Lion

Lion



Physical Characteristics

The lion is a magnificent animal that appears as a symbol of power, courage and nobility on family crests, coats of arms and national flags in many civilizations. Lions at one time were found from Greece through the Middle East to northern India, but today only a very small population remains in India. In the past lions lived in most parts of Africa, but are now confined to the sub-Saharan region.

Mature male lions are unique among the cat species for the thick mane of brown or black hair encircling the head and neck. Both male and female lions roar, a sound which can be heard as far as 8 km away.

Habitat

Lions are found in savannas, grasslands, dense bush and woodlands.

Behavior

The lion is an exception to the usual solitary existence of most cat species. It has developed a social system based on teamwork, division of labor and an extended but closed family unit. The average pride consists of about 15 individuals: 5 to 10 females, their young, and 2 or 3 territorial males. These are usually brothers or pride mates who have formed a coalition to protect their females. Because a nursing lioness will come into heat a few weeks after the loss of cubs, males with newly won prides will often kill existing cubs, enabling them to sire their own. When resting, lions seem to enjoy good fellowship with lots of touching, head rubbing, licking and purring.

Litters consist of two or three cubs that weigh about 3 pounds each. Some mothers carefully nurture the young; others may neglect or abandon them, especially when food is scarce. Usually two or more females in a pride give birth about the same time, and the cubs are raised together. A lioness will permit cubs other than her own to suckle, sometimes enabling a neglected infant to survive. Capable hunters by 2 years of age, lions become fully grown between 5 and 6 years and normally live about 13 years.

Diet

Cooperative hunting enables lions to take prey as large as buffaloes, rhinos, hippos and giraffes. However, scavenged food provides more than 50% of their diets—lions will often take over kills made by other carnivores. Females do 85-90% of the hunting, usually by setting up an ambush into which they drive the prey. The kill is not shared equally within a pride, and at times of prey scarcity, high juvenile mortality rates occur, as hungry females may not even share with their offspring.

Predators and Threats

Lions have long been killed in rituals of bravery, as hunting trophies, and for their medicinal and magical powers. Habitat loss and conflicts with humans are the lions greatest threat. Currently, AWF funds research on lion behavior and human-lion conflicts in Tanzania, Kenya, and Botswana. Little is currently known about where lions go outside of national parks, what they do and what types of threats they face. With a growing human population surrounding parks, there are an increasing number of encounters with humans.

Did You Know?

* Most lions drink water daily if available, but can go four or five days without it. Lions in arid areas seem to obtain needed moisture from the stomach contents of their prey.
* When males take over a pride, they usually kill the cubs. The females come into estrus and the new males sire other cubs.

Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros


Physical Characteristics

The rhinoceros is a large, primitive-looking mammal that in fact dates from the Miocene era millions of years ago. In recent decades rhinos have been relentlessly hunted to the point of near extinction. Since 1970 the world rhino population has declined by 90 percent, with five species remaining in the world today, all of which are endangered.

The white or square-lipped rhino is one of two rhino species in Africa. It in turn occurs as two subspecies, the southern and the northern. The southern dwindled almost to extinction in the early 20th century, but was protected on farms and reserves, enabling it to increase enough to be reintroduced. The northern white rhino has recovered in Democratic Republic of Congo from about 15 in 1984 to about 30 in the late 1990s. This population, however, has recently been severely threatened by political conflict and instability.

The white rhino's name derives from the Dutch "weit," meaning wide, a reference to its wide, square muzzle adapted for grazing. The white rhino, which is actually gray, has a pronounced hump on the neck and a long face.

The black, or hooked-lipped, rhino, along with all other rhino species, is an odd-toed ungulate (three toes on each foot). It has a thick, hairless, gray hide. Both the black and white rhino have two horns, the longer of which sits at the front of the nose.

Habitat

Black rhinos have various habitats, but mainly areas with dense, woody vegetation. White rhinos live in savannas with water holes, mud wallows and shade trees.

Behavior

Rhinos live in home ranges that sometimes overlap with each other. Feeding grounds, water holes and wallows may be shared. The black rhino is usually solitary. The white rhino tends to be much more gregarious. Rhinos are also rather ill-tempered and have become more so in areas where they have been constantly disturbed. While their eyesight is poor, which is probably why they will sometimes charge without apparent reason, their sense of smell and hearing are very good. They have an extended "vocabulary" of growls, grunts, squeaks, snorts and bellows. When attacking, the rhino lowers its head, snorts, breaks into a gallop reaching speeds of 30 miles an hour, and gores or strikes powerful blows with its horns. Still, for all its bulk, the rhino is very agile and can quickly turn in a small space. The rhino has a symbiotic relationship with oxpeckers, also called tick birds. In Swahili the tick bird is named "askari wa kifaru," meaning "the rhino's guard." The bird eats ticks it finds on the rhino and noisily warns of danger. Although the birds also eat blood from sores on the rhino's skin and thus obstruct healing, they are still tolerated.

The closest rhino relationship is between a female and her calf, lasting from 2 to 4 years. As the older calves mature, they leave their mothers and may join other females and their young, where they are tolerated for some time before living completely on their own.


Diet

The black rhino is a browser, with a triangular-shaped upper lip ending in a mobile grasping point. It eats a large variety of vegetation, including leaves, buds and shoots of plants, bushes and trees. The white rhino, on the other hand, is a grazer feeding on grasses.

Predators and Threats

Man is the cause of the demise of the rhino. In the wild, the adult black or white rhino has no true natural predators and, despite its size and antagonistic reputation, it is extremely easy for man to kill. A creature of habitat that lives in a well-defined home range, it usually goes to water holes daily, where it is easily ambushed. The dramatic decline in rhino numbers is unfortunate in an era of increasing conservation and wildlife awareness, but efforts are underway to save the rhino from extinction.

Did You Know?

* The black rhino declined drastically in the 1970s and 1980s due to poaching. To prevent extinction, many rhinos were translocated to fenced sanctuaries in the early 1990s. This effort appears to be succeeding, as 1994 was the first time in 20 years that rhino numbers did not decline.
* The rhino is prized for its horn. Not a true horn, it is made of thickly matted hair that grows from the skull without skeletal support. The major demand for horn is in Asia, where it is used in traditional medicine and ornamental carvings.

Mountain Gorilla

Mountain Gorilla


Physical Characteristics

Few animals have sparked the imagination of man as much as the gorilla, the largest of the living primates. Most gorillas live in inaccessible regions in various dense forests in tropical Africa, and one subspecies, the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), was not even known to science until 1902.

The mountain gorilla has a robust build with long, muscular arms, a massive chest, and broad hands and feet. It is the hairiest race of gorillas; its long, thick black hair insulates it from the cold of living at high elevations.

Habitat

Mountain gorillas are confined to four national parks, separated into two forest blocks no more than 45 kilometers (28 miles) apart and comprising approximately 590 sq km (228 sq mi) of afromontane and medium altitude forest. One population of mountain gorillas inhabits the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. A census in 2002 recorded between 310-315 individuals here. The second population of mountain gorillas is found in the habitat shared by Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Uganda), Volcano National Park (Rwanda) and Virunga National Park -Southern Sector (DRC). The Virunga population numbers at least 358 individuals and has grown by 11% in the past 12 years.

Behavior

Although strong and powerful, gorillas are generally gentle and shy. They live in groups of 2-40 individuals, averaging about 11. Groups are led by a dominant male, the silverback, named for the silvery gray hairs that grow when the male matures. The silverback serves as the chief leader and protector of the group, to whom all group members defer. He decides when and where to forage, rest and sleep, arbitrates disputes among his family members and protects them from rival silverbacks or human predators.

Mountain gorillas have a slow rate of reproduction. This slow reproduction makes this species even more threatened. In a 40-50 year lifetime, a female might have only 2-6 living offspring. Females give birth for the first time at about age 10 and will have offspring every four years or more. A male reaches sexual maturity between 10 and 12 years. Able to conceive for only about three days each month, the female produces a single young and in rare cases twins.

