Karoo thrush by its longer, entirely yellow bill, its longer wings, and its greyer flanks. It occurs in South Africa, where it is present in Little Namaqualand, the Karoo and Northern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and parts of the North West Province. Karoo thrush The Karoo thrush ("Turdus smithi") also known as Smith′s thrush, is a member of the thrush family in Africa. It has traditionally been considered a subspecies of the olive thrush (with which it is known to hybridize), but is increasingly treated as a separate species. This medium-sized bird has a length of about 24 cm. It
Karoo plain with Mississippi-like rivers depositing mud from an immense range of mountains to the south. Ancient reptiles and amphibians prospered in the wet forests, and their remains have made the Karoo famous amongst palaeontologists. The first of these Karoo fossils was discovered in 1838 by Scots-born Andrew Geddes Bain at a road cutting near Fort Beaufort. He sent his specimens to the British Museum, where fellow Scotsman Robert Broom recognised the Karoo fossils' mammal-like characteristics in 1897. After the Beaufort period, Southern Africa (still part of Gondwana) became an arid sand desert with only ephemeral rivers and pans. These sands