The flora and fauna of Africa is very diverse. There are large and full-flowing rivers on this continent, such as the Congo, which are inferior only to the Amazon in water availability and in their own way affect the flora and fauna. There are huge lakes like Victoria and deep like Tanganyika. Africa has the largest desert in the world - the Sahara. The nature of Africa is unique and beautiful. And her fauna is very amazing.
In Africa, landscape types vary from arid and sultry deserts to equatorial rainforests. Zoning alternates in the correct order. There are highland landscapes, and mangroves, and coral reefs. First, moist forests diverge from the equator in different directions, then zones of variable forests, savannahs, semi-deserts and deserts, and evergreen hard-leaved forests grow in the extreme south and north of the continent. There are not so many mountain ranges on the mainland, so zoning is not much violated.
Humid equatorial forests, vegetation
These are very dense and humid forests located along the equator. They grow along the Gulf of Guinea and occupy the basin of the large Congo River. These forests arose thanks to the warm equatorial air masses. High temperatures are combined with strong year-round hydration. Therefore, on one hectare, 400 to 700 large trees, of which 100 species, coexist here. Some of them are very valuable: black (ebony), red, sandalwood, polysandra trees.
There are more than 3 thousand species of plants, and they form different tiers of the forest. The upper tier is formed by tall trees (sometimes reaching 80 meters). These are ficuses, palm trees (wine and olive), ceiba. Lower shadows grow in their shade, among them there are coffee and banana trees, rubber noses and vines and a valuable species - red and sandalwood. Tree ferns also grow. There is almost no light at the very bottom, so there are very few grasses and shrubs in the equatorial forests. There are spore plants - crowns, ferns, selaginella. On the trunks and branches adapted to live some flowering and fruitful representatives of the flora. Such as an orchid. Flowering plants in the equatorial forests are represented by 15 thousand species.
Vast territories of moist equatorial forests were prone to deforestation; light-loving trees and other plants quickly appeared in those places. A tree can grow several meters in height within one year.
Fauna of equatorial forests
The fauna of Africa along the equator is also very diverse, as well as the flora. The animals in these forests live mainly on trees. Therefore, birds, rodents and insects are mainly distributed here. African monkeys such as chimpanzees, monkeys, baboons are found in the jungle . Gorillas are very secretive animals, they prefer more wild and inaccessible areas of equatorial forests. These anthropoid apes are endemic representatives that enter the fauna of the equatorial forests of Africa.
As already mentioned, herbs in these forests almost do not grow, so ungulates live here, choosing leaves as their food. These are forest antelopes (bongos), small giraffes (okapi), wild boars, kittitsuhi pigs. Predators live and hunt trees. These are wyverns, leopards, wild cats. Among the birds there is a wide variety of parrots. There are also snakes.
Savannah vegetation
These natural zones occupied 40%, almost half of the African continent. Translated from Portuguese, the savannah is “steppe with trees”. Areas of land are covered with fast-growing grass and detached trees.
Savannah vegetation depends on rains. Closer to the equator, where precipitation falls for 8 months a year, herbaceous plants reach three meters. The farther from the zero parallel, the grass is lower and more and more trees are found. These are baobabs and acacias (having an umbrella-shaped crown). Acacia is common throughout Africa but does not grow in equatorial and mountain forests. Many palm trees grow on the banks of the rivers in the savannah; in some ways, these small forests resemble humid tropical forests. In drier areas, prickly shrubs and grasses, trees and milkweeds grow closer to semi-deserts. Drought lasts six months, and the rest of the year is the rainy season.
Savanna fauna
The fauna of Africa in the savannah is very diverse and unique. Here is the largest cluster of animals with a large body weight. Rhino, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos, buffalos, wildebeests inhabit. Due to the large number of herbivores, predators are also numerous.
They, like the "orderlies of the forest", keep the animal world of Africa in balance. The lion is the king of animals, crocodiles, cheetahs, leopards, jackals, hyenas. All of them regulate the number of herbivores. The most numerous animals include giraffe, impala, bubal, blue wildebeest, Thomson and Grant gazelles. Birds, like other representatives of the animal kingdom of Africa in the savannah, are also very numerous and diverse. Here live marabou, flamingos, cranes and the largest bird on the planet - African ostrich.
