Interesting African animal facts

Wildlife and African Animal Facts

African animal facts and everything you need to learn about Africa’s amazing wildlife and astonishing info on how they survive in the diverse continent.

Africa is home to some of the world’s most fascinating animals. The African elephant, the largest land animal, can weigh up to 6,000 kilograms and uses its trunk for over 40,000 distinct muscles to breathe, drink, and grasp. The cheetah, the fastest land mammal, accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in just 3 seconds. The giraffe, towering at up to 18 feet, has a heart weighing about 25 pounds to pump blood to its brain. Lions are unique among big cats for their social structure, living in prides. The tiny dung beetle punches above its weight, moving objects 1,000 times heavier than itself. The pangolin, covered in protective keratin scales, is critically endangered due to poaching. Lastly, Africa’s great wildebeest migration involves over 1.5 million animals traversing the Serengeti and Maasai Mara annually.

Children who grow up in Africa are not surprised to hear that gorillas are their closest relatives and that elephants can’t jump but most travelers come on safari to hear surprising facts about African wildlife. Learn all about Africa’s amazing wildlife and African fauna – astonishing facts on how they survive and adapt to the diverse African continent. What you didn’t know about African wildlife is all revealed here! Bet you didn’t know that humans have only discovered 20% of all the 8.7 million species on Earth. And that finding the other 80% could take another 500 years! For starters, we have uncovered 12 interesting facts about African wildlife here.

Wild animals constantly adapt to changing climates, human impacts, unexpected catastrophes and other unusual stresses and imbalances. In every species, there are exceptions to every rule, even in nature’s many miraculous cycles of life. This blog reveals all – what you didn’t know about African wildlife! 

Here is a whole lot of stuff you never knew about African wildlife:

• Elephants can communicate using subsonic rumbles humans can’t hear
• A giraffe’s tongue is 18–20 inches long and prehensile. It is also black so does not suffer in the African sun whilst it is eating
• Cheetahs can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just three seconds
• Ostriches can outrun most predators, reaching speeds up to 45 mph
• Lions rest for 20 hours daily to conserve energy for hunting
• Crocodiles can live without food for up to a year.Their slow metabolism and efficient energy storage allow them to conserve resources, relying on stored fat to sustain themselves during times of food scarcity
• Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world due to high demand for their scales in traditional medicine and their meat as a delicacy. This illegal trade has pushed all eight species of pangolins toward threatened or endangered status
• Hippopotamuses produce their own natural sunscreen to protect themselves from the harsh African sun!

Africa’s best wildlife experiences

Giraffes only hum at night

You can’t miss the extraordinary height of a giraffe and the way it curls its extra-long tongue around thorny branches to eat the leaves. Have you ever heard these elegant animals make a sound? Have you ever heard a giraffe roar, growl or bark? Well, scientists only recently found out that giraffes do make a noise unique to their species – giraffes talk to each other using a repertoire of different hums which they tend to make at night. Researchers recorded different humming sounds of about 9Hz in frequency which humans can just hear. 

The best places to see giraffe in Africa:

Imagine a 5-ton elephant trying to jump and then realize that this would be nigh impossible. Elephants are not made to jump and don’t need to jump at all as their food source is always accessible. They can use their sheer force to toss trees aside like twigs but they cannot jump. A good reason for this is that these massive herbivores have very weak muscles in their feet and they have weak, inflexible ankles too, carrying all of that weight. 

Gorillas and humans share 98% of their DNA

The best places to see gorillas are in Central and East Africa. Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park are renowned for their mountain gorilla populations. In Rwanda, Volcanoes National Park offers memorable encounters. Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park is another top destination, though safety should be considered. These areas focus on gorilla conservation through guided treks.

Primatologists have found fossils showing that humans, gorillas and chimpanzees share a common, ancient ancestor. The evidence is there – our outer ear structures are very similar and we both have fingers and thumbs with fingernails.   We have the same teeth structure but gorillas’ strong jaws can bite open a coconut with one bite! However if a gorilla is exposed to a human illness, it will be severely affected as gorillas have not developed the same immunities we have. They live in pristine forest habitats where they simply never interact with humans or get sick. 

Gorilla trekking safaris teach you more about these gentle forest giants

Black Rhinos lie down for a deep daily sleep

Black rhinos are solitary and territorial, often inhabiting dense bush and savannahs. They are more aggressive than their white rhino counterparts and can charge when feeling threatened. Active during dawn and dusk, black rhinos feed on shrubs, branches, and leafy plants, using their prehensile upper lip to grasp vegetation. Despite their poor eyesight, they rely on keen hearing and a strong sense of smell. Mothers are protective of their calves, while males establish territories marked by dung and urine.

Black Rhinos get very hot and tired in the African sun and by early afternoon they need a nap. They find a shady tree or a cool muddy pan and they just lie down. They cool down and get ready to roam at dusk again. When they sleep deeply, they lie on their sides with their feet curled up slightly, like a baby in a dream. 

The critically endangered pangolin and the most trafficked animal in the world

The word pangolin comes from the word ‘pengguling’ in Malay and aptly describes how these scaly creatures roll up immediately when they sense danger. Pangolins face enormous dangers every day as the most highly trafficked animal in the world. They roll up into a tight ball to defend themselves from predators and poachers, leaving their sharp tails out to lash back if need be. The scales fit together like a perfect jigsaw, making a hard shell and nothing can get a grip. 

