Description and Characteristics:
There are two animals of hippopotamuses; the Pygmy Hippo that is the tinier species, standing approximately waist-high to an adult human, and the river or normal hippopotamus. The common/river hippopotamus that is world’s third highest and heaviest front yard animals, weighing up to just about 4,000 kg.

Both animals of hippos undergo barrel-shaped bodies, very brief stocky legs, and subtle basically hairless skin. Their heads look outsized providing unusually complete mouths and such a facial facets resemble people of a pig. Hippos experience a short, tufted tail

Hippos undergo thin skin too dies out rapidly - properties secrete a pinkish coloured oil this assists them continue such a skin moist in the hot African climate. Hippos spend a multitude of of such a days in the water or wallowing in the mud, by and large showing up on front yard to feed at night.

River hippos are one of the a multitude of feared creatures in south Africa. It is believed the current most every year a greater number of families are killed by them as opposed to by any a good amount African animal

Out of water, Hippos are surprisingly hastily runners; a utterly developed river hippo can run 30 km/h for a few hundred yards.

Feeding/drinking Habits:
Hippos are Herbivores, preferring very brief grasses of the African plains. Their muscular lips are virtually 70 cms wide that causes them terribly compact grazers. They mostly feed for the duration of the night, grazing for up to 5 hours before going back to the water.

Habitat:
The Pygmy hippo lifestyles in West Africa’s forest belt, above all in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire and spends a good deal more of its long period of time pretty near water pretty as opposed to in it, and dives underneath the water surface one and only when in pending danger of attack.

The average hippopotamus is at last found in western, central, eastern and south aspects of Africa, residence in lakes and rivers pretty near grasslands, for the most part at which the water is deep and slow-flowing.

Size & Lifespan
Male hippos are more often than not large and heavier as opposed to females. Common Hippos duration based on 3.96 to 4.57 mtrs long, standing 1.52 mtrs at the shoulder rate and weighing between 1,800 to 3,600 kgs. They reside for up to anywhere between 20 to 40 ages in the wild. Whilst Pygmy hippos soar to something like 1.75 m long, and hold a maximum weight of roughly 275 kg

Reproduction:
Males get in touch with sexual maturity at 7 decades and females at 9 years. Mating repeatedly crops up in water over the dry season. Hippos suffer a gestation duration of approximately 7 cycles and largely birth is handed out to a single calf for the duration of the craft of the raining season. River hippos of the supply birth typically in shallow water therefore calves are able to swim on birth. The routine birthing interval is around 2 years

Predators and Threats:
Pygmy Hippos are actually rare in the wild, among hunting and deforestation owning declined this concentrations during contemporary years. Hippo calves are vulnerable to attack by lions and hyenas on side yards and by crocodiles in the water. People hunt hippos for this meat and hide and furthermore for the tusks, that are purchased as ivory and furthermore while properties are potentially unsafe and destructive really in communities at which crops are grown.

The a large number of usual critters of Zebra discovered in Africa is the Plains/Burchell’s Zebra. Other critters discovered are the exceptionally rare and endangered Cape Mountain Zebra; Hartmann’s Zebra (a subspecies of load zebra) at last found generally in Namibia; Grévy’s zebra, at last found above all in Kenya.
Photo by Peter Frank

Description and Characteristics:
Related to the horse, a Burchell’s Zebra is of stocky produce amid wide brown and grey stripes the run diagonally and lengthways on the rump and remain on to the belly, all the way minimal to hooves. The mane is upright and striped to balance the neck. The tail is striped provided a dark tassle. Zebra stripes are as particular as a human fingerprint.

Grévy’s zebra has narrow stripes set carefully together. Horizontal stripes on the haunches, shoulders, and legs are very brief and ok and offer all the way low the legs to the hooves. The load zebra has wider stripes as opposed to the Grévy’s zebra, truly on its rump.

On both Grévy’s zebra and the Mountain Zebra the undersideof the belly is utterly or generally white, that differs based on the Plains/Burchell’s zebra whose stripes wrap right about based on data from the coming back to the belly.

Zebra’s, while nervous and jumpy, are a particularly sociable creatures and more often than not at last found in ample herds amid additional herbivores these types of as antelopes, wildebeest, giraffe and buffalo.

Feeding/drinking Habits:
Zebra are exclusively grazers, eating in 50 strange animals of grasses.

