The struggle of civilized, living in the comfort of people is conducted for money and power. The struggle in Africa is for survival. Everything is fair here. This continent offers the harshest and wildest conditions - whoever survives is strong. So, it is here that the most fit creatures on the planet are concentrated - the fastest, largest, highest, most dangerous. So, we get acquainted with the animals of Africa: a photo with the names, features and habitats of the most striking representatives of the fauna of the continent - all this can be found in the article.
a lion
What about the king of beasts? This giant consists of continuous muscles and reaches a weight of 250 kilograms. Males are almost twice as large as females. These animals of Africa are predators, they go hunting both day and night, can attack both alone and in packs. They also attack humans, and humans over the past hundred years have destroyed hundreds of thousands of lions. Today in the world there are about 23 thousand individuals. In the west, in Mali, a few prides live, but the territory from Somalia to Namibia is their priority habitat.
Today, most lions live in fenced national parks, this is a necessary measure. An example is Kruger Park in the Republic of South Africa. Female sisters are the core of the lion pride. Together with the males, they are strong enough to kill a thousand-kilogram buffalo. It is the male lion that inflicts the mortal bite and is the first to start the meal. Only one of the five pride hunts ends in success. About 12 people die every year from attacks by lions.
Savannah Ferrari, or Cheetah
Since talking about cats, one can not help but mention the cheetah. The magnificent coloring of this animal of Africa and its incredible grace completely allow us to consider this inhabitant of the savannah a real aristocrat of the cat family. The handsome man is distinguished by incredible agility, participates in the list of the rarest animals, can accelerate to 90 kilometers per hour, but due to its elegance and weakly developed muscles, this “athlete” among cats is the weakest member of his family.
African elephant - seismic wave generator
Probably, to the question which animals live in Africa, each student will answer - an elephant! This giant is the largest wild land animal on planet Earth. There are two types of elephants: savannah and forest. The first is the most powerful, its weight reaches 7.5 tons, tusks are turned out. The weight of the forest elephant is slightly less - about 5 tons, and it is darker, and its tusks are more straight and downward. The growth of an elephant exceeds human twice. The mass of the largest elephant that has come into human sight is known - the giant weighed as much as 12 tons!
It is to the elephant that children run in zoos. But it is worth remembering that these animals are extremely dangerous. Fear is unknown to them, and they are not at all afraid of either rats or mice. According to statistics, an elephant kills a person with one stroke of the foot; about 1,000 people die from these attacks every year.
Between themselves, these animals of Africa communicate at human elusive ultra-low frequencies. And to warn of danger, they are able to generate seismic waves propagating up to a distance of 50 km: relatives can catch these underground vibrations that rise up their legs.
Today, most elephants are deprived of natural conditions, as they are forced to be driven into the protected areas of central, southern and eastern Africa. Elephant migrations are difficult - roads, farms impede these natural processes. They quickly run out of food, they are forced to fight with pets for water. Looking for new territories, they, in conflict with local residents, devastate gardens and fields. In 1990, 200 Kenyans were killed by elephants.
Rhino
This animal of Africa is represented by two species - white and black. The first representative of this species has a specific broad muzzle with a flat upper lip, the body has a gray color, and there is a hump on the back of the head. The southern part of the continent is the habitat of white rhinos, but now they are also settled in Botswana, Swaziland and Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya. Black rhinos, common in the south, also inhabit the natural expanses of Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The color of their bodies varies from dark brown to gray. Both types of rhinos have two horns, the front of which is the longest. Rhinos can communicate with each other, as well as warn their cubs about imminent danger with the help of infrasound.
Cape Buffalo
Herbivorous giants - Cape buffalos - in general, the peaceful inhabitants of the savannah. These huge animals of Africa reach a mass of about a ton. They can regard the slightest movement in their direction as an attempt at aggression and turn into an enraged monster rushing at you, which can easily give a serious rebuff to even animal kings - lions. A buffalo on a “shaving flight” kills a person with one blow of its hooves or horns.
Previously inhabited almost the entire part of sub-Saharan Africa, and today, buffalo are superior in numbers to other inhabitants of sultry Africa. A herd of frightened fleeing buffalo is one hundred times more dangerous than one angry representative of the African fauna.
Spotted hyenas
Night falls and wild animals of Africa enter the arena: predators and scavengers, fearless hunters and cunning insidious animals. When we talk about scavengers, spotted hyenas come to mind, living in northern Africa from Senegal to Somalia and in the south from Botswana to Namibia. A flock consists of 80 individuals, hunting, they are divided into small groups. They zealously guard the territory of the clan from other predators, driving away uninvited guests and killing their offspring. These animals of Africa with the help of their powerful jaws bite and chew almost any prey with bones. Not a bit remains of the victim.