Newborn gorillas are weak and tiny, weighing about 4 pounds. Their movements are as awkward as those of human infants, but their development is roughly twice as fast. At 3 or 4 months, the gorilla infant can sit upright and can stand with support soon after. It suckles regularly for about a year and is gradually weaned at about 3.5 years, when it becomes more independent.

Diet

It is perhaps surprising that an animal as large and strong as the mountain gorilla is primarily an herbivore. Mountain gorillas eat over 100 different species of plants. They rarely need to drink since their diet is so rich in succulent herbs, from which they get their water.

Predators and Threats

The primary threat to mountain gorillas comes from forest clearance and degradation, as the region's growing human population struggles to eke out a living. AWF, in collaboration with FFI and WWF, established the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) to safeguard the last remaining mountain gorillas. IGCP works on three levels: Strengthening gorilla habitat protection through regional collaboration, researching the dynamic between the human population and the natural habitat/wildlife, and working with local communities to develop livelihood strategies that are complementary to conservation objectives. This coalition has been a tremendous success, but support is still greatly needed. The most endangered of the gorilla subspecies, only about 700 mountain gorillas remain in the wild. The Virunga Mountains and nearby Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda are the last refuges of this great ape.

Did You Know?

* Humans and gorillas are 98% genetically identical.
* Male silverback gorillas can weigh 50-100 pounds more - and are about 10 times stronger - than the biggest American football players.
* When the group is attacked by humans, leopards, or other gorillas, the silverback will protect them even at the cost of his own life.

Leopard

Leopard


Physical Characteristics

The most secretive and elusive of the large carnivores, the leopard is also the shrewdest. Pound for pound, it is the strongest climber of the large cats and capable of killing prey larger than itself.

Leopards come in a wide variety of coat colors, from a light buff or tawny in warmer, dryer areas to a dark shade in deep forests. The spots, or rosettes, are circular in East African leopards but square in southern African leopards.

Habitat

Dense bush in rocky surroundings and riverine forest are their favorite habitats, but leopards adapt to many places in both warm and cold climates. Their adaptability, in fact, has helped them survive the loss of habitat to increasing human settlement. Leopards are primarily nocturnal, usually resting during the daytime in trees or thick bush. The spotted coat provides almost perfect camouflage.


Behavior

Leopards are solitary creatures and predominately nocturnal. Each individual has a home range that overlaps with its neighbors; the male's range is much larger and generally overlaps with those of several females. Leopards continually move about their territory, seldom staying in an area for more than two or three days at a time. Ranges are marked with urine and claw marks and leopards announce their presence to other leopards with a rasping cough. Leopards also growl, roar and purr.

A litter includes two or three cubs, whose coats appear to be smoky gray as the rosettes are not yet clearly delineated. The female abandons her nomadic wandering until the cubs are large enough to accompany her. She keeps them hidden for about the first 8 weeks, giving them meat when they are 6 or 7 weeks old and suckling them for 3 months or longer.

Diet

The most elusive of the large carnivores, the leopard is a cunning, stealthy hunter, its prey ranges from strong-scented carrion, fish, reptiles and birds to mammals such as rodents, hares, hyraxes, warthogs, antelopes, monkeys and baboons. Both lions and hyenas have been known to take away a leopard's kill. To prevent this, leopards store their larger kills in trees where they can feed on them in relative safety.

Predators and Threats

The most widespread of the felines, leopards occur in regions across both Africa and Asia. Indeed, their adaptability to both warm and cold climates has helped them survive the loss of habitat caused by increasing human settlement. However, leopards have long been preyed upon by man. Their soft, beautiful fur has been used for clothing. The tail, claws and whiskers of the leopard are popular as fetishes. In some areas farmers try to exterminate them, while in others leopards are considered symbols of wisdom.

Did You Know?

* The elegant, powerfully built leopard has a long body, relatively short legs and a broad head. Its tawny coat is covered with dark, irregular circles called "rosettes."
* Both lions and hyenas will take away a leopard's kill if they can. To prevent this leopards store their larger kills in trees where they can feed on them in relative safety.

Jackal

Jackal

Physical Characteristics

The three jackal species found in East Africa differ mainly in color and choice of habitat. The sandy-colored golden jackal prefers open, grassy plains, while the side-striped jackal lives along waterways with dense undergrowth. This jackal is drabber in color, has a white tip on the tail and indistinct stripes along the sides of the body. The black-backed jackal is recognized by the mantle of black hair on the back that contrasts with the rust-colored body. The tail is black-tipped, as is that of the golden jackal. The black-blacked jackal is usually the most frequently seen as it is more diurnal than the other two species.

Habitat

The common jackal lives in open savannas, deserts and arid grasslands. Side-striped jackals are found in moist savannas, marshes, bushlands and mountains. The sliver-backed jackal lives primarily in savannas and woodlands.

Behavior

Jackals live singly or in pairs, but are sometimes found in loose packs of related individuals. They are among the few mammalian species in which the male and female mate for life. Mated pairs are territorial, and both the female and male mark and defend the boundaries of their territory. Sometimes pups will stay with their parents and help raise their younger siblings. Most pup deaths occur during the first 14 weeks of life, so the presence of helpers increases the survival rate. Family or pack members communicate with each other by a screaming yell and yapping, or a siren-like howl when a kill is located.


Litters number up to six but usually average two to four. It takes about 10 days for the infants' eyes to open, and for the first few weeks of life they remain in the thickets or holes where they were born. At about 3 weeks they begin to spend time outside playing with their litter-mates. At first the games are clumsy attempts at wrestling, pawing and biting. As they become more coordinated, they ambush and pounce, play tug of war and chase each other. The mother changes den sites about every two weeks, so the young are less likely to be found by predators.

The pups are suckled and fed regurgitated food until they are about 2 months. By 3 months they no longer use the den, but start to follow their parents, slowly learning the territory and observing hunting behavior. By 6 months, they are hunting on their own. Their parents, however, continue to feed, groom and play with them.

Sometimes pups stay with their parents and help raise their younger brothers and sisters. At times they bring back food to their younger siblings or babysit them while the parents hunt for food. Most pup deaths occur during the first 14 weeks of life, so the presence of helpers increases the survival rate.

Diet

Jackals can best be described as opportunistic omnivores. They cooperatively hunt small or young antelopes and also eat reptiles, insects, ground-dwelling birds, fruits, berries and grass. They will pick over kills made by large carnivores and even frequent rubbish dumps in pursuit of food.

Predators and Threats

Being highly adaptable and resourceful, jackals have not displayed large population depletions like many other African carnivores. However, increased habitat loss causes them to infringe more and more on human settlements, where they may be viewed as a danger to livestock and poultry.

Did You Know?

* Jackals are noisy. Family or pack members communicate with each other by a screaming yell and yapping, or a sirenlike howl when a kill is located.
* Jackals are very cunning and resourceful. Although usually considered scavengers-they do pick over kills made by large carnivores and frequent rubbish dumps-they also hunt and kill a variety of prey.

Hyena

Hyena



Physical Characteristics

The hyena (spelled "hyeana" in some parts of the world) is Africa's most common large carnivore. Over the years hyenas and humans have come into close contact in Africa and, in earlier times, in Asia and in Europe, often leading to mutual predation. In ancient Egypt hyenas were domesticated, fattened and eaten, and in turn humans have on occasion become food for hyenas. Reputed to be cowardly and timid, the hyena can be bold and dangerous, attacking animals and humans.

Female spotted hyenas are dominant over the males and outweigh them by about 3 pounds. It is difficult to distinguish between the sexes in the field because external female genitalia have a superficial similarity to those of the male. Why the female hyena developed in this manner is unknown, but it may have been necessary for them to appear large and strong to protect their young from males, as hyenas have cannibalistic tendencies.

