Ethiopian Highlands
Encyclopedia
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
s in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
(which is sometimes referred to as the Eritrean Highlands
Eritrean Highlands
The Eritrean Highlands are an extension of the Ethiopian Highlands to the south. The region has seen tremendous deforestation since the Italian Colonial period which began in the late 19th century. The Highlands are at particular risk of deforestation and associated soil erosion...
), and northern Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
in the Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
. The Ethiopian Highlands form the largest continuous area of its altitude in the whole continent, with little of its surface falling below 1500 m (4,921 ft), while the summits reach heights of up to 4550 m (14,928 ft). It is sometimes called the Roof of Africa for its height and large area.
Physical Geography
The Highlands are divided into northwestern and southeastern portions by the Great Rift ValleyGreat Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
, which contains a number of salt lakes. The northwestern portion, which covers the Tigray
Tigray Region
Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine ethnic regions of Ethiopia containing the homeland of the Tigray people. It was formerly known as Region 1...
and Amhara Region
Amhara Region
Amhara is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia, containing the homeland of the Amhara people. Previously known as Region 3, its capital is Bahir Dar....
s, includes the Semien Mountains
Semien Mountains
The Semien Mountains lie in northern Ethiopia, north east of Gondar. They are a World Heritage Site and include the Semien Mountains National Park. The mountains consist of plateaux separated by valleys and rising to pinnacles...
, part of which has been designated a national park
Semien Mountains National Park
Simien Mountains National Park is one of the National Parks of Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, its territory covers the Simien Mountains and includes Ras Dashan, the highest point in Ethiopia....
. Its highest peak, Ras Dashan (4550 m), is the highest peak in Ethiopia. Lake Tana
Lake Tana
Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia...
, the source of the Blue Nile
Blue Nile
The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. With the White Nile, the river is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile...
, also lies in the northwestern portion of the Ethiopian Highlands.
The southeastern portion's highest peaks are located in the Bale Zone
Bale Zone
Bale is one of the 17 zones in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Bale is named for the former kingdom of Bale, which was in approximately the same area...
of Ethiopia's Oromia Region
Oromia Region
Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...
. The Bale Mountains
Bale Mountains
The Bale Mountains are a range of mountains in the Oromia Region of southeast Ethiopia, south of the Awash River. They include Tullu Demtu, the second-highest mountain in Ethiopia , and Mount Batu . The Weyib River, a tributary of the Jubba River, rises in these mountains east of Goba...
, also designated a national park
Bale Mountains National Park
The Bale Mountains National Park is a national park in the Oromia Region of southeast Ethiopia. Created in 1970, this park covers about 2,200 square kilometers of the Bale Mountains to the west and southwest of Goba in the Bale Zone...
, are nearly as high those of Semien, with peaks over 4000 m, such as Tullu Demtu
Mount Tullu Demtu
Tullu Demtu is the second-highest mountain in Ethiopia after Ras Dashen.Tullu Demtu is part of range of mountains Bale in Oromia Region in southeast Ethiopia, located in the Bale National Park. It forms part of the divide between the drainage basins of the Weyib and Shebelle Rivers.-External links:*...
(4337 m and the second-highest peak in Ethiopia) and Batu
Mount Batu
Mount Batu is one of the highest of the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia, as well as of the Oromia Region. Part of the Bale National Park, and located at , it reaches an elevation of 4,307 meters. It consists of two peaks, Tinnish Batu , which is actually higher than Tilliq Batu to the south...
(4307 m).
Geology
Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
split the dome of the Ethiopian Highlands into three parts; the mountains of the southern Arabian Peninsula
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
are geologically part of the ancient Ethiopian Highlands, separated by the rifting which created the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
and Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Aden
The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide....
and separated Africa from Arabia.
Around 30 million years ago, a flood basalt
Flood basalt
A flood basalt or trap basalt is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that coats large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. Flood basalts have occurred on continental scales in prehistory, creating great plateaus and mountain ranges...
plateau began to form, piling layers upon layers of voluminous fissure-fed basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
ic lava flows. Most of the flows were tholeiitic
Tholeiite
The tholeiitic magma series is one of two main magma series in igneous rocks, the other magma series being the calc–alkaline. A magma series is a series of compositions that describes the evolution of a mafic magma, which is high in magnesium and iron and produces basalt or gabbro, as it...
