Popular Animals In South Africa
The wildlife of South Africa consists of the flora and fauna of this country in southern Africa. The country has a range of differt habitat types and an ecologically rich and diverse wildlife, vascular plants being particularly abundant, many of them demic to the country. There are few forested areas, much savanna grassland, semi-arid Karoo vegetation and the fynbos of the Cape Floristic Region. Famed for its national parks and big game, 297 species of mammal have be recorded in South Africa, as well as 849 species of bird and over 20, 000 species of vascular plants.
South Africa is located in subtropical southern Africa, lying betwe 22°S and 35°S. It is bordered by Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the north, by Mozambique and Eswatini (Swaziland) to the northeast, by the Indian Ocean to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the coastline extding for more than 2, 500 km (1, 600 mi). The interior of the country consists of a large, nearly flat, plateau with an altitude of betwe 1, 000 m (3, 300 ft) and 2, 100 m (6, 900 ft). The eastern, and highest, part of this is the Draksberg, the highest point being Mafadi (3, 450 m (11, 320 ft)), which is on the border with Lesotho, a country surrounded by South Africa.
The south and south-western parts of the plateau, at approximately 1, 100 to 1, 800 m (3, 600 to 5, 900 ft) above sea level, and the adjoining plain below, at approximately 700 to 800 m (2, 300 to 2, 600 ft) above sea level, is known as the Great Karoo, and consists of sparsely populated shrubland. To the north the Great Karoo fades into the drier and more arid Bushmanland, which evtually becomes the Kalahari Desert in the far north-west of the country. The mid-eastern, and highest part of the plateau is known as the Highveld. This relatively well-watered area is home to a great proportion of the country's commercial farmlands. To the north of Highveld, the plateau slopes downwards into the Bushveld, which ultimately gives way to the Limpopo lowlands or Lowveld.
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The climate of South Africa is influced by its position betwe two oceans and its elevation. Winters are mild in coastal regions, particularly in the Eastern Cape. Cold and warm coastal currts running north-west and north-east respectively account for the differce in climates betwe west and east coasts. The weather pattern is also influced by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. In the plateau area, the influce of the sea is reduced, and the daily temperature range is much wider; here the summer days are very hot, while the nights are usually cool, with the possibility of frosts in winter. The country experices a high degree of sunshine with rainfall about half of the global average, increasing from west to east, and with semi-desert regions in the north-west. The Western Cape experices a Mediterranean climate with winter rainfall, but most of the country has more rain in summer.
A total of 23, 420 species of vascular plant has be recorded in South Africa, making it the sixth most species-rich country in the world and the most species-rich country on the African contint. Of these, 153 species are considered to be threated.
Nine biomes have be described in South Africa: Fynbos, Succult Karoo, desert, Nama Karoo, grassland, savanna, Albany thickets, the Indian Ocean coastal belt, and forests.
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The most prevalt biome in the country is the grassland, particularly on the Highveld, where the plant cover is dominated by differt species of grass; fires, frosts and grazing pressure result in few trees occurring here, but geophytes (bulbs) are pltiful and there is a high level of plant diversity, especially on the escarpmts.
Vegetation becomes ev more sparse towards the northwest due to low rainfall. There are several species of water-storing succults, like aloes and euphorbias, in the very hot and dry Namaqualand area. The grass and thorn savannah turns slowly into a bush savannah towards the north-east of the country, with dser growth. There are significant numbers of baobab trees in this area, near the northern d of Kruger National Park.
There are few forests in the country, these being largely restricted to patches on mountains and escarpmts in high rainfall areas and gallery forests, and much of the plateau area is covered by grassland and savanna. The karoo occupies much of the drier western half of the country; this area is influced by its proximity to the Atlantic and has winter rainfall. The vegetation here is dominated by dwarf succult plants, with many demic species of both plants and animals. Fynbos is a belt of natural shrubland located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces with a unique flora dominated by ericas, proteas and restios.