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Habitat

Spotted hyenas are found in grasslands, woodlands, savannas, subdeserts, forest edges and mountains.
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Behavior

Spotted hyenas are organized into territorial clans of related individuals. The center of clan activity is the den, where the cubs are raised and individuals meet. Hyenas mark and patrol their territories by depositing a strong-smelling substance produced by the anal glands on stalks of grass along the boundaries. "Latrines," places where members of a clan deposit their droppings, also mark territories. Hyenas are social animals that communicate with one another through specific calls, postures and signals.

Hyenas usually bear litters of two to four cubs, which, unlike the other two species, are born with their eyes open. Cubs begin to eat meat from kills near the den at about 5 months, but they are suckled for as long as 12 to 18 months, an unusually long time for carnivores. This is probably a necessity, as most kills are made far from the den, and hyenas, unlike jackals and hunting dogs, do not bring back food and regurgitate it for their young. At about 1 year, cubs begin to follow their mothers on their hunting and scavenging forays. Until then, they are left behind at the den with a babysitting adult.

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Diet

The spotted hyena is a skillful hunter but also an opportunistic scavenger. It consumes animals of various types and sizes, carrion, bones, vegetable matter and other animals' droppings. The powerful jaws and digestive tract of the hyena allow it to process and obtain nutrients from skin and bones. The only parts of prey not fully digested are hair, horns and hooves; these are regurgitated in the form of pellets. The high mineral content of the bones hyenas consume make their droppings a highly visible, chalky white.

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Predators and Threats

Hyenas have long conflicted with human populations. African legends and folklore associate the hyena with witchcraft and the supernatural. Like many predators, hyenas become targeted when they take livestock for prey.

Did You Know?

* Hyenas make a variety of vocalizations, including wailing calls, howling screams and the well-known "laughter" used to alert other clan members up to three miles away of a food source.
* Hyenas eat a great variety of animal products, vegetation and, according to campers, even aluminum pots and pans.

Hippopotamus

Hippopotamus


Physical Characteristics

The hippopotamus, whose hide alone can weigh half a ton, is the third-largest living land mammal, after elephants and white rhinos. It was considered a female deity of pregnancy in ancient Egypt, but in modern times has been wiped out of that country because of the damage it inflicts on crops. The hippo continues to thrive in other parts of Africa.

Hippos are the third-largest living land mammal, after elephants and white rhinos. A hippo’s foot has four webbed toes which splay out to distribute weight evenly and therefore adequately support it on land. The grayish body has very thick skin which is virtually hairless. The hippo has neither sweat nor sebaceous glands, relying on water or mud to keep cool. It does, however, secrete a viscous red fluid which protects the animal’s skin against the sun and is possibly a healing agent. The hippo’s flat, paddle-like tail is used to spread excrement, which marks territory borders and indicates status of an individual.

Habitat

Two hippo species are found in Africa. The large hippo, found in East Africa, occurs south of the Sahara. This social, group-living mammal is so numerous in some areas that "cropping" schemes are used to control populations that have become larger than the habitat can sustain. The other, much smaller (440 to 605 pounds) species of hippo is the pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis). Limited to very restricted ranges in West Africa, it is a shy, solitary forest dweller, and now rare.


Behavior

Hippos have a flexible social system defined by hierarchy and by food and water conditions. Usually they are found in mixed groups of about 15 individuals held by a territorial bull, but in periods of drought large numbers are forced to congregate near limited pools of water. This overcrowding disrupts the hierarchical system, resulting in even higher levels of aggression, with the oldest and strongest males most dominant. Old scars and fresh, deep wounds are signs of daily fights that are accompanied by many vocalizations.

A single young is born either on land or in shallow water. In water, the mother helps the newborn to the surface, later teaching it to swim. Newly born hippos are relatively small, weighing from 55 to 120 pounds, and are protected by their mothers, not only from crocodiles and lions but from male hippos that, oddly enough, do not bother them on land but attack them in water.

Young hippos can only stay under water for about half a minute, but adults can stay submerged up to six minutes. Young hippos can suckle under water by taking a deep breath, closing their nostrils and ears and wrapping their tongue tightly around the teat to suck. This procedure must be instinctive, because newborns suckle the same way on land. A young hippo begins to eat grass at 3 weeks, but its mother continues to suckle it for about a year. Newborns often climb on their mothers' backs to rest.


Diet

Hippos are surprisingly agile and often traverse steep banks each night to graze on grass. They exit and enter the water at the same spots and graze for four to five hours, covering one or two miles, with extended forays of up to five miles. Their modest appetites are due to their sedentary life, which does not require high outputs of energy.

Predators and Threats

The hippo once ranged from the Nile delta to the Cape. Now it is mostly confined to protected areas. Hundreds of hippos are shot each year in “controlled management” schemes, despite the fact that hippos are easily deterred by ditches or low fences. It is more likely that the popularity of hippo meat is the reason for this strategy. The fat and ivory tusks of the hippo, as well as the land on which it grazes, are also of value to humans.

Did You Know?

* The name hippopotamus comes from the Greek "hippos," meaning horse, these animals were once called "river horses." But the hippo is more closely related to the pig than the horse.
* Hippos spend most of their day in water close to shore lying on their bellies. In areas undisturbed by people, hippos lie on the shore in the morning sun.

Grevy's Zebra

Grevy's Zebra


Physical Characteristics

The long-legged Grevy's zebra is the biggest of the wild equids. It is more closely related to the wild ass than the horse (whereas the plains zebra is more closely related to the horse). One can distinguish the Grevy’s zebra from the plains zebra by its larger size, big rounded ears, white unmarked belly, and finer black stripes. An endangered species, Grevy’s zebras are only found in northern Kenya and south eastern Ethiopia.

Zebra foals are born with a coat that is stripped reddish-brown. This gradually darkens to black. Young zebras also have a dorsal mane extending all the way to the base of the tail, which can be raised when the animal is excited and lies flat when it is relaxed.


Habitat

Historically, Grevy's zebra inhabited the semi-arid scrublands and plains of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Kenya in East Africa. However, due to a rapid decline in their population, they are now restricted to the northern parts of Kenya and a few pockets in southern Ethiopia.


Behavior

The Grevy’s zebra is a loosely social animal; herd composition varies daily as members come and go. A stallion’s attachment to his land and a mare’s attachment to her young are the most stable relationships in Grevy’s zebra society. Within the herd, dominance is relatively non-existent, except for the right a territorial male has to a breeding female. If no females are around, the resident male will associate with bachelor males in a friendly manner (though always asserting dominance upon initiation of contact).

Grevy's mate throughout the year, but the peak birth and mating periods for the Grevy's zebra are usually July through August and October through November. Grevy's zebras breed in 2 year intervals starting at the age of 3 for females and age 6 for males. Newborn foals are russet-colored with a long hair crest down the back and belly. The mother keeps other zebras at a distance while the offspring imprints on her and they spend time playing, nuzzling, and nursing. Newborns can walk just 20 minutes after they are born, which is an important survival adaptation for this migrating species. Young Grevy's are especially vulnerable to predators, and foal survival has been directly related to the extent to which their mothers move.

Diet
Grevy’s zebra is a grazer, and can digest many types and parts of plants that cattle cannot. However, it is water dependant, and will migrate to grazing lands within daily reach of water.

Predators and Threats

Habitat loss in an already restricted range is a serious threat to the endangered Grevy’s zebra. Additionally, it must compete with livestock for a limited water supply and is hunted by poachers for its striking hide. In the Samburu Heartland, AWF supports the Grevy’s Zebra Project. Its goal is to gain a better understanding of this animal’s population and distribution patterns to aid in the development of a viable conservation strategy.

Because the largest remaining population of Grevy's zebras is located within Samburu Heartland, AWF is taking action to research this endangered animal and help ensure its survival. Dr. Paul Muoria, who heads the research project, is hard at work to help AWF make recommendations on what needs to be done to increase Grevy's numbers.

Did You Know?

* Stripes to a zebra are like fingerprints to a human. No two patterns are identical. AWF researchers use the unique stripes to identify individuals.
* Grevy's zebras can run up to 40 mph (64 kph).
* Foals can run with the rest of the herd within an hour of their birth. They can also recognize their mothers using their eyesight and their sense of smell.

