Hi, I'm the zoologist of the four people who crash landed in the savanna three years ago! I will be your third guide while you tour the vast tropical grasslands of Africa. As I climbed out of the crashed plane, I was fazed and confused - where was I? I looked up to see the sky - a gradient red-orange while the sun rose over the rolling hills. Suddenly, I felt something graze my feet. I turned around, expecting to see one of my friends, but in actuality, there was a furry animal rubbing against my shoes - an antelope! Realizing that instead of wasting time on this new land waiting for someone to help us, I decided to discover and meet new animals in this biome. I headed straight towards the grass in search of lifeforms.
As I explored the area, I came across a myriad of animals:
Ungulates (hoofed animals) were everywhere
Herbivores such as buffalo, wildebeest, zebras, rhinos, giraffes, elephants, and warthogs
Carnivores such as lions, leopards, cheetahs, jackals, wild dogs, and hyenas
Diversity of antelopes (eland, impalas, gazelles oryx, gerenuk and kudu)
Largest animal life is of insects
Billions of locust, termites, and flies
Insects turn over soil, aerating it so rainfall can seep into ground, benefiting plants
The animals also serve different roles and functions in the tropical grasslands biome.
Zebras eat more fibrous grass while hartebeest will consume the stalks of plants left by previous foragers
Giraffes and elephants crop the trees and carnivorous animals use the tall grasses to hide in preparation for pouncing
A lion is shown relying on its speed to capture its prey - a zebra.
As well as various relationships within the biome, they have adaptations to survive in this area. A few adaptations animals have to survive in this dry biome at times are:
Some herbivores (like antelope) eat at night when foliage has the most water in them
Animals also receive the water from dew that is on the leaves at this time of day, the black rhinoceros chews succulent leaves, hyrax gets almost all its water from plants
Other animals that are fortunate enough to find a water source may obtain water from a river bed or waterhole
Larger animals, such as elephants, may dig into the earth to reach sources of underground water making a kind of "well”
Other animals that live near these animals may use this water as well
During rainy seasons, zebras are obtain water from nearby riverbeds.
Buffalo rely on grass for food and energy.
Animals also adapt to the grassland habitat by finding ways to shelter and protect themselves from danger where there are limited places to hide. For example:
Antelopes and zebras have a good sense of smell
Strong legs of antelopes allow them to run away quickly from danger
Animals also live in specific population dispersion types
Many prey are in clumped dispersion since living herds is safer than being alone
Other animals burrow into the soil beneath the grass or hide in tufts of grass
To help shelter their bodies from heat:
Some animals roll around in the mud to stay cool
Elephants shower themselves with water to cool off
Prey like giraffes live in herds to stay safe from predators.
I hope you learned a lot from my page and that this information will help you understand the animals and their behaviors in the tropical grasslands. If you would like to learn more about something specific, select one of the buttons below; or, if you would like to return to the home page, click here.