Habitat:
The Plains/Burchell’s Zebra livlihoods about the grasslands, savanna, and scrub of East Africa, reaching as far as Angola in the west more often than not in conclusion proximity of a permanent water source. Grévy’s zebra property in grasslands and thorny scrublands on the borders of northern Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. The load zebra lifestyles in the above average bottom of South Africa, and in the coastal hills of Namibia and Angola.

Size & Lifespan
Male Plains/Burchell’s Zebras can weigh up to 300 Kg and hold a shoulder rank of something like 50 inches whilst females are a bit of smaller. Grévys zebras weigh up to 450 kg and both sexes weigh approximately the same. Zebra’s can dwell up to 30 ages old but regularly the livlihood expectancy in the mad is right about 12 decades due to predators.

Reproduction:
Females are virtually 3 ages old when properties post birth to this earliest foal. The gestation duration lasts for throughout 12 cycles and the foal is regularly suckled for 6 months. For males, breeding often performs not embark on until age thre or six.

Predators and Threats:
Zebra’s are prey to lions and spotted hyenas. The Plains/Burchell’s/Chapman’s Zebra is threatened by hunting and by habitat difference of ranching and a greater number of sorts of farming. Both the Grévy’s zebra and the load zebra are listed as endangered on the Red List of Threatened Species.

The Grévy’s zebra is threatened both by hunting and by local livestock this contend amidst it for water and food. Its period has shrinky dramatically, and it is now so tiny so environmental hazards, this kind of as drought, can merely impact the overall species.

The Angolan Hairy Bat was found by Thomas in 1912. It lives in South Africa in Angola, Mossamedes. It is by now (2003) listed as a vulnerable animals of bat.
There has continued very tiny amount of researching conducted on their selected bat.
They are attention to feed on insects, but furthermore a good deal more food kinds these kinds of as fruit and seeds.

There are nine recognized subspecies of giraffe: Nigerian, Kordofan, Nubian, reticulated, Rothschild ), Masai, Thornicroft), Angolan and South African or Cape)

Description and Characteristics:
The Giraffe is the tallest of all mammals, on routine properties are 6ft tall at birth. They are positively famous for such a long necks, for a long while legs, and spotted patterns; every giraffe has it’s own unusual pattern. Giraffes hold pitiful “horns” or knobs on top of this heads the present go up to be regarding uni inches long. These knobs are exhausted to cover the do our utmost in fights.

Feeding/drinking Habits:
Their extensively necks assistance giraffes eat leaves from what i read in tall trees, typically acacia trees. The tongue of a giraffe can be as long as 45 cm.

If properties fancy to, giraffes can go for multitude of days without water. Instead of drinking, giraffes rely on remaining hydrated on the moisture content in the leaves properties feed on.

Habitat:
Giraffes make a home in the savannahs of Africa, at which properties roam freely with the tall acacia trees, arid land, dense forests and open plains. Large regions of giraffe are discovered in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia.

Size & Lifespan
Males weigh between 2,400 and 4,000 pounds and are up to 18 feet tall. Female giraffes are smaller and lighter as opposed to males, and weight between 1,600 and 2,600 pounds and expand to be around 16 feet tall. A giraffe calf can be up to 6 ft tall at birth

Giraffes reside for about 25 ages in the wild

Reproduction:
The gestation time for giraffes is between 14-15 months. Generally there 16-month cycle between calving ever since their is these types of a extended gestation period. Breeding can arise at any long time of the year, providing the conception peak usually thing the rainy season

Predators and Threats:
There is not direct threat to adult Giraffes from what i read in predators as properties are too large. However, such a calves are vulnerable and cannot defend themselves based on information from regularly lion and the spotted hyena.

Giraffes are hunted for this meat, cover and tails. The tail is prized for good luck bracelets, fly whisks and series for sewing beads. The paint is used for shield coverings. Habitat collapse and fragmentation are threats to giraffe populations.

Lions are unique in that they are the only cats to live in groups (prides). They are the largest member of the cat family and the largest of all the African carnivores. They are are the top predator in any African ecosystem where they live.Photo by Villiers Steyn
Description and Characteristics:
Lions are Tawny in colour, varying from silvery yellow to reddish brown with paler undersides (female belly yellowish to almost white); yellow to black mane. Faint, leopard like spots are generally found on the young which is sometimeskept into maturity.

Males have thick mane around the head that extend down the chest between the forelegs and varies in colour from blond to black, whereas females do not have manes

Lions have massive shoulders and strong forelimbs, long, sharp claws, and short, powerful jaws. A Lions’ roar can be heard by humans more than 8 km away.

