Wildlife Facts

 

 

• Four of the five fastest land animals live in Africa – the Cheetah (70 mph), Wildebeest, Lion, and Thomson’s Gazelle (all about 50 mph).
• South Africa is home to a huge penguin colony, which thrives thanks to the cold Antarctic currents on the west coast near the Cape.
• Madagascar is the home of the worlds largest as well as the smallest chameleons! Almost half of the world’s chameleon species live on the island of Madagascar.
• The largest seal colony in the southern hemisphere is a Cape Cross in Namibia.
• The world’s biggest frog is found in Cameroon. Named the Goliath frog, their body can be one-foot long.
• The Nile crocodile is Africa’s largest living reptile – growing to an average length of 5metres.
• The African elephant is the largest living land mammal in the world.
  An elephant can weigh up to 6-7 tons and has no natural enemies, he is not a predator and there is none large enough to challenge him.
  Did you know elephants drink up to 160 liters of water per day and a mature elephant can carry up to 6.8 liters of water in its trunk
  An African elephant possesses such “manual” dexterity in his/her trunk tip that he/she can actually turn the pages of a book with it.
• Giraffes; Did you know that the tongue of a giraffe can be as long as 45 cm?
  Giraffes are 6 ft tall when they are born. Even though their necks can be 6-7 feet in length, Giraffe have the same number of vertabrae in their necks as humans (7)
  The tallest animal on earth is the giraffe – its horn tops being up to 6 metres above ground level.
• The Gorilla is the largest of the living primates, male gorillas weight up to 200kg, yet are shy and retiring.
• The world’s largest and heaviest beetle, the Goliath Beetle is found in tropical Africa. It can reach a length of 5 inches and weigh up to ¼ lb.
• Butterfly; Having a wingspan of only ½”, the smallest butterfly is in the world is found in South Africa. It is know as the Dwarf Blue Butterfly
• The only place in the world where shoals of fresh water sardines are found is in Lake Tanganyika.

More Wildlife facts will be updated soon