Giraffe

Giraffe


Physical Characteristics

Early written records described the giraffe as "magnificent in appearance, bizarre in form, unique in gait, colossal in height and inoffensive in character." Ancient cultures in Africa revered the giraffe, as some modern cultures do today, and commonly depicted it in prehistoric rock and cave paintings. Unknown outside of Africa, this animal so excited man's curiosity that it was sometimes sent as a diplomatic gift to other countries; one of the earliest records tells of a giraffe going from "Melinda" (presumably Malindi) in Kenya to China in 1415. The animal was thought to be a cross between a camel and a leopard, a mistake immortalized in the giraffe's scientific name of Giraffa camelopardalis.

The giraffe is the tallest living animal, uniquely adapted to reach vegetation inaccessible to other herbivores. Giraffes have a distinctive walking gait, moving both right legs forward, then both left. At a gallop, however, the giraffe simultaneously swings the hind legs ahead of and outside the front legs, reaching speeds of 35 miles an hour. It has unusually elastic blood vessels with a series of valves that help offset the sudden buildup of blood (and to prevent fainting) when the head is raised, lowered or swung quickly. Giraffe "horns" are actually knobs covered with skin and hair above the eyes that protect the head from injury.


Habitat
Giraffes are found in arid and dry-savanna zones south of the Sahara, wherever trees occur.

Behavior

The giraffe is non-territorial and social; it lives in very loose, open herds with no specific leaders or coordination of herd movement. This structure reflects that a giraffe’s size makes a “safety in numbers” tactic unnecessary, and that the trees they feed on tend to be spaced apart. Dominance between males is established by “necking”—swinging heads at one another in tests of strength.

Nursery groups of young animals are left alone together during the day while their mothers feed. The 6-foot-tall calf grows rapidly as much as an inch a day. By 2 months the young giraffe is eating leaves and at 6 months is fairly independent of its mother. A young giraffe can even survive early weaning at 2 or 3 months. Although few predators attack adult giraffes, lions, hyenas and leopards take their toll on the young. Scientists report that only a quarter of infants survive their first year of life.

Diet

When protected, giraffes can flourish in areas where food is abundant year round. Although they drink water when it's available, they can survive where it is scarce. They occasionally eat grass and fruits of various trees and shrubs, but their principal food source is the acacia tree. The tree's sharp horns do not seem to stop the giraffe, which has a long, muscular tongue specially adapted to select, gather and pluck foliage. The giraffe is a selective feeder and although it feeds 16 to 20 hours a day, it may consume only about 65 pounds of foliage during that time. It can maintain itself on as little as 15 pounds of foliage per day.


Predators and Threats

Giraffe tails are highly prized by many African cultures. The desire for good-luck bracelets, fly whisks and thread for sewing or stringing beads have led people to kill the giraffe for its tail alone. Giraffes are easily killed and poaching (now more often for their meat and hide) continues today.

Did You Know?

* Despite its long neck, the giraffe has only seven vertebrae, exactly the same number as man and most other mammals.
* Even though giraffes are often seen together in groups, they do not form the complex social groups of many plains species. Theirs are loose associations, constantly changing in make-up.

Elephant

Elephant



Physical Characteristics

The African elephant is the largest living land mammal. Of all its specialized features, the muscular trunk is perhaps the most extraordinary. It serves as a nose, hand, extra foot, signaling device and tool for gathering food, siphoning water, dusting, and digging. The tusks are another notable feature of both males and females. Elephants are right or left-tusked, using the favored tusk more often, thus shortening it from constant wear. Tusks differ in size, shape and angle and researchers can use them to identify individuals.


Habitat

Elephants can live in nearly any habitat that has adequate quantities of food and water. Their ideal habitat consists of plentiful grass and browse.


Behavior

Elephants are gregarious and form small family groups consisting of an older matriarch and several generations of relatives. These family groups are often visited by mature males, who check for females in estrus. Several interrelated family groups may inhabit an area and know each other well. When they meet at watering holes and feeding places, they greet each other affectionately.

Smell is the most highly developed sense, but sound deep growling or rumbling noises is the principle means of communication. Some researchers think that each individual has its signature growl by which it can be distinguished. Sometimes elephants communicate with an ear-splitting blast when in danger or alarmed, causing others to form a protective circle around the younger members of the family group. Elephants make low-frequency calls, many of which, though loud, are too low for humans to hear. These sounds allow elephants to communicate with one another at distances of five or six miles.

Usually only one calf is born to a pregnant female. An orphaned calf will usually be adopted by one of the family's lactating females or suckled by various females. Elephants are very attentive mothers, and because most elephant behavior has to be learned, they keep their offspring with them for many years. Tusks erupt at 16 months but do not show externally until 30 months. The calf suckles with its mouth (the trunk is held over its head); when its tusks are 5 or 6 inches long, they begin to disturb the mother and she weans it. Once weaned usually at age 4 or 5, the calf still remains in the maternal group.


Diet

Elephants consume about 5% of their body weight and drink 30-50 gallons of water per day. Young elephants must learn how to draw water up their trunks and pour it into their mouths. They eat an extremely varied vegetarian diet including grass, leaves, twigs, bark, fruit and seed pods.


Predators and Threats

When AWF chose the elephant as its logo over 40 years ago, the elephant's survival was not a subject of great concern. Today, it is difficult for elephants to live outside protected parks as they are pressured by poachers and by the habitat loss that comes with increasing human settlement. For more than 40 years, AWF has been involved with elephant research in eastern and southern Africa, developing management strategies to minimize human-elephant conflict. Elephants are an essential component of African ecosystems, but when they are confined by park boundaries and human settlements, their impact can upset the ecological balance. Thus, the identification and protection of migration corridors and dispersal areas outside of parks is critical.

Did You Know?

* The elephant is distinguished by its high level of intelligence, interesting behavior, methods of communication and complex social structure.
* Elephants seem to be fascinated with the tusks and bones of dead elephants, fondling and examining them. The myth that they carry them to secret "elephant burial grounds," however, has no factual base.
* Elephants are very social, frequently touching and caressing one another and entwining their trunks.
* Elephants demonstrate concern for members of their families they take care of weak or injured members and appear to grieve over a dead companion.

Eland

Eland


Physical Characteristics

The cowlike eland is the world's largest antelope and is the animal most often depicted in the early rock art of East Africa. Even today, it still holds an important place in the mythology of some southern African tribes.

The cow-like eland is the world's largest and slowest antelope. However, it has the endurance to maintain a trot indefinitely and can jump an 8 foot fence from a standstill. Both males and females have horns that spiral tightly, though female horns tend to be longer and thinner. A tuft of black hair grows out of the male eland's prominent dewlap, the loose fold of skin that hangs down from the neck. Adult males also have a mat of hair on the forehead that grows longer and denser as the animal ages. Usually fawn or tawny-colored, elands turn gray or bluish-gray as they get older; the oldest animals become almost black.

Habitat

Elands are found in grassland, mountain, subdesert, acacia savanna and miombo woodland areas. They distance themselves from deserts, forests and swamps.

Behavior

The social organization of the eland is somewhat different from that of other antelopes. The older the male, the more solitary its tendencies, while younger animals may form small groups. Males are also more sedentary than females, who may travel widely, especially during the dry season. Females and young are found in loosely cohesive groups. Calves spend a lot of time grooming and licking each other, developing bonds even stronger than those of a calf with its mother. The attraction calves exhibit towards each other probably developed as a defense tactic, as herds with calves are consistently larger than those without.

Eland young are born year round. Females with young calves come together in nursery groups, where the young spend a lot of time grooming and licking each other and developing bonds even stronger than those of a calf with its mother. After the young are weaned at about 3 months, the mothers rejoin the female herds and the calves remain together in the nursery group. With year-round births, some adult females are always present in a nursery group and they defend all juveniles present, not just their own. Juveniles usually remain in the nursery groups until they are almost 2 years old, when they begin to wander off and join other loose groupings of their own sex.

