The flora and fauna of Africa is veryvarious. On this continent there are large and deep rivers, such as the Congo, which is second only to the Amazon by water and influences flora and fauna in its own way. There are huge lakes like Victoria and deep like Tanganyika. In Africa there is the largest desert in the whole world - the Sahara. The nature of Africa is unique and beautiful. And the animal world of it is very amazing.
In Africa, the types of landscapes vary from arid andhot deserts to equatorial wet forests. Zoning is alternated in the correct order. There are alpine landscapes, and mangroves, and coral reefs. From the equator, first damp forests, then zones of variable forests, savannas, semi-deserts and deserts diverge in different directions and in the extreme south and north of the continent there grow evergreen, hard-leaved forests. Mountain massifs on the mainland are not so many, so the zoning is not severely disturbed.
These are very dense and moist forests locatedalong the equator. They grow along the Gulf of Guinea and occupy the basin of a large river Congo. These forests have arisen due to warm equatorial air masses. High temperatures are combined with year-round strong moisturizing. Therefore, on one hectare here live from 400 to 700 large trees, which are 100 species. Some of them are very valuable: black (ebony), red, sandalwood, polysander trees.
Here there are more than 3 thousand species of plants, and theyform different tiers of the forest. The upper tier form tall trees (reaching at times 80 meters). These are ficuses, palms (wine and olive), seiba. In their shadow, the lower ones grow, among them there are coffee and banana trees, rubber trees and lianas and valuable breeds - red and sandalwood. Tree-like ferns also grow. At the very bottom there is almost no light, so there are very few grasses and shrubs in the equatorial forests. There are spore plants - mushrooms, ferns, selaginellas. On trunks and branches, some flowering and fruit-bearing representatives of the flora have adapted to live. Such as orchid. Flowering plants in the equatorial forests are represented by 15 thousand species.
Extensive territories of moist equatorial forestsThey were prone to felling, light-loving trees and other plants quickly appeared in those places. The tree can grow several meters in height within one year.
The animal world of Africa along the equator is also verydiverse, as well as vegetable. Animals in these forests live mainly on trees. Therefore, there are mainly birds, rodents and insects. In the jungle there are African monkeys, such as chimpanzees, monkeys, baboons. Gorillas are very secretive animals, they prefer more wild and hard-to-reach areas of equatorial forests. These anthropoid apes are endemic representatives of the animal world of the equatorial forests of Africa.
As already mentioned, there are almost no grasses in these forestsgrow, so here live the ungulates, who have chosen their leaves as their food. These are forest antelopes (bongos), small giraffes (okapi), wild boars, pig chicks. Predators live and hunt trees. This viverra, leopards, wild cats. Among the birds there is a wide variety of parrots. There are also snakes.
These natural areas occupied 40%, almost halfThe African continent. Translated from the Portuguese language savannah - "steppe with trees." The areas of the earth are covered with fast-growing grass and stand-alone trees.
The vegetation of the savannah depends on the rain.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 trees are increasingly found. These are baobabs and acacias (having an umbrella-like crown). The treelike acacia is widespread throughout Africa, but it does not grow in equatorial and mountain forests. On the banks of the rivers in the savanna grows a lot of palms, something these small forests resemble wet tropical. In the drier regions, prickly bushes and grasses, trees and milkweed already grow closer to semi-deserts. Six months here lasts a drought, and the rest of the year - the rainy season.
The wildlife of Africa in the savannah is very diverseand is unique. Here is the largest concentration of animals with a large body weight. Inhabitants of rhinoceroses, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos, buffaloes, wildebeest antelopes. Because of the large number of herbivores, predators are also numerous.
They, as "forest orderlies", support inbalance the world of African animals. The lion is the king of beasts, crocodiles, cheetahs, leopards, jackals, hyenas. All of them regulate the number of herbivores. The most numerous animals include giraffe, impala, bobal, blue wildebeest, Thomson and Grant gazelles. Birds like other representatives of the African wildlife in the savannah are also very numerous and diverse. Here live marabou, flamingos, cranes and the largest bird of the planet - the African ostrich.
