The African continent ranks second in the world in terms of area and population. Due to the variable climate, Africa has a diverse range of plant and animal species: large predators roam the vast savannas among peacefully grazing herds of herbivores. Monkeys and snakes reign in the dark, dense forests. Africa is home to some of the most interesting animals in the world.
Vegetable world
Equatorial Africa retains the world's largest areas of endangered tropical forest.
Some plants are endangered, including the baobab. These trees are probably the oldest inhabitants of the continent, with some estimated to be over 3,000 years old. Baobab tree trunks are used to store water, and the bark and leaves are used for medicinal purposes.
Ebony or ebony is also endangered. It has heavy wood, which is highly valued among indigenous peoples and in the international market.
Acacia is the symbol tree of Africa. These trees are adapted to hot and dry climates and grow across most of the black continent. Often acacia leaves are the only greenery that animals can get. To protect itself from starving people, the tree grew thorns, and now only giraffes can feast on acacia leaves.
Many types of aloe grow in Africa, including aloe vera. These are succulent plants with sweet nectar that attracts many birds. Aloe juice is widely used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes.
Animal world
Africa boasts more than 1,100 species of mammals, including herd animals such as wildebeest, buffalo and antelope, as well as zebras, giraffes and elephants. Rodents are represented by squirrels and rats of various species, there are also rabbits and hares. There are more than 60 species of carnivores on the continent: lions, cheetahs, hyenas, leopards and others. Africa is also home to four species of great apes, including western and eastern gorillas, chimpanzees, pygmy chimpanzees, and many other primate species.
Thanks to Africa's varied climate, there are many species of reptiles and amphibians. There are chameleons, cobras, vipers, pythons, geckos, and rare species of frogs. Large turtles and crocodiles also inhabit the dark continent.
Many representatives of the savanna fauna are listed in the Red Book. Among them are cheetahs and African lions. They are threatened by habitat loss and climate change.
The black rhinoceros is a huge animal weighing one and a half tons and has three horns. Unfortunately, the horns have medicinal properties, which has led to a decrease in the number of rhinoceroses. African elephants and rare zebras may also become extinct due to habitat loss. Poachers do not stop their hunt for valuable tusks, horns and skins.
Africa is an amazing continent; perhaps this is where the first life originated. There are still many unexplored areas and areas that are difficult for scientists to reach. This means that Africa will surprise us with new discoveries more than once again.
Video: Nature of Africa. Nature conservation, environmental problems.
Africa is a continent occupying a fifth of the Earth's landmass. About 100 species of various animals and 1,500 species of birds live here, vegetable world The continent is also quite diverse.
In different climatic zones you can find original and different plants from Africa. In drier regions, green “stone” inhabitants live, which in appearance resemble a bizarre boulder. Also, their leaves grow here and reach a height of more than three meters. The tropics are inhabited by bamboo, vines, ferns and other trees.
Surely, the most original green resident of this continent can be considered breadfruit. Many people think that the plant got its name because bread grows on it. But this is far from true. The fact is that the fruits of the tree are very similar in taste to this rich product.
Another plant native to the continent is mango tree. Its sweet, juicy fruits have become a favorite food of many peoples. And the most popular dish of the indigenous people is fried mango with potatoes.
Bamboo also grows in Africa. It is found quite often on the mainland, and often the trees can reach the height of a nine-story building.
Baobab. Not all African plants are long-lived, which cannot be said about the baobab. There is a plant on the continent that is about 5,000 years old. It is 22 meters high, the trunk circumference is 47 meters, the crown circumference is 145 meters.
Bananas. Another tasty dish that came from Africa and is known throughout the world. In Guinea you can see fruits reaching 60 centimeters in length.
Kalanchoe Degremona. Thanks to its unusual structure, Kalanchoe is unlike all other African plants. Its peculiarity is that each leaf contains many embryos with their own root system, allowing them to exist separately. And Kalanchoe juice is considered a healing agent.
Palm trees. When describing plants in Africa, one cannot fail to mention palm trees. These trees have a cork structure, due to which, when bending in a strong wind, they are able to touch the ground with their tops. But the main thing that attracts people to this plant is its tasty, aromatic fruit, called coconut.
Plants are both diverse and unique. Let's look at some representatives of the animal world.
Cobra. This snake can reach a length of 1.5 meters, it has a solid amber-yellow coloration with a transverse brown stripe located on the neck. It lives mainly in the territory and is one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.
In the eastern regions of the continent you can find crocodiles. Reptiles are enormous in size, and some representatives can reach a height of more than 6 meters and weigh a ton.
Another animal that lives in water is hippopotamus. The indigenous population calls him the lord of the reservoirs . You can meet the hippopotamus in the western, southern and eastern parts of the mainland, as well as on the banks of the Nile River. The animal feeds mainly on plants, but it also poses a considerable danger to humans.
Elephant. It is considered the heaviest and largest land mammal on earth. With the help of their long trunk, these unique animals are able to pinch grass, pluck leaves from trees and smell. Now these animals live mainly in protected national parks and reserves.
A lion. Since ancient times, this predatory animal has been called. These animals hunt both day and night, in packs and alone. Today there are about 23 thousand individuals, most of which live in national parks. However, few packs of lions can be found in western Africa.
Amazing and rich in variety animal world in Africa but, unfortunately, their numbers are catastrophically decreasing. The reasons include harsh climate, habitat loss and ruthless poaching in pursuit of profit. Therefore, many protected and environmental zones are being created on the African continent.
Aardvark
In its homeland, this mammal is called the ground pig, as colonists from Holland called it. And translated from Greek, its name means burrowing limbs.
Animal world Africa never ceases to amaze with its pets, the appearance of the animal is quite interesting, its body looks like a young pig, it has rabbit ears, and its tail is borrowed from a kangaroo.
An interesting fact is that the aardvark has only twenty molars; they are hollow and tube-shaped, growing throughout life. The animal’s body length is almost one and a half meters, and it weighs on average sixty to seventy kilograms. The skin is earth-colored, thick and rough, with sparse bristles.
The muzzle and tail of aardvarks are lighter in color; in females, the tip of the tail is completely white. Apparently nature colored them in such a way that babies would not lose sight of their mother at night.
The muzzle is elongated, elongated like a pipe with a long sticky tongue. Aardvarks look for anthills with termites, destroy them and eat the ants they come across. In one go, an aardvark can eat about fifty thousand insects.
Since they are nocturnal animals, their vision is poor, and besides, they are also color blind. But the sense of smell is highly developed, and there are many vibrissae near the patch. Their claws, ossified like hooves, are long and strong, which is why aardvarks are considered the best diggers.
The aardvark got its name from the shape of its teeth, which resemble tubes.
Cobra
The Portuguese call it the hooded snake. This is a very poisonous snake belonging to the family. By nature, the cobra is not aggressive unless provoked.
And in case of danger, she will not instantly attack her victim, but will first perform a special ritual with hissing and inflating her hood. These snakes inhabit the southern parts of the African continent, hiding in crevices, tree hollows and animal burrows.
Snake hunters say that if a cobra attacks a person, it will not always inject venom into the bite site. This is explained by the fact that the cobra leaves the toxin for hunting to soak in.
Her menu includes snakes and small monitor lizards, for which she is called the snake eater. While laying eggs, the cobra eats nothing at all for three months, vigilantly guarding its offspring.
By inflating its hood, the cobra warns of an attack
Gyurza
It is also the Levant viper, one of the large and highly toxic species of snakes. It has a one and a half meter well-fed body, and a large triangular head.
In the spring, having awakened from hibernation, first the males, later the females, they awaken a brutal appetite. Then the snake, either hiding on the ground or climbing a tree, looks out for its prey.
As soon as the unfortunate animal approaches, the viper immediately attacks, grabs it with its teeth and does not let go of the already half-dead body until the poison has done its job. Then, having swallowed the prey, she again goes hunting.
When a snake feels that it is in danger, it will violently hiss and jump at the offender until it bites him. The length of her jump matches the length of her body.
Python
Pythons are not poisonous, they are relatives of anacondas and boa constrictors. They are one of the largest snakes in the whole world, and in nature there are about forty species. There is the most big python on earth, its length reaches ten meters and one hundred kilograms of weight. And the smallest one is no more than one meter in length.
Pythons have one feature that other reptiles do not have. They know how to regulate their body temperature themselves, and in case of hypothermia, warm themselves by playing with the muscles of the body, either contracting or relaxing them.
Mostly pythons have spotted colors, few of them are solid in color. Young pythons have striped bodies, but as they mature, the stripes will gradually turn into spots.
When hunting, having caught a victim, the python does not bite it with its large teeth, but wraps it in rings and strangles it. Then the python drags the already lifeless body into a wide open mouth and begins to swallow. The largest prey it can eat weighs no more than forty kilograms.
Green mamba snake
Blending flawlessly with the foliage, the green mamba preys on birds and has a strong poison. The snake lives in trees, has an excellent sense of smell, and even more excellent vision thanks to its large eyes.
The photo shows a green mamba
Gaboon viper
A large, heavy snake with the largest teeth reaching 8 cm. Thanks to its color, it is easily camouflaged among the leaves, patiently waiting for prey. The bite of the Gaboon viper is the most painful in the world.
Gazelle
A beautiful and graceful artiodactyl with long legs and neck. A distinctive feature of the gazelle is some kind of glasses, two white stripes that run from the horns to the nose through both eyes. These animals go out to pasture in the morning and evening hours. At lunchtime they rest peacefully, somewhere hiding from the scorching sun.
Gazelles live territorially; the male will protect his territory and the female and her children from rivals. Male gazelles only show off their strength; they very rarely get into fights.
Antelope
An interesting-looking artiodactyl. After all, there are many subspecies of them. There are some antelopes that are slightly larger than a rabbit. And there are also huge ones - elands, their parameters are not inferior to an adult bull.
Some antelopes live in the arid desert, others live among bushes and trees. Antelopes have their own peculiarity, these are their horns, they come in a wide variety of shapes and grow throughout their lives.
The bongo antelope is distinguished by its bright red coloration with white vertical stripes. Lives in forest thickets
Their appearance bears some resemblance to a cow and a deer. Female bongos live in families with their offspring. And their adult males live in splendid isolation until the start of the rut. During drought, animals rise to the mountains, and with the advent of the rainy season, they descend to the plains.
Bongo antelope
Zebra
Zebras are divided into several subspecies: savanna, lowland, mountain, desert and burchellidae. Zebras live in herds, in which there are up to twenty females with cubs. The father of the family is a male who has reached the age of five, strong and courageous.
Zebras cannot do without water; it is vital for them. Therefore, the female always leads to the watering hole, followed by young animals of different ages. And the leader of the pack will always be the prisoner, covering the rear and protecting the family from ill-wishers.
Zebras breed all year round, after calving, the next time the female will bring a stallion in two to three years. Their pregnancy lasts a whole year, and a newborn baby can jump within an hour after birth.
Giraffe
He is the highest land animal, because his height from hooves to forehead is about six meters. Of which, two and a half meters is the height of the torso, everything else is the neck. An adult male giraffe weighs almost a ton - 850 kilograms, females are smaller, about half a ton.
On their heads there is a pair of small horns covered with fur. There are individuals that have two pairs of horns and a ossified bump on the forehead. Interesting fact, the giraffe has a half-meter tongue gray. He is very muscular and, when necessary, completely falls out of his mouth in order to reach a leaf or twig.
The giraffe is spotted in color, with dark spots randomly scattered throughout the white fur. Moreover, their spots are individual, each has its own, separate pattern.
Despite their kilograms and thin legs, giraffes can outrun even horses when running. After all, they maximum speed develops more than 50 kilometers per hour.
Buffalo
Black buffalo, one of the species of bulls that densely inhabit the African continent. The average weight of this animal is seven hundred kilograms, but there are specimens that weigh more than a ton.
These bulls are black in color, their wool is thin and hard, and dark skin is visible through it. Buffaloes have their own distinctive feature - the fused base of the horns on their heads.
Moreover, in young bulls the horns grow separately from each other, but over the years the bone tissue on them grows so much that it completely covers the entire frontal part of the head. And this ossification is so strong that even a bullet cannot penetrate it.
And the horns themselves too unusual shape, from the middle of the head they diverge widely to the sides, then bend slightly in a semi-arc towards the bottom, towards the ends they rise up again.
If you look at them from the side, their shape is very similar to tower crane hooks. Buffaloes are very sociable, they have created a whole system of communication with each other, while they moo, growl, twist their heads, ears and tail.
Black rhinoceros
The animal is of enormous size, its weight reaches two tons, this is with a body length of three meters. Unfortunately, in two thousand and thirteen, one of the species of black rhinoceroses received the status of an extinct species.
The rhinoceros is called black not because it is black, but because it is dirty. All the time he has free from eating and sleeping, he rolls out in the dirt. Along the rhinoceros's muzzle, from the very tip of the nose, there are horns; there can be two, or maybe five of them.
The largest is the one located on the nose, because its length reaches half a meter. But there are also individuals whose largest horn grows more than a meter in length. They live their whole life only in one territory chosen by them, and nothing will force the animal to leave its home.
They are vegetarians, and their diet consists of twigs, bushes, leaves and grass. He goes out for meals in the morning and evening hours, and spends lunch standing under some leaning tree, meditating in the shade.
Also, the daily routine of the black rhinoceros includes a daily walk to a watering hole, and it can cover distances of up to ten kilometers to the life-giving moisture. And there, having drunk enough, the rhinoceros will wallow in the mud for a long time, protecting its skin from the scorching sun and nasty insects.
A female rhinoceros stays pregnant for a year and three months, then breastfeeds her baby for another two years. But by the second year of life, the “baby” grows up to be such impressive size that he has to kneel to get to his mother's breast. In case of danger, rhinoceroses can reach speeds of more than forty kilometers per hour.
White rhinoceros
They live in the northern and southern parts of African lands. After the elephant, the white rhinoceros is the second largest land animal, because with its four-ton weight, its body length is four meters. The color of the animal does not quite correspond to its name, because it is far from white, but dirty gray.
The white rhinoceros differs from the black one in the structure of the upper lip. U white rhinoceros it is wider and flatter in shape. There is also a difference in the way of life, since white rhinoceroses live in small herds of up to 10 heads, black rhinoceroses live in solitary individuals. The lifespan of these huge mammals is 50-55 years.
Pygmy hippopotamus
These cute little animals are Westerners. African jungle. They differ from their direct relatives, ordinary hippopotamuses, in their smaller size and more rounded shape, in particular the shape of the head.
Pygmy hippos grow up to two hundred kilograms, with a body length of one and a half meters. These animals are very careful, so it is almost impossible to meet them by chance.
