What's Around

GIRAFFES

A truly unique species, giraffes are found only in sub-Saharan Africa and can reach unbelievable heights.

ELEPHANTS

Elephants are the largest existing land animals. African bush elephants and Asian elephants are listed as endangered and African forest elephants as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). One of the biggest threats to elephant populations is the ivory trade, as the animals are poached for their ivory tusks. Other threats to wild elephants include habitat destruction and conflicts with local people.

LIONS

The lion is a muscular, broad-chested cat with a short, rounded head, a reduced neck and round ears. Its fur varies in colour from light buff to silvery grey, yellowish red and dark brown. The colours of the underparts are generally lighter. A new-born lion has dark spots, which fade as the cub reaches adulthood, although faint spots often may still be seen on the legs and underparts.

HIPPOS

Hippopotamuses are large, semiaquatic mammals native to sub-Saharan Africa. Although their name comes from the Greek for “river horse”—because of the time they spend in the water—their closest living relatives are whales, dolphins, and pigs. They can’t swim, breathe underwater, or even float—but they have developed a tactic that lets them nap underwater.

Cheetahs

The cheetah is a large cat native to Africa and Southwest Asia. It is the fastest land animal, capable of running at 80 to 98 km/h, as such has evolved specialized adaptations for speed, including a light build, long thin legs and a long tail.

Zebras

Zebras are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra, plains zebra, and the mountain zebra. Zebras share the genus Equus with horses and asses, the three groups being the only living members of the family Equidae.

African Buffalos

The African buffalo is a large sub-Saharan African bovine. There are five subspecies that are recognized as being valid. Syncerus caffer caffer, the Cape buffalo, is the nominotypical subspecies, and the largest one, found in Southern and East Africa.

Antelopes

The Savanna grassland and rainforests of Africa continent is home to the largest species of antelopes,deer and wild goat. The most elegant antelope species in the Africa includes Eland ,Kudu, Nyala, Sable and Scimitar oryx, Grant’s gazelle, Lechwe, Gerenuk, Topi, Hartebeest, Bontebok and Bongo antelope

Hyenas

Hyenas, or hyaenas, are feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the family Hyaenidae. With just four extant species, it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the class Mammalia. Despite their low diversity, hyenas are unique and vital components of most African ecosystems.

Wart Hogs

The common warthog is a wild member of the pig family found in grassland, savanna, and woodland in sub-Saharan Africa. In the past, it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P. aethiopicus, but today that scientific name is restricted to the desert warthog of northern Kenya, Somalia, and eastern Ethiopia.

Monkeys

The two species of black and white colobus monkeys are found in Kenya, those that inhabit coastal forests and those in inland high-country areas. Red colobus monkeys are also found in East Africa, but are endangered and quite rare. Two other types of colobus monkeys in Africa are the black and the olive.

Baboons

Baboons are primates comprising the genus Papio, one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys, in the family Cercopithecidae. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma baboon.

Ostriches

Ostriches are large flightless birds. They are the heaviest living birds, and lay the largest eggs of any living land animal. With the ability to run at 70 km/h, they are the fastest birds on land. They are farmed worldwide, with significant industries in the Philippines and Namibia.

Rhinos

A rhinoceros, commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of the extant species are native to Africa, and three to South and Southeast Asia.