Prides of lions are generally composed of related females, whilst a typical prides contains around 13 lions, large prides can contain as many as 40 lions, while some prides will have a few as two members. A prides home range varies in size from 20-400 km².

Lions are mainly nocturnal and are reputed to sleep or rest for about 20 hours a day. You will often find them lying under a shady bush, particularly after they’ve fed following a kill.

Feeding/drinking Habits:
As carnivores, feeding entirely on the flesh of other mammals, lions have 30 teeth, including large piercing canines to grab and kill prey, scissorlike molars to slice into flesh, and small incisors to scrape meat from bones. Much of their hunting is done at night and in the very early dawn. When feeding on a large kill, a lion can eat almost 36 kg of meat in one feeding and then not need to eat for several days. On average, a lion needs to eat about 5 kg of meat daily.

Habitat:
The lion is found throughout the south Sahara desert and in parts of southern and eastern Africa. They are generally seen on grassy plains, savannas, and dry woodlands but never seen in heavily forested areas. The lion can be found in most of the National Parks and Reserves in Africa.

Size & Lifespan
Males reach up to a shoulder height of 1.2meters and weight between 150-250kgs, females are smaller and reach a shoulder height of 1.05m and weigh up between 120 -180 kgs. Lions live for 12-16 years in the wild and 25 years in captivity.

Reproduction:
A lioness has a gestation period of about 110 days, after which she can gives birth to up to four cubs. Generally she gives birth in a secluded areas away from the group and introduces the cubs to the pride when they are about eight weeks old. Very often, several females give birth at about the same time, and they share the duties of protecting and nursing the cubs. Mothers nurse for up to 8 months, although they begin to take cubs to eat at animal kills when they are as young as 3 months old. At about 11 months of age, cubs start learning to hunt with the pride. Females take care of their young until they are about two, when the mother is ready to produce a new litter.

Predators and Threats:
Although the population of lions is declining, they are not currently listed as endangered or threatened. Threats include hunting, loss of habitat and human encroachment.

Source:africa animals

Cheetahs do not roar like lions and tigers. Instead, they make birdlike chirping sounds for communication with other members of the family and they hiss when angered or threatened and purr loudly when they are content. If they are alarmed they whine or growl.

A cheetah has a good sense of smell and communicate by scenting tree trunks, bushes and termite mounds with their waste.

Cheetahs are typically solitary creatures although males sometimes live with a small group of brothers from the same litter.

Feeding/drinking Habits:
The cheetah’s diet consists of impala, springbok, gazelles, kob, warthogs, lesser kudu, blackbuck, hares, and game birds. Male coalitions sometimes take larger prey such as wildebeest. They generally stalk their prey until they are only about 20 meters away, then they chase, which lasts about 20 seconds. The cheetah is only successful in catching it prey in about half of all chases and they often lose they catch to lions and hyenas. Unlike other large cats, the cheetah generally hunts during the daytime.

Habitat:
Cheetahs are confined to parts of Eastern and Southwestern Africa. They are well adapted to dry habitats such as savanna grasslands and semi-deserts. Cheetahs prefer grasslands that offer unobstructed views of their surroundings; such habitats make it easier to detect prey as well as predators.

Size & Lifespan
Male cheetahs are slightly larger and heavier than females. Cheetahs are approx. 95 cm tall, and measures 182 cm in length. Males weigh about 55 kgs and females about 40 kg. On average a cheetah lives for 12 - 14 years in the wild

Reproduction:
The gestation period is usually 3 months and a female gives birth to between 2 and 6 cubs. They breed throughout the year and it is the female who raises the cubs. A cub stays with its mother for about one year before venturing off by itself. The male cheetah plays no part in the upbringing. Cubs are smoky grey in colour with long woolly hair, called a mantle, running along their backs.

Predators and Threats:
Cheetahs are often killed by lions and hyenas, especially their cubs. Up to 80% of the cubs do not survive. In recent years human encroachment on their habitat and hunting has dramatically reduced their numbers.Source:africaguide

The list of extinct animals in Africa features the animals that have become extinct on the African continent and its islands, like Madagascar, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Réunion, Seychelles, St. Helena, Cape Verde, etc.

