Indigenous languages” documents the studies performed and methods of these as well as a variety of fascinating findings. The article is available to read as an Open Access article here. 

Photograph: Dr Fortunate Phaka, Giant Bullfrog, Pyxicephalus adspersus. (Not for reuse).