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This area is part of the Cape Floristic Region. The World Wide Fund for Nature divides this region into three ecoregions: the Lowland fynbos and rosterveld, the Montane fynbos and rosterveld and the Albany thickets. There is some concern that the Cape Floristic Region is expericing one of the most rapid rates of extinction in the world due to habitat destruction, land degradation, and invasive ali plants.
The Cape Floral Region Protected Areas is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a group of about thirte protected areas that together cover an area of over a million hectares. This is a hotspot of diversity of demic plants, many of which are threated, and demonstrates ongoing ecological and evolutionary processes. This region occupies less than 0.5% of the area of the African contint yet has almost 20% of its plant species, almost 70% of the 9, 000 plant species being demic to the region. The Fynbos vegetation consists mainly of sclerophyllous shrubland. Of special interest is the pollination biology of the plants, many of which rely on ants, termites, birds or mammals for this function, the adaptions they have made to the fire risk, and the high level of adaptive radiation and speciation.
The Mediterranean climate produces hot, dry summers, and many of the plants have underground storage organs allowing them to resprout after fires. A typical species is the silver tree, which grows naturally only on Table Mountain. Fire kills many of the trees but triggers the germination of the seeds, founding the next geration of these short-lived trees.
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The Kruger National Park, in the east of the country, is one of the largest national parks in the world, with an area of 19, 485 square kilometres (7, 523 sq mi) of grassland with scattered trees. It supports a wide range of ungulates including Burchell's zebra, impala, greater kudu, blue wildebeest, waterbuck, warthog, Cape buffalo, giraffe and hippopotamus. There are also black and white rhinoceroses, African elephant, African wild dog, cheetah, leopard, lion and spotted hya.
Elsewhere in the country there are gemsbok, alternatively known as oryx, nyala, bushbuck and springbok. There are sevte species of gold mole, a family limited to southern Africa, five species of elephant shrew, many species of shrews, the southern African hedgehog, the aardvark, various hares and the critically dangered riverine rabbit. There are numerous species of bat and a great many species of rodt. Primates are represted by the Mohol bushbaby, the brown greater galago, the Sykes' monkey, the vervet monkey and the chacma baboon. Smaller carnivores include mongooses, gets, the caracal, the serval, the African wildcat, the Cape fox, the side-striped jackal, the black-backed jackal, meerkats, and the African clawless otter. The brown fur seal and other species of seal occur on the coasts and the waters around the country are visited by numerous species of whale and dolphin.
With its diverse habitat types, South Africa has a wide range of residtial and migratory species. According to the 2018 edition of The Clemts Checklist of Birds of the World, 849 species of bird have be recorded in South Africa and its offshore islands. Of these, 125 species are vagrants, and about 30 are demic either to South Africa, or the more inclusive South Africa/Lesotho/Eswatini region.
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The demic species include the southern black and blue korhaans, the grey-winged francolin, the Knysna turaco, the Fynbos buttonquail, the southern bald ibis, the forest buzzard, the ground woodpecker, the Cape and Draksberg rockjumpers, the Cape, eastern and Agulhas long-billed larks, the red, Karoo, Rudd's and Botha's larks, the Cape bulbul, the Victorin's and Knysna warblers, the Draksberg prinia, the bush blackcap, the Cape sugarbird, the chorister robin-chat, the stinel and Cape rock thrushes, the buff-streaked chat, the pied starling, the African Pguin, and the orange-breasted sunbird.
Some birds breed elsewhere but migrate to South Africa to overwinter, while others breed in the country but migrate away in the non-breeding season. Migratory species include the greater striped swallow, white-rumped swift, white stork, African pygmy kingfisher, yellow-billed kite and the European bee-eater.
There is a rich fauna of reptiles and amphibians, with 447 species of reptile recorded in the country (as compiled by the Reptile Database),
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South Africa has the richest diversity of reptiles of any African country. demic species include the angulate tortoise and geometric tortoise, the Zululand dwarf chameleon, the Transkei dwarf chameleon and the Robertson dwarf chameleon, the Broadley's flat lizard,
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