Monkeys - Ancient Animals
A huge number of primates live in Africa, as many as 64 species, among them are monkeys and baboons, four species of anthropoid apes, among which there are two species of gorillas and chimpanzees. And the truth, speaking about this continent, it is impossible not to mention the monkeys, especially since Africa is their historical homeland. These are very ancient animals. The monkeys are especially interesting, funny and funny, they are animal companions for many locals. They live mainly in forests, can feed on insects.
Among the baboons can be distinguished baboons, they are friendly to humans, and also help many other animals, warning about the danger of giving signals. Of the apes in Africa, orangutans and gorillas live, as well as gibbons and chimpanzees.
Big Eared Fox
This inhabitant of the savannah and semi-desert is not difficult to recognize by appearance alone. In the description of animal Africa of this species, there is one feature that distinguishes it from others - nature rewarded the fox with funny, huge, incommensurable ears and ears. The color of the beast is yellow-brown, it has a light neck and stomach, and the tips of the ears, tail and paws are black. The paws of a large-eared fox are relatively short. It lives in East and South Africa and feeds on termites and bugs.
Bongo Antelope
This is a typical representative of the animals of the African forest, living mainly in the western low-lying tropical forests of the continent, in the region of the Congo River, in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Large massive antelopes with dark red hair with vertical white stripes, which on the body of an individual can be counted about fifteen. Oddly enough, the color of the females is brighter than the color of the males, and both of them have spiral horns and large ears, providing sharp hearing.
Kanna - the largest of the antelopes
What are the most jumping animals in Africa? These are antelopes. Kanna is very hardy, fast, and her jumps are 2.5 meters high. Males and females have twisted horns at the base, and in females they are thinner and longer. Animals have a yellow-brown, gray, bluish color, depending on the age of the animal. The oldest antelopes are almost black. The male’s chest and forehead are “decorated” with a bunch of hair: the older the antelope, the thicker the vegetation. They live in deserts, mountains and forests, as well as in marshy areas.
Gazelle Dorkas
A unique animal that can do without water, as it receives all the necessary moisture from plants. Dorkas weighs about 15 kilograms, has long ears and beautiful curved horns. Color depends on the area and varies from sandy to reddish brown.
Giraffe Skyscraper
The tallest animal in Africa, the name of which even a baby who barely has learned to speak, a spotted handsome giraffe reaching six meters in height, is a danger to ... trees! In just a day, he easily eats up to 65 kilograms of juicy young shoots and leaves! The giant’s majestic stride is four meters wide, and when running, it easily develops a car speed of 50 km / h.
Okapi
And this giraffe is the rarest of all animals in Africa. Our ancestors called him Johnson's horse. The appearance of okapi is a symbiosis of three representatives of the fauna at once: the giraffe, horse and zebra itself. The horse's body, legs - long, painted "under the zebra", an elongated neck and muzzle of a giraffe - this is the rarest animal that lives in the basin of the Congo River. Outlandish beast has a very shy character. The first to hear about the okapi was Henry Stanley, a traveler and journalist; local aborigines told him about the animal. Having received the first skin of a forest giraffe for research, scientists thought that it was a horse. But in the process of studying it was found out that a rare beast has a greater resemblance to a dwarf giraffe, a legacy of the ice age.
Zebra
These animals belonging to the horse genus are represented in Africa by three species: Grevy's zebra, which lives in the east of the continent, Burchellian zebra, which lives in the southeast and mountain zebra, which occupies the territory of South Africa and Namibia. Zebras are characterized by a specific coloring: African animals have unique black and white stripes for each individual. These cute "horses" live in savannahs, light forests and meadows, as well as in mountainous areas. Mountain and zebra Grevy, unfortunately, are endangered.
Nile crocodile
An animal lives in Africa, whose name has been terrifying the inhabitants of Burundi for 60 years. Gustav - this is called a crocodile-cannibal weighing a whole ton. His body is strewn with scars and scars from knives and bullets, but no one could catch and kill the cunning beast, he outwitted all the traps under water. A six-meter crocodile with a dark spot on the forehead is not the most pleasant one for people and animals.
In general, Nile crocodiles annually kill about a hundred people. Due to its size, it eats even young elephant calves, however, without shying away from fish and small animals. The monster may not breathe underwater for 45 minutes.
hippopotamus
The herbivorous harmless hippopotamus is the hero of children's fairy tales. He loves to open his mouth to 180 degrees and is not at all safe, as many believed. This is a very unpredictable animal in Africa (the photo above illustrates its aggressive attitude). Their habitat is the upper part of the Nile, as well as the south, west and east of Africa. Only an adult lion can defeat a hippopotamus, and even then in a terrible battle, since male hippos use deadly fangs 30 centimeters long. Snacking the enemy in half costs them nothing. God forbid you to meet a female hippo with a cub. About ten people annually become victims of brave giants-mothers.
