Prof.MEHAK GUL
Zoogeography and palentology
ANIMALS IN AFRICA
A BRIEF GALANCE ON THE FEW ANIMALS OF AFRICA
ASSIGNMENT NO 1
G1F17BSZL0119 ZAINAB BUTT
BSZOOLOGY 6 C
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL PUNJAB,
GUJRANWALA
DATE APRIL 20,2020
CONTENTS
AFRICA
FAUNA
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FISHES
AMHIBIANS
REPTILES
BIRDS
MAMMALS
O SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
O GEOGRAPHICALDISTRIBUTION
O IDENTIFICATION FEATURE
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AFRICA
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. At about
30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6%
of Earth's total surface area and 20% of its land area. The continent is surrounded by the
Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian
Ocean to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The climate of Africa ranges from
tropical to subarctic on its highest peaks. Its northern half is primarily desert, or arid, while its
central and southern areas contain both savanna plains and dense jungle (rainforest) regions
FAUNA
Africa boasts perhaps the world's largest combination of density and "range of freedom" of wild
animal populations and diversity, with wild populations of large carnivores (such as lions,
hyenas, and cheetahs) and herbivores (such as buffalo, elephants, camels, and giraffes) ranging
freely on primarily open non-private plains. It is also home to a variety of "jungle" animals,
including snakes and primates and aquatic life such as crocodiles and amphibians. In addition,
Africa has the largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of
the Pleistocene megafauna. In Africa, you will find some of the largest mammals on this planet.
Among them are the largest land mammal, the African elephant, the tallest mammal, the
giraffe, and the fastest mammal, the cheetah, which can run with speeds up to 113km/hour or
70 miles/hour! Africa is also home to many endangered animals such as the White and Black
Rhinoceros. Kruger National Park, where one can admire the beautiful African wildlife is one
of the biggest national parks and wildlife conservation areas in the world.
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FISHES
AFRICAN BUTTERFLY FISHES
P.BUCHHOLZ
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
TAXA
KINGDOM
PHYLUM
CLASS
ORDER
FAMILY
GENUS
SPECIES
NAME
ANIMALIA
CHORDATA
ACTINOPTERYGII
OSTEOGLOSSIFORMES
PANTODONTIDAE
PANTODON
P. BUCHHOLZ
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
Western Indian Ocean: Somalia south to Natal, South Africa and east of Madagascar,
Seychelles, Mauritius and Reunion. Freshwater Butterfly fish are found in the slightly acidic,
standing bodies of water in West Africa. They require a year-round temperature of 73–86 °F
(23–30 °C). They are found in slow- to no-current areas with high amounts of surface foliage for
cover.
IDENTIFICATION FEATURES
SIZE
Freshwater butterfly fish are small, no more than 13 cm (5.1 in) in length, with very
large pectoral fins.
WEIGHT
0.1 KG
BODY
The fish is flat on the top with a blunt face and deep body, with an array of finger that extends
down and away from the surface.
SWIMBLADDER
It has a large and well-vascularized swim bladder, enabling it to breathe air at the surface of the
water.
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Eyes
Its eyes are constantly trained to the surface and its upturned mouth is specifically adapted to
capture small prey along the water's surface.
COLOR
The color pattern is a gray and brown camouflage pattern
FINS
The ventral fins are reduced to thread-like extensions that project down below the body like an
empty fan.
The anal fin is large and, with the broad caudal fin, helps to propel the fish out of the water with
powerful motions for capturing insect prey above the water surface.
Its widespread pectoral fins look just like the decorative wings of a butterfly. These fins are a
silvery brownish green and patterned with dark markings.
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AMHIBIANS
GOLIATH FROG
Conraua goliath
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
TAXA
NAME
KINGDOM:
ANIMALIA
PHYLUM:
CHORDATA
CLASS:
AMPHIBIA
ORDER:
ANURA
FAMILY:
CONRAUIDAE
GENUS:
CONRAUA
SPECIE
GOOLIATH
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION
The goliath frog is normally found in and near fast-flowing rivers with sandy bottoms in the
Middle African countries of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.These rivers are usually clear and
highly oxygenated. Their actual range spans from the last 200 km (120 mi) of the Sanaga basin
in Cameroon to the north to the last 50 km (31 mi) of the Benito River basin in Equatorial
Guinea to the south. The river systems in which these frogs live are often found in dense,
extremely humid areas with relatively high temperatures.
IDENTIFICATION FEATURES
SIZE
Conraua goliath is the largest frog in the world, snout-vent lengths were between 17 and 32 cm
(7 and 13 in).
WEIGHT
The weights ranged between 600 and 3,250 g (1.3 and 7.2 lb)
BODY
The depressed head is wider than long with an obtusely pointed snout. nostril is closer to the
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snout tip than the eye
EYES
Their eyes can be nearly 2.5 cm (1.0 in) in diameter. A lateral fold extends from the eye to the
posterior portion of the tympanum.
TYMPANUM
The tympanum is small relative to the large head, and bordered above by a prominent fold or
ridge. The conspicuous tympanum has a diameter around 0.5 cm (0.20 in) and separate from the
eye by about 5 cm (2.0 in) in adults.
FINGERS
The short fingers each have one large, flat, oval subarticular tubercle. The first and second
fingers are about equal and the third is longer than the fourth
HINDLIMBS
The hind limbs are powerful and long relative to the body length (~150% of snout–vent length).
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TOES
Toes are fully webbed, with large interdigital membranes extending down to the toe tips. The
second toe is the longest. They have acute hearing, but no vocal sac, and also lacks nuptial pads.
