Animals

Africa has two distinct zones of animal life: the North and Northwestern zone, including the Sahara; and the Ethiopian zone, including all of sub-Saharan Africa.

The North and Northwestern zone is characterized by animals similar to those of Eurasia. Sheep, goats, horses, and camels are common. Barbary sheep, African red deer, and two types of ibex are native to the northern African coast. Desert foxes are found in the Sahara along with hares, gazelles, and the jerboa, a small leaping rodent.

The Ethiopian zone is famous for its great variety of distinctive animals and birds. Woodland and grassland areas are inhabited by numerous species of antelope and deer, zebra, giraffe, buffalo, the African elephant, rhinoceros, and the baboon and various monkeys. Carnivores, or meat-eating animals, include the lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, jackal, and mongoose. The gorilla, the largest ape in the world, inhabits the rain forests of equatorial Africa, as do monkeys, flying squirrels, bats and lemurs. Most bird life belongs to Eurasian groups.

The guinea fowl is a leading game bird. Water birds, notably pelicans, goliath herons, flamingos, storks, and egrets, congregate in great numbers. The ibis is common in the Nile region, and the ostrich is found in eastern and southern Africa.

Reptiles are mainly of Eurasian origin and include lizards, crocodiles, and tortoises. A variety of venomous snakes, including the mamba, are encountered throughout the Ethiopian zone. Among the constricting snakes, pythons are found mainly in western Africa; boa constrictors are indigenous only to Madagascar. Freshwater fish abound, with more than 2000 species known.

The continent has a variety of destructive insects, notably mosquitoes, driver ants, termites, locusts, and tsetse flies. The last named transmit sleeping sickness to humans and animals (in animals, the disease is called nagana).