Because they live in dense thickets or impassable swamps. Hippos spend less time in water than on land, but their skin has such a structure that it requires constant hydration.
Therefore, during the daytime sunshine, dwarfs take baths. And when night falls, they go into the nearest forest thickets for provisions. They live alone, and only during the mating period do their paths intersect.
Pygmy hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
These huge artiodactyls weigh up to three and a half tons, with a height of one and a half meters. He has a very well-fed body, a huge head and muzzle. Although the hippopotamus eats only plant foods, it has such teeth that in a fight it can easily bite the largest alligator in two.
His lower teeth, or rather fangs, do not stop growing throughout his life. And already in the old age of the animal they reach half a meter in length.
Wild animals of Africa The hippopotamus is considered not only big and strong, but also an intelligent and savvy animal. After all, if one of their predators gets into the head of attacking him on land, the hippopotamus will not even fight, but will simply drag the attacker into the water and drown him.
Elephant
Of all land animals, elephants are considered the largest. They grow up to four meters in height, and their body weight is on average 5-6 tons, but there are also larger individuals.
Elephants have rough gray skin, a large head, ears and trunk, a massive huge body, huge legs and a small tail. They have practically no fur, but the cubs are born covered with coarse fur.
Elephant ears are so big that you can fan yourself with them. hot weather like a fan. And the trunk is generally a universal organ: with its help they breathe, smell, and eat.
In hot weather, they douse themselves with water to protect themselves from enemies. Elephants also have unusual tusks; they grow throughout their lives and reach large sizes. Elephants live up to seventy years.
Cheetah
Graceful, fragile and muscular carnivorous mammal. He is the only member of the cat family who can reach speeds of up to one hundred kilometers per hour in a matter of minutes, while making leaps of seven meters in length.
Adult cheetahs weigh no more than sixty kg. They are dark sandy, even slightly reddish in color with dark spots all over the body. They have a small head and equally small ears with rounded ends. The body is one and a half meters long, the tail is eighty centimeters long.
Cheetahs feed only on fresh meat, while hunting, they will never attack the victim from the back. Cheetahs, no matter how hungry they are, will never feed on the carcasses of killed and decomposed animals.
Leopard
Recognizable by everyone predatory cat, characterized by a spotted color that is identical to human fingerprints, is not repeated in any animal. Leopards run fast, jump high, and climb trees well. This is inherent in their natural hunting instincts. Predators feed variedly; their diet includes about 30 species of various animals.
Leopards are light red with black polka dots. They have very beautiful fur, poachers, in pursuit of it and a lot of money, callously kill the unfortunate animals. Today, leopards are on the pages of the Red Book.
African lion
Beautiful predatory animals that live in families (prides), which consist of large groups.
An adult male can weigh up to two hundred and fifty kilograms, and can easily overwhelm a bull even several times larger than himself. A distinctive feature of males is the mane. The older you get, the denser and thicker it is.
Lions don't hunt in large flocks, most often females go hunting. When catching prey, they act harmoniously as a team.
Jackal
The jackal family consists of three subspecies - black-backed, striped and European-African. All of them live in African territories. Jackals live in large families and even entire groups, feeding on carrion and more.
Due to their numbers, they attack animals, surrounding their prey en masse, then kill and eat the whole family. Jackals also enjoy eating vegetable and fruit food.
What is noteworthy is that if jackals form a pair, they do so for life. The male, along with the female, raises his offspring, arranges a hole and takes care of the children’s food.
Hyena
These animals live throughout the African continent. Hyenas grow up to a meter long and weigh fifty kilograms, like a large shepherd dog. They come in brown, striped and spotted colors. Their fur is short, and from the head to the middle of the spine the pile is longer and sticks out.
Hyenas are territorial animals, so they mark all their possessions and adjacent territories with secretions from their glands. They live in large groups, with the female at the head.
During a hunt, hyenas can literally beat their prey half to death, chasing it for hours. Hyenas are able to eat very quickly, eating hooves and fur in the process.
Monkey
In nature, there are 25 species of monkeys, they are of different sizes, colors, and behavior patterns. Intellectually, these primates are the most advanced of all animals. Animals live in large flocks and spend almost their entire lives in trees.
They feed on plant foods and various insects. During the period of flirting, the male and female show mutual signs of attention. And with the advent of offspring, children are raised together.
Gorilla
Of all the primates living in the forests of Africa, gorillas are the largest. They grow almost two meters tall and weigh more than one hundred and fifty kg. They have dark fur, large and long paws.
Sexual maturity in gorillas occurs at ten years of age. After almost nine months, the female gives birth to a baby once every three to five years. Gorillas can only have one baby, and it stays with its mother until the next heir is born.
In reports on animals of Africa, They present amazing facts: it turns out that the brain of a gorilla is comparable to the brain of a three-year-old child. On average, gorillas live thirty-five years; there are some that live up to fifty.
Chimpanzee
The family of these animals consists of two subspecies - common and dwarf chimpanzees. Unfortunately, they are all listed in the Red Book as endangered species.
Chimpanzees are the most closely related species to humans from a genetic point of view. They are much smarter than monkeys, and skillfully use their mental abilities.
Baboon
The body length of these animals is 70 cm, the tail is 10 cm shorter. They're light brown, even mustard color. Although baboons look clumsy, they are actually very agile and nimble.
Baboons always live in large families, the number of animals in them is up to one hundred individuals. The family is dominated by several leaders, who are very friendly with each other, and if necessary, they will always support each other.
Females are also quite sociable with their neighbors and with the younger generation. Sexually mature females stay with their mother for a long time, and young male sons leave the family in search of their mate.
Baboon
About these animals of Africa we can say that they live almost throughout the entire continent. Females are significantly different from males; they are almost half the size. They do not have a beautiful mane on their heads, and the fangs of males are quite large.
The baboons' muzzle is somewhat similar to a dog's, only it is bald and black. Their back part (i.e. butt) is also bald. When the female reaches adulthood and is ready to mate, this part of her swells greatly, becomes plump and becomes scarlet.
To communicate with each other, baboons use almost 30 different vowels and consonants, and also actively gesture and make grimaces.
Lemurs
There are about one hundred species of them, belonging to the most ancient order of primates. Lemurs are very different from each other, there are fifty gram individuals, and there are also ten kilogram ones.
Some primates eat only plant foods, while others prefer a mixed diet. Some are active only at night, the rest are day residents.
Among the external differences - they have different colors, fur length, etc. What they have in common is the large claw on their back toe and the impressive fangs they have on their lower jaw.
Okapi
It is also called the forest giraffe. Okapi – one of the interesting animals of Africa. This is a large artiodactyl, two meters in body length and almost three hundred kilograms in weight.
They have long muzzle, big ears and the males have horns like a giraffe. The body is colored ruby brown, and the hind legs are painted with white transverse stripes. From the knees to the hooves, their legs are white.
The thin tail ends with a tassel. Okapi live alone, only during mating games they form a pair, and then not for long. Then they each go their separate ways again.
Okapi females have very developed maternal instincts. During calving, she goes into the very depths of the forest and takes refuge there with her newborn baby. The mother will feed and protect the child until the calf is fully grown.
Duiker
These are small, shy and jumping antelopes. To avoid danger, they climb into the very thicket of the forest, into dense vegetation. Duikers feed on plant foods, fruits and berries, midges, mice and even feces of other animals.
Crocodile
One of the strongest predators in the world, with a jaw containing about 65 teeth. lives in water, it can submerge itself almost completely, but lays eggs on land; a clutch can contain up to 40 eggs.
The crocodile's tail makes up exactly half of its entire body; by pushing off with it, the crocodile can jump out of the water with lightning speed to catch prey. Having eaten well, a crocodile can go without food for up to two years. Amazing feature is that the crocodile never stops growing.
Chameleon
The only reptile that can be painted in all the colors of the rainbow. Chameleons change colors for camouflage, communication with each other, and during mood changes.
No one can escape his keen eye, as his eyes rotate 360 degrees. Moreover, each eye looks in its own, separate direction. He has such farsightedness that ten meters away he can spot a bug that will serve as his lunch.
Vulture
Vultures live in small groups. In African savannas they are often found only in pairs. Birds feed on carrion and are a kind of orderlies of nature. During all their free time from eating, vultures circle in the clouds, looking for food. To do this, they have to rise so high that they were seen at a height of ten kilometers.
The plumage of the vulture is light with long black feathers along the edges of the wings. The vulture's head is bald, with folds, and bright yellow, sometimes even orange, skin. The base of the beak is of the same color, the end of which, however, is black.
African ostrich
The African ostrich is the largest of modern birds, however, they cannot fly; ostriches have underdeveloped wings. The size of the birds is certainly impressive, their height is almost two meters, although most of the growth goes to the neck and legs.
Often ostriches graze together with herds of zebras and antelopes and, together with them, make long migrations across the African plains. Thanks to their height and excellent eyesight, ostriches are the first to notice danger. And then they rush to flight, reaching speeds of up to 60-70 km/h
Flamingo
Due to their delicate color, they are also called the bird of dawn. They are this color because of the food they eat. The crustaceans and algae eaten by flamingos have a special pigment that colors their feathers.
It is interesting to watch the flight of birds; to do this they need to accelerate well. Then, having already taken off, the birds’ legs do not stop running. And only, after some time, they no longer move, but still remain in an unbent position, so flamingos look like crosses flying across the sky.
Marabou
This is a one and a half meter bird with a wingspan of two and a half meters. Externally, marabou do not have a very presentable appearance: the head is bald, with a large and thick beak. Adult birds have a huge leathery sac hanging from their chest.
They live in large flocks, and build their nests on the highest branches of trees. The birds hatch their future offspring together, alternating each other. Marabou feed on carrion, so they are considered cleaners of the African savannah ecosystem.
Big-eared fox
This animal with a dog's face, large ears and a tail lives in the south and east. They live in burrows and eat ants, various bugs, mice and lizards.
During the mating season, animals find one partner for life. After two months, the female fox crawls into the hole to give birth, and then feeds the cubs with her milk for another three months.
Canna
The largest antelopes inhabiting southern lands Africa. They are slow, but they jump high and far. The age of males can be determined by the hair on the frontal part of the head. The older the animal, the more magnificent it is.
Antelopes are born bright brown, darken with age, and by old age are painted almost black. The male differs from the female in the height of the horns; the male has almost one and a half meters in height, which is twice as much as that of the opposite sex.
Animals of Africa
The fauna of Africa is extremely rich and diverse. The main role in the fauna is played by animals of savannas - open spaces that develop under conditions of periodic moisture at high year-round temperatures. Savannas and woodlands occupy about 40% of the continent. Savannahs have an abundance of large ungulates (giraffes, buffalos, antelopes, gazelles, zebras, rhinoceroses, elephants) and predators (lions, hyenas, cheetahs, jackals). Monkeys (baboons) are widespread, and birds include ostriches, weaver birds, crowned cranes, secretary birds, marabou, and vultures. Numerous
lizards and snakes.
Deserts and semi-deserts also occupy vast areas of the African continent. The deserts of the south and north of the continent are very different. The fauna of the northern deserts is similar to the deserts of Asia - jerboas, gerbils, fennec foxes, jackals, hyenas. Many snakes (efa, viper, cobra) and lizards, invertebrates. The deserts of the south are characterized by a larger number of endemics and a wide variety of turtles.
Moist equatorial evergreen forests are characteristic of the equatorial zone and coastal areas of the subequatorial zones. The fauna of the ground layer is relatively sparse (of the ungulates - okapi, pygmy hippopotamus, gorillas), in the crowns there are a lot of birds (turacos, hornbills, sunbirds), monkeys (monkeys, colobus monkeys, chimpanzees). Everywhere - invertebrates, frogs, snakes (pythons, mambas), in the rivers - crocodiles.
In the reserves of tropical Africa, which attract many tourists, there are an abundance of elephants, rhinoceroses, hippos, zebras, antelopes, etc.; Lions, cheetahs, leopards and other large predators are common. Monkeys, small predators, and rodents are numerous. Many birds, including ostriches, ibises, flamingos.
Large animals of the African savannas
A LION
(Panthera leo) is a mammal of the Felidae family, order of Carnivores. The largest land predator in Africa. Its males reach a length of 180-240 cm, not counting the tail (60-90 cm). The mass of a lion is from 180 to 227 kg. The body of a lion is powerful, and at the same time slender, one might say, lean. The head is extremely massive, with a rather long muzzle. The paws are low and very strong. The tail is long, with a tassel at the end. The long mane that is highly developed in adult males is very characteristic, covering the neck, shoulders and chest, while on the rest of the body the hair is short, brownish-yellow. The lion's mane is much darker in color.
The lion is one of the few species of predatory animals in which sexual dimorphism is pronounced. It manifests itself not only in the smaller size of lionesses, but also in their lack of mane.
Previously, the lion lived throughout the African continent (except for the deep parts of the Sahara and the rain forests of the Congo Basin). In Egypt and Libya, the lion was exterminated in the 18th century, in South Africa - by the middle of the 19th century, in the Atlas Mountains - at the turn of the 19th-20th century. Now the lion has survived only in Central Africa, as well as, in very small numbers, in the Indian state of Gujarat, in the Gir forests. Contrary to popular belief, the lion is by no means a desert dweller. The most favorable for him are savannas with their open landscape, abundance of various ungulates, and the presence of watering places. The latter are absolutely necessary for the existence of lions. Unlike other large predators, lions are found not only alone and in pairs, but also in large groups, so-called prides. A pride usually includes 1-2 adult males, several adult lionesses and young animals. In total there can be 7-10 or more individuals. Once, even 30 lions were counted in the pride. During the daytime, lions mostly rest somewhere in the shade, and in the evening they go out hunting. The main breadwinners are lionesses. Their prey includes various antelopes, zebras and other medium-sized ungulates, including young elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and livestock. The lion eats carrion and all kinds of small animals (even mouse-like rodents). When hunting big game, the predator first carefully creeps up to the intended victim, then overtakes it with several huge lightning-fast jumps and kills it with the help of its powerful paws armed with large, sharp claws and powerful teeth that can crush any bone. Having had their fill, the lions quench their thirst and lie down to rest. A pride of four lions is believed to limit itself to one reasonably successful hunt per week. Individual, usually sick or decrepit animals, unable to hunt ungulates, may become addicted to attacks on people. The mating period for lions is not confined to a specific time of year, as a result of which lionesses can be observed simultaneously with lion cubs of very different ages. Mating is accompanied by bloody clashes between males, sometimes leading to the death of competitors. The female's pregnancy lasts from 105 to 112 days. In a brood there are most often 3 lion cubs, less often - 2, 4 or 5. Their lair is a cave, crevice or hole located in a hard-to-reach place. Newborns are very small, about 30 cm in length, spotted in color, which is then replaced by a single color. However, sometimes the spotted pattern persists for a very long time, when there is already a mane, and in some animals it remains for life. Sexual maturity occurs in the fourth year, but males reach full development at 6 years. In captivity, lions live up to 20-30 years. Sometimes in nature the crossing of a lion and a leopard occurs, but the spotted hybrids born in this case are infertile. Leo is considered in popular belief"king of beasts"
RHINOCEROS
- a family of mammals of the order Perissodactyls. In Africa there are two species - the white rhinoceros (after the elephant, this is the largest mammal weighing 2300-3600 kg, and the black rhinoceros. These names are conditional, since black rhinoceroses are just as non-black as the white rhinoceros - essentially non-white. Color Both animals depend on the color of the soil on which they live, since they willingly wallow in dust and dirt, and the original slate-gray color of their skin takes on a whitish, then reddish, and in areas with hardened lava, a black tint.