In Africa, the largest desert of the world is located.Here is recorded the highest temperature on Earth in the area of the city of Tripoli (+59 degrees in the shade). The sun's rays heat very much the sands, so the vegetation in the desert is meager, here and there there are thorny bushes, but very rarely.
Sahara is inhabited mainly by oases.In the oases of the Sahara, there is an endemic date palm Erg-Shebby. Growing halophytes, which can grow on salt soil. Plants have adapted to the harsh conditions of the desert, this has affected their appearance and way of reproduction.
The animal world of Africa in the Sahara is very scarce, allthe animals that live there also adapted to the hot and dry climate, like plants. These are the gazelles of Lauder and the ghazals of Dorcas, Adax antelopes and Oryx antelopes. These animals are able to travel long distances in search of water and food. In the desert also live rodents from the families of squirrel, mouse, hamster, and tush.
Dominate in the Sahara among mammals:fox, common jackal, cheetah, spotted hyena, maned sheep, gazelle dorcas, Cape hare, Saberogaya antelope, Ethiopian hedgehog, Anubis pavian, moufflon, Nubian ass.
Among the birds there are both permanently inhabiting the Sahara,and migratory. The bird secretary is predatory, feeds on snakes, small amphibians, insects and other birds, moves very fast on long legs. The African eagle owls live in the desert, very well disguised as the environment, they are difficult to spot against the background of sand and dry grass. Another representative of the bird fauna - guinea fowl - has a gray-black plumage with white specks, was domesticated, but in the Sahara there were also wild birds.
Birds of the desert have all adapted to the hotclimate, hunt at night, when it is colder and the wild world of African animals manifests itself. They overcome considerable distances in the search for food, for a long time without water.
Snakes of the Sahara are also well adapted.A horned viper with sharp outgrowths above the eyes inhabits the whole desert, looking for prey at night. Efa (one of the most aggressive snakes) lives in the Northern Sahara, its poison causes profuse bleeding, not only at the site of the bite, but also in the nose and mucous eyes. Yellow scorpion, another of the inhabitants of the desert, hunts with the help of its sting.
If the Sahara is located in the north of the continent, then in the south - the Kalahari and Namib deserts.
Namib - cool and severe.Plants are represented by many species. A lot of euphorbia and thick-legged grows. There are also many endemics. Here grows velvichia, which lives 1000 years, has a thick stem with creeping leaves (the length of which reaches 3 meters). Large wide leaves are attached to the stem up to 120 centimeters in diameter.
Another amazing plant - nara, is a wild melon, which fructifies once in 10 years. Her fruits have often saved travelers who are dying of thirst. Desert animals feed on it.
In the mountains grow Alepp pine, Atlas cedars, Spanish fir, stone and cork oaks. The forest of the Mediterranean African coast is similar to the European one.
On the Ethiopian Highlands grow treejuniper and heather. In the mountains of the south and east of Africa, there is an "iron tree" (it has very dense wood and can drown in water), treelike ferns, yew. "Iron tree" or temir-agach forms impenetrable thickets, branches very fondly intertwine with each other.
In the mountains Atlas lives a small monkey -tailless macaque, the same species lives in southern Spain. Birds also occur the same as in southern Europe: lamb, white-headed mule, vulture, black vulture, stone partridge.
In the Ethiopian Highlands there are many species of animals as in other parts of Africa. These are elephants, hippos, lions, leopards and smaller animals.
This zone was located in the far north and southcontinent. The flora and fauna of the hard-leafed 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. They are coniferous: Lebanese cedar, cypress, pine. Animals, too, have adapted to dry conditions, the most active they begin to show in the spring and autumn, when it becomes cooler and more moisture. Mammals of this zone: mouflons (mountain sheep), vivverovye, wild cats.