, save for a thin layer of alkali basalts and minor amounts of felsic
Felsic
The word "felsic" is a term used in geology to refer to silicate minerals, magma, and rocks which are enriched in the lighter elements such as silicon, oxygen, aluminium, sodium, and potassium....
(high-silica) volcanic rocks, such as rhyolite
Rhyolite
This page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...
. In the waning stages of the flood basalt episode, large explosive caldera
Caldera
A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...
-forming eruptions also occurred.
The Ethiopian Highlands were eventually bisected by the Great Rift Valley
Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
as the African continental crust pulled apart. This rifting gave rise to large alkaline basalt shield volcano
Shield volcano
A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid lava flows. They are named for their large size and low profile, resembling a warrior's shield. This is caused by the highly fluid lava they erupt, which travels farther than lava erupted from more explosive volcanoes...
es beginning about 30-31 million years ago.
Ecology
Because the highlands elevate Ethiopia, located close to the equatorEquator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
, this has resulted in giving this country an unexpectedly temperate climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
. Further, these mountains catch the precipitation of the monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
winds of the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, resulting in a rainy season that lasts from June until mid-September. These heavy rains cause the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
to flood in the summer, a phenomenon that puzzled the ancient Greeks.
The Ethiopian Highlands share a similar flora and fauna of other mountainous regions of Africa; this distinctive flora and fauna is known as Afromontane
Afromontane
Afromontane is a term used to describe the Afrotropic subregion and its plant and animal species common to the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula...
but from the time of the last Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
has been populated with some Eurasian (palearctic
Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is one of the eight ecozones dividing the Earth's surface.Physically, the Palearctic is the largest ecozone...
) flora. The habitats are somewhat different on either side of the Great Rift Valley that splits the highlands.
At lower elevations, the highlands are surrounded by tropical savannas and grasslands
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands are a grassland terrestrial biome located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes. Grasslands are dominated by grass and other herbaceous plants. Savannas are grasslands with scattered trees...
, including the Sahelian Acacia savanna to the northwest, the East Sudanian savanna
East Sudanian savanna
The East Sudanian Savanna is a hot, dry, tropical savanna ecoregion of central Africa.-Location and description:This is the eastern half of the broad savanna belt which runs east and west across Africa, this section lying east of the Cameroon Highlands...
to the west, and the Somali Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets to the northeast, east, south, and through the Rift Valley.
The highlands themselves are divided into three distinct ecoregion
Ecoregion
An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...
s, distinguished by elevation. The Ethiopian montane forests lie between 1,100 and 1,800 meters elevation, above the lowland grasslands and savannas. This woodland belt has several plant communities. Kolla, is an open woodland found at lower elevations, and dominated by species of Terminalia
Terminalia (plant)
Terminalia is a genus of large trees of the flowering plant family Combretaceae, comprising around 100 species distributed in tropical regions of the world. This genus gets it name from Latin terminus, referring to the fact that the leaves appear at the very tips of the shoots.Trees of this genus...
, Commiphora
Commiphora
Commiphora is a genus of flowering plants in the family Burseraceae. It includes about 185 species of trees and shrubs, often armed or thorny, native to Africa, Arabia, and the Indian subcontinent.-Uses:...
, Boswellia
Boswellia
Boswellia is a genus of trees known for their fragrant resin which has many pharmacological uses particularly as anti-inflammatories. The Biblical incense frankincense was probably an extract from the resin of the tree, Boswellia sacra....
, and Acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
. Weyna dega is a woodland found in moister and higher locations, dominated by the conifers Afrocarpus gracilior
Afrocarpus gracilior
Afrocarpus falcatus is an evergreen coniferous tree native to the Afromontane forests of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, growing at 1,800-2,400 m altitude....
and Juniperus procera
Juniperus procera
Juniperus procera, commonly known in English as African Juniper or East African Juniper, is a coniferous tree native to the mountains of eastern Africa from eastern Sudan south to Zimbabwe, and the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula...