The white rhinoceros is common in South Africa, as well as in Kenya and Tanzania. lives in savannah and bush thickets. Herbivorous. The black rhinoceros is a large and powerful animal, reaching a mass of 2 tons, a length of up to 3.15 m with a height of 150-160 cm. Its muzzle is usually decorated with two horns, but in some areas (for example, in Zambia) - three or even five. The cross section at the base is rounded (in the white rhinoceros it is trapezoidal). The anterior horn is the largest, usually 40–60 cm long.
The external difference between a black rhinoceros and a white one is the structure of the upper lip: in a black rhinoceros it is pointed and hangs with a proboscis over the lower one. With the help of this lip, the animal grabs foliage from the branches of the bush.
At the beginning of the last century, black rhinoceroses lived across a vast territory of Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. Unfortunately, they did not escape the common fate of all large African animals, and are now preserved almost exclusively in national parks, although in general the configuration of their range has remained almost unchanged (they have been completely exterminated only in South Africa). In 1967, between 11,000 and 13,500 of these animals lived on the entire African continent, with up to 4,000 rhinoceroses in Tanzania alone.
The black rhinoceros is a resident of dry landscapes, be it sparse forests, shrub and acacia savannas, or open steppes. Occasionally found even in semi-deserts. However, it does not penetrate into the tropical rainforests of the Congo Basin and West Africa. In the mountains of East Africa it is found at an altitude of 2700 m above sea level. This rhinoceros almost cannot swim, and even small water obstacles turn out to be insurmountable for it. The attachment of the rhinoceros to a certain part of the territory, which it does not leave throughout its life, is well known. Even severe droughts do not force this giant to migrate.
The black rhinoceros feeds mainly on young shoots of bushes, which it grasps with its upper lip like a finger. At the same time, the animals do not pay attention to either the sharp thorns or the caustic juice. Even on open plains, they prefer to look for small bushes, which they pull out by the roots. The black rhinoceros feeds in the morning and evening, and usually spends the hottest hours half asleep, standing in the shade of a tree. Rhinoceroses sleep at night for 8-9 hours, with their legs tucked under them and their heads on the ground; less often the animal lies on its side with its limbs extended. Every day they go to a watering hole, sometimes 8-10 km away, and wallow for a long time in the coastal mud. There are known cases when rhinoceroses were so carried away by mud baths that they could no longer get out of the viscous silt and became victims of hyenas. During drought, rhinoceroses often use holes dug by elephants for watering.
Black rhinoceroses lead a solitary lifestyle. Frequently encountered pairs usually consist of a mother and calf. However, unlike Asian rhinos, African rhinos do not have a strictly individual territory and do not protect its borders from their own kind. The large piles of dung, which were previously thought to be "border posts", can apparently be regarded as a kind of "inquiry bureau" where a passing rhinoceros obtains information about his predecessors. The black rhinoceros's eyesight is very poor. Even at a distance of 40-50 m, he cannot distinguish a person from a tree trunk. Hearing is much better developed, but the sense of smell plays the main role in recognizing the outside world. Even in an open place, the mother searches for a lost cub by following its tracks. If there is no wind, a rhinoceros can, out of curiosity, come literally close to a person, but a weak breeze is enough for him to recognize the danger and take flight or go on the attack.
These rhinoceroses run quickly, at a heavy trot or at an awkward gallop, reaching speeds of up to 48 km/h over short distances. Black rhinoceroses are almost never aggressive towards their relatives. Sometimes it even comes to mutual assistance: in 1958. The ranger of the Nairobi National Park (Kenya), African Ellis, saw two females who were leading, supporting with their bodies, a third, apparently pregnant. Noticing the observer, the trio quickened their pace. If rhinoceroses do start a fight, there are no serious injuries; the fighters get off with minor wounds on their shoulders. It is usually not the male who attacks the male, as in deer and other artiodactyls, but the female who attacks the male. The fight turns out differently if the rhinoceros does not give way to the elephant; such fights often end in the death of the rhinoceros. Baby rhinos often become prey for lions and even hyenas.
With their neighbors - buffalos, zebras, wildebeest - rhinoceroses live in peace, and they even have friends among the birds. Small olive-brown birds with a red beak, or buffalo birds from the starling family, constantly accompany rhinoceroses, climb on the back and sides, pecking out ticks attached there. In their habits and manner of movement, they are very similar to our nuthatches. Egyptian herons also help rhinoceroses free themselves from ticks. The relationship between the rhinoceros and aquatic turtles is very interesting: as soon as the rhinoceros lies down in the mud to take a mud bath, turtles rush to this place from all sides. As they approach, they carefully examine the giant and begin to pull out the drunken ticks. Apparently this operation is very painful, since sometimes the rhinoceros jumps to its feet with a loud snort, but then lies down again in the mud. Buffalo birds also often peck the skin of a rhinoceros until it bleeds. Usually the black rhinoceros snorts loudly, but when frightened it can emit a high-pitched whistle.
Black rhinos do not have a specific breeding season. Mating occurs at different times of the year. After 15-16 months of pregnancy, the female gives birth to one cub. The newborn has a mass of 20-35 kg, a tiny (up to 1 cm) light horn, and within ten minutes after birth it can walk, and after 4 hours it begins to suckle from its mother. For two years, the cub feeds on mother's milk. By this time, he reaches a fairly impressive size, and in order to get to the nipples, he has to kneel. He does not part with his mother until he is 3.5 years old.
Black rhinoceroses live more than 35 years.
AFRICAN ELEPHANT (Loxodonta africana) is a mammal of the elephant family of the order Proboscis, endemic to Africa. There are two subspecies - the savannah or bush elephant (distributed in the Eastern, Southern and partly Equatorial Africa) and the forest elephant (common in the tropical rain forests of Western and Equatorial Africa). The African elephant is the largest living land animal. The weight of old males reaches 7.5 tons, and the height at the shoulders is 4 m (on average, males have a mass of 5 tons, females - 3 tons). However, despite its massive build, the elephant is amazingly agile, easy to move, and fast without haste. It swims beautifully, with only its forehead and the tip of its trunk remaining above the surface of the water, overcomes steep climbs without visible effort, and feels free among the rocks.
An amazing sight - a herd of elephants in the forest. Absolutely silently, the animals literally cut through dense thickets. It seems that they are immaterial: no crackling, no rustling, no movement of branches and foliage. With an even, seemingly unhurried step, the elephant covers vast distances in search of food or escaping danger, walking tens of kilometers during the night. It is not for nothing that it is considered useless to pursue a disturbed herd of elephants.
The African elephant inhabits a vast area south of the Sahara. In ancient times it was also found in North Africa, but has now completely disappeared from there. Despite their vast distribution area, it is not easy to meet elephants: they are now found in large numbers only in national parks and reserves. So, in Uganda in the 20s, elephants lived on 70% of the entire territory, but now they inhabit no more than 17% of the country’s area. In many countries there are no elephants outside protected areas.
Elephants rarely live alone. But the herds of many hundreds that travelers of the last century wrote about are now almost non-existent. Regular composition elephant herd- 9-12 old, young and very small animals. As a rule, there is a leader in the herd, most often an old elephant. However, sometimes males are the leaders, especially during migrations. A herd of elephants is a very friendly community. Animals get to know each other well and work together to protect their young; There are known cases when elephants provided assistance to their wounded brothers, leading them away from dangerous place. Fights between elephants are rare, and only animals suffering from some kind of pain, for example with a broken tusk, become uncooperative and irritable. Typically, such elephants move away from the herd, but it is unknown whether they themselves prefer solitude or are driven away by healthy companions. An elephant with a broken tusk is also dangerous for people. No wonder the first commandment that visitors need to know is national parks, reads: “Do not leave the car! Don't cross the path of a herd of elephants! Do not approach lone elephants, especially those with a broken tusk!” And this is not without reason: the elephant is the only animal that can easily go on the attack and overturn a car. At one time, ivory hunters often died under the feet of wounded giants. Apart from humans, the elephant has almost no enemies. The rhinoceros, the second giant of Africa, is in a hurry to give way to the elephant, and if it comes to a collision, it is always defeated.
Of the elephant's sense organs, smell and hearing are the most developed. An alert elephant is an unforgettable sight: the huge sails of the ears are spread wide, the trunk is raised up and moves from side to side, trying to catch a breath of wind, there is both tension and threat in the whole figure. An attacking elephant flattens its ears and hides its trunk behind its tusks, which the animal brings forward with a sharp movement. The elephant's voice is a shrill, shrill sound, simultaneously reminiscent of a hoarse horn and the screeching of car brakes.
Reproduction in elephants is not associated with a specific season. Usually, before mating, the male and female are removed from the herd for some time; Mating is preceded by a complex ritual when the animals caress each other with their trunks. Pregnancy lasts 22 months. A newborn elephant calf weighs about 100 kg and is about 1 m tall; it has a short trunk and no tusks. Until the age of five, he needs the constant supervision of a female elephant and cannot live independently.
Puberty occurs in an elephant at 12-20 years, and old age and death - at 60-70 years. Typically, females give birth to cubs once every 4 years.
The fate of elephants in Africa is one of most interesting pages in the history of the fauna of this continent. The African elephant is the largest, but also one of the unluckiest animals. Its tusks, the so-called ivory, have long been valued at almost their weight in gold. Until Europeans came to Africa with firearms, relatively few elephants were hunted - hunting was very difficult and dangerous. But the flow of lovers of easy money who flocked to Africa at the end of the last century changed the situation dramatically. Elephants were killed from an express gun, their tusks were broken off, and huge corpses were thrown to hyenas and vultures for prey. And tens, hundreds of thousands of these corpses rotted among the forests and savannas of Africa. But the profits of enterprising adventurers were great. Both males and females of the African elephant are armed with tusks. But females have small tusks. But the tusks of old males sometimes reached a length of 3-3.5 m with a mass of about 100 kg each (the record pair of tusks had a length of 4.1 m and a weight of 225 kg). True, on average, each tusk yielded only about 6-7 kg of ivory, since hunters killed all the elephants in a row - males and females, young and old. Nevertheless, huge quantities of this tragic commodity passed through the ports of Europe. By 1880, when the ivory trade reached its peak, between 60,000 and 70,000 elephants were being killed annually. But already in 1913, the tusks of 10,000 elephants were brought, in 1920 - 1928. - 6000 annually. Elephants were becoming rare. First of all, they were killed in the savannahs; best preserved in inaccessible swamps along the valleys of the Upper Nile and Congo, where the road to man was closed by nature. About 50 years ago, uncontrolled hunting of elephants was officially stopped, a network of national parks was created, and the African elephant was saved. There is not much room left for him on earth - he can only feel calm in national parks. The reserve regime soon had a beneficial effect on the elephants. The numbers began to grow, and now there are about 250,000 elephants in Africa (apparently even more than there were 100 years ago). In parallel with the growth of the population, the concentration of animals in limited areas of the territory increased. For example, in the Kruger National Park in 1898 there were only 10 elephants, in 1931 - 135, in 1958 - 995, in 1964 - 2374, currently several tens of thousands of elephants live there! It would seem that everything is fine. But in reality, this overpopulation posed a new serious threat to elephants, and the “elephant problem” in national parks became the number one problem. The fact is that an adult elephant eats up to 100 kg of grass, fresh shoots of bushes or tree branches per day. It is estimated that an area of about 5 km2 of vegetation is needed to feed one elephant for a year. When feeding, elephants often cut down trees to get to the upper branches, and often strip the bark from the trunks. However, in the past, herds of elephants made migrations that spanned many hundreds of kilometers, and vegetation damaged by elephants had time to recover. Now, when the mobility of elephants is sharply limited, they are forced to feed - on an elephant scale - “on a patch.” So, in Tsavo there is only about 1 km for each elephant. And in Queen Eliza Bet National Park there are an average of 7 elephants, 40 hippos, 10 buffalo and 8 waterbuck per square mile (2.59 km2). With such a load, the animals begin to starve, and in some places it is necessary to resort to artificial feeding (elephants receive oranges as an additional ration!). Many national parks are surrounded by wire fences, through which a weak current is passed, otherwise elephants can destroy the surrounding plantations.
All this dictates the need to reduce the number of elephants. Therefore, in last years Planned shooting of elephants has also begun in national parks. In East African parks (mainly Ambosseli, Tsavo and Murchison Falls), 5,000 elephants were killed in 1966, and about 10,000 in 2000. This is probably just the beginning, as the problem has not yet been solved. The number of elephants is being reduced by also destroying artificial reservoirs that were once specially built in the dry areas of some national parks. It is expected that the elephants, deprived of a watering place, will go beyond the boundaries of the park, where they will be hunted under paid licenses. But it should be noted that elephants know the boundaries of the protected area very well and, at the slightest alarm, rush beyond the saving line. Having stepped over it, they stop and look with curiosity at the unlucky pursuer.
The elephant is a very valuable animal in economic terms. In addition to the tusks, meat, skin, bones and even a tuft of coarse hair at the end of the tail are utilized. The meat is used for food by the local population in fresh and dried form. Bone meal is made from bones. The ears are used to make tables of sorts, and the legs are used to make waste baskets or stools. Such “exotic” goods are in constant demand among tourists. Africans use the stiff, wire-like tail hairs to weave beautiful bracelets, which, according to local beliefs, bring good luck to the owner. Elephants are no less economically important as an attraction for tourists from other countries. No elephants African savanna I would lose half the charm. Indeed, there is something inexplicably attractive about elephants. Are the animals walking leisurely across the plain, cutting through the thick tall grass like ships; do they feed on the edge of the forest, among the bushes; whether they drink by the river, lined up in a straight line; whether they are resting motionless in the shade of trees - in their entire appearance, in their manner, one can feel deep calm, dignity, hidden power. And you involuntarily become imbued with respect and sympathy for these giants, witnesses of bygone eras, and feel sincere admiration for them.