SKIN
The skin on the dorsum and on top of the limbs is granular.
COLORATION
Dorsal coloration is green, sienna, while the abdomen and ventral part of the limbs are
yellow/orange.
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REPTILES
BLACK MAMBA
Dendroaspis polylepis
TAXA
KINGDOM
PHYLUM
CLASS
ORDER
SUBORDER
FAMILY
GENUS
SPECIE
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION
NAME
ANIMALIA
CHORDATA
REPTILIA
SQUAMATA
SERPENTES
ELAPIDAE
DENDROASPIS
DENDROASPIS POLYLEPIS
The black mamba's distribution in parts of West Africa has been disputed. Black mambas live in
the savannas and rocky hills of southern and eastern Africa.The black mamba inhabits a wide
range in sub-Saharan Africa; its range includes Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia,
and Angola.
IDENTIFICATION FEATURES
SIZE
Adult Black mamba snakes have an average length of 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) and a maximum
length of 4.5 metres (14 feet).
WEIGHT
About 1.6 kg
BODY
The black mamba is a long, slender, cylindrical snake. It has a coffin-shaped head with
somewhat pronounced brow ridge and a medium-sized eye
a
COLOR
Their skin color is a gray to olive tone. They get their name not from their skin color, but rather
from the blue-black color of the inside of their mouth, which they display when threatened.
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FANGS
The black mamba is a proteroglyphous (front-fanged) snake, with fangs up to 6.5 mm (0.26 in)
in length, located at the front of the maxilla.
TAIL
The tail of the species is long and thin, the caudal vertebrae, making up 17–25% of
its body length.
SCALES
The black mamba has between 23 and 25 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 248 to 281 ventral
scales, 109 to 132 divided subcaudal scales, and a divided anal scale.
EYE
Mamba eyes range between greyish-brown and shades of black; the pupil is surrounded by a
silvery-white or yellow color.
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BIRDS
RED BILLED QUELEA
Quelea quelea
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
TAXA
KINGDOM:
PHYLUM:
CLASS:
ORDER:
FAMILY:
GENUS:
SPECIES:
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION
NAMES
ANIMALIA
CHORDATA
AVES
PASSERIFORMES
PLOCEIDAE
QUELEA
Q. QUELEA
The red-billed quelea is mostly found in tropical and subtropical areas with a
seasonal semi-arid climate, resulting in dry thornbush grassland, including the Sahel, and its
distribution covers most of sub-Saharan Africa.
IDENTIFICATION FEATURES
SIZE
Approximately 12 cm (4.7 in) long
WEIGHT
Weighing 15–26 g (0.53–0.92 Oz)
BODY
The red-billed quelea is a small sparrow-like bird, with a heavy, cone-shaped bill, which is red
or orange to yellow.
FACIAL MASK
Over 75% of males have a black facial "mask", comprising a black forehead, cheeks, lores and
higher parts of the throat. Males have a white mask.
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COLOR
They have light underparts, striped brown upper parts, yellow-edged flight feathers and a
reddish bill.
FEATHERS
The tail and upper wing are dark brown. The flight feathers are edged greenish or yellow.
EYE
The eye has a narrow naked red ring and a brown iris.
BILL
The bill is bright raspberry red and cone shaped.
SOUND
the male sings in short bursts, starting with some chatter, followed by a warbling tweedle-toodletweedle
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MAMMALS
AFRICAN ELEPHANT
Loxodanta africana
CLASSIFICATION
TAXA
NAMES
KINGDOM
Animalia
PHYLUM
Chordate
CLASS
Mammalia
ORDER
Proboscidae
FAMILY
Elephantidae
SUBFAMILY
Elephantinae
GENUS
Loxodonta
SPECIES
Africana
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION
African elephants are distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa, where they inhabit Sahelian scrubland
and arid regions, tropical rainforests, mopane and miombo woodlands. African forest elephants
occur only in Central Africa.
IDENTIFICATION FEATURES
SIZE:
Height at the shoulder: 8.2 to 13 feet
WEIGHT:
2.5 to 7 tons
SKIN:
African elephants have a grey folded and up to 30 mm (1.2 in) thick skin that is covered
with sparse bristled dark-brown to black hair.
HAIRS
Short tactile hair grows on the trunk, which has two finger-like processes on the tip.
EAR
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They have large ears help to reduce body heat; flapping them creates air currents and
exposes the ears' inner sides where large blood vessels increase heat loss during hot
weather.
TRUNK
The trunk is a prehensile elongation of its upper lip and nose. The trunk is so
strong that elephants can use it for lifting about 3% of their own body weight.They use it
for smelling, touching, feeding, drinking, dusting, producing sounds, loading, defending
and attacking.
TUSK
African elephants have two tusks, which are slender, downward-pointing.Tusks grow
from deciduous teeth called tushes, which are replaced by tusks when calves are about
one year old. The tusks weigh from 23 to 45 kg (51–99 lb) and can be from 1.5 to 2.4 m
(5–8 ft) long. They are curved forward and continue to grow throughout the elephant's
lifetime
LEGS
Their thickset bodies rest on stocky legs.
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REFERENCE:
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https://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/miscellaneous/butterfly.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_butterflyfish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_frog#/media/File:Goliath_Frog.jpg
https://amphibiaweb.org/species/4691
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/black_mamba
https://www.britannica.com/animal/black-mamba
https://www.britannica.com/animal/quelea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-billed_quelea
https://animalcorner.org/animals/black-mamba-snakes/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_elephant
https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/elephants/african_eleph
ants/
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