Pleistocene Extinctions

* African Deinotherium, Deinotherium bozasi
* homo erectus
* homo habilis
* Paranthropus boisei
* Pelorovis

Global Holocene Extinctions

Mammals
Quagga from London (UK), Regent’s Park ZOO, 1870
Quagga from London (UK), Regent’s Park ZOO, 1870

* North African Elephant, Loxodonta africana pharaoensis (300, North Africa)
* Algerian Wild Ass, Asinus atlanticus (300, North Africa)
* Bluebuck or Blue Antelope, Hippotragus leucophaeus (1799, South Africa)
* Atlas Bear, Ursus arctos crowtheri (1844, North Africa)
* Lesser Mascarene Flying Fox, Pteropus subniger (1862, Réunion)
* Quagga, Equus quagga quagga (1883, South Africa)
* Cape Warthog, Phacochoerus aethiopicus aethiopicus (1900, South Africa)
* North African Aurochs, Bos primigenius mauretanicus (Unknown date, North Africa)
* Bubal Hartebeest, Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus (North Africa)
* Cape Serval, Leptailurus serval serval (South Africa)
* Madagascan Dwarf Hippopotamus, Hippopotamus lemerlei (Madagascar)
* Madagascan Pygmy Hippopotamus, Hippopotamus madagascariensis (Madagascar)
* North African Serval, Leptailurus serval constantina (North Africa)
* Red Gazelle, Gazella rufina (Algeria)
* Robert’s Lechwe, Kobus leche robertsi (Zambia)
* Canary Islands Giant Rat, Canariomys tamarani (Canary Islands)
* Lava Mouse, Malpaisomys insularis (Canary Islands)

Birds
Dodo (Jan Savery, 1651)
Dodo (Jan Savery, 1651)

* Aldabra Brush-Warbler, Nesillas aldabrana (Seychelles)
* Aepyornis or Great Elephant Bird, Aepyornis maximus (Madagascar)
* Ascension Flightless Crake, Atlantisia elpenor (St Helena)
* Broad-billed Parrot, Lophopsittacus mauritianus (Mauritius)
* Delalande’s Coua, Coua delalandei (Madagascar)
* Dodo, Raphus cucullatus (Mauritius)
* Large St Helena Petrel, Pterodroma rupinarum (St Helena)
* Mauritius Blue Pigeon, Alectroenas nitidissima (Mauritius)
* Mascarene Coot, Fulica newtoni (Réunion, Mauritius)
* Mascarene Parrot, Mascarinus mascarinus (Réunion)
* Mauritian Duck, Anas theodori (Mauritius)
* Mauritian Shelduck, Alopochen mauritianus (Mauritius)
* Mauritius Grey Parrot, Lophopsittacus bensoni (Mauritius)
* Mauritius Night-Heron, Nycticorax mauritianus (Mauritius)
* Mauritius Owl, Mascarenotus sauzieri (Mauritius)
* Newton’s Parakeet, Psittacula exsul (Mauritius)
* Red Rail, Aphanapteryx bonasia (Mauritius)
* Réunion Flightless Ibis, Threskiornis solitarius (Réunion)
* Réunion Gallinule, Porphyrio coerulescens (Réunion)
* Réunion Kestrel, Falco buboisi (Réunion)
* Réunion Night-Heron, Nycticorax duboisi (Réunion)
* Réunion Owl, Mascarenotus grucheti (Réunion)
* Réunion Pigeon, Columba duboisi (Réunion)
* Réunion Shelduck, Mascarenachen kervazoi (Réunion)
* Réunion Starling, Fregilupus varius (Réunion)
* Rodrigues Night-Heron, Nycticorax megacephalus (Mauritius)
* Rodrigues Owl, Mascarenotus murivorus (Mauritius)
* Rodrigues Parrot, Necropsittacus rodericanus (Mauritius)
* Rodrigues Pigeon, Alectroenas rodericana (Mauritius)
* Rodrigues Rail, Aphanapteryx leguati (Mauritius)
* Rodrigues Solitaire, Pezophaps solitaria (Mauritius)
* Rodrigues Starling, Necropsar rodericanus (Mauritius)
* Seychelles Parakeet, Psittacula wardi (Seychelles)
* Small St Helena Petrel, Bulweria bifax (St Helena)
* St Helena Crake, Atlantisia podarces (St Helena)
* St Helena Cuckoo, Nannococcyx psix (St Helena)
* St Helena Dove, Dysmoropelia dekarchiskos (St Helena)
* St Helena Hoopoe, Upupa antaois (St Helena)
* St Helena Rail, Porzana astrictocarpus (St Helena)
* Tristan Moorhen, Gallinula nesiotis (St Helena)
* Canarian Black Oystercatcher, Haematopus meadewaldoi 1981 (Tenerife)
* Canary Islands Quail, Coturnix gomerae (Canary Islands)
* Eastern Canary Islands Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus canariensis exsul 1986 (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura)
* Madeiran Wood Pigeon, Columba palumbus maderensis 1924 (Madeira)