LEOPARD
(Panthera pardus) is a predatory mammal of the cat family. Distributed throughout Africa, excluding the Sahara.
This remarkably beautiful cat has an elongated, flexible, slender and at the same time strong body, a rounded head, a long tail, and slender, very strong legs. The body length reaches 91-180 cm, the tail - 75-110 cm, weight is usually 32-40 kg, but occasionally exceeds 100 kg. The fur of leopards from tropical countries is thick, but not fluffy, and very brightly colored. Far Eastern animals have fluffy, thicker, rather dull fur in winter. The general color tone is yellow with one shade or another. Scattered across this background (all over the body, tail and legs) are clearly defined solid and ring-shaped black spots. In tropical countries, melanistic animals are sometimes found, which are called black panthers. They are especially common in Java. Black individuals can be born in the same litter with normally colored cubs.
The leopard lives in the tropical wilderness, subtropical forests, on mountain slopes and plains, in savannas, thickets along river banks. Sometimes this predator lives near populated areas, stays alone and goes hunting at night. The leopard is an excellent climber in trees, often settling there for a daytime rest or in ambush, and sometimes even catching monkeys in trees. However, the leopard mainly hunts on the ground. It sneaks up on its prey with exceptional dexterity and overtakes it with several powerful leaps, or lies in wait in ambush near an animal trail, above it, or at a watering hole. The leopard mainly feeds on relatively small various species of antelope, deer, roe deer and other ungulates, and in case of their shortage - rodents, monkeys, birds, even reptiles and insects. In the morning, he drags the remains of large prey up a tree to protect it from hyenas, jackals and other necrophages. However, old leopards themselves eat carrion. Some individuals specialize in hunting dogs and livestock. Finally, among leopards, although less often than among lions and tigers, cannibals appear. But in terms of the audacity of attacks on people, leopards are sometimes even superior to lions and tigers.
Leopards breed in Africa all year round. Like other cats, it is accompanied by fights and loud roars of the males, although in normal times the leopard rarely gives a voice, being more silent than the lion and tiger. After a 3-month pregnancy, 1-3 cubs appear. They are born blind, with spotted coloring. Their lair is caves, crevices, holes under upturned tree roots in a remote, secluded place. Young leopards grow noticeably faster than tiger cubs and within two years they reach full height and sexual maturity, with females slightly earlier than males. Leopard skins are highly prized in the international fur market. The leopard is one of the favorite trophies of hunters. In addition, these predators are often persecuted as harmful and dangerous animals. As a result, every year foreign countries very much destroyed big number leopards and in many areas the existence of this species is under serious threat. Meanwhile, like other large predators, the leopard plays important role in nature, destroying sick and defective animals, restraining the reproduction of some pests, in particular monkeys.
Exotic and unusual animals
Family LEMURES
(Lemuridae) The family of lemurids, or lemur-like prosimians, unites the lemurs themselves, living on Madagascar and some small neighboring islands. These animals have thick hair with a variety of colors, a long, fluffy tail; the muzzle is often elongated, like that of a fox; there are 4-5 groups of tactile hairs - vibrissae, the eyes are large and quite close together. The limbs are grasping with well opposable thumbs. All toes have nails, only the second toe has a claw, which is called a claw and is used for combing fur. On the upper jaw, the middle incisors are widely spaced (diastema), the lower incisors, together with the canines, are close together and strongly inclined forward, forming a “tooth comb”. There is a lower tongue. Lemurids lead a nocturnal, diurnal and crepuscular lifestyle. There are arboreal, semi-arboreal and terrestrial forms. The word "lemur" means "ghost", "spirit of the deceased."
The family Lemuridae is divided into two subfamilies: lemurs, or true lemurs (Lemurinae), with the genera Lemur, Hapalemur and Lepilemur, and mouse lemurs (Cheirogaleinae) with the genera Cheirogaleus, Microcebus and Phaner. Mouse lemurs have elongated navicular and calcaneal bones, like those of African galagos. This structure of the heel section of the hind limb is an adaptation to movement by jumping. The number of representatives of the family is sharply declining. Many species are listed in the Red Book.
Common lemurs (Lemur) include 5 species: L. catta, L. variegatus, L. macaco, L. mongoz, L. rubriventer. Sometimes in the literature they are called poppies. These are quite active creatures; in captivity they are funny and easy to tame. They are often kept in zoological gardens, where they reproduce well (from 1959 to 1963, 78 lemurs were born in various zoos around the world). There is a known case when a black lemur (L. macaco) lived in the London Zoo for over 27 years. In captivity, lemurs get used to any food that they take directly with their mouths or with their front paws and bring it to their mouth. As a rule, maquis are arboreal animals, but the ring-tailed lemur (L. catta) spends a lot of time on the ground, on the rocks of southern Madagascar. Poppies are active at dusk and during the day. Obviously diurnal are the ring-tailed lemur, the ruffed lemur (L. Variegatus) and the red-bellied lemur (L. rubriventer). They prefer large horizontal branches of trees, where they move deftly and quickly, using their tail as a balancer. Sometimes a ring-tailed lemur, in a state of excitement and excitement, directs its widened eyes forward and sticks its tail between its front legs. The food of maquis consists of figs, bananas and other fruits, as well as leaves and flowers. But some poppies feast on bird eggs and insects.
The main natural enemies of lemurs are hawks, from which they hide in dense foliage. Basically, maki have a muzzle of moderate length, ears are round and hairy, eyes are golden and look more or less forward. The hind limbs are longer than the forelimbs, the tail is longer than the body (except for L. variegatus). The ring-tailed lemur's coat color is gray, lighter on the limbs, and has white and black rings on the tail. In the vari lemur, black and white colors predominate in color, and they vary greatly among different individuals. The red-bellied lemur has a brown robe with a reddish belly, while L. macaco has a black robe. The largest of them is the Vari lemur, and the smallest is the Mongots lemur. Poppies live in small herds of 5 (L. variegatus) to 20 individuals. Such groups include males, females and young animals of different ages. Herds occupy a clearly defined territory where they spend their time searching for food and having fun. Many of them have the habit of licking and cleaning each other's fur. Poppies communicate with each other using grunting and purring voices, and sometimes scream shrilly. Lemurs sleep with a semi-straightened body, the head is between the knees, the hands and feet cover a tree branch, and the tail is wrapped around the body. The black lemur often lies on its stomach along a branch, which it holds with its forelimbs and its hind limbs hanging down. Common lemurs breed in March - April, some in September - November. Pregnancy lasts 120-125 days, then 1-2 cubs are born, each weighing about 80 g. For up to two or three weeks, it clings to the mother’s belly, and then climbs onto her back. At 6 months it becomes independent, at 18 months it reaches sexual maturity.
Meek lemurs or hapalemurs (Hapalemur) or half maca, are quite similar in appearance to ordinary lemurs. The total body length varies from 70 cm in the gray hapalemura (H. griseus) to 90 cm in the broad-nosed one (H. simus). The tail is equal in length to the head and body together. In both species the big toe is very large. The head is round, the ears are hairy. The skin of the face can be pink or black. The fur is greenish-gray, with reddish and black markings. The limbs and tail are gray. They live in small groups (3-6 individuals) in a certain territory, communicating with short, low grunts.
Graceful lemurs, or lepilemurs, are widespread in Madagascar and contain one species.
Mouse lemurs or hirogaleus (Cheirogaleus), are represented by three species: C. major, C. medius, C. trichotis. These are nocturnal animals, inhabitants of the tropical forests of Madagascar. They usually feed on fruits, less often on insects. It is possible that they also enjoy honey. Hirogale's body size is like that of a large rat. The tail is shorter (16.5-25 cm) than the head and body and very thick at the base. The muzzle is short, the ears are almost not covered with webbed type. The coat color is brownish-red or gray (some have white markings), and there are dark rings around the eyes, emphasizing the large size of the eyes. The heel bone of the Hirogale is elongated, and they move along the ground by jumping. Mouse lemurs are found alone and in pairs, but in captivity they can be kept in large groups. They sleep curled up in a ball in tree hollows or in nests made of grass, small twigs and leaves. They are in the same state during the period of physiological torpor, into which they fall during the dry season. During a favorable (rainy) period, they accumulate fat in different places of the body, especially at the base of the tail, and in a state of prolonged torpor, they use up these fat reserves. Hirogale pregnancy lasts about 70 days, the female gives birth to 2-3 blind cubs, weighing 18-20 0, but the eyes open already on the 2nd day of life. The mother carries her babies in her mouth. There are known cases of Hirogale breeding in captivity.
Dwarf lemurs or microcebus (Microcebus) are of two species: M. murinus and M. coquereli. These are the smallest representatives of primates. Their body weight is approximately 60 g, the tail is longer (17-28 cm) than the head and body together (13-25 cm). The fur is soft, fluffy, brown or gray in color with reddish and whitish markings on the lower parts of the body. There is a white stripe on the nose, large eyes. The ears are large, mobile, rounded, and membranous. The limbs are short, the hind limbs are longer than the front ones. Microcebus are inhabitants of tropical forests. They nest in hollows of trees or in bushes, making nests from dry leaves. They are found alone and in pairs on the tops of tall trees; they are often seen in reed thickets along the shores of lakes. They climb trees like squirrels and jump on the ground, are active at night, hunt insects and possibly other small animals, and also feed on fruit. Microcebus sleep curled up in a ball. They go into torpor during the dry season. Their enemies are goshawks. In captivity they behave quite aggressively, but they are also found with a softer character and reproduce relatively easily. The breeding season falls on May - September in northern latitudes (in captivity) or December - May in Madagascar. Pregnancy lasts 59-62 days, 1-3 very small cubs are born, weighing only 3-5 g. At 15 days they begin to climb. They become completely independent after 60 days, and reach sexual maturity at 7-10 months. There is a known case when one specimen of a dwarf lemur lived in the London Zoo for over 15 years.
OKAPI
(Okapia johnstoni) is an artiodactyl animal of the giraffe family. Endemic to Zaire. Inhabits tropical rain forests, where it feeds on shoots and leaves of euphorbias, as well as the fruits of various plants.
This is a fairly large animal: body length is about 2 m, shoulder height is 1.5-1.72 w, weight is about 250 kg. Unlike the giraffe, the okapi has a moderately long neck. Long ears, large expressive eyes and a tail ending in a tassel complement the appearance of this still mysterious animal in many ways. The coloring is very distinctive: the body is reddish-brown, the legs are white with dark transverse stripes on the thighs and shoulders. On the head of males there is a pair of small, skin-covered horns with horny “tips”, which are replaced annually. The tongue is long and thin, bluish in color.
The story of the discovery of okapi is one of the most notorious zoological sensations of the 20th century. The first information about the unknown animal was received in 1890. famous traveler G. Stanley, who managed to reach the virgin forests of the Congo Basin. In his report, Stanley said that the pygmies who saw his horses were not surprised (contrary to expectations!) and explained that similar animals were found in their forests. A few years later, the then governor of Uganda, Englishman Johnston, decided to check Stanley’s words: information about unknown “forest horses” seemed ridiculous. However, during the 1899 expedition, Johnston managed to find confirmation of Stanley’s words: first the pygmies, and then the white missionary Lloyd, described to Johnston the appearance of the “forest horse” and told him its local name - okapi. And then Johnston was even more lucky: at Fort Beni, the Belgians gave him two pieces of okapi skin! They were sent to London to the Royal Zoological Society. Examination of them showed that the skin did not belong to any of the known species of zebra, and in December 1900, zoologist Sclater published a description of a new species of animal, giving it the name “Johnston’s horse.” It was only in June 1901, when a complete skin and two skulls were sent to London, that it turned out that they did not belong to a horse, but were close to the bones of long-extinct animals. We were talking, therefore, about a completely new genus. Thus, the modern name okapi was legitimized - a name that had been in use for thousands of years among the pygmies of the Ituri forests. However, the okapi remained almost inaccessible. Zoo requests were also unsuccessful for a long time. It was only in 1919 that the Antwerp Zoo received its first young okapi, which lived in Europe for only 50 days. Several more attempts ended in failure. However, in 1928, a female okapi named Tele arrived at the Antwerp Zoo. She lived until 1943 and died of hunger during the Second World War. And in 1954, the first okapi cub was born in the same Antwerp Zoo, which, unfortunately, soon died. The first completely successful okapi breeding was achieved in 1956 in Paris. Currently, a special station for catching live okapi operates in Epulu (Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa). According to some reports, okapi are kept in 18 zoos around the world and reproduce successfully.
We still know little about the life of okapi in the wild. Few Europeans have ever seen this animal in the wild. The distribution of okapi is limited to a relatively small area in the Congo River basin, occupied by dense and inaccessible tropical forests. However, even within this forest area, okapi are found only in somewhat brightened places near rivers and clearings, where green vegetation from the upper layer descends to the ground. Okapi cannot live under a continuous forest canopy - they simply have nothing to eat. Okapi's food consists mainly of leaves: with their long and flexible tongue, the animals grab a young shoot of a bush and then tear off the foliage from it with a sliding movement. Only occasionally do they graze on grassy lawns. As studies by zoologist De Medina have shown, okapi is quite picky when choosing food: out of 13 plant families that form lower tier tropical forest, he regularly uses only 30 species. Charcoal and brackish clay containing saltpeter from the banks of forest streams were also found in okapi droppings. Apparently, this is how the animal compensates for the lack of mineral feed. Okapi feed during daylight hours. Okapi are solitary animals. Only during mating does the female join the male for several days. Sometimes such a couple is accompanied by last year's cub, towards which the adult male does not experience hostile feelings. Pregnancy lasts about 440 days, birth occurs in August - October, during the rainy season. To give birth, the female retires to the most remote places, and the newborn calf lies hidden in the thicket for several days. His mother finds him by his voice. The voice of adult okapi resembles a quiet cough. The cub also makes the same sounds, but it can also moo quietly like a calf or occasionally whistle quietly. The mother is very attached to the baby: there are cases when the female tried to drive even people away from the baby. Of the okapi's sense organs, hearing and smell are the most developed.
Okapi live in the tropical forests of Africa in the Congo Basin (Zaire). These are small, very timid animals, similar in color to a zebra, from the giraffe family. Okapi usually graze alone, silently making their way through the forest thickets. Okapi are so sensitive that even pygmies cannot sneak up on them. They lure these animals into pit traps.
The okapi's coat color is brown, and its legs are spotted with black and white stripes. The male okapi is smaller than the female. It has a pair of miniature horns covered in skin. With its forty-centimeter long tongue, the okapi can do amazing things, such as lick behind its black, red-edged ears. It has pockets on both sides of its mouth in which it can store food.