Diet

Although the eland is often considered a plains-dwelling animal, they browse more than graze, feeding in areas where shrubs and bushes provide the leaves they prefer and using their horns to bring twigs and branches into reach. They also consume certain fruits, large bulbs and tuberous roots.

Predators and Threats

Due to the eland’s size and docility, as well as its rich milk, tasty meat and useful hide, it is becoming an increasingly popular ranch animal. However, its need for a vast range to find sufficient browsing and its low density in number create game management problems and this new idea may not be viable in the long term.

Did You Know?

* The eland's size and docility as well as its rich milk, tasty meat and useful skin have encouraged research on its use in game ranching. Elands have been semidomesticated in some areas.
* Although eland groups are not very stable and animals move from one to another, a dominance hierarchy that is usually based on size, strength and age does exist.

Duiker

Duiker


Physical Characteristics

Duikers are small antelopes that inhabit forest or dense bushland. They are a good example of how an animal can be very successful in finding and filling a certain ecological niche. They are the most widespread of all the forest antelopes and are represented in East Africa by 13 of their 17 species.

The smallest of the duikers is the blue duiker, which in East Africa is found in Uganda, western Kenya and parts of Tanzania. The largest is the yellow-backed duiker, which ranges across the whole of the African tropical forest block. Populations of the yellow-backed duiker are also found on Mt. Elgon and on the Mau in Kenya. This duiker reaches up to 35 inches in height and 175 pounds in weight. It has distinctive, long whitish-yellow to orange hair that stands erect on the back.

A striking peculiarity of the duikers in the genus Cephalophus is that they all have the same distinctive body type, although the different species vary in size. Duikers have low-slung bodies on slender legs, wedge-shaped heads topped by a crest of long hair, and relatively large eyes. With their heads held close to the ground, duikers can move easily through the dense vegetation of forests and bushlands. They regularly run through these areas and when disturbed, plunge into thick cover to hide. This trait is the source of the name "duiker," which in Dutch means "diver."

Duikers are divided into two groups: forest duikers and bush duikers. The bush duiker is more slender, with larger ears, than the forest duiker. Environment and habitat can influence the overall body shape and coloration of animals: Thus, the duiker living in open habitat is longer-legged, less hunched-backed and lighter in color (tawny or gray) than the species that inhabits the dense, dark forests.

The bush duiker is represented by only one species known as the common or Grimm's duiker. This is the most widely distributed duiker in East Africa and is found in a large range of habitats at different elevations, but never in deep forest.

Unlike the forest species, the bush duiker with its long legs is able to run fast for some distance. All duikers freeze and crouch to escape detection. The duikers have dark, slick glossy coats but their tails have white hair that contrasts with the dark body. The tail is constantly in motion with each movement looking like a tiny torch being switched on and off in the forest gloom.

Even though the bush females are larger than the males, they usually do not have horns. Male and female forest duikers are about the same size and both have horns. Duiker horns are small and spikelike, lying so flat against the head that they are not too useful in fighting.

Habitat

The little blue duiker and yellow-backed duiker species live in montane, riverine and rain forests. The bush duiker lives mostly in moist savannas; it avoids rain forests.

Behavior

Males do fight, especially when territory is invaded. Duikers inhabit fairly small territories marked with the secretions from the preorbital gland below each eye. Even though a pair will live together in the territory, they will spend most of the time apart.

Courtship involves prolonged and noisy chases about the territory before mating, after which a single young is born. A calf can run within hours of birth, but usually lies hidden for long periods of time between sucklings. It grows rapidly and is adult-sized at 6 to 7 months. The young utter a loud bleat when in danger, quickly signaling adults in the area.

Diet

Duikers have interesting and varied feeding habits. The large mouth permits them to feed on sizable fruits, mushrooms and other bulky items. They eat berries and fruit that have fallen naturally, as well as those dropped by monkeys, but most of their diet consists of foliage from bushes and trees. On occasion duikers may eat insects, lizards, birds and rodents.

Predators and Threats

Duikers have lived as long as 12 years in captivity, when bred as food sources of cheap meat in West Africa. They are popular as pets, even though males tend to become dangerous as they mature. Among their natural enemies are the lion, leopard, cheetah, serval, hunting dog, hyena, jackal, baboon, python, crocodile and eagles. Large owls, monitor lizards and genets prey on the young. Despite so many predators, the duikers have successfully managed to maintain their numbers.

Did You Know?

* Duiker pairs devote a great deal of time to grooming one another's heads, which apparently aids in bonding pairs; it may also help individuals recognize their own species and discourage interbreeding with others.
* Hunters imitate the bleat of duikers and set snares on their runs. The animals are hunted for their meat, skins and horns, which are popular in some areas as charms against evil spirits. Bush duikers may be hunted in reprisal for raiding crops.

Chimpanzee

Chimpanzee


Physical Characteristics

Noisy and curious, intelligent and social, the chimpanzee is the mammal most like a human. Chimpanzees fascinate humans and are favorites both in zoos and the wild.

In East Africa the chimpanzee is found in the wild in Tanzania and Uganda, but only in captivity in Kenya. Gombe National Park in Tanzania is the first park in Africa specifically created for chimpanzees.

The chimpanzee has a thickset body with long arms, short legs and no tail. Much of the body is covered with long black hair, but the face, ears, fingers and toes are bare. They have hands that can grip firmly, allowing them to pick up objects. The discovery that they used "tools" for certain purposes surprised the world.


Habitat

Chimps are mainly found in rain forests and wet savannas. While they spend equal time on land and in trees, they do most of their feeding and sleeping in trees.


Behavior
Chimps live in loose communities which can number anywhere from 10 to over 100 individuals. The entire troop may never assemble all together, but they share a home range which is fiercely protected from intruders. Community members forage by themselves or in small groups that are all male, all female or mixed. Female chimpanzees emigrate when they reach adolescence. Since a community’s female members are mostly unrelated they do not associate closely and are not even necessarily on friendly terms. Males, however, share blood ties and often cooperate. Mothers and male offspring also maintain ties that can last throughout their lives.

Chimps are incredibly vocal and use a complicated system of sounds to communicate with each other. They hoot, scream, grunt and drum on hollow trees with the flat of their hands, sometimes for hours. The discovery that chimpanzees used "tools" surprised the world. Their use of sticks to collect ants and termites from their nests and rocks to smash open nuts gave scientists proof that not only humans use cognitive thinking to problem-solve.

The female chimp has an estrus cycle of about 34 to 35 days. While in heat, the bare skin on her bottom becomes pink and swollen, and she may mate with several males. She normally gives birth to just one baby, which clings tightly to her breast and, like a human baby, develops rather slowly. An infant can sit up at 5 months and stand with support at 6 months. It is still suckled and sleeps with its mother until about 3 years of age, finally becoming independent and separating from her at about 4 years. Sexual maturity is reached between 8 and 10 years.

Chimps touch each other a great deal and may kiss when they meet. They also hold hands and groom each other. An adult chimp often has a special "friend" or companion with which it spends a lot of time. Female chimps give their young a great deal of attention and help each other with babysitting chores. Older chimps in the group are usually quite patient with energetic youngsters.

Diet

Chimps are diurnal (but often active on moonlit nights) and begin their activities at dawn. After descending from their night nests they hungrily feed on fruits, their principal diet, and on leaves, buds and blossoms. After a while their feeding becomes more selective, and they will choose only the ripest fruit. They usually pick fruit with their hands, but they eat berries and seeds directly off the stem with their lips. Their diet consists of up to 80 different plant foods.

Predators and Threats

The number of chimps in the wild is steadily decreasing. The wilderness areas necessary to their survival are disappearing at an alarming rate as more forests are cut down for farming and other activities. As the human's closest relative the chimp is vulnerable to many of the same diseases, and their capture for medical research contributes to their decline, especially in West Africa. as more forests are cut down for farm activities. In addition, recent outbreaks of the incurable disease Ebola hemorrhagic fever, threaten to decimate important chimpanzee populations in the Republic of Congo and Gabon.

Did You Know?

