Wildlife of South Africa
Encyclopedia
South Africa
has a large variety of wildlife
, including snakes, birds, plains animals, and predators. The country has 299 species of mammal
s and 858 species of birds.
The Cape Buffalo, also known as the African Buffalo, is a powerful animal that has few natural enemies. Their power and size means that they are very much able to defend themselves. They have been known to kill lions, hyena, humans, and other wild predators. Because of this they have taken their place in the African big five, elephant
s, lions, Cape Buffalo, rhinoceros
es, and leopard
s. (The big five are known to be some of the most dangerous and aggressive animals in Africa.) Another African name for the Cape Buffalo is Black Death, because of their colour and their aggressive
behavior.
The African Oryx Gazella also known as Gemsbuck or Gemsbok are African plains animals that travel in groups of 10-45. The Gemsbuck's groups are set up with a dominant male and in most cases a few dominant females. Male's horns are straight and pointed at the tip. Because of this they have been known to impale attacking lions. Females horns can be the same but sometimes they are curved backward. *There are two different varieties of Gemsbok, the southern and the northern. The southern variety have longer horns and the northern have black fringed ears. The Northern Gemsbok are rarely seen in South Africa.
The Kudu
are split into two different groups, Greater Kudu
and Lesser Kudu
. The Greater Kudu are regularly found in South Africa. Like the Gemsbok, Kudu are African antelope. They are fast and stealthy. They are a brown-grey color with white stripes that go down the center of their body. For those two facts their African name is Grey Ghost. The males have tall spiraling horns, females regularly have no horns. Kudu are peaceful and are normally not dangerous.
in South Africa. Here is a list of a few of those plants.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
has a large variety of wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
, including snakes, birds, plains animals, and predators. The country has 299 species of mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s and 858 species of birds.
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s, lions, Cape Buffalo, rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
es, and 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...
s. (The big five are known to be some of the most dangerous and aggressive animals in Africa.) Another African name for the Cape Buffalo is Black Death, because of their colour and their aggressive
Aggressive
“Aggressive” is a New York-based Grammy award-winning music video and commercial directing team of Alex Topaller and Daniel Shapiro.Aggressive has been described by Movie Creation Mag as “having a fascination with the wonderful, in the likes of the surrealist Rafal Olbinski” and “tenacious about...
behavior.
Gemsbuck
Kudu
Kudu
The kudus are two species of antelope of the genus Tragelaphus:*Lesser Kudu, Tragelaphus imberbis*Greater Kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros- Etymology :...
are split into two different groups, Greater Kudu
Greater Kudu
The Greater Kudu is a woodland antelope found throughout eastern and southern Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory, they are sparsely populated in most areas, due to a declining habitat, deforestation and hunting....
and Lesser Kudu
Lesser Kudu
The lesser kudu is a forest antelope found in East Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The southern lesser kudu is a subspecies found in Kenya and Tanzania....
. The Greater Kudu are regularly found in South Africa. Like the Gemsbok, Kudu are African antelope. They are fast and stealthy. They are a brown-grey color with white stripes that go down the center of their body. For those two facts their African name is Grey Ghost. The males have tall spiraling horns, females regularly have no horns. Kudu are peaceful and are normally not dangerous.
Leopards
Leopards are the most reclusive of the Big Cats. They are opportunistic hunters and will prey upon smaller mammals and rodents when other food sources are unavailable. The diet of leopards consists primarily of ungulates such as Thomson's Gazelles. Leopards have relatively small physical builds in comparison to lions and therefore choose to hunt nocturnally to prevent the possibility of confrontation. In order to protect themselves and preserve their kills, leopards have developed exceptional climbing skills, allowing them to scale trees quickly often with a carcass. Cheetahs have often been confused with leopards on sight and vice versa, but the cheetah's lean profile and eye markings make it easily distinguishable.Birds
There are many different kinds of birds in South Africa, here are a few-- Ostrich - South Africa has the largest population of OstrichOstrichThe Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...