Okapi are very neat animals. They love to take care of their skin for a long time.
GIRAFFE
(lat. Giraffa camelopardalis) is a mammal from the order of artiodactyls, the giraffe family.
The giraffe is the tallest living mammal: its height from the ground to the forehead reaches 4.8-5.8 m. The weight of an adult male is about 750 kg, females are somewhat lighter. The giraffe's eyes are black, fringed with thick eyelashes, and its ears are short and narrow. Both males and females have small horns on their foreheads. The horns are covered with wool, sometimes there is only one pair, but sometimes there are two. In addition, there is often a special bony outgrowth in the middle of the forehead, reminiscent of an additional (unpaired) horn. The coloration of the giraffe varies greatly, and in the past zoologists even distinguished several types of giraffes on this basis. Differently colored giraffes can interbreed. In addition, even in the same place, in the same herd, significant individual color deviations occur. They say that it is generally impossible to find two completely identically colored giraffes: the spotted pattern is unique, like a fingerprint. Therefore, color variations can only be taken, with a certain stretch, as subspecies.
The most famous is the so-called Massai giraffe, which inhabits the savannas of East Africa. The main background of its color is yellowish-red; chocolate-brown flowers are scattered randomly across this background. correct form spots. Another type of coloration is the reticulated giraffe, which is found in the wooded areas of Somalia and Northern Kenya. In the reticulated giraffe, the polygon-shaped spots almost merge with the background yellow It consists of only sparse stripes, as if a golden net had been draped over the animal. These are the most beautiful giraffes. Young animals are always lighter in color than older ones. White giraffes are extremely rare. They have dark eyes, and they cannot be called albinos (in the strict sense of the word). Such animals are found in various parts Africa - in Garamba National Park (Congo), in Kenya, in Northern Tanzania. The seemingly overly bright variegated coloring of giraffes actually perfectly camouflages the animals. When several giraffes stand in a group of umbrella acacias, among the burnt-out bushes of the African bush, under the sheer rays of the sun, the mosaic of shadows and sunspots seems to dissolve and eat up the contours of the animals. At first, you suddenly notice with surprise that one of the trunks is not a trunk at all, but the neck of a giraffe. Behind it, as on a developing photographic plate, suddenly appears a second, third, fourth. Savannas and sparse dry forests - favorite places giraffe habitats. Here animals find abundant food in the form of young shoots and buds of umbrella acacias, mimosa and other trees. With the help of its long tongue, the giraffe can tear leaves even from branches densely covered with large spines. Giraffes rarely eat grassy vegetation: in order to graze, the animal has to spread its front legs wide apart or even go down on its knees. Giraffes are forced to take the same uncomfortable position at a watering hole. True, this does not happen often, since giraffes satisfy their need for water mainly through succulent food and go without water for several weeks.
Giraffes rarely live alone. They usually form small herds (7-12 individuals), although sometimes up to 50-70 animals gather. Only old males are alienated from their fellow tribesmen. Often a group of giraffes unites with antelopes, zebras, and ostriches, but this connection is short-lived and unstable. Within the herd of giraffes, a hierarchy of subordination is strictly observed, as is well known for many other herd animals. The outward expression of such a hierarchy is that the lowest in rank cannot cross the path of the highest. The latter, in turn, holds his neck and head higher, while the lower in rank always lowers his neck somewhat in his presence. However, giraffes are peace-loving animals, and rivalry among them almost never manifests itself in the form of a fight. Well, if there is still a need to find out the seniority in the herd, a kind of duel takes place between the largest males. It begins with a challenge: the applicant for the highest rank goes towards the enemy with an arched neck and lowered head, threatening him with his horns. These, in general, harmless horns, together with a heavy head, constitute the giraffe’s main weapon in the fight for primacy. If the opponent does not retreat and accepts the challenge, the animals stand shoulder to shoulder almost closely and exchange blows with the head and neck. Giraffes never use heavy weapons against their fellow tribesmen - a blow with their front leg, which has exceptional power. Sometimes wrestling giraffes move slowly around the tree, trying to pin each other to the trunk. The duel can last up to a quarter of an hour and arouses keen interest of the entire herd. But it is enough for someone who admits himself to be defeated to take a few steps to the side, and the winner’s aggressive mood changes: he never expels his opponent from the herd, as happens with horses, antelopes and other herd animals.
At first glance, outwardly awkward, giraffes are in fact perfectly adapted to life in the savannah: they see far and hear perfectly. Interestingly, no one has ever heard the voices of giraffes. Giraffes usually move at a pace, like pacers (first both right legs are in motion at the same time, then both left legs, etc.). Only in cases of extreme necessity do giraffes switch to an awkward, seemingly slow gallop, but they do not maintain this gait for long, no more than 2-3 minutes. The gallop of giraffes is very peculiar: the animal can simultaneously lift both front legs off the ground, only by throwing its neck and head far back and thus shifting its center of gravity. Therefore, a galloping giraffe constantly nods deeply, bows, as it were, with each jump. This seemingly clumsy manner of galloping does not prevent him from reaching speeds of up to 50 km/h. Giraffes can also jump. They demonstrate such abilities by jumping over barbed wire fences that border plantations and sheep pastures in Africa. To the surprise of farmers, the animals have learned to overcome barriers up to 1.85 m high. Approaching the fence, the giraffe throws its neck back, throws its front legs over it, and then jumps with its hind legs, only slightly touching the top row of wire. But they are never used to electrical wires and often cause a short circuit, dying in the process. Water obstacles, apparently create great difficulties for giraffes, although the zoologist Sheriner once saw three giraffes swimming across the Nile branch in South Sudan: only their heads and necks, two-thirds submerged, were visible from the water. Giraffes are diurnal animals. They usually feed in the morning and in the afternoon, and spend the hottest hours half asleep, standing in the shade of acacia trees. At this time, giraffes chew cud, their eyes are half-closed, but their ears are in constant motion. Giraffes get real sleep at night. Then they lie down on the ground, tucking their front legs and one of their hind legs under them, and place their head on the other hind leg, extended to the side. The long neck turns out to be curved back like an arch. This sleep is often interrupted, the animals get up, then lie down again. The total duration of complete deep sleep in adult animals is amazingly small: it does not exceed 20 minutes throughout the night!
The rutting period for giraffes begins in July and lasts about two months. Pregnancy lasts 420-450 days, and a newborn giraffe weighs up to 70 kg with a height of 1.7-2 m. During childbirth, the female does not lie down on the ground; the herd surrounds her in a tight ring, protecting her from possible danger, and then welcomes the new member with gentle touches of their noses. Giraffes have few natural enemies. Of the predators, only lions attack them, and even then relatively rarely. A pride of lions easily copes with even a large male giraffe and then feasts on the prey for several days. But the giraffe successfully defends itself against a solitary predator by striking its front legs. Usually the lion jumps on the back of the giraffe and bites its cervical vertebrae. There is a known case when a lion missed while jumping and was met with a powerful blow from its hooves to the chest. An observer (an employee of one of the national parks), seeing that the lion did not rise after falling, came closer and, after waiting for more than an hour, shot the crippled animal. The lion's chest was crushed and almost all of its ribs were broken. Sometimes giraffes die while feeding, getting their heads entangled in tree branches. Sometimes childbirth takes a tragic turn. But the main enemy of giraffes was, and still is, man. True, in our time little is hunted for giraffes. The first white settlers exterminated giraffes en masse for the sake of their skins, from which they made leather for the top of Boer carts, belts and whips. Africans make shields from skins, strings for musical instruments from sinew, and bracelets from tail tassels (like ivory hair bracelets). Giraffe meat is edible.
Vigorous persecution by humans has led to the fact that giraffes are now preserved in large numbers only in national parks and reserves.
DUIKER
- subfamily of antelopes, consists of 2 genera. The genus Cephalophus comprises 19 dwarf species of antelope found in sub-Saharan Africa. These are shy and elusive small creatures that prefer hard-to-reach places; most often - forest dwellers. Their name comes from the Afrikaans word for “diver”: due to their ability to quickly hide by jumping into water or bushes. Their height is from 15 cm to 50 cm, their weight is from 5 to 30 kg, some individuals have horns up to 10 cm long. Duikers are very jumpy. With an arched body and front legs shorter than the hind legs, they are good at getting through thickets. They are omnivores: pasture, seeds, fruits, insect larvae and feces of other animals. They often follow flocks of birds or groups of monkeys to pick up fruits and seeds that are dropped. They are, at the same time, carnivorous: they eat insects and even chase and catch rodents or small birds.
The genus Sylvicapra comprises the Common (or gray) duiker - Sylvicapra grimmia: it inhabits almost all of sub-Saharan Africa. It is not found in tropical rainforests or true deserts, preferring sparse forests, savannas and scrub plains. Solid gray color with a yellowish or reddish tint, straight short horns, narrow brush-like crest, large pointy ears, expressive black eyes - this is the appearance of the gray duiker. It should be added that its weight is usually only about 15 kg. Gray duikers live alone or in pairs. They spend the day in the thick of thorny bushes and tall grass, and feed at night. The basis of nutrition is young shoots herbaceous plants, but, according to observations in captivity, gray duikers are no strangers to predation: in a cage they willingly eat small birds. The gray duiker almost does not need a watering place, being content with the moisture contained in the plants. There appears to be no specific breeding season for gray duikers. Mating is preceded by fights between males. Pregnancy lasts for about 4 months. The female usually brings 1 calf, less often 2. Gray duikers sometimes form a community with guinea fowl: this makes it easier for them to notice danger. This weak antelope has many enemies: among predators, only the lion neglects the duiker due to its small size. Duikers are hunted by feathered predators, large snakes, and humans, although some native tribes consider duiker meat to be inedible. A frightened gray duiker escapes with rapid flight, alternating zigzag running with high jumps. During such a jump, the animal extends its tail vertically, showing off its dazzling white underside. In captivity, gray duikers get along easily and
live up to 9 years.
The smallest duiker is the blue duiker. He weighs only 4 kg, and his height barely reaches 35 cm! Simply put, in size this animal cannot be distinguished from an ordinary cat. But, despite such modest body sizes, the males of this baby are very aggressive and often use their stiletto-shaped, graceful (only up to 5 cm in length!), but nevertheless deadly horns with great efficiency. The appearance of the animal is quite funny - a wide cheekbone muzzle with special longitudinal glands, a rounded rather large body with very thin legs. Moreover, the back of the body is noticeably more developed compared to the front. The color of the skin varies from gray-blue (after which it got its name) to brown-brown. Females are slightly larger than males. The lifespan of these antelopes is on average 7 years.
The blue duiker is diurnal, feeding mainly on the leaves of bushes, but its diet also includes fruits, shoots of young trees and even some small mammals, reptiles, birds and insects. This animal lives throughout almost all of Central, Western and Eastern Africa, found in the rain forests of Nigeria and Gabon, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa. Also, these tiny antelopes can be found in the coastal forests of the islands of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans - Pemba, Zanzibar, Fernando Po.
Of course, a tiny antelope cannot be considered a serious object for human hunting, but some tribes of Bushmen and Pygmies often set up trapping nets designed specifically for duiker. Not all animals are killed on the spot; many are taken to villages, where they are even kept in pens like livestock as a source of additional meat in case of famine. This is quite common in West African countries where there is a serious lack of protein foods.
ZEBRAS
- a conditional subgenus of equines, including the species savannah zebra (plain, or Burcellova), desert zebra and mountain zebra.
Zebras were originally distributed throughout Africa. In North Africa they were eradicated already in ancient times. Today's distribution range of the most common, lowland zebra covers the south of Sudan and Ethiopia, the savannahs of East Africa down to the south of the continent. The desert zebra is found in the dry savannas of East Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The mountain zebra is the least common species, its habitat is limited to the high plateaus of Namibia and South Africa, where it is found at altitudes of up to 2000 m.
Plains zebra, savannah zebra (Equus quagga) is a mammal of the equine genus of the equine order; the most common and widespread species of zebra. Formerly known as Burchelli's zebra (Equus burchelli). Widely distributed in southeastern Africa, from southern Ethiopia to eastern South Africa and Angola. Inhabiting savannas and steppes, Burchell's zebra prefers cereal and cereal-shrub pastures, especially those located on hills and gentle slopes of low mountains. This zebra does not tolerate lack of water well and in the dry season goes to more humid areas, often into forests, or climbs into the mountains, making regular migrations. Savannah zebras live in permanent family herds, which contain no more than 9-10 animals. More often in such a herd there are 4-5 (Kruger National Park) or 6-7 animals (Ngorongoro National Park). At the head of the herd is a stallion at least 5 years old, the rest are females and young animals. The composition of a family herd is very constant, although when attacked by predators at a watering hole or during migration, it may temporarily disintegrate or unite with other family herds. Members of a family herd recognize each other well even at a considerable distance. An old, experienced female always leads the herd to a watering hole or pasture, followed by foals in increasing order of age, then in the same sequence other females with young ones, and the stallion brings up the rear.
Zebras do not have a specific breeding season, and foals are born in all months of the year, most often during the rainy season. For example, according to research in famous nature reserve Ngorongoro (Tanzania), in January - March (rainy season) 2/3 of the foals will be born, and in April - September (dry season) - only a tenth. Pregnancy lasts 361-390, usually 370 days. The foal stands on its feet within 10-15 minutes after birth, takes its first steps after 20 minutes, walks noticeable distances after another 10-15 minutes, and can jump 45 minutes after birth. Usually, the first days after the foal appears, the female does not allow anyone closer than 3 m to it. A stallion, as a rule, stays close to the giving birth mare and, if necessary, protects her. If a newborn is in danger (usually from hyenas that roam in search of newborn ungulates), the mother hides with the baby in the herd, and all zebras take part in protecting the little one, successfully driving out the predator. Zebras usually give birth to a foal every 2-3 years, but a sixth of them foal every year. Mares are capable of foaling up to 15-18 years of age.
Inhabitants of rivers and lakes
Squad CROCODILES
(Crocodylia) - a family of reptiles. There are three species living in Africa. The narrow-snouted crocodile is endemic to Africa. Inhabits all major rivers of West Africa, Lake Tanganyika and the east of the mainland. The blunt-snouted (or dwarf) crocodile is found in central Africa. Nile crocodile - on the mainland and some islands.
Crocodiles occupy a special position among modern reptiles, being closer relatives of the extinct dinosaurs, which survived by almost 60 million years, and modern birds than other reptiles of our time. A number of features of the organization of crocodiles, and primarily the perfection of the nervous, circulatory and respiratory systems, allow us to consider them the most highly organized of all living reptiles. The evolution of crocodiles, starting with the appearance of this group about 150 million years ago, went in the direction of increasing adaptation to the aquatic lifestyle and predation. The fact that crocodiles have survived to this day is often explained by their life in various fresh water bodies of the tropical and subtropical zones, that is, in places where conditions have changed little since the appearance of crocodiles.
