Phumla Matjila: Americans worship money. At least, that's what American comedian Chris Rock says in his stand-up show Never Scared.

Rock says that Americans separate God from school, work and government "but on our money it says 'in God we trust'. All my life I've been looking for God and He's right in my pocket".

If, as Rock joked, the symbols and messages with which we decorate our currency reflect our adoration, then South Africans love animals.

Our banknotes have pictures of the Big Five: a rhino on the R10 note, an elephant on the R20, a lion on the R50, a buffalo on the R100 and a leopard on the R200.

These animals are as much a part of our wildlife as they are of our culture.

We name our children after them: Tau (lion) is a common forename, and surname, in Sesotho.

There are many people whose surname pays tribute to the mighty elephant: Tlou (Sesotho), Olifant (Afrikaans) and Ndlovu (Zulu).

It might not be appropriate, after the Tiger Woods infidelity saga, to egg your husband on with the words: "Go, tiger!" But there are families whose surname is Nkwe ("tiger" in Sepedi), whose pride, history and culture would not, and has not, been be tainted by the shenanigans of the world No1 golfer.

Animals, wild or tame, big or small, are such a huge part of our national identity.

At the mention of springboks, our minds conjure up images of our proud moments with Amabhokobhoko when they won the World Cup in 1995 and again in 2007 .

If rugby is not your thing - and you remember only things that leave you inebriated - your mind might wander to the Amarula creme and peppermint liqueur shooter that you served your grandmother at your tannie's third wedding.

Springbok might also remind you of the group of soccer fans you met at a fan park and convinced that they should go to your uncle's farm north of Pretoria to "view some game"- and their disappointment when they realised that the only game on the farm were two springboks, Skiet and Donder.

Our languages are rich with proverbs and idioms related to animals.

That's why, last month, when the spotlight was on rhino poaching because of a breakthrough in the case, for the first time many of us saw the killing for the crime it is.

When the 11 people, among them two veterinarians, were arrested on charges of rhino poaching, it highlighted not only a crime that is slowly decimating our biodiversity, but also the crime of robbing our next generation of its heritage.

Yesterday, when I read that the lion, the mighty lion, could be extinct within two decades, a chill went down my spine.

You know that feeling you get when you tell a bully who has been bothering you at school, "I'll tell the teacher!" - and he responds: "Tell her, I don't care."

The King of the Jungle is facing extinction! In 20 years we could wipe out Africa's lion population. How scary is that?

Quoting the director of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, Harriet Davies-Mostert, the Rapport newspaper said that the biggest threat to lions was that they are not tolerated outside protected areas.

"In particular, stock farmers and shepherds have cut lion numbers," Davies-Mostert was quoted as saying.

How do we strike the delicate balance between preserving our wild animals and protecting our livestock?

Davies-Mostert said that habitat loss and trophy hunting were also having a disastrous effect on lion populations.

These threats by humans to two of our most majestic and breathtaking species truly are chilling.

I shudder when I imagine that, one day, I would need the R50 note not just to buy a can of coke but to show my grandchildren what a lion looked like.

When sharing these African proverbs: "Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter"; or "The liver of a lion is a vain wish for the dog", I would have to reach into my pocket instead of booking a game drive to show them the King of the Jungle.