. The lower portion of the Harenna forest is a distinct woodland community, with an open canopy of Warburgia ugandensis
Warburgia ugandensis
Warburgia ugandensis, also known as Uganda greenheart, is a species of evergreen tree native to Africa.The wood is resistant to insect attack and very strong...
, Croton macrostachyus, and Syzygium guineese
Syzygium guineese
Syzgium guineense is a leafy forest tree of the Myrtaceae family, found in many parts of Africa both wild and domesticated. Both its fruits and leaves are edible; the pulp and the fruit skin are sucked and the seed discarded...
, and Afrocarpus gracilior, with wild coffee
Coffea arabica
Coffea arabica is a species of Coffea originally indigenous to the mountains of Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula, hence its name, and also from the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia and southeastern Sudan. It is also known as the "coffee shrub of Arabia", "mountain coffee" or "arabica coffee"...
(Coffea arabica) as the dominant understory shrub.
The Ethiopian montane grasslands and woodlands is much the largest of the highland ecoregions, occupying the area between 1800 and 3000 meters elevations. The natural vegetation was closed-canopy forest in moister areas, and grassland, bushland, and thicket in drier areas. However these hillsides have good fertile soil and are heavily populated, largely by farming communities so most of the region has been converted to agriculture with a few areas of natural vegetation remaining. Urban areas in this ecoregion include: Ethiopia's capital city and Africa's fourth largest city Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
, the Amhara Region
Amhara Region
Amhara is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia, containing the homeland of the Amhara people. Previously known as Region 3, its capital is Bahir Dar....
capital Bahir Dar
Bahir Dar
Bahir Dar is a city in north western Ethiopia. It is the capital of the Amhara Region .Administratively, Bahir Dar is considered a Special Zone, placing it midway between Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa which are organized as chartered cities , and cities like Debre Marqos and Dessie, which are...
with its island monasteries on Lake Tana
Lake Tana
Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia...
, the old walled city of Harar
Harar
Harar is an eastern city in Ethiopia, and the capital of the modern Harari ethno-political division of Ethiopia...
, the spa town of Ambo
Ambo, Ethiopia
Ambo is a spa town in central Ethiopia. Located in the Mirab Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, west of Addis Ababa, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2101 meters...
, Asella
Asella
Asella also Asela is a city in central Ethiopia. Located in the Arsi Zone of the Oromia Region about 175 kilometers from Addis Ababa, this city has a latitude and longitude of , with an elevation of 2430 meters. Asella hosts an airport...
in the Arsi Zone
Arsi Zone
Arsi is one of the 12 zones of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia. Arsi is also the name of a former province. Both the Zone and the former province are named after a subgroup of the Oromo, who inhabit both...
, the trekking centre of Dodola
Dodola, Ethiopia
Dodola is a town in southeastern Ethiopia. Located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of , with an elevation ranging from 2362 to 2493 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Dodola woreda....
, the lakeside Debre Zeyit
Debre Zeyit
Debre Zeyit is a town of Ethiopia, lying south east of Addis Ababa. Since the late 1990s it has been officially known by the Oromo name, Bishoftu, which was its name until 1955...
, the largest city in the southwest Jimma
Jimma
Jimma, also Jima, is the largest city in southwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of . The town was the capital of Kaffa Province until the province was dissolved. Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administratively as a...
, the market town of Nekemte
Nekemte
Nekemte is a market town in western Ethiopia. Located in the Misraq Welega Zone of the Oromia Region , Nekemte has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2,088 meters....
, and the capital of the Tigray region
Tigray Region
Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine ethnic regions of Ethiopia containing the homeland of the Tigray people. It was formerly known as Region 1...
, Mek'ele
Mek'ele
Mek'ele , also transliterated as Makale, is a city in northern Ethiopia and the capital of the Tigray Region. It is located some 650 kilometers north of the capital, Addis Ababa, at latitude and longitude with an elevation of 2084 meters above sea level...