General form body, crocodile lizard-shaped. They are characterized by a long, laterally compressed, high tail, membranes between the toes of the hind limbs, a long muzzle and a head flattened in the dorso-ventral direction. The forelimbs have five fingers, the hind limbs have four (there is no little finger). The nostrils, located at the front end of the muzzle, and the eyes are raised and located on the upper side of the head, which allows crocodiles to stay in the water near its surface, exposing only the eyes and nostrils to the air. The external auditory openings are closed with movable valves that protect the eardrums from mechanical damage when immersed in water. The body, tail and limbs of crocodiles are covered with large, regular-shaped horny scutes located on the back and stomach in regular rows. In the inner layer of skin (corium) under the horny scutes of the outer layer on the back and in some species on the belly, bone plates (osteoderms) develop, firmly connected to the horny scutes, forming a shell that well protects the crocodile’s body; on the head, osteoderms are fused with the bones of the skull.
Modern crocodiles inhabit various fresh water bodies. Relatively few species tolerate brackish water and are found in river estuaries (African narrow-snouted crocodile, Nile crocodile, American sharp-snouted crocodile). Only the saltwater crocodile swims far into the open sea and has been observed at a distance of 600 km from the nearest shore. Crocodiles spend most of the day in the water. They go out to the coastal shallows in the morning and in the late afternoon to warm up in sun rays.
Crocodiles hunt at night. Fish is an essential component of the diet of all crocodiles, but crocodiles eat any prey they can handle. Therefore, the set of foods changes with age: various invertebrates - insects, crustaceans, mollusks, worms - serve as food for the young; larger animals hunt fish, amphibians, reptiles and aquatic birds. Adult crocodiles are able to cope with large mammals. There is a known case of the remains of a rhinoceros being found in the stomach of a Nile crocodile. Many species of crocodiles exhibit cannibalism—larger individuals devouring smaller ones. Crocodiles often eat carrion; some species hide the uneaten remains of the prey under an overhanging bank and later devour them half-decomposed. Crocodiles move in the water with the help of their tail. On land, crocodiles are slow and clumsy, but sometimes make significant journeys, moving several kilometers away from bodies of water. When moving quickly, crocodiles place their legs under their body (usually they are widely spaced), which rises high above the ground. Young Nile crocodiles can gallop at a speed of about 12 km per hour. Crocodiles lay eggs the size of chicken or goose eggs, covered with a calcareous shell. The number of eggs in a clutch varies from 10 to 100 in different species. Some species bury eggs in the sand, others lay them in nests made by the female from rotting vegetation. The female remains close to the clutch, protecting it from enemies. Young crocodiles, still inside the eggs, make croaking sounds at the time of hatching, after which the mother digs up the clutch, helping the offspring get out.
Crocodiles grow rapidly in the first 2-3 years of life, during which they reach crocodiles and gharials. sizes 1-1.5 m. With age, the growth rate decreases, and they add only a few centimeters in length per year. They reach sexual maturity at the age of 8-10 years. Crocodiles live up to 80 - 100 years. Adult crocodiles have few enemies, if you exclude humans. There have been cases of attacks by elephants and lions on crocodiles traveling overland from one body of water to another. 
Widely distributed in Africa Nile Crocodile(Crocodylus niloticus). It can be found throughout Africa, except its northern part, in Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles. Most often it settles outside the forest, but also enters forest reservoirs. Reaches a length of 4-6 m. The cubs that have just hatched from eggs have a length of about 28 cm, by the end of the first year of life they reach 60 cm, by two years - 90 cm, at 5 years - 1.7 m, at 10 years - 2, 3 m and at 20 years old - 3.75 m. They spend the night in the water, and at sunrise they go out to the shallows and bask in the sun's rays. The midday, hottest hours are spent in the water, with the exception of cloudy days. In windy or inclement weather, they spend the night on the shore. The maximum duration of stay under water for animals about 1 m long is about 40 minutes; larger crocodiles can stay underwater for much longer. The food of the Nile crocodile is very varied and changes with age. In cubs up to 30 cm long, 70% of their food consists of insects. Larger individuals (about 2.5 m long) feed on fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and even larger ones feed on fish, reptiles, birds and mammals. Adult Nile crocodiles can attack such large mammals like buffalos and even rhinoceroses. Crocodiles lie in wait for animals near watering places, in water or on land in thick grass. In a number of areas, Nile crocodiles are dangerous to humans. Eggs are always laid in the dry season, when water levels are low. Females dig a hole in the sand up to 60 cm deep, where they lay 25-95 (on average 55-60) eggs. Incubation lasts about 90 days, during which the mother remains constantly at the nest, guarding the clutch. Apparently, the animal is not feeding at this time. By the time they hatch, the young crocodiles inside the eggs begin to make grunting sounds, which serve as a signal for the mother, who helps the cubs get out from under the sand and accompanies them to the water. At this time, the female can attack a person even on land. Hatching from eggs usually occurs after the first rains fall, with a rise in the water level in lakes and rivers, so that young crocodiles immediately find shelter and food in flooded reservoirs. After the young crocodiles emerge from the eggs, the mother leads them (according to Cott's observations) to the "nursery" she has chosen - a shallow body of water protected by vegetation. Here young crocodiles stay for about six weeks; all this time the mother remains with the brood, protecting it from attacks by predators. In the absence of a mother, crocodiles hatched from eggs often remain close to the nest, where they are usually exterminated by predators - goliath herons, marabou, kites. Numerous cases of cannibalism (devouring eggs and young individuals) are known, which is usually considered a mechanism for regulating the population of the species: it is noted that cannibalism occurs more often, the higher the number of crocodiles. The number of Nile crocodiles has fallen everywhere and continues to fall. In ancient Egypt, crocodiles were revered as sacred animals; now they are almost exterminated. The same fate will befall crocodiles in a number of places in Central and East Africa if measures are not taken to protect the species.
BEHEMOTHES
(lat. Hippopotamidae) is a family of artiodactyls, containing two genera, in which there is one species each: the common hippopotamus and the pygmy hippopotamus. Representatives of the hippopotamus family are found only in Africa.
The common hippopotamus or hippopotamus, at the beginning of the last century, lived on a vast territory from the lower reaches of the Nile almost to Cape Town. Now in most areas it has been exterminated and is preserved in significant numbers only in Central and Eastern Africa, and even then mainly in national parks. Largest quantity hippopotamuses are now observed along the shores of the Semliki-Nile and Lake Edward, in the territories of the Kivu (Congo Kinshasa) and Queen Elizabeth (Uganda) national parks, where there are from 50 to 200 animals per 1 km of coastline, and the total number is estimated at 25,000-30 000. The population density of hippos is also very high in Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda).
The hippopotamus has a ridged, massive body on short thick legs. The legs end in four toes, covered with peculiar hooves and connected by a small membrane. The head is almost neckless, large, heavy, and the nostrils, eyes and small ears are somewhat raised and located in the same plane, so that the hippopotamus can breathe, look and hear while remaining under water. The mass of large males reaches 3000-3200 kg, body length 400-420 cm, height at the shoulders up to 165 cm. The skin of the hippopotamus is hairless (only on the muzzle and tail there are coarse hairs) and is rich in glands that protect it from drying out. The secretion of these glands is reddish in color and is released abundantly when the animal overheats or dries out. This is a rather strange sight: it seems that bloody sweat is flowing down the animal’s body. The mouth of the hippopotamus is wide, the jaws (especially the lower) are armed with huge, sparsely spaced teeth, of which the fangs reach the largest size. They have no roots and grow throughout their lives. The largest known hippopotamus fang was 64.5 cm long. The teeth were covered with a hard yellowish coating.
Hippos prefer shallow (about 1.2 m) bodies of water with sloping banks and lush near-water vegetation. In such reservoirs they find shallows and spits where they spend the day, easily move along the bottom without swimming, and, if necessary, easily hide from danger. Hippos swim and dive excellently and can stay under water for 4-5 minutes. The ability of hippos as swimmers is evidenced by the fact that they swam to the island of Zanzibar more than once, crossing a 30-kilometer strait. On land, the hippopotamus seems somewhat clumsy and clumsy. This, however, does not prevent animals from sometimes making long journeys. Thus, in the Ngorongoro Crater (Tanzania), several hippopotamuses live in a small lake, although the nearest bodies of water are tens of kilometers away. And crossing the steep 200 m high forested mountain bordering the crater is not an easy task! B. Grzimek talks in detail about the famous hippopotamus - the wanderer Hubert, who in the early 40s traveled around the Union of South Africa for two and a half years and covered about 1600 km.
Hippos are social animals. Typically, a family of hippopotamuses consists of 10–20 females with growing cubs and an old male and occupies a strictly defined area of the coast. Immature animals live separately in small communities. Finally, adult males who do not have harems live alone. There are frequent fights between such males for territory, which, although they begin with a certain ritual, end without observing “ sports rules" Hippo fights are scary spectacles. The animals inflict deep, profusely bleeding wounds on each other with their fangs, and the defeated opponent is pursued by cruel bites even when fleeing. Sometimes the fight lasts up to two hours and often ends with the death of one of the fighters. More often, however, the matter is limited to threats: one of the rivals tries to intimidate the other, sticks out high out of the water with its mouth wide open, and then noisily dives towards the enemy. However, underwater, it describes an arc and rushes in the opposite direction.
Hippopotamuses eat near-water and terrestrial vegetation. In Uganda, their menu includes 27 species of herbaceous plants. Usually hippos graze on land, biting the grass with their slightly keratinized lips right to the very roots. The daily food requirement is 1.1-1.3% of its own weight, i.e. about 40 kg of grass. The digestive tract of the hippopotamus is very long - it reaches 60 m, and the stomach is three-chambered. All this makes it possible to effectively absorb fiber with a much greater degree of completeness than is observed, for example, in elephants. The life of hippos is subject to a strict circadian rhythm. They spend the daylight hours in the water, where they sleep on shallows and spits, and soon after sunset they go to feed and return to the reservoir just before dawn. Each of the adult males has its own path from the water to the shore and an individual plot of land for grazing. This area is jealously guarded from other males and is marked along the boundaries with piles of droppings. Hippos leave the same marks along the path. They have a conical shape and reach very impressive sizes - up to 1 m in height and 2 m in diameter. The marks are renewed daily, and the animal stands with its back to it and sprays droppings with its short, flattened tail, like a propeller. The same technique is used by adult males when meeting each other or a female. This is not observed in young people and females. It is interesting to note that hippopotamus droppings play a significant role in the life of African water bodies: on its basis, rich phytoplankton develops, increasing biological productivity. In particular, the fantastic catches of freshwater tilapia fish in Lake George (Uganda), which serves as the basis for the diet of the local population, depend entirely on the number of hippopotamuses. The hippopotamus trails leading from the water to the feeding areas are a wonderful sight. Many generations of animals have carved deep (up to half a meter) ruts in the hard ground and even in stone, the width between which corresponds to the distance between the paws. On steep climbs, the ruts turn into steps. In soft ground, the path simply resembles a ditch one and a half meters deep. A frightened animal rushes along such a chute towards the water at the speed of a steam locomotive, and it is not recommended to come across it on the road at this time.
Female hippos reach sexual maturity at the age of 9 years, males - 7. The mating period occurs twice a year, in February and August, i.e. at the end of each dry period. Mating itself occurs in shallow water, where the female gives birth to a single calf after 240 days of pregnancy. A newborn hippo has a mass of 45 - 50 kg with a body length of about 120 meters and can independently accompany its mother within a day. At this time, the female uses her body to protect the cub from her fellow tribesmen, especially old males, who can easily trample the baby in a crush. However, despite careful care, young hippos often fall prey to lions, leopards, wild dogs and hyenas. There are known cases of successful attacks by lions on adult animals. Crocodiles, contrary to popular belief, do not attack hippos. The mortality rate of young animals is exceptionally high and reaches 20% in the first year of life. But in the next 30-40 years it does not exceed 6%. Among hippos older than this age, the mortality rate rises again to 40%. In captivity, hippos live up to 50 years.
As already mentioned, in some national parks in Africa, the density of hippopotamus populations has increased enormously. Effective protection turned out to be completely unexpected: hippos, by destroying vegetation, cause irreversible pasture depression and destroy their own habitat. As with elephants, the most pressing problem facing national parks is the decline in the number of hippos. In past times, when hippos populated all the waters of Africa, such overpopulation did not arise. Most of Africa's small lakes and rivers depend entirely on climatic conditions, and in particularly dry years they dry out completely. Unlike other ungulates, hippos are not capable of long-distance migrations and die en masse. In the particularly dry 30s, the English zoologist E. Huxley in Northern Kenya observed thousands of hippos lying in thick mud: they were so weakened that they were unable to rise. After such deaths, with the onset of favorable conditions, the gradual resettlement of animals that had survived in deeper reservoirs began in the vacated territories, and the balance was restored. In addition, the Africans, armed only with harpoons and bows, did not undermine the main herd and only constantly reduced the number of hippos. Now the picture is different: either hippos are completely protected in the protected area, or they are quickly destroyed outside it. Animals very soon begin to understand where the border of the protection zone is, and voluntarily do not leave the safe place, resulting in overpopulation. Currently, systematic shooting of hippos in national parks has begun to prevent overpopulation. Africans have long used hippopotamus meat for food. It tastes like veal and can be salted, smoked and dried. Unlike livestock meat, hippopotamus meat is lean, which greatly increases its value as a source of protein. From one hippopotamus they get 520 kg of pure meat and 30 kg of internal fat; The mass of his liver is 27 kg, his heart is 8 kg, his tongue is 5 kg, his lungs are 9 kg, his bones are 280 kg, and his skin is 248 kg. Edible parts account for 70.9% of live weight, while the same figures for European cattle are only 55%. Hippopotamus skin is also a valuable raw material. It takes 6 years to tan it properly. Then it acquires the hardness of stone and is indispensable for polishing discs. Even diamonds can be polished on such discs. To this should be added the cost of the fangs. Before sale, the fangs are dipped in acid to dissolve the yellowish coating. After this operation, they lose up to one-third of their mass, but are then not inferior in beauty to ivory, and even superior in value, since they do not turn yellow over time. In the old days, before the invention of plastics, the best dentures were made from hippopotamus fangs. There is no doubt that proper economic exploitation of hippopotamuses is very promising.