Sahara desert vegetation
Africa has the largest desert in the world. Here is the highest temperature on Earth in the area of Tripoli (+59 degrees in the shade). The sun's rays heat the sands very strongly, so the vegetation in the desert is sparse, spiny bushes are found in some places, but very rarely.
Inhabited Sahara mainly due to oases. Erg Shebby's endemic date palm is found in the oases of the Sahara. Halophytes grow, which can grow on salty soil. Plants adapted to the harsh conditions of the desert, this was reflected in their appearance and method of reproduction.
Sahara fauna
The fauna of Africa in the Sahara is very scarce, all the animals that live there have also adapted to the hot and dry climate, like the plants. These are the Lauder gazelles and Dorkas gazelles, Adax antelopes and Oryx antelopes. These animals are able to travel vast distances in search of water and food. Rodents from the squirrel, mouse, hamster, and jerboa families also live in the desert.
Mammals dominate in the Sahara: fox, common jackal, cheetah, spotted hyena, maned ram, gazelle dorcas, Cape hare, saber-horn antelope, Ethiopian hedgehog, Anubis baboon, mouflon, Nubian donkey.
Among the birds there are both constantly living in the Sahara, and migratory. The secretary bird is predatory, feeds on snakes, small amphibians, insects and other birds, and moves very quickly on long legs. African eagle owl lives in the desert, is very well disguised as the environment, it is difficult to notice them against the background of sand and dry grass. Another representative of the bird fauna - guinea fowl - has a gray-black plumage with white spots, was domesticated, but wild birds remained in the Sahara.
Desert birds have all adapted to the hot climate, they hunt at night when it is colder and the wild world of animals in Africa appears. They overcome considerable distances in search of food, and do without water for a long time.
Sahara snakes also adapted well. A horned viper with sharp growths above the eyes inhabits the entire desert, looking for prey at night. Efa (one of the most aggressive snakes) lives in Northern Sahara, its poison causes heavy bleeding, not only at the site of the bite, but also in the nose and mucous membranes of the eyes. The yellow scorpion, another desert inhabitant, is hunting with the help of its sting.
Flora and fauna of the southern deserts
If the Sahara is located in the north of the continent, in the south - the Kalahari and Namib deserts.
Namib is cool and harsh. Plants are represented by many species. Many euphorbiaceae and Crassulaceae grow. Also many endemic. Here grows velvichia, which has lived for 1000 years, has a thick stem with creeping leaves (whose length reaches 3 meters). Large wide leaves attached to the stem up to 120 centimeters in diameter.
Another amazing plant - Nara, is a wild melon that bears fruit once every 10 years. Its fruits have repeatedly saved travelers who are dying of thirst. Desert animals feed on it.
Flora and fauna of the mountainous regions of Africa
Aleppo pines, Atlas cedars, Spanish firs, stone and cork oaks grow in the mountains. The forest of the Mediterranean African coast is similar to the European.
Juniper and heather trees grow on the Ethiopian Highlands . In the mountains of southern and eastern Africa, there is an “iron tree” (it has very dense wood and can drown in water), tree-like ferns, yew. The "iron tree" or temir-agach forms impenetrable thickets, the branches are very intricately intertwined with each other.
In the Atlas mountains, a small monkey lives - tailless macaque, the same species lives in southern Spain. Birds are also found the same as in Southern Europe: lamb, griffon vulture, vulture, black vulture, partridge.
On the Ethiopian Highlands, many animal species are found as in other parts of Africa. These are elephants, hippos, lions, leopards and smaller animals.
Flora and fauna of hard-leaved forests
This zone is located in the far north and south of the continent. The flora and fauna of the hard-leaved forests of Africa is also unique in its own way. Plants here have hard and small leaves, so they can retain moisture for a long time. These are conifers: Lebanese cedar, cypress, pine. Animals also adapted to dry conditions, they begin to show the greatest activity in spring and autumn, when it becomes cooler and more moisture. Mammals of this zone: mouflons (mountain sheep), vivverian, wild cats.