Hippos are able to issue not only a roar, but with it they also give infrasound signals. Infrasound spreads in the air for 5 kilometers, and hippos hear it. Underwater, they perceive infrasound from a distance of 30 kilometers and catch it with their jaws. It is believed that hippos use this feature to determine the distance either to an opponent or to a female.
Aardvark
This group of animals in Africa - mammals, they are the only representatives of the order of aardvarks that live on Earth. They are akin to our mole. Thanks to the powerful forepaws with long claws, the aardvark, like a small excavator, digs a hole faster than several people would. He is rather slow and clumsy, nevertheless digging a mink in a few seconds and hiding in it for aardvark is not a problem: it will be enough for him five minutes to dig 3-5 meters. The cubs of this animal begin their own career as a "digger" from the age of six months.
Cape Cobra
Probably not one continent in the world is so densely populated by snakes as Africa. 400 species of snakes live here, 90 of which are extremely dangerous, since they are poisonous and they are distributed closer to the south of the Sahara.
Cape cobra is considered the leader in terms of danger to humans. Do not try to stand in her way. The 1.5 meter long snake is amber-yellow in color with a brown stripe from top to bottom on the neck. This animal of South Africa, and the inhabitants of South Africa - the most populous country on the continent - inevitably meet with her in the fields. The number of human deaths from a bite of a Cape cobra, according to statistics, is greater than from the "deadly kisses" of other reptiles. It is invisible because of its motley skin, and running into it costs nothing. The poison instantly affects the nervous system, a suffocating person dies. One bite of a cobra can kill six people.
Eastern green mamba
This beauty is invisible among the foliage and lives in a forest zone in the territory covering Kenya and Zimbabwe. The snake reaches two meters in length and skillfully disguises itself on trees due to its coloring. The snake reacts to movement, one wave of the hand - and it bites, after which a burning pain is felt. The poison quickly corrodes tissues. These snakes actually prefer to escape in case of danger, so not many people die from its poisonous bites.
Black Mamba - Africa's largest and fastest snake
Her "sister" - the black mamba - is much less shy and very dangerous. The snake guides itself by tasting the air and catching traces of the air. It can be found on the territory from Ethiopia to Namibia, and it hunts on the ground, unlike its previous relative. The black mamba, already three meters long, has gained a reputation as one of the most poisonous, and perhaps the fastest snake in Africa - it “flies” at a speed of 5 m / s and can overtake a running person. It costs nothing to rise one and a half meters above the ground and climb a tree without resting on the trunk. If danger arises, the snake will first try to escape, and if it does not work out, it attacks, injecting a galaxy of paralyzing toxins into the victim’s blood. Death by suffocation occurs within twenty minutes after the bite. Today, with the operational introduction of an antidote, a person can be saved.
The African viper is the most dangerous snake of the continent and the unsurpassed master of disguise
When asked which animals in Africa are the most dangerous, you involuntarily answer - snakes. The horror queen is an African viper with a gold medal in the number of people killed. These snakes inhabit almost half of the African continent. Slow, inconspicuous, powerful - it injects poison through its centimeter sharp teeth, which immediately destroys blood cells. But the antidote exists, the main thing is to get to the hospital faster.
Hieroglyphic python
In the habitat of buffaloes, another species of animals of Africa lives, whose representatives literally squeeze all the juices out of their victims along with their lives. The hieroglyphic python is in no hurry, he lies calmly and waits for his prey. It is not poisonous, the death of the victim comes from a literal compression of her steel muscles of the snake. The weight of a python with a maximum length of 6 meters may well reach 140 kilograms, which makes the snake one of the largest on the planet. These animals of the African forest also inhabit the savannahs south of the Sahara Desert. They feel comfortable both on land and in water, easily adapt to any conditions, can eat fish, and to catch a larger prey they "turn on many hours of standby time" under water, popping up every half hour to take a breath. Pythons grab the victim with their teeth, hold it with the muscles of their entire body. At one time, a python can swallow 60 kilograms of food, this is enough for him for a whole year. They can protect themselves from any enemy, no matter how great he is. Usually a python does not feed on humans, but for self-defense it will kill without a shadow of a doubt, so you need to be careful and try not to get close to them.
Amazing dragon
The little dragon-girdle is the most unusual animal in Africa, whose appearance will amaze even the most sophisticated connoisseur of nature. A small lizard lives on the rocky expanses of the southern borders of the Sahara desert. Its length reaches 70 centimeters, and outwardly it seems that the girdle is as if assembled as a designer from squared plates. In total, there are about 70 species of these lizards in the world, each of them has its own diet.