Birds of the jungle and savannah
MARABOU
(Leptoptilus) is a genus of birds of the order Storkidae. The African marabou (or adjutant) is common in Africa. The distribution area is tropical Africa from Senegal east to Sudan.
This is one of the largest land flying birds. When you look at it, your attention is immediately drawn to its large, featherless head and huge massive beak. In a calmly sitting bird, the beak usually lies on a kind of pillow, which is a fleshy protrusion of the neck not covered with feathers. The plumage color of the African marabou is white, but the back, wings and tail are dark gray, blackish. Wing length 70 cm, beak length 30 cm, weight 5-6 kg. Height - one and a half meters.
Marabou, or, as it is often called for its “solemn”, military-type gait, adjutant, makes its huge nests in trees, for example on baobabs, sometimes even in villages. Often nests next to pelicans, forming mixed colonies. The marabou feeds mainly on carrion, but on occasion it eats frogs, lizards, rodents and insects, in particular locusts. Often this bird can be seen soaring in the air, looking out for prey together with vultures. The vultures gathered for carrion treat the approaching marabou with great “respect,” since with its powerful beak the marabou is capable of piercing the skin of a dead animal, which is then torn apart by the scavengers.
AFRICAN OSTRICH
- a bird of the Ostrich family, order Ostriformes. Nowadays it lives only in Africa, previously it was found in Syria and the Arabian Peninsula. And in the Pleistocene and Pliocene - Central Asia and even Ukraine. Today, the ostrich is numerous only in the Kalahari and savannas of eastern Africa.
These are the largest modern birds. Height reaches 270 cm, weight 70-90 kg. The ostrich has a dense build, a long neck and a small flattened head, and a not very large but wide beak. The neck of the African ostrich is covered with short down. The legs, at least that part of them that is visible from the outside, are also not feathered. The plumage color of the male ostrich is black, and the flight and tail feathers (which, due to the above structural features, are unsuitable for flight) are white. The large number of flight feathers (16 primary, 20-23 secondary) and tail feathers (the last 50-60) is noteworthy. The female ostrich is smaller than the male and is colored uniformly in grayish-brown tones.
They feed mainly on plant foods - grass, leaves, fruits. In addition, ostriches eat various small animals, birds, lizards and insects. They live in small groups of 3-5 birds. In this case, there is only one male, the rest are females. However, during non-breeding times, ostriches sometimes gather in herds of up to 20-30 birds, and immature birds in southern Africa - up to 50-100 individuals. They are often found in the same herd with zebras and various types of antelope. In case of danger, they quickly run, taking steps of 4-5 m and reaching speeds of up to 70 km/h. They can run without slowing down for 20-30 minutes. It is almost impossible to catch them on horseback. An angry, defensive ostrich is dangerous to humans.
When the time comes for breeding, the male displays in a very peculiar way. The current bird sits on its long legs, beats its wings rhythmically, throws its head back and rubs the back of its head against its own back. At this time, her neck and legs become bright red. Then the male rushes with huge strides after the fleeing female. Protecting their territory, males sometimes roar like lions. To do this, they take a full crop of air and forcefully push it into the esophagus, the bare neck inflates like a balloon, and at the same time a loud, dull roar is heard.
Almost all care for the offspring lies with the male ostrich. He scrapes out a flat nesting hole in the sand, where several females lay eggs. Usually they lay eggs, literally, under the nose of the male sitting on the nest, and he himself rolls the egg under himself. At night the eggs are incubated by the male, and by the female during the day. In North Africa, ostrich nests containing 15-20 eggs are usually found, in the south of the continent - 30, and in East Africa up to 50-60 eggs. This appears to be the production of 5 females, since each female lays 7-9 eggs. Females lay eggs apparently once every 2 days. The weight of one egg is from 1.5 to 2 kg (three dozen chicken eggs). The shells of ostrich eggs are very thick and broken, reminiscent of broken pottery shards. The eggs are about 150 mm long, their color is straw yellow, sometimes darker, sometimes white. The shell can be shiny, smooth, or in some subspecies it is porous. Incubation duration is 42 days or slightly more. During the first two months of life, the chicks are covered with brownish, hard, bristle-like shit, then they dress in an outfit similar to that of the female. They become capable of reproduction in the 3rd year of life.
FLAMINGO
- an order of birds, often included as a family in the order Storkidae. There are two common species in Africa: common or large (in Algeria and Kenya), and small (in the southeast of the continent - in Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar).
They inhabit salty shallow lakes and lagoons. Nest in colonies, the number of which even half a century ago on some lakes reached a million birds.
SMALL FLAMINGO (Phoeniconaias minor) has the smallest size of all modern flamingo species. This species is the only one in the genus of African flamingos (Phoeniconaias). The total length of its body is 80 cm. The color of the plumage is often bright pink. Its upper beak is even narrower than that of its mentioned brethren, but it has a keel descending into the depths of the beak. The food of the small flamingo consists mainly of snow-green and dnatom algae, so its “filter” is more developed. It is estimated that from the waters of Lake Nakuru (East Africa) with 0.4 hectares, lesser flamingos annually extract about 2000 tons of blue-green algae. When looking for food, the bird usually does not lower its beak to the bottom, but moves it from side to side along the surface of the water. It nests in the eastern regions of Equatorial Africa - on the salt lakes of Kenya, Tanzania and somewhat to the south, as well as in Asia off the coast of the Persian Gulf and on Lake Sambhor in Central Rajasthan (India). It is believed that on the alkaline lakes of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania there are about 3 million small and red flamingos, but these are mainly individuals of the small flamingo. In 1954, English ornithologist Leslie Brown discovered mass nesting of small flamingos in one of the alkaline reservoirs of East Africa - Lake Natron. “Here, in these fetid places, in the scorching heat and blinding sun,” writes L. Brown, “flamingos raise their chicks. . . Although the surface of the mud becomes very hot, in the upper part of the tower nest the temperature does not exceed normal body temperature. Having hatched, the young flamingo spends the first days of its life on this relatively cool elevation, and in case of danger it always returns to the nest. On average, this population hatches 130,000 chicks per year. Based on annual population growth data, average duration The life of a flamingo is more than twenty years, which is unusual for birds.” Distributed in Eastern and Southern Africa. They live in forest and open areas. They lead a terrestrial lifestyle. They live in groups, sometimes very large - up to several dozen individuals. The leader of the group is a large and strong male, capable of engaging in single combat even with a leopard. They feed on various plants and animals - insects, small vertebrates.
GORILLA
(Gorilla gorilla) - lives in Africa. These are the largest anthropoids. The body length of males reaches 180 cm, body weight 250 kg or more. Females are much lighter and smaller than males. The body of gorillas is massive with a large belly; broad shoulders; the head is large, conical in adult males; the eyes are widely spaced and set deep under the eyebrows; the nose is wide, the nostrils are surrounded by “ridges”; the upper lip, unlike chimpanzees, is short; the ears are small and pressed to the head; the face is naked, black. The gorilla's arms are long, with wide hands; the thumb is short, but can be opposed to the rest. The brush is used in collecting food, in various kinds of manipulation and for building nests. The legs are short, the foot has a long heel, the big toe is well set to the side; the remaining fingers are connected by membranes almost to the nail phalanges. The coat is short, thick, black; adult males have a silver stripe on the back and a small beard.
The gorilla genus includes one species, Gorilla gorilla, with subspecies: the western coast gorilla, or lowland gorilla (G. gorilla gorilla), which lives in Cameroon, Gabon, Rio Muni, almost to the Congo (Brazzaville), and the eastern mountain gorilla (G. g. beringei) from the mountainous areas north and east of Lake Kivu and south. Besides, in Lately A third subspecies stands out - the eastern lowland gorilla (G. g. manyema) from the lowlands of the upper Congo River (Lualaba River) and to the north along Lake Tanganyika. Mountain gorillas have longer and thicker hair than coastal gorillas, especially on the arms; adult males have a gray stripe on the back; the face is narrower and longer; arms are shorter. The coastal or lowland gorilla is somewhat smaller than the eastern forms, but otherwise very similar, and the differences between them are insignificant. The coast gorilla lives in dense tropical rainforests. Only a few naturalists could penetrate this inaccessible jungle. Therefore, only fragmentary information is known about the life of the lowland gorilla in natural conditions. The mountain gorilla lives in temperate mountain forests. Its habitat areas have been explored by many travelers and scientists.
Little was known about the life of these anthropoids. Only recently has their daily life in the African wilds been described. Scientists spent almost two years among gorillas in the mountain forests of East and Central Africa, where eleven groups of gorillas were observed daily. Mountain gorillas live in small herds (5-30 individuals), the size of which varies in different areas. The composition of the group is relatively stable: the dominant male with a silver stripe on his back; one or more younger black-backed males, several females, cubs and juveniles. But still, the number of groups is constantly changing: new cubs are born, some extraneous female with a cub or individual individuals may join the group, and adult males often leave the group. The herd composition of the western coast gorillas is similar. J. Schaller's research refuted the prejudices about the belligerence and ferocity of gorillas towards humans. The scientist spent many hours in the vicinity of the gorillas and even slept 10-15m from them, but was never attacked. They behaved quite friendly. In their herds, gorillas are also surprisingly peaceful and show rare tolerance towards each other. The silverback dominant male of gorillas behaves as a leader and patron, and not as a despot. If in baboons, for example, the leader of the herd is also the head of the harem, then in gorillas the leader of the group is not the ruler of the harem. He is not jealous, and sexual relations among gorillas are gentle and voluntary; males do not attack the female. Hierarchical relationships and the right to a dominant position in a herd of gorillas are manifested in the order of following trails or when occupying dry corners during the rain. When the leader goes to a new feeding place, the herd lines up behind him in a chain. Family members pay great attention to the leader. He is often away from the group. Females are not afraid of him, they sit next to him and even lean on him. Secondary males are also located nearby. The cubs play next to him. Sometimes the leader caresses the little cub. The way gorillas move on the ground and in trees is the same as that of chimpanzees. Communication between group members is carried out through various postures, facial expressions and voices. Schaller lists more than 20 different vocal sounds among gorillas.
The life of gorillas consists of eating, sleeping, resting and walking. Schaller notes the diversity of characters and temperaments of group leaders. The mood of the entire group and its relationship with the observer depend on this. In some groups, the leaders are shy and cannot be observed for a long time, while others allow themselves to be observed around the clock.
Gorillas, like other large anthropoids, build nests for themselves at night, which they never use the next night. Sometimes silverback males (less often other members of the group) make a nest under a tree on the ground. Eastern gorillas in lowland rain forests are less likely to sleep on the ground than western gorillas. Daytime nests are more common in eastern gorillas than in western ones. Gorillas are not known for their cleanliness and at night they pollute their nests. They sleep in different positions. They wake up quite late, when the sun rises. The day begins with a leisurely search for food. The diet of gorillas includes about 29 species of plants (including wild celery, bedstraw, nettle, bamboo shoots, blue pygeum fruits, sometimes the bark of some trees, etc.). However, in captivity they also eat meat. Having left their night nests, gorillas disperse to feed. Each of them, sitting in place, reaches for food with her hands in all directions around herself, then gets up and moves to another place. They eat in silence. The cubs stay close to their mothers, watching them feed. It takes two hours to eat. After breakfast, the well-fed gorillas lie around the silverback male. Occasionally they make nests for midday rest. Sometimes they put themselves in order - they itch and clean themselves, and females do this more often than males, and adolescents more often than females. The mother cleans the little cubs, picking them up hair by hair. The mother cares for the cubs tenderly and never spanks them as punishment. Females do not search each other, nor do they groom the silver-backed male. The young animals spend their afternoon rest in games and exploring the surrounding area. The need for games is lost in gorillas by the age of six. When the cubs are not busy playing, they sit next to their mother. Occasionally, there are quarrels over trifles, most often between females, and the leader calmly listens to their howls. Females howl and bark hoarsely, abruptly, like dogs. Sometimes they squeal and bite. The midday rest takes 2-3 hours, after which the group moves in single file to a new place, with the leader leading this procession and the black-backed male bringing up the rear. Upon arrival at a new feeding site, the herd scatters and subordination is disrupted. Gorillas roam around large territory overcoming various natural obstacles. These strong, large animals know no fear. Only in rare cases, when the situation seems dangerous to them, the leader begins to shake the branch, hit his chest with his fists and scream loudly. By 17-18 pm the group begins to gather around the leader and gradually prepare for bed. They spend the night where night finds them. As a rule, the leader begins to build a nest first, followed by all members of the family.
In all likelihood, gorillas breed all year round. After 251-289 days of pregnancy, one naked, helpless cub is born, which stays with its mother for up to three years, but sometimes stops suckling at one year. Currently, there are a dozen known cases of gorillas being born in captivity. It is believed that in natural conditions gorillas can live up to 30-35 years. Currently, the mountain gorilla population numbers around 1,500.
CHIMPANZEE
(Pan) is a genus of monkeys of the anthropoid family, endemic to Africa. Distributed in Equatorial Africa, where its representatives are found in tropical rain and mountain forests, rising to mountains up to 3000 m above sea level.
Chimpanzees are large monkeys with a total body length of up to one and a half meters, of which the length of the head and body accounts for 75-95 cm; body weight is on average 45-50 kg and even up to 80 kg. In chimpanzees, unlike orangutans, sexual dimorphism is less pronounced - in terms of body weight, for example, females make up 90% of males. The arms are much longer than the legs. Hands with long fingers, but the first finger is small. On the feet, the first toe is large, and there are skin membranes between the remaining toes. The ears are large, human-like, the upper lip is high, the nose is small. The skin of the face, as well as the back surfaces of the hands and feet, is wrinkled. The coat is black, and both sexes have white hair on the chin. The skin of the body is light, but on the face its color varies among different species. Average body temperature is 37.2°.