. Awash National Park
Awash National Park
Awash National Park is one of the National Parks of Ethiopia. Located at the southern tip of the Afar Region, this park is 225 kilometers east of Addis Ababa , with its southern boundary along the Awash River, and covers at least 756 square kilometers of acacia woodland and grassland...
is a site for birdwatching.
Remaining woodland in the drier areas contains much endemic flora and primarily consists of Podocarpus
Podocarpus
Podocarpus is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. The 105 species of Podocarpus are evergreen shrubs or trees from 1-25 m in height...
conifers and Juniperus procera
Juniperus procera
Juniperus procera, commonly known in English as African Juniper or East African Juniper, is a coniferous tree native to the mountains of eastern Africa from eastern Sudan south to Zimbabwe, and the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula...
, often with Hagenia
Hagenia
Hagenia abyssinica is a species of flowering plant native to the high-elevation Afromontane regions of central and eastern Africa. It also has a disjunct distribution in the high mountains of East Africa from Sudan and Ethiopia in the north, through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic...
abyssinica. In the Harenna Forest
Harenna Forest
The Harenna Forest occupies an area in Ethiopia within a portion of the Bale Mountains; the Bale Mountains contain four distinct ecoregions: the northern plains, bush and woods; the central Sanetti Plateau with an average elevation of over 4000 meters; and the southern Harenna Forest. The Harenna...
, pockets of moist, closed-canopy forest with Pouteria
Pouteria
Pouteria is a genus of flowering trees in the gutta-percha family, Sapotaceae. The genus is widespread throughout the tropical regions of the world. It includes the Canistel , the Mamey Sapote and the Lúcuma...
and Olea
Olea
Olea is a genus of about 40 species in the family Oleaceae, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of southern Europe, Africa, southern Asia and Australasia. They are evergreen trees and shrubs, with small, opposite, entire leaves...
are draped with liana
Liana
A liana is any of various long-stemmed, woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. Lianas are especially characteristic of tropical moist deciduous...
s and epiphyte
Epiphyte
An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...
s, while above 2400 meters, a shrubby zone is home to Hagenia, Schefflera
Schefflera
Schefflera is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae. The plants are trees, shrubs or lianas, growing tall, with woody stems and palmately compound leaves. The circumscription of the genus has varied greatly...
, and giant lobelia
Lobelia
Lobelia is a genus of flowering plant comprising 360–400 species, with a subcosmopolitan distribution primarily in tropical to warm temperate regions of the world, a few species extending into cooler temperate regions...
s (Lobelia gibberroa), species which can be found on the East African mountains
East African mountains
The East African mountains are a mountain region in East Africa, within Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.-Location and description:...
further south. The evergreen broadleaved forest of the Semien Mountains
Semien Mountains
The Semien Mountains lie in northern Ethiopia, north east of Gondar. They are a World Heritage Site and include the Semien Mountains National Park. The mountains consist of plateaux separated by valleys and rising to pinnacles...
, between 2,300 and 2,700 meters elevation, is dominated by Syzygium guineense, Juniperus procera, and Olea africana.
These slopes are home to a number of endemic reptiles, birds and animals including the endangered Walia Ibex
Walia Ibex
The walia ibex is a species of ibex that is endangered. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the Alpine Ibex...
(Capra walie) and the Gelada
Gelada
The gelada , sometimes called the gelada baboon, is a species of Old World monkey found only in the Ethiopian Highlands, with large populations in the Semien Mountains...
baboon, whose thick fur allows it to thrive in the cooler climates of the mountains. These two species are only found on the northern side of the valley while another rare endemic the Mountain Nyala
Mountain Nyala
The Mountain Nyala found in Oromia, Ethiopia as gadumsa, is an antelope found in high altitude woodland in a small part of central Ethiopia...