* Chimpanzees use large sticks and branches as clubs or throw them at enemies like leopards and humans.
* Chimps supplement their diets with meat, such as young antelopes or goats. Their most frequent victims, however, are other primates such as young baboons, colobus monkeys and blue monkeys.

Cheetah

Cheetah


Physical Characteristics

The cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal. Over short distances, it can sprint up to 70 miles per hour. Built for speed, it has long, slim, muscular legs, a small, rounded head set on a long neck, a flexible spine, a deep chest, special pads on its feet for traction and a long tail for balance. It is also the only cat that cannot retract its claws, an adaptation to help maintain traction like a soccer player’s cleats. Distinctive black "tear tracks" running from the inside corner of each eye to the mouth may serve as an antiglare mechanism for daytime hunting.

Habitat

Cheetahs are found in open and partially open savannas.

Behavior

The cheetah is basically a solitary animal. At times, a male will accompany a female for a short while after mating, but most often the female is alone or with her cubs. Cheetah mothers spend a long time teaching their young how to hunt. Small live antelopes are brought back to the cubs so they can learn to chase and catch them.

Cheetahs do not roar like lions, but they purr, hiss, whine and growl. They also make a variety of contact calls; the most common is a birdlike chirping sound.

Diet

Cheetahs usually prey on small antelopes such as Thomson's gazelles and impalas, but also hunt small mammals and birds. The cheetah gets as close to the prey as possible, then in a burst of speed it tries to outrun its quarry. Once the cheetah closes in, it knocks the prey to the ground with its paw and suffocates the animal with a bite to the neck. Once a cheetah has made a kill, it eats quickly and keeps an eye out for scavengers—lions, leopards, hyenas, vultures and jackals will steal from this timid predator. Unlike most other cats, the cheetah usually hunts during daylight, preferring early morning or early evening.

Predators and Threats

A shy creature that roams widely, the cheetah is not seen as easily as some other cats. Never numerous, cheetahs have become extinct in many areas, principally due to shrinking habitat, loss of species to prey upon, disease and a high rate of cub mortality. In some areas 50 to 75% of cheetah cubs die before 3 months, as they are highly susceptible to disease at this age.

Did You Know?

* The name cheetah comes from an Indian word meaning "spotted one."
* The young cub has a long gray-blue coat and a black underbelly that rapidly lightens and becomes spotted.
* Early peoples trained cheetahs for hunting, and many civilizations depicted them in their art and in written records.
* Cheetahs were so popular that Akbar the Great of India was said to have kept a stable of about 1,000.

Bush baby

Bush baby


Physical Characteristics

The lesser galago, also called bush baby, is one of the smallest primates, about the size of a squirrel. Despite its size, it is exceptionally vocal, producing loud, shrill cries surprisingly like those of a human baby. The plaintive cries and "cute" appearance may account for the name "bush baby." It and its larger cousin, the greater galago (Galago crassicaudatus), are both arboreal and nocturnal in their habits.

Bush babies have large, round eyes for good night vision and batlike ears that enable them to track insect prey in the dark. Fast, agile and accurate, they catch some insects on the ground and snatch others from the air. As they jump through thorn bush or thick growth, they fold their delicate ears flat against their heads to protect them. They fold them during rest, too.

The bush baby travels through the trees in literal leaps and bounds. In midflight it tucks its arms and legs close to the body and as it lands, brings them forward, grabbing a branch with its hands and feet. In a series of leaps a bush baby can easily cover 10 yards in seconds. The tail (longer than the length of the head and body) powers the leaps made to catch prey, escape from enemies or get around obstacles. The bush baby's other methods of locomotion are kangaroolike hops or simply walking or running on four legs.

Habitat

Both bush babies and galagos often share habitats with monkeys, but as bush babies are nocturnal they do not compete ecologically with monkeys. Bush babies are found throughout East Africa, as well as in woodlands and bushlands in sub-Saharan Africa. They generally do not inhabit areas above altitudes of 6,500 feet. Most often they live in tree hollows that provide shelter. Sometimes they construct nests in the forks of branches, but these are not as commonly used as are natural holes. Bush babies prefer trees with little grass around them, probably as a precaution against wild fires. They will also shelter in manmade beehives.


Behavior

Bush babies are usually found in small groups consisting of a mother and her offspring. These groups move about on their own to feed, but as bush babies seem to love physical contact, they join other groups to sleep together during the day. Aside from their babylike cries, they make croaking, chattering and clucking sounds or shrill whistles in case of danger. They frequently mark their routes with urine. By following their own scent, they can jump onto exactly the same branches each time when they go to or from their nest. Males also urine-mark the boundaries of their territories and will sometimes become aggressive toward intruders.

Females may become very aggressive just before or after giving birth. They may have singles, twins or triplets, with each newborn weighing less than half an ounce. The first three days or so the mother keeps the infants in constant contact with her. She picks them up with her hands or in her mouth, and they cling to her. After a few days she will either leave them in the nest or, if she takes them along, carry them in her mouth or let them cling to her back or belly.

The young are suckled for 6 weeks and can feed themselves at 2 months. They grow rapidly, causing the mother to walk slowly and awkwardly as she transports them. Sometimes the mother takes just one young with her, leaving the other in the nest.

Diet

The bush baby's diet changes according to the seasons. Most of its diet is made up of what is most abundant at that time of the year, including insects, leaves and fruit.


Predators and Threats

Bush babies hide during the day in order to avoid contact with predators such as eagles and large snakes. Since they are easily captured on ground they mostly stay in trees and rely on their extraordinary jumping capabilities.

Did You Know?

* A prodigious leaper, the bush baby pushes off with its powerful hindlegs and holds its arms up, leaping more than 20 feet.
* In both variety and abundance, the bush baby is one of the most successful primitive primates in Africa. They live a long time as long as 14 years in captivity.

Burchell's Zebra

Burchell's Zebra

Physical Characteristics

Zebras, horses and wild asses are all equids, long-lived animals that move quickly for their large size and have teeth built for grinding and cropping grass. Zebras have horselike bodies, but their manes are made of short, erect hair, their tails are tufted at the tip and their coats are striped.

Three species of zebra still occur in Africa, two of which are found in East Africa. The most numerous and widespread species in the east is Burchell's, also known as the common or plains zebra. The other is the Grevy's zebra, named for Jules Grevy, a president of France in the 1880s who received one from Abyssinia as a gift, and now found mostly in northern Kenya. (The third species, Equus zebra, is the mountain zebra, found in southern and southwestern Africa.)

The Burchell's zebra is built like a stocky pony. Its coat pattern can vary greatly in number and width of stripes. The stripes are a form of disruptive coloration which breaks up the outline of the body. At dawn or in the evening, when their predators are most active, zebras look indistinct and may confuse predators by distorting distance. Their shiny coats dissipate over 70% of incoming heat.

Habitat

Burchell's zebras inhabit savannas, from treeless grasslands to open woodlands; they sometimes occur in tens of thousands in migratory herds on the Serengeti plains. Grevy's zebras are now mainly restricted to parts of northern Kenya. Although they are adapted to semi-arid conditions and require less water than other zebra species, these zebras compete with domestic livestock for water and have suffered heavy poaching for their meat and skins.

Behavior

The Burchell's zebra’s social system is based on a harem of females led by a stallion. Stallions establish their harems by abducting fillies who have come into their first estrus. These fillies advertise their condition with a peculiar stance: straddled legs with raised tail and lowered head. All the stallions in the area will fight for a filly in this condition, as she will permanently stay with whichever stallion succeeds in mating with her. The newest female in a harem assumes lowest social status, and is often received with hostility by the other females. Once a female has bonded to a stallion, she will no longer advertise herself when in estrus.

When a foal is born the mother keeps all other zebras (even the members of her family) away from it for 2 or 3 days, until it learns to recognize her by sight, voice and smell.

While all foals have a close association with their mothers, the male foals are also close to their fathers. They leave their group on their own accord between the ages of 1 and 4 years to join an all-male bachelor group until they are strong enough to head a family.

