Did You Know ?

1

African Elephant

The African elephant is the largest living land mammal. It can weigh more than 6 tons! Male elephants can be up to 3.4 m tall. Female elephants can be up to 2.6 m tall. Elephants are vulnerable to endangerment.

2

Ostrich

The Ostrich is the largest bird on earth. Male ostriches grow to be 2.8 m tall. Female ostriches grow to be 2 m tall. They live in savannas in Africa. Ostriches are flightless birds and can run at speeds of 60 mph.

3

Impala

The Impala is one of the most common and most graceful of all Africa's antelopes.” Most Faithful” as will always see impala. A slender, agile creature, it can clear formidable obstacles and run at speeds faster than 60km/h. They are fleet runners who can leap up to 10m in length and 3m in height.

4

Nile Crocodile

The Nile crocodile is the largest reptile in Africa. They can be 5 metres long! Nile crocodiles have an extremely powerful bite.

The Eland is the largest African Antelope bovid, but the slowest antelope. It can only run about 40 kph (25 mph), but it can jump 3m (10 ft.) from a standing start. There are two species. The first is the giant eland (Taurotragus derbianus) which is slightly the larger of the two, and occurs in central and Western Africa. The second is the more familiar, common eland (Taurotragus oryx).Bulls may top 900kg and stand 1.7m at the shoulder.

Cheetah

These big cats’ bodies grow to between 1.1m and 1.4m metres long, plus a tail measuring 65cm to 80cm. Their weight ranges from 34kg to 54kg, males being slightly heavier. The fastest land animal in the world, a cheetah can reach 112km/h in just three seconds – that’s faster than a sports car accelerates! covering 100 meters at a peak speed of 61 mph (98 kph) in 5.95 seconds. Olympian Usain Bolt, who holds the (human) world record, is much slower by comparison: 100 meters in 9.58 seconds. Cheetahs only need to drink water every three or four days.

Sable Antelope

They have a tufted tail and a slight mane and long horns that strongly curve backwards. Females are reddish brown with smaller and less heavily ridged horns than males. Male: Shoulder height about 1.5 m (4.95 ft.) Horns: To put 1.6 (5 foot) metres into perspective, it’s roughly the same length as an elephant’s tusk. 1.6 metres! A sable antelope’s horns can be longer than most people! Sable grow these horns over an entire lifetime. Each year they develop a new ring, so the sable’s horns can be used to determine age. At first they grow straight and tall. Slowly the horns arc backwards to give sable antelope their distinctive appearance. Adult sable antelope grow to over 200 kg.

Hippos are considered the second largest land animal on Earth Males measure around 3.5m long and 1.5m tall, and can weigh up 3,200kg. That’s as much as three small cars! Hippos are most active at night, when they forage for food. They are herbivores, and eat mostly grass – and boy do they eat grass! In just one night, they can guzzle down up to 35kg of their favorite grub!

The Kudu are highly alert and notoriously hard to approach. When they detect danger – often using their large, radar-like ears – they give a hoarse alarm bark, then flee with a distinctive, rocking-horse running motion. The horns of a mature bull kudu have two and a half twists, and, if straightened, would reach an average length of 120cm. However, they may occasionally have three full twists and the record length is a whopping 187.64cm.

African Ellies, both male and female, have tusks the length of which often depends on the type and amount of nutrients found in their diets.

Lions will happily spend up to 20 hours a day resting. That is because they can't sweat. They deal with the heat by sleeping on their backs to cool down.