(Tragelaphus buxtoni) is restricted to the southern side, and now survives at higher altitudes than its original habitat as the lower slopes are heavily farmed. More widespread mammals found here include the Mantled Guereza
Mantled Guereza
The mantled guereza , also known simply as the guereza, the eastern black-and-white colobus, or the Abyssinian black-and-white colobus, is a black and white colobus monkey, a kind of Old World monkey...
(Colobus guereza), which is also threatened as its habitat disappears as is that of many other mammals of the highlands such as Olive Baboon
Olive Baboon
The olive baboon , also called the Anubis baboon, is a member of the family Cercopithecidae . The species is the most widely spread of all baboons: it is found in 25 countries throughout Africa, extending south from Mali to Ethiopia and to Tanzania. Isolated populations are also found in some...
(Papio anubis), Golden Jackal
Golden Jackal
The golden jackal , also known as the common jackal, Asiatic jackal, thos or gold-wolf is a Canid of the genus Canis indigenous to north and northeastern Africa, southeastern and central Europe , Asia Minor, the Middle East and southeast Asia...
(Canis aureus), Leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
(Panthera pardus), Lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
(Panthera leo), Spotted Hyena
Spotted Hyena
The spotted hyena also known as laughing hyena, is a carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae, of which it is the largest extant member. Though the species' prehistoric range included Eurasia extending from Atlantic Europe to China, it now only occurs in all of Africa south of the Sahara save...
(Crocuta crocuta), Caracal
Caracal
The caracal is a fiercely territorial medium-sized cat ranging over Western Asia, South Asia and Africa.The word caracal comes from the Turkish word "karakulak", meaning "black ear". In North India and Pakistan, the caracal is locally known as syahgosh or shyahgosh, which is a Persian term...
(Caracal caracal), Serval
Serval
The serval , Leptailurus serval or Caracal serval, known in Afrikaans as Tierboskat, "tiger-forest-cat", is a medium-sized African wild cat. DNA studies have shown that the serval is closely related to the African golden cat and the caracal...
(Felis serval), Common Duiker
Common Duiker
The Common Duiker, Sylvicapra grimmia, also known as the Grey or Bush Duiker, is a small antelope with small horns found in west, central, east, and southern Africa- essentially everywhere in Africa south of the Sahara, excluding the horn of Africa and the rainforests of the central and western...
(Sylvicapra grimmia) and Red River Hog
Red River Hog
The red river hog , also known as the bush pig , is a wild member of the pig family living in Africa, with most of its distribution in the Guinean and Congolian forests...
(Potamochoerus porcus). Birds include Rueppell's Chat
Rueppell's Chat
Rüppell's Black Chat is a species of bird in the Muscicapidae family. It is found in Eritrea and Ethiopia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 26 July 2007....
, the finch Ankober Serin
Ankober Serin
The Ankober Serin is a species of finch in the Fringillidae family. Recent studies places this bird in Carduelis, another genus of finches...
(Serinus ankoberensis), White-winged Flufftail
White-winged Flufftail
The White-winged Flufftail is a very rare African bird in the Rallidae family. Its scientific name honours South African ornithologist Thomas Ayres.-Description:...
(Sarothrura ayresi), and Blue-winged Goose
Blue-winged Goose
The Blue-winged Goose is a waterfowl species which is endemic to Ethiopia. It is the only member of the genus Cyanochen.- Relations :...
. The farmland is home to many butterflies, especially Papilio
Papilio
Papilio is a genus in the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae. The word papilio is Latin for butterfly.The genus includes a number of well-known North American species such as the Western Tiger Swallowtail...
, Charax, Pieridae
Pieridae
The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing approximately 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and Asia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots...
and Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae
The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...
.
Above 3000 meters elevation lie the high Ethiopian montane moorlands, the largest afroalpine region in Africa. The montane moorlands lie above tree line, and consists of grassland and moorland
Moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...
with abundant herbs and some shrubs that have adapted to the high mountain conditions. There are several endemic animal species one of which, the Ethiopian Wolf
Ethiopian Wolf
The Ethiopian wolf , also known as the Abyssinian wolf, Abyssinian fox, red jackal, Simien fox, or Simien jackal is a canid native to Africa...