Diet

The zebra, though water dependent, is a very adaptable grazer, able to eat both short young shoots and long flowering grasses. It is often a pioneer in the grassland community—the first to enter tall or wet pastures. Wildebeests and gazelle follow once the zebras have trampled and clipped the vegetation shorter.

Predators and Threats

Zebras are important prey for lions and hyenas, and to a lesser extent for hunting dogs, leopards and cheetahs. When a family group is attacked, the members form a semicircle, face the predator and watch it, ready to bite or strike should the attack continue. If one of the family is injured the rest will often encircle it to protect it from further attack.

Like many species of East Africa’s grazing animals, the Burchell's zebra is most in danger of habitat loss and competition for water with livestock.

Did You Know?

* Romans called Grevy's zebras 'hippotigris' and trained them to pull two-wheeled carts for exhibition in circuses.
* At first glance zebras in a herd might all look alike, but their stripe patterns are as distinctive as fingerprints are in man. Scientists can identify individual zebras by comparing patterns, stripe widths, color and scars.

African buffalo

African buffalo


Physical Characteristics

The African, or Cape, buffalo is a member of the so-called "Big Five" group of animals, with the elephant, rhino, lion and leopard. Once popular trophies for hunters, these large and often dangerous animals have continued to capture the imagination. Buffaloes have earned a bad reputation from hunters and other people who come in close contact with them. They are unpredictable and can be dangerous if cornered or wounded. Though they have been known to ambush men and are often accused of deliberate savagery, they are usually placid if left alone.

There is only one species of buffalo in Africa, but two distinct subspecies exist: the large savanna buffalo and the much smaller forest buffalo. The forest subspecies is only found in central and West Africa.

Savanna buffaloes are large, heavy cowlike animals. They vary greatly not only in size, but in the shapes of their horns and color. Adults are usually dark gray or black (or even look red or white if they have been wallowing in mud of that color) and the young are often reddish-brown. The smaller forest buffalo maintains the red color even as an adult, although in western Uganda, many savanna buffaloes are also red or pale orange instead of black. Adults lose hair as they age.

Both male and female buffaloes have heavy, ridged horns that grow straight out from the head or curve downward and then up. The horns are formidable weapons against predators and for jostling for space within the herd; males use the horns in fights for dominance.

Habitat

Both savanna buffaloes and forest buffaloes live close to water. In general buffaloes are found throughout the northern and southern savanna as well as the lowland rain forest.


Behavior

Buffaloes can live in herds of a few hundred, but have been known to congregate in thousands in the Serengeti during the rainy season. The females and their offspring make up the bulk of the herd. Males may spend much of their time in bachelor groups. These groups are of two types, those that contain males from 4 to 7 years of age and those that have males 12 years and older. The older bulls often prefer to be on their own. Males do not reach their full weight until about age 10. After this, however, their body weight and condition decline, probably because the teeth become worn.

Sight and hearing are both rather poor, but scent is well developed in buffaloes. Although quiet for the most part, the animals do communicate. In mating seasons they grunt and emit hoarse bellows. A calf in danger will bellow mournfully, bringing herd members running at a gallop to defend it.

Females have their first calves at age 4 or 5. They usually calve only once every two years. Although young may be born throughout the year, most births occur in the rainy season when abundant grass improves the nutritional level for the females when they are pregnant or nursing. The female and her offspring have an unusually intense and prolonged relationship. Calves are suckled for as long as a year and during this time are completely dependent on their mothers. Female offspring usually stay in the natal herd, but males leave when they are about 4 years old.

Diet

Grass forms the greatest part of the diet of the African buffalo, which mostly feeds at night, seeming to have a relatively poor ability to regulate body temperature. Food sources play more of an important role than predation in regulating buffalo numbers. Without fresh green feed, buffaloes lose condition faster than other savanna ungulates.

Predators and Threats

Outside national parks in East Africa, buffaloes frequently come into conflict with humans. They break fences, raid cultivated crops and may spread bovine diseases to livestock. Though still numerous in many parts of East Africa, in some areas buffaloes have been eliminated or greatly reduced in number.

Did You Know?

* The African buffalo differs from the domesticated water buffalo found in other parts of the world, although they both superficially resemble one another.
* The buffalo is one of the most abundant of Africa's large herbivores. It depends on water and does not live in regions with less than 10 inches of rain a year.

Bonobo

Bonobo

Physical Characteristics

Like common chimpanzees, bonobos are closely related to humans, sharing 98.4% of our genetic makeup. Bonobos are distinguished from common chimps by their black faces and red lips, two or three toes are webbed, a tail tuft that persists into adulthood, and forwardly rotated female genitals. The hair on their heads is parted in the middle and long hairs sweep out from the sides of their faces, mostly covering their ears.

The bonobo's similarity to humans has long been recognized by the indigenous people who have resided with bonobos for thousands of years. Their legends tell of a bonobo saving a man's life, how the bonobos showed man what food was available in the forest and how bonobos have tried to become human.

The species is best characterized as female-centered and as one that manages and diffuses tension through sex, making agression less common than with chimpanzees. Whereas in most other species sexual behavior is a fairly distinct category, in the bonobo it is part and parcel of social relations - and not just between males and females. Bonobos engage in sex in virtually every partner combination (although such contact among close family members may be suppressed). And sexual interactions occur more often among bonobos than among other primates. Despite the frequency of sex, the bonobo's rate of reproduction in the wild is about the same as that of the chimpanzee. A female gives birth to a single infant at intervals of between five and six years.

Compared to the chimpanzee, and like humans, bonobos have relatively longer legs, shorter arms, and a narrower trunk. The skull sits upright on the spine, and they have smaller canine teeth. There is sexual dimorphism in the canines where the males' are longer than the canines of the female. They are distinguished from chimpanzees by their black face and red lips from birth, two or three webbed toes, a tail tuft that persists into adulthood and forwardly rotated female genitals. The pelage color is black and may turn more of a grayish color with age. The average body mass for an adult male bonobo is around 85 pounds, and for the female it is around 65 pounds. Compared to chimpanzees, they have slightly smaller head and ears and a smaller brow ridge. The hair on their head is parted in the middle and long hairs sweep out from the sides of their faces, mostly covering their ears.

Habitat

The bonobo is only found in the country of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between the Congo River, the Lomami River, the Kasai/Sankuru Rivers, and the Lake Tumba/Lac Ndombe region. Bonobo range is presently calculated at no more than 350,000 square kilometers. They spend much of their time in the tall, dense tropical forest canopy, gracefully maneuvering though the trees searching for food. This area is fragmented, and it seems as if bonobo can survive in close proximity to human communities that are willing to co-habitate with this peaceful ape. Recent surveys, however, show that many areas that were known to have lots of bonobo 20 years ago now have none. This region of DRC has been politically unstable for the past 10 years, and this has attributed to bonobo decline.

Behavior

When the bonobo moves on the ground it moves quadrupedally in a special position called knuckle-walking. In a tree this species can also move in a quadrupedal manner. However, it also uses suspensory behavior in the trees to move around within a tree laden with fruit. On the ground the bonobo can also walk bipedally, and it certainly the most human like of apes in that and several other respects.

The bonobo lives in a fission-fusion society dividing and then coming back together on a regular basis. Subgroups are generally multi-male, bisexual groups with strong maternal focused subunits. Bonobo sexual behavior is flexible and they have been observed to resolve conflict through sexual contact. Communities have ranges that overlap with other groups. Males of this species will protect members of the group as well as hunt. Males typically remain in their natal group while females are the ones who will disperse. Most of the grooming bouts and instances of food sharing occur between males and females, which is different from common chimpanzees where it occurs between male. Also the female-female relationship is much stronger in this species than it is for common chimpanzees.

Although they seem very outgoing, bonobos control their emotions when expressing themselves in times of happiness, sorrow, excitement or anger. They are very animated and perform similar gestures as humans when communicating without sound. For example, they will beg by streching out an open hand or foot and will make a whimpering sound if they fail at something.