Reptiles

* Cape Verde Giant Skink, Macroscincus coctei (Cape Verde)
* Eastwood’s Longtailed Seps, Tetradactylus eastwoodae (South Africa)
* Leiolopisma mauritiana (Mauritius)
* Saddle-backed Mauritius Giant Tortoise, Cylindraspis inepta (Mauritius)
* Domed Mauritius Giant Tortoise, Cylindraspis triserrata (Mauritius)
* Mozambique centipede-eater, Aparallactus nigriceps (Mozambique)
* Réunion Giant Tortoise, Cylindraspis indica (Réunion)
* Rodrigues Giant Gecko, Phelsuma gigas (Mauritius)
* Domed Rodrigues Giant Tortoise, Cylindraspis peltastes (Mauritius)
* Saddle-backed Rodrigues Giant Tortoise, Cylindraspis vosmaeri (Mauritius) 1795
* Round Island Burrowing Boa, Bolyeria multocarinata (Mauritius)
* Seychelles Black Terrapin, Pelusios seychellensis (Seychelles)
* Typhlops cariei (Mauritius)
* Rodrigues giant day gecko Phelsuma gigas (Mauritius)
* Rodrigues day gecko, Phelsuma edwardnewtoni 1917 (Mauritius)
* Roque Chico de Salmor Giant Lizard, Gallotia simonyi simonyi 1935 (Canary Islands)
* La Palma Giant Lizard, Gallotia auaritae (La Palma, Canary Islands)

Fish

* Pantanodon madagascariensis (Madagascar)
* Ptychochromis onilahy (Madagascar)
* Ptychochromoides itasy (Madagascar)

Insects

* St. Helena Earwig, Labidura herculeana (1967 St. Helena)

Molluscs

* Caldwellia philyrina
* Chilonopsis blofeldi
* Chilonopsis exulatus
* Chilonopsis helena
* Chilonopsis melanoides
* Chilonopsis nonpareil
* Chilonopsis subplicatus
* Chilonopsis subtruncatus
* Chilonopsis turtoni
* Colparion madgei
* Ctenoglypta newtoni
* Cyclophorus horridulum
* Cyclosurus mariei
* Dupontia proletaria
* Erepta nevilli
* Gibbus lyonetianus
* Gonidomus newtoni
* Gonospira nevilli
* Gulella mayottensis
* Harmogenanina linophora
* Harmogenanina subdetecta
* Helenoconcha leptalea
* Helenoconcha minutissima
* Helenoconcha polyodon
* Helenoconcha pseustes
* Helenoconcha sexdentata
* Helenodiscus bilamellata
* Helenodiscus vernoni
* Nesopupa turtoni
* Omphalotropis plicosa
* Pachnodus velutinus
* Pachystyla rufozonata
* Pseudohelenoconcha spurca
* Pupilla obliquicosta
* Rhachis comorensis
* Rhachis sanguineus
* Tropidophora desmazuresi
* Tropidophora semilineata
* Unio cariei
* Leiostyla lamellosa (Land Snail from Madeira)
* Pseudocampylaea loweii (Land Snail from Madeira)

Rediscovered

* Burchell’s Zebra, Equus quagga burchellii
* Coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae
* Madagascar Pochard, Aythya innotata

Extinctions in the wild
Scimitar-Horned Oryx at the Wildlife Ranch in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Scimitar-Horned Oryx at the Wildlife Ranch in San Antonio, Texas, USA.

* Barbary Lion, Panthera leo leo, (North Africa)
* Egyptian Barbary Sheep, Ammotragus lervia ornata (Egypt)
* Cape Lion, Panthera leo melanochaitus (Cape of Africa)
* Haplochromis lividus (Freshwater fish from Lake Victoria; Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda)
* Labrochromis ishmaeli (Freshwater fish from Lake Victoria; Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda)
* Scimitar Oryx, Oryx dammah (Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Egypt, Israel, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia, Western Sahara)
* Paretroplus menarambo (Freshwater fish from Madagascar)
* Platytaeniodus degeni (Freshwater fish from Lake Victoria; Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda)
* Prognathochromis perrieri (Freshwater fish from Lake Victoria; Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda)
* Yssichromis argens (Freshwater fish from Lake Victoria; Tanzania)

Source: Wikipedia