Bataleur egg

Title

Bataleur egg

Is Part Of

Ornithology See all items with this value

History See all items with this value

African Studies See all items with this value

Description

Situated in a locked bespoke cabinet in the Niven Library in UCT’s Percy Fitzgerald Institute of African Ornithology, this Bataleur eagle egg is part of a collection of eggs donated by the ornithologist Peter Steyn in 2007. Collected between 1961 and 1977, when Steyn spent time in Zimbabwe, the egg is a link to the iconic stone carved Zimbabwe Birds which once stood proudly on guard atop the walls and monoliths of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe, believed to be built between the 12th and 15th centuries by ancestors of the Shona. The overall shape of the birds suggests that of a bateleur eagle – a bird of great significance in Shona culture. The bateleur or chapungu is a good omen, the symbol of a protective spirit and a messenger of the gods.

Curriculum

Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air See all items with this value

Creator

Nina Liebenberg See all items with this value

Resonances

Peter Steyn See all items with this value

Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology See all items with this value

collection See all items with this value

Honours in Curatorship See all items with this value

object ecologies See all items with this value

Shona See all items with this value

monoliths See all items with this value

messenger See all items with this value

Hermes See all items with this value

wall See all items with this value

eagle See all items with this value

bataleur See all items with this value

carving See all items with this value

cabinet See all items with this value

locked See all items with this value

invisible See all items with this value

oology See all items with this value

Melissa Waters See all items with this value

notebook See all items with this value

Natalie Viruly See all items with this value

protection See all items with this value

medicine chest See all items with this value

Contributor

Nina Liebenberg

Item sets

Curricula

Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air

Site pages

Lesson plan example

The Medicine Chest

Item