Groups of bonobos range from about 50 to 100 individuals, although they do break up during the day to form foraging parties. Each night this species makes a sleeping nest made from branches and leaves, usually nesting with the subgroup they travel with.

Females become sexually mature after about 12 years, and may give birth soon thereafter. The young are born with a black face and hands and their ears are concealed behind whiskers. Females have babies in five and six year intervals so population growth can never be rapid. The gestation period is thought to be between 220 and 230 days. Females nurse and carry their young for five years and by the age of seven, the offspring reach adolescence. Females have between five and six offspring in a lifetime. The longevity of bonobos is unknown but researchers have predicted longer than 40 in the wild and age 60 in captivity.


Diet

The bonobo primarily eats fruit, but will also consume shoots, leaves, flowers, seeds, bark, invertebrates, and small vertebrates. This species uses over 113 types of plants, but meat eating appears to be opportunistic rather than stemming from organized hunts.

Predators and Threats

Only a small portion of the bonobo's habitat is protected. Due to war in the DRC, however, even within protected areas, they are threatened by illegal activities such as hunting, and deforestation / habitat loss. Local people depend on wildlife to provide protein in their diet and logging companies supply their employees with bushmeat by employing commercial hunters. Habitat is lost to both traditional slash-and-burn agriculture as well as commercial logging operations. Although the areas where bonobos are traditionally found generally have a very low human population, people are attracted to the bonobos' forested habitat for employment as well as for asylum during the recent conflicts that have ravished the DRC. Some bonobos may also be killed annually for medicinal and magical purposes. Specific body parts of bonobos are believed to increase sexual drive and strength, in the same way as chimpanzees and gorillas are believed to have magical powers.

No one truly knows exactly how many bonobos are left in the wild. Based on field observations, scientists believe that less than 100,000 bonobos remain. Bonobos are highly vulnerable to increasing hunting and habitat loss because they have a low birth rate and a fragmented population.

Baboon

Baboon


Physical Characteristics

The baboon, of all the primates in East Africa, most frequently interacts with people. Apart from humans, baboons are the most adaptable of the ground-dwelling primates and live in a wide variety of habitats. Intelligent and crafty, they can be agricultural pests, so they are treated as vermin rather than wildlife.

The two most common baboons occur in East Africa, the olive baboon and the yellow baboon. The larger and darker olive baboon is found in Uganda, west and central Kenya and northern Tanzania. Smaller, more slender and lighter in color, the yellow baboon inhabits southern and coastal Kenya and Tanzania. Both types are "dogfaced," but the yellow's nose turns up more than the olive's.

Habitat

Baboons are found in surprisingly varied habitats and are extremely adaptable. The major requirements for any habitat seems to be water sources and safe sleeping places in either tall trees or on cliff faces. When water is readily available, baboons drink every day or two, but they can survive for long periods by licking the night dew from their fur.


Behavior

Baboons usually leave their sleeping places around 7 or 8 a.m. After coming down from the cliffs or trees, adults sit in small groups grooming each other while the juveniles play. They then form a cohesive unit that moves off in a column of two or three, walking until they begin feeding. Fanning out, they feed as they move along, often traveling five or six miles a day. They forage for about three hours in the morning, rest during the heat of the day and then forage again in the afternoon before returning to their sleeping places by about 6 p.m. Before retiring, they spend more time in mutual grooming, a key way of forming bonds among individuals as well as keeping the baboons clean and free of external parasites.

Baboons sleep, travel, feed and socialize together in groups of about 50 individuals, consisting of seven to eight males and approximately twice as many females plus their young. These family units of females, juveniles and infants form the stable core of a troop, with a ranking system that elevates certain females as leaders. A troop's home range is well-defined but does not appear to have territorial borders. It often overlaps with the range of other baboons, but the troops seem to avoid meeting one another.

When they begin to mature, males leave their natal troops and move in and out of other troops. Frequent fights break out to determine dominance over access to females or meat. The ranking of these males constantly changes during this period.

Males are accepted into new troops slowly, usually by developing "friendships" with different females around the edge of a troop. They often help to defend a female and her offspring.

For the first month, an infant baboon stays in very close contact with its mother. The mother carries the infant next to her stomach as she travels, holding it with one hand. By the time the young baboon is 5 to 6 weeks old it can ride on her back, hanging on by all four limbs; in a few months it rides jockey style, sitting upright. Between 4 and 6 months the young baboon begins to spend most of its time with other juveniles.

Diet

Baboons are opportunistic omnivores and selective feeders. Grass makes up a large part of their diet, along with berries, seeds, pods, blossoms, leaves, roots, bark and sap from a variety of plants. Baboons also eat insects and small quantities of meat, such as fish, shellfish, hares, birds, vervet monkeys, and small antelopes.

Predators and Threats

The baboon's major predators are humans. Knowing that humans can easily kill or injure them when they are in trees, baboons usually escape through undergrowth. Males may confront other predators like leopards or cheetahs by forming a line and strutting in a threatening manner while baring their large canines and screaming. Baboons are fierce fighters, but a demonstration such as this can put the predator on the run.

The baboon is intelligent and crafty; it can be an agricultural pest, so is often treated as vermin. Trade in baboons as laboratory animals has increased in recent years.

Did You Know?

* Nearly one-half the size of adult males, females lack the male's ruff (long hairs around the neck), but otherwise they are similar in appearance.
* Baboons use over 30 vocalizations ranging from grunts to barks to screams. Nonvocal gestures include yawns, lip smacking and shoulder shrugging.

African Wild Dog

African Wild Dog


Physical Characteristics

The African wild dog, also called the hunting dog, is a vanishing species in East Africa. Field studies have shown that the wild dog is a highly intelligent and social animal. Like most predators, it plays an important role in eliminating sick and weak animals, thereby helping maintain a natural balance and ultimately improving prey species. The stereotype of the wild dog as a cruel butcher is slowly being replaced by a less harsh image.

The African wild dog has a colorful, patchy coat, large bat-like ears and a bushy tail with a white tip that may serve as a flag to keep the pack in contact while hunting.


Habitat

Wild dogs live mostly in arid zones and in the savanna. They also are found in woodland and montane habitats where their prey lives.


Behavior

African wild dogs live in packs of six to 20. The aggression exhibited towards prey is completely nonexistent between members of the pack and there is little intimidation among the social hierarchy. Their large range of vocalizations includes a short bark of alarm, a rallying howl and a bell-like contact call that can be heard over long distances. Elaborate greeting rituals are accompanied by twittering and whining. The entire pack is involved in the welfare of the pups, which are born in thick brush or in a den.

The hunting members of the pack return to the den where they regurgitate meat for the nursing female and pups. Although litters are very large, very few pups survive. Sometimes the dens are flooded, or the pups die from exposure or disease. When pack numbers are reduced, hunting is not as efficient and adults may not bring back sufficient food for the pups. The entire pack is involved in the welfare of the pups; both males and females babysit the young and provide food for them.

Diet

Wild dogs prey on gazelles and other antelopes, warthogs, wildebeest calves, rats and birds. They have a peculiar, playful ceremony that initiates each hunt: they circulate among themselves, vocalizing and touching until they get excited. When prey is targeted, some of the dogs run close to the animal, while others follow behind, taking over when the leaders tire. They can run long distances at speeds up to 35 miles per hour. Of the large carnivores, wild dogs are probably the most efficient hunters—targeted prey rarely escapes.

Predators and Threats

Throughout Africa, wild dogs have been shot and poisoned by farmers, hunters and, at one time, by rangers. Even though protected in parks and reserves, wild dog populations are dangerously low. AWF works with community scouts and supports research that examines the factors that threaten wild dogs and explores ways to reduce these threats.

Did You Know?

* No two wild dogs are marked exactly the same, making it easy to identify different individuals. Why such a pattern should develop, and how it serves the hunting dog, has long intrigued scientists.
* Wild dogs are usually on the move over a very large range, covering for example, some 900 square miles in the Serengeti. After a litter is born, however, they will limit their travelling and hunting to areas closer to the den.