Go and visit Gorongosa National Park. Pangolins in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park are a symbol of hope for endangered wildlife. These shy, scale-covered mammals play a vital ecological role by controlling insect populations. Conservation efforts in Gorongosa aim to protect them from poaching and habitat loss.

Dolphins eat fish headfirst

Bottlenose dolphins eat their fish headfirst to avoid the scales getting stuck in their throats.  Dolphins may have teeth, but they don’t chew their food, they just grab a fish, bite it and swallow it down. These clever mammals also use their tail flukes to flip a fish out of the water and then catch it in their open mouths! They can dive down to the seabed to pounce on fish which often leaves craters in the sand – now known as ‘crater feeding’. 

The best places to see dolphins in Africa

Desert lions of Namibia quench their thirst with melons

Namibian and Kalahari lions have ingeniously learned how to get their water from the Tsamma melon. This indigenous melon is like a watermelon, high in water content which quenches the cats’ thirst. Lions also glean water from the prey they catch. The San use every part of the melon: they hydrate with the watery flesh, cook it in stews, roast the seeds and make oil from the seeds. The leaves can also be cooked like spinach.

Namibia’s desert lions are a rare, resilient population uniquely adapted to the harsh Namib Desert. These lions traverse vast distances, surviving on minimal water and preying on desert-adapted species. Found mainly in the Skeleton Coast and Kunene regions, they symbolize nature’s resilience.

Whale sharks filter more than 6,000 liters of water an hour

The best places to see whale sharks in Africa include Mozambique’s Tofo Beach, renowned for frequent sightings, and Kenya’s Diani Beach, where the sharks visit seasonally. Seychelles also offers opportunities for encounters, particularly around Mahé Island, while Zanzibar in Tanzania is another popular destination for these majestic creatures.

The largest fish on the planet eats the tiniest fish on the planet! Whale sharks live on zooplankton and phytoplankton as careful filter feeders. They filter water all day long through their gills to find millions of these tiny morsels. They can’t bite or chew and simply open their huge mouths to allow food to enter their digestive systems.  Imagine seeing a whale shark ‘standing’ in the ocean depths, its enormous mouth wide open to catch as much plankton as it can, bobbing up and down!

Nile crocodiles have the strongest bite in the world 

Nile crocodiles play a significant role in the Great Migration across the Mara River in Kenya and Tanzania. As millions of wildebeest and zebras cross the river, crocodiles lie in wait, ambushing vulnerable animals. These massive reptiles, some growing over 15 feet long, are opportunistic hunters, using stealth and powerful jaws to catch prey during this perilous river crossing, contributing to nature’s circle of life.

These enormous freshwater reptiles can clamp down so hard with their jaws, applying 2300 kg of pressure per square centimeter. That is 10 times mightier than a great white shark’s bite! We humans can only apply 45 kg per square centimeter when we bite. Crocodiles are apex predators with sharp hearing, eyesight and smell. Their long teeth clamp down on prey and drag it under the water to drown it.  

Aardwolves are not wolves at all but insectivores

Aardwolves are small, nocturnal mammals found in Southern and Eastern Africa. Unlike their larger relatives, the hyenas, aardwolves primarily feed on termites, using their long, sticky tongues to collect thousands in a single night. They are solitary creatures, often marking territories with scent markings. Aardwolves are shy and rarely seen, typically avoiding direct conflict with other predators. Their thick fur helps protect them from termite bites.

Insectivores eat insects, herbivores eat plants, omnivores eat a varied diet and carnivores eat meat! This ‘earth wolf’ is small and its cousin is the hyena. It hunts at night eating termites and other insects using its long sticky tongue to catch its food. Aardwolves only have one mate for life, and they only use their strong jaws to defend their territories. They have a long mane which they raise as a warning sign to intruders.  

Meerkats eat scorpions and never get stung

Meerkats teach their offspring the art of hunting scorpions. They bring back half-dead scorpions to the dens so their pups can practice killing them without getting stung. Meerkats are highly intelligent and will follow a scorpion for ages, then zero in to grab it by the tail which it bites off. This is where the stinger is, and the meerkat spits it out. The meerkat avoids the dangerous pincers and knows that the exoskeleton contains poison. So it rubs the dead scorpion in the sand to remove all leftover venom. How clever is that?

Zebra mothers give birth to their calves alone, away from the herd

The female zebra instinctively knows that her foal must imprint her unique stripe pattern into its memory, away from the confusion of the herd’s stripes. The stripes have several functions, one of which is to make the animal seem unattractive to bloodsucking insects such as horseflies which can suck their blood and spread disease. The stripes also help to stop sunburn and cool the animal down in extreme heat. Some scientists say that the stripes also confuse large predators when the herd runs together as it is just a blur of black and white. 

Reading these 12 surprising facts about African wildlife is entertaining and amusing. Learn all about Africa’s amazing wildlife and astonishing facts on how they survive and adapt to the diverse African continent. We can enlighten you with many more interesting facts about Africa’s incredible wildlife and biodiversity.

Check out the top 10 national parks to go on safari in Africa