The chimpanzee genus includes two species - the common chimpanzee (P. troglodytes) and the pygmy chimpanzee, or bonobo (P. paniscus). The first type is divided into three subspecies. The "what" chimpanzee (P. troglodytes troglodytes) from Central Africa (Niger and Congo river basins) is distinguished by a freckled face on a white background, which becomes dirty with age, with larger spots. The Schweinfurth chimpanzee (P. t. schweinfurthii) from Central and Eastern Africa (the basins of the Luabala and Ubanga rivers) in the areas of Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika has a light face, turning into a dark dirty face with age; the wool is longer. The common chimpanzee (P. t. verus) from West Africa (Sierra Leone, Guinea east to the Niger River) has black facial pigmentation, which is shaped like a butterfly mask (the eyebrows and lower part of the face are lighter). These subspecies are often mistaken for independent species, and some authors even proposed that the bonobo, discovered only about 70 years ago, be classified as a separate genus. The bonobo, or pygmy chimpanzee (P. paniscus), has a somewhat infantile appearance; it is much smaller common chimpanzees, slender, his facial skin is black, his hair is longer on the sides of his forehead. Bonobos live in a small area between the Congo and Luabala rivers. Chimpanzees lead a semi-terrestrial, semi-arboreal lifestyle; they spend about 30% of their daytime hours on the ground. Here they usually move on all fours, resting on the entire sole and on the dorsal surfaces of the middle phalanges of the bent fingers; in this position they can run quickly and occasionally walk on two legs. They move quickly through trees using brachiation, hanging on their arms, the muscles of which have great lifting force. But moving along branches often uses arms and legs simultaneously. Chimpanzees have a grasping hand, and their thumb, despite its small size, can be opposed to the rest. During locomotion in trees, the hand serves as a “grasping hook.” The chimpanzee's hand is capable of active manipulation, which includes the process of searching, building a nest, "using tools"; This also includes "drawing" in captivity. Chimpanzees live in groups, the numbers of which are not stable. Each group includes from 2 to 25 or more individuals, sometimes mixed groups of even 40-45 individuals are found. The composition of the group is also not stable. A group can consist of a pair - a male and a female, there are only male groups, groups - a mother with cubs of different generations, mixed groups. Single males are also visible. In the herd relationships of chimpanzees, there is no special hierarchy between individuals. D. Goodall, who studied their life in natural conditions, points to rare quarrels and aggressiveness, and emphasizes tolerance between adult males and adolescents. Mutual courtship and exaction are common between adults. When communicating with each other, chimpanzees make about 30 different sounds; hand gestures and body postures also play an important role. Finally, facial expression occupies a special place. Anthropoids, perhaps more so chimpanzees, have well-developed facial muscles, and hence the variety of their facial expressions. It is interesting that when they “cry,” they close their eyes tightly and emit a loud cry, but, unlike humans, tears do not flow from their eyes. When receiving a treat, the chimpanzee shows a semblance of a smile - the corners of the eyes squint, the eyes sparkle, the corners of the lips are pulled upward.
Chimpanzees sleep in nests, lying on their sides with their knees bent, and sometimes on their backs with their legs extended or pressed to their stomachs. They build nests, like orangutans, in the middle part of the tree. For daytime rest, the nest is built on the ground or in trees. In captivity, nests are made from rags and paper. Chimpanzees feed mainly on plant foods, including juicy fruits, leaves, nuts, young shoots, seeds, tree bark, and sometimes do not neglect termites and ants. They observed how a chimpanzee lowered a stick into a pile of ants and licked the ants that ran onto it. D. Goodall tells how in Tanganyika chimpanzees kill and devour small monkeys. According to her reports, chimpanzees make drinking cups by rolling leaves into a cone. The herd life of chimpanzees consists of searching for food and various relationships. Cubs and adolescents 3-8 years old spend a lot of time in games; with age, games are gradually replaced by ritual searching in adults.
WILDLIFE OF AFRICA
Africa has a rich and diverse fauna; 1 thousand species of mammals and 1.5 thousand species of birds live here.
The northern part of the continent, together with the Sahara, belongs to the Mediterranean subregion of the Holarctic zoogeographical region, the rest to the Ethiopian region, which is distinguished by its particularly rich fauna (Fig. 108).
Rice. 108. Zoogeographical zoning of Africa
However, there are no sharp zoogeographic boundaries on the mainland, and differences in the fauna of individual regions of Africa depend mainly on modern landscape differences. The fauna of the northern part of the continent is in many respects close to the fauna of Southern Europe and Western Asia.
In the dry regions of the Atlas and the Sahara live animals that do not require a lot of water or are able to overcome large spaces in search of water and food. These are various gazelles: dama gazelle, derkas, etc. There are also North African deer, fallow deer, and predators include striped hyena, jackals, desert fennec fox, and wild cats. Lions come from the savannas into the deserts. In the Atlas Mountains lives the same species of small monkey (tailless macaque) that also lives in southern Spain. There are many rodents (hares, jerboas), there are wild rabbits, and one species of porcupine. Reptiles are richly represented, especially lizards: desert monitor lizard, geckos, spiny tail. The typical snakes are the sand boa constrictor, various vipers, and the African cobra.
Crocodiles, turtles, and the poisonous Nile snake live in the riverine thickets and rivers.
In semi-deserts and deserts In North Africa, African ostrich, bustard, and larks are common; in the Atlas Mountains - rock partridge, black vulture, vulture, griffon vulture, lamb's-headed vulture (these same birds are also found in Southern Europe). Flamingos, pelicans, storks and herons live along the rivers and lakes. A typical North African bird is the canary finch, or wild canary (Serinus canaria), nesting in forests and gardens, as well as in mountains at fairly high altitudes.
Locusts cause great harm to the population; agriculture in North African countries suffers from their frequent invasions. Lots of beetles and butterflies, often brightly colored. Scorpions and phalanges pose a great danger to people.
Ethiopian fauna The region is characterized by great uniformity within the continent, with only some differences depending on habitat conditions, which is reflected in the division into subregions.
Savannah
In the savannas with their huge food resources there are many herbivores, especially antelope, of which there are more than 40 species. Until now, in some places there are herds of the largest wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) with a large mane, powerful tail and downward-curved horns; Kudu antelopes (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) with beautiful helical horns, elands (Tragelaphus oryx), etc. are also common. There are also dwarf antelopes, reaching a length of a little more than half a meter.
Z 
The animals of the African savannas and semi-deserts saved from extinction are remarkable - giraffes(Giraffa reticulata and Giraffa camelopardalis), they are preserved mainly in national parks. The long neck helps them reach and gnaw young shoots and leaves from trees, and the ability to run quickly is the only means of protection from pursuers.
In many areas, especially in the east of the continent and south of the equator, African wild horses are common in the savannas and steppes - zebras(Equus zebra, Equus grevyi; Equus. quagga). They are hunted mainly for their durable and beautiful skins. In some places, domesticated zebras are replacing horses as they are not susceptible to tsetse fly bites.
D 
still preserved African elephants- the most remarkable representatives of the fauna of the Ethiopian region (Loxodonta africana). They have long been exterminated for their valuable tusks, and in many areas they have completely disappeared. Elephant hunting is currently banned throughout Africa, but this ban is often violated by ivory poachers.
African elephant mother with baby elephant
Now elephants are found in the least populated mountainous areas, in particular in the Ethiopian Highlands (Fig. 109).
Rice. 109. Distribution of some animals in Africa
In addition, they live on the territory national parks of Eastern and Southern Africa, where their numbers are even increasing. But still, the existence of the African elephant as a biological species has come under a real threat in recent decades, which can only be prevented by the active joint activities of national and international organizations.
TO 
endangered animals include rhinoceroses, living in the eastern and southern parts of the continent. African rhinoceroses have two horns and are represented by two species - black and white rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis, Ceratotherium sinum). The latter is the largest of the modern species and reaches a length of 4 m. Now it is preserved only in protected areas.
Black rhinoceros
Much more widespread hippos(Hippopotamus amphibius), living along the banks of rivers and lakes in different parts of Africa. These animals, as well as wild pigs, are hunted for their edible meat and also for their skin.
Herbivores provide food for numerous predators.
In the savannas and semi-deserts of Africa there are lions (Panthera leo), represented by two varieties: the Barbary, living north of the equator, and the Senegalese, common in the southern part of the continent. Lions prefer open spaces and almost never enter forests. Hyenas, jackals, leopards, cheetahs, caracals, and servals are common. There are several representatives of the civet family. In the lowland and mountain steppes and savannas there are many monkeys belonging to the group of baboons: real Raigo baboons, geladas (Theropithecus gelada), mandrills (Papio sphinx). Among the slender-bodied monkeys, the Guereza monkey (Colobus guereza) is typical. Many of their species live only in cool mountain climates, as they cannot tolerate high temperatures lowlands.
Among rodents Of note are mice and several species of squirrels.
Numerous in savannas birds: African ostriches, guinea fowl, marabou, weavers, a very interesting secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius), which feeds on snakes. Lapwings, herons, and pelicans nest near ponds.
Bird secretary
Reptiles no less than in the northern deserts, they are often represented by the same genera and even species. Many different lizards and snakes, land turtles. Some types of chameleons are also characteristic. There are crocodiles in the rivers.
Tropical rainforests
Tropical rainforests have peculiar a fauna not nearly as rich as that of the open spaces of Africa. Forests have significantly fewer herbivores and therefore fewer predators.
Of the ungulates, the okapi (Okapia johnstoni), akin to the giraffe, is typical for forests - an animal that hides in dense forest thickets, is very shy and cautious. There are also forest antelopes, water deer, wild boar, buffalo, and hippopotamus. Predators are represented by wild cats, leopards, jackals and civets. The most common rodents are the brush-tailed porcupine and the broad-tailed flying squirrel.
Giraffe Okapi
Monkeys are diverse in the forests, and many of them lead an arboreal lifestyle. There are numerous monkeys, baboons, and mandrills. Africa between 10°N and 10° S is the habitat of two genera of great apes - chimpanzees (genus Pan) and gorillas (genus Gorilla), each of which is represented by 2-3 species.
Chimpanzee
The mountains of the Western Rift Zone are home to rare and little-studied mountain gorillas. There are also two species of lemurs in the forest fauna of the mainland.
Typical representatives of the forest avifauna are several species of parrots, banana-eaters, beautifully feathered and brightly colored forest hoopoes, tiny sunbirds, African peacocks, etc.
Lizards and snakes are numerous, and a blunt-nosed crocodile lives in the rivers. Among amphibians, frogs are especially diverse.
Deserts and semi-deserts
The desert and semi-desert spaces of South Africa are much poorer faunally than other parts of the continent, including the deserts of North Africa. The typical ungulates there are the Kaffir buffalo (Syncerus coffer), one species of zebra (quagga), and some species of antelope. Predators include the Kama fox, the aardwolf, and several species of civets. Lions have been almost completely exterminated. There are some endemic species of rodents and insectivores; Among the latter, golden moles (Chrysochloridae) are especially interesting.
Very unique fauna Madagascar with an abundance of endemic forms in the complete absence of groups of animals common in Africa, such as true monkeys, top predators and poisonous snakes.
Madagascar is characterized by lemurs, represented by many genera and species and widespread throughout the island, since the local population does not exterminate them, some are even domesticated. Among the predators there are only civets. There are many insectivores, among which tenrecs are endemic.
The African fauna, unique and one of the richest faunas on Earth, suffers great damage human activity. This is also to blame long years colonialism, as well as individual socio-economic processes that occur in the countries of modern Africa. The rapidly growing population meets 80% of its need for meat food through hunting animals. Trade in ivory, leather or animal skins plays a large role in the budget of a number of countries. All this cannot but lead to the impoverishment of the fauna. At the same time, in a number of African countries, great attention is paid to the protection of fauna, and many species only thanks to this have avoided complete destruction.
First national parks in Africa were created in the first half of the 20th century, including the Kruger National Park in South Africa (1928) and the Toubkal Mountain Nature Reserve in Morocco (1944). Now in Africa there are approximately 3 thousand protected areas with a total area of almost 240 million hectares. Their main goal is the protection of wild animals and natural ecosystems in general. However, the vast and diverse biological heritage in all subregions of Africa is under threat. Civil wars and armed conflicts sometimes cause irreparable damage to the continent's biodiversity. Thus, in 2002, 289 species of mammals, 207 species of birds, 127 species of fish, 48 species of reptiles and 17 species of amphibians were threatened with extinction.
National parks Africa .
Virunga National Park.
Virunga is one of the oldest national parks in Africa. It is located in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Virunga National Park was officially established in 1929. It was then called Albert and Kivu National Park. In 1969, the separate Virunga National Park was separated from the single conservation area of Albert and Kivu.
Air and Tenere Nature Reserve.
The Air and Tenere Nature Reserve is located on the southern border of the Sahara Desert. Its area is 77,000 sq. km. The reserve was founded in 1988. Immediately, about 15% of its territory was allocated as a special reserve with a strict protection regime to protect the addax antelope. In 1991, the reserve was included in the list of UNESCO World Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites.
Serengeti National Park.
The Serengeti National Park is a 30,000 square kilometer area of low-grass, hilly valleys spread across Tanzania and Kenya. They are covered with lush grass, which grows well on fertile soil of volcanic origin. The Serengeti is a paradise for animals that delights everyone who visits it.
Ishkel National Park.
The first mention of Ishkel’s conservation status dates back to the 13th century, when the then ruling dynasty in the Arab Caliphate banned hunting in the area around the lake. The national park within its current boundaries was founded in 1980. At the same time, the park was included in the UNESCO List of World Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites.
Nairobi National Park.
Just seven kilometers from the capital of Kenya there is a small savannah with tall grass and rare spreading trees - Nairobi National Park, with a total area of only 117 square meters. km. This park was opened earlier than many similar parks in Kenya, in 1946. This is one of the few parks in the world where you can simultaneously enjoy the beauty of almost untouched wild nature and not lose sight of the silhouette of a big city.
Masai Mara National Park.
Masai Mara National Park is the northern (Kenyan) part of the Serengeti plain with an area of 1510 square meters. km, located at an altitude of 1650 m. The climate here is mild and warm, and the landscapes are breathtaking. The Maasai Mara National Park is considered to be the most densely populated park in the world. In terms of the richness of flora and fauna, only the Serengeti and Ngorongoro can be compared with it.
Mole National Park (Ghana)
Mole National Park is located in the Northern region of the African state of Ghana. The Mola Nature Reserve, covering an area of 4,840 square kilometers, was founded in 1971. Its territory is home to 93 species of mammals, 9 species of amphibians and 33 species of reptiles. In addition, the park is home to more than 300 species of birds.
Kilimanjaro National Park (Tanzania).
Kilimanjaro National Park was founded in 1973 and now covers 756 square kilometers. km. The base of the mountain is at an altitude of 1829 m above sea level, and the Kibo peak is at an altitude of 5895 m.
Dzanga-Ndoki National Park.
Dzanga-Ndoki National Park is located 480 kilometers from Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, in the southern point Central African Republic - between Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.
Volcanic National Park of Rwanda.
Volcanoes National Park is one of Rwanda's most famous attractions. The Volcanoes National Park area currently borders the Virunga National Park in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as several other protected areas.
Kruger National (South Africa).
The Kruger National Nature Reserve is the largest nature reserve in the South African region. In size it is comparable to the territory of Israel and Wales. Its area is 20,000 sq. km. The park extends 350 km from north to south and 60 km from east to west.
ABSTRACT
by geography"
on topic: “Fauna of AFRICA”
7th grade students
Preschool school 1-3 levels No. 7
Miroshnikova Karina
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