in the world. The Ostrich is the largest bird in the world. - African Goshawk-The African GoshawkAfrican GoshawkThe African Goshawk is a species of bird of prey in the Accipitridae family.As defined here following the Handbook of the Birds of the World, it is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,...
is a bird in the family of raptors such as eagles and buzzards - Tawny Eagle-The Tawny EagleTawny EagleThe Tawny Eagle is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. It was once considered to be closely related to the migratory Steppe Eagle, Aquila nipalensis, and the two forms have previously been treated as conspecific...
is a large bird of prey with a wing span of about 160 to 190 cm - Black-chested Snake-eagle-The Black-chested Snake-eagleBlack-chested Snake-eagleThe Black-chested Snake Eagle is a large African bird of prey of the Accipitridae family. It resembles other snake-eagles and was once believed to be conspecific with the Short-toed Snake Eagle and Beaudouin's Snake Eagle....
is a medium-sized bird of prey - Spotted Eagle-owl- The Spotted Eagle OwlSpotted Eagle OwlThe Spotted Eagle-Owl is a medium-sized species of owl, one of the smallest of the Eagle owls. Its height is forty-five cm and its weight is from 480 to 850g . It has a to wingspan. The facial disk is off white to pale ochre and the eyes are yellow...
is an African owl related to the Great Horned Owl of North America
Snakes
- Green Mamba-a deadly tree snake that could kill easily, luckily it is a very docile snake, one of the most deadly snakes in the world.
- Black Mamba-The Black MambaBlack mambaThe black mamba , also called the common black mamba or black-mouthed mamba, is the longest venomous snake in Africa, averaging around in length, and sometimes growing to lengths of...
is a deadly snake that could kill up to 40 grown men with a single bite. It is one of the deadliest snakes in the world. - Cape Cobra-The Cape CobraCape CobraThe Cape Cobra or yellow cobra is a moderately sized, highly venomous cobra inhabiting a wide variety of biomes across Southern Africa...
is an African cobra about medium sized and its color depends on where it lives.
Plant Life
There is a large variety of plant life or floraFlora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
in South Africa. Here is a list of a few of those plants.
- Kola nutKola nutKola Nut is the nut of the kola tree, a genus of trees native to the tropical rainforests of Africa, classified in the family Malvaceae, subfamily Sterculioideae . It is related to the South American genus Theobroma, or cocoa...
- curtisiaCurtisiaCurtisia dentata is a flowering tree from Southern Africa...
- Dovyalis caffraDovyalis caffraDovyalis caffra Warb., the Umkokola, or Kei apple, is a small to medium-sized tree, native to southern Africa. Its distribution extends from the Kei River in the south, from which the common name derives, northwards along the eastern side of the continent to Tanzania...
- kigeliaKigeliaKigelia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae. The genus comprises only one species, Kigelia africana, which occurs throughout tropical Africa from Eritrea and Chad south to northern South Africa, and west to Senegal and Namibia.-Etymology:The genus name comes from the...
- mopaneMopaneThe mopane or mopani tree grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, in elevation, in the far northern parts of southern Africa, into South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Angola and Malawi. The tree only occurs in Africa and is the only species in genus Colophospermum...
- ocotea bullataOcotea bullataOcotea bullata is a species of flowering tree in the family Lauraceae, native to South Africa. It produces very fine and valuable timber which, along with Yellowood, was much sought after to make traditional furniture. Due to over-exploitation it is now a protected species. Other names for it are...
- Pink IvoryPink IvoryPink Ivory , also called Red Ivory, umNini or umGoloty, is a very rare African wood used to make luxury products . The Pink Ivory tree grows predominantly in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa...
National parks
- Addo Elephant National ParkAddo Elephant National ParkAddo Elephant National Park is an elephant park situated close to Port Elizabeth in South Africa and is recognized as one of the country's twenty national parks.- History :...