(Canis simensis), is critically endangered. Other endemics include the Big-headed Mole Rat
Big-headed Mole Rat
Tachyoryctes macrocephalus, also known as the Big-headed Mole Rat, Giant Root-rat, Ethiopian African Mole Rat, or Giant Mole-rat, is a species of rodent in the Spalacidae family.It is endemic to Ethiopia's Bale Mountains...
(Tachyoryctes macrocephalus) which is common on the Sanetti Plateau
Sanetti Plateau
The Sanetti Plateau is a major landform in Ethopia within a portion of the Bale Mountains; the Bale Mountains contain four distinct ecoregions: the northern plains, bush and woods; the central Sanetti Plateau with an average elevation of over 4000 meters; and the southern Harenna Forest. The...
in the Bale Mountains
Bale Mountains
The Bale Mountains are a range of mountains in the Oromia Region of southeast Ethiopia, south of the Awash River. They include Tullu Demtu, the second-highest mountain in Ethiopia , and Mount Batu . The Weyib River, a tributary of the Jubba River, rises in these mountains east of Goba...
. The Mountain Nyala finds its way up to the high moorlands although it is more common at lower elevations. Wintering birds include wigeon (Anas penelope) Shoveler
Northern Shoveler
The Northern Shoveler , Northern Shoveller in British English, sometimes known simply as the Shoveler, is a common and widespread duck. It breeds in northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America, and is a rare vagrant to Australia...
(Anas clypeata) Ruff
Ruff
The Ruff is a medium-sized wading bird that breeds in marshes and wet meadows across northern Eurasia. This highly gregarious sandpiper is migratory and sometimes forms huge flocks in its winter grounds, which include southern and western Europe, Africa, southern Asia and Australia...
(Philomachus pugnax) and Greenshank
Greenshank
The Common Greenshank is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. Its closest relative is the Greater Yellowlegs, together with which and the Spotted Redshank it forms a close-knit group...
(Tringa nebularia). As the lower slopes of the mountains are so heavily populated even these high altitude moorlands are affected by human interference, such as the grazing of livestock and even farming. There are two protected areas: Bale Mountains National Park
Bale Mountains National Park
The Bale Mountains National Park is a national park in the Oromia Region of southeast Ethiopia. Created in 1970, this park covers about 2,200 square kilometers of the Bale Mountains to the west and southwest of Goba in the Bale Zone...
in the southern highlands, accessible from Dinsho
Dinsho
Dinsho is a village in south-central Ethiopia. Located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region in the heart of the Bale Mountains, this village has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 3207 meters...
; and Semien Mountains National Park
Semien Mountains National Park
Simien Mountains National Park is one of the National Parks of Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, its territory covers the Simien Mountains and includes Ras Dashan, the highest point in Ethiopia....
, accessible from Gondar
Gondar
Gondar or Gonder is a city in Ethiopia, which was once the old imperial capital and capital of the historic Begemder Province. As a result, the old province of Begemder is sometimes referred to as Gondar...
, which includes Ras Dashen. However even these parks are losing habitat to livestock grazing.
Fauna
Fauna in the area includes aardvarkAardvark
The aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa...
, eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
, Ethiopian wolf
Ethiopian Wolf
The Ethiopian wolf , also known as the Abyssinian wolf, Abyssinian fox, red jackal, Simien fox, or Simien jackal is a canid native to Africa...
, gelada
Gelada
The gelada , sometimes called the gelada baboon, is a species of Old World monkey found only in the Ethiopian Highlands, with large populations in the Semien Mountains...
, secretarybird, Nubian ibex
Nubian Ibex
The Nubian ibex is a desert-dwelling goat species found in mountainous areas of Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Ethiopia, Yemen, Sudan, and Pakistan. It is generally considered to be a subspecies of Alpine ibex, but is sometimes considered specifically distinct...
, and marabou stork
Marabou Stork
The Marabou Stork, Leptoptilos crumeniferus, is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It breeds in Africa south of the Sahara, occurring in both wet and arid habitats, often near human habitation, especially waste tips...
.