- Augrabies Falls National ParkAugrabies Falls National ParkAugrabies Falls National Park is a national park located around the Augrabies Falls, about 120 km west of Upington in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. It was established in 1966....
- Bontebok National ParkBontebok National ParkBontebok National Park is a species-specific national park in South Africa. It was established in 1961 to ensure the preservation of the bontebok...
- Golden Gate Highlands National ParkGolden Gate Highlands National ParkGolden Gate Highlands National Park is located in Free State, Republic of South Africa, near the Lesotho border. It covers an area of 340 km² . The park's most notable features are its golden, ochre, and orange-hued deeply eroded sandstone cliffs and outcrops, especially the Brandwag rock...
- Karoo National ParkKaroo National ParkThe Karoo National Park, founded in 1979, is a wildlife reserve in the isolated Karoo area of the Western Cape, South Africa near Beaufort West. The area is mostly semi-desert and is well known for its isolation...
- Kgalagadi Transfrontier ParkKgalagadi Transfrontier ParkKgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a large wildlife preserve and conservation area in southern Africa. The park straddles the border between South Africa and Botswana and comprises two adjoining national parks: Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa and Gemsbok National Park in Botswana. The...
- Kruger National ParkKruger National ParkKruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers and extends from north to south and from east to west.To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is...
- Madikwe Game ReserveMadikwe Game ReserveThe Madikwe Game Reserve is a part of the latest park developments in South Africa. It was opened in 1991 and comprises 750 km² of bushland north of the small town Groot-Marico up to the Botswana border. Madikwe lies on what used to be farm land, but owing to the poor soil type, farming was not...
- MapungubweMapungubweAfter Mapungubwe's fall, it was forgotten until 1932. On New Year's Eve 1932, E. S. J. van Graan, a local farmer and prospector, and his son, a former student of the University of Pretoria, discovered the wealth of artifacts on top of the hill. They reported the find to Professor Leo...
- Mountain Zebra National ParkMountain Zebra National ParkMountain Zebra National Park is a national park in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa proclaimed in July, 1937 for the purpose of providing a nature reserve for the endangered Cape mountain zebra....
- Pilanesberg National ParkPilanesberg National ParkThe Pilanesberg Game Reserve is located in North West Province in South Africa, west of Pretoria. The park borders with the entertainment complex Sun City...
- RichtersveldRichtersveldThe Richtersveld is a mountainous desert landscape characterised by rugged kloofs and high mountains, situated in South Africa’s Northern Cape province. It is full of changing scenery from flat sandy plains, to craggy sharp mountains of volcanic rock and the lushness of the Orange River, which...
- SkukuzaSkukuzaSkukuza is the main camp in the Kruger National Park. The name, adapted from Sikhukhuza , was a nickname for James Stevenson-Hamilton. It could be translated as 'a new broom', as Stevenson-Hamilton swept the area clean of poachers and outlaws....
- Table Mountain National ParkTable Mountain National ParkTable Mountain National Park, previously known as the Cape Peninsula National Park, is a national park in Cape Town, South Africa, proclaimed on May 29, 1998, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment of the Table Mountain Chain, and in particular the rare fynbos vegetation...
- Tankwa Karoo National ParkTankwa Karoo National ParkTankwa Karoo National Park is a Scientific National Park in South Africa. The park lies about 70 km due west of Sutherland near the border of the Northern Cape and Western Cape, in one of the most arid regions of South Africa, receiving 50 to 70 mm of precipitation in an average year. The mean...
- Tsitsikamma National ParkTsitsikamma National ParkThe Tsitsikamma National Park is a coastal reserve on the Garden Route in South Africa. It is well known for indigenous forests, dramatic coastline, and the Otter Trail. On 6 March 2009 it was amalgamated with the Wilderness National Park and various other areas of land to form the Garden Route...