The African savanna is an amazing biome with flat grasslands and scattered trees. Savanna biomes are unfamiliar to many folks, they make up about 20% of Earth’s land. This global grassland biome is fascinating!
Savannas are among the largest ecosystems in the world. Plus, they’re home to some of the planet’s coolest members of the animal kingdom - from lions and leopards, to meerkats, hyenas and stripy zebras.
What is a Savanna?
A savanna is any kind of ecosystem that has both trees and a mix of shrubs and grassland. A savanna is different from other kinds of environments like a forest because its trees are spaced enough so that the tops of the trees don’t often overlap. This means that plenty of sunlight shines on the soil, which allows grass and other plants to grow. They are situated between a grassland and a forest. They can also overlap with other biomes.
With those traits in mind, savannas can be found in places like Colombia, Brazil, Portugal, and even in the United States!
Climate and Seasons
The savanna biome is an area that has a very dry season and then a very wet season. The savanna does have four seasons, but they are related to rainfall. The climate of a savanna is characterized by two distinct seasons: dry (winter) and wet (summer). Interestingly enough, the winter is drier with about 4 inches of rainfall, while the summer receives the most rainfall of around 15 to 25 inches. The time of each season varies depending on the location, but the dry season (winter) is typically longer than the wet one. The savanna temperature in summer ranges from 68°F to 86°F on average, making the weather muggy and unpleasant. The climatic condition of the tropical desert is mostly warm. It can also get a little touch dry. The savanna receives most of its rainfall in the summer season. The rest of the year, the temperature ranges from 68 degrees F to 86 degrees F.
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Savannas only have two seasons instead of four - wet and dry. This is because seasons there are defined by how much rain falls. In fact, there’s so much rain in the wet season, which lasts about six months, that it’s known as ‘monsoon season‘. During these rainy months, a savanna can get 50 to 120cm of rain!
African Savannah – Virtual Field Trip
Vegetation Adaptations
Savanna vegetation is a cross between a tropical rainforest and a desert ecosystem. These biomes are covered with short and tall grasses, low-lying shrubs, and scattered large trees. For instance, some grass species come with sharp blades or a bitter taste to prevent herbivores from eating them. Long root systems also allow them to suck underground water. Trees also have their way to fit into this savanna habitat. They develop thick, rough bark to withstand wildfires and specialized trunks to store water for an extended time.
Plants that grow in savannahs have to be able to survive long periods without rain. So, they have long roots that can reach far down into the earth for water, and trunks that can store moisture. Some grasses on savannahs have developed a nifty method of survival - they have a bitter flavour, designed to deter snack-seeking creatures!
There are plenty of food crops are planted in the savanna, including corn, millets, maize, wheat, sorghum, sugar cane, etc.
Savanna Wildfires
Wildfires usually occur in savanna biomes for many reasons. In an extended dry season, dry grasses and shrubs can easily catch fire. These fires can be beneficial for the land. The fires remove the old grass and allow new seeds to take root; this rejuvenates the grasses. Larger animals can usually outrun a fire, and smaller animals find shelter in burrows.
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Contrary to common belief, wildfires do more good than harm for savanna biomes. Large trees, as mentioned, can survive the fires thanks to their thick, fire-resistant bark. Animals can run or fly away from the fires easily, so nothing will be left behind. The only victims are small insects, but their population is too crowded to be completely extinct.
Wildlife in the Savanna
You can find an extensive range of animals in the African Savanna. As such, it is the perfect place to spot all kinds of big and small creatures. Tertiary consumers such as hyenas are also found in the African Savanna. The dry, humid savanna landscape is so rich in grasses and tree life, it’s the perfect home for large herbivores (plant eaters), such as buffaloes, zebra and giraffes. Savanna biomes are heaven for birdlife, especially birds of prey like eagles, buzzards, vultures, and hawks. Animals there typically have long legs for long migrations or foraging in times of scarcity. To preserve water, most of them don’t sweat but pant or release body heat through their skin and ears.
Savannas are home to both carnivores and herbivores. Herds of grazers, such as zebras, elephants, wildebeests, giraffes, gazelles, ostriches, and buffalo, are prominent in these regions. Additionally, rodents like rats and mice inhabit these vast grasslands. Savannas can’t lack predatory animals like lions, cheetahs, jackals, leopards, and hyenas.
The Serengeti
The Serengeti is full of diverse wildlife. Many of the most well-known animals in the world can be found in the Serengeti. This is one of the most popular parks in northern Tanzania. It is massive and is home to a wide variety of animals, including lions, elephants, hippos, zebras, leopards, crocodiles, gazelles, and honey badgers. The best time to visit the park is in the dry season - from late June to October.
The Serengeti is also home to the largest animal migration. Considered one of the most remarkable natural events in the world, nearly 2 million animals (1 million gnus along with antelopes and zebras) migrate in a clockwise direction around the Serengeti. During the African savannah’s dry season, herds of wildebeest merge to follow the rains northward from the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara in Kenya. Often called the Great Migration, it’s one of the most amazing wildlife spectacles on Earth - involving up to 1.5 million wildebeest, along with hundreds of thousands of other animals, including zebras and gazelles!
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It’s the Maasai ancestral land. The Maasai people have settled around the Serengeti between the 1600s and 1700s, living in balance with the surrounding wildlife. In addition to having a vibrant culture, the Maasai were known to be great cattle-herders and warriors who moved from time to time so their herds wouldn’t overgraze a given area. Today, Maasai people often fight to preserve their culture and way of life. The Maasai speak Maa, a language only spoken and not written.
The first human remains were found here. Within the Great Rift Valley in the Serengeti is a known archeological site called Olduvai Gorge. As archeologists tried to learn more about human history at Olduvai Gorge, they found the oldest evidence of human ancestors making and using stone tools.
African Elephants
Elephants are some of the planet’s most beloved mammals. These ‘gentle giants’ are key contributors to many ecosystems, predominantly in Asia and Africa. Unfortunately, these stunning animals are now looking at an uncertain future. Ivory poaching and habitat loss have driven elephant numbers to dwindle, with the African savanna elephant recently listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List. There are 415,000 elephants left in Africa.
There are actually two types of African elephant: the savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) - sometimes also called the African bush elephant - and the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). The main differences between these two species is mainly habitat, tusk shape and size. The savanna elephant is the bigger of the two, with an adult male weighing between 5000 to 14,000 lbs (2,268 to 6,350kg). A male forest elephant weighs around 10,000 lbs (4,536kg). A savanna elephant’s tusks tend to be long, thick and curved outwards, while forest elephants have straighter and more downward-pointing tusks which are thinner and more parallel to the ground. Forest elephants also have smaller ears which help them easily manoeuvre through thick forest.
As the name suggests, forest elephants tend to stick to dense, tropical rainforest habitats. Savanna elephants prefer open grasslands and savanna, opting to move across vast open plains in search of food and water. Unlike their savanna counterparts, forest elephants are a critically endangered species.
Diet
When it comes to diet, African elephants will munch almost anything they can get their trunks on. Elephants can travel up to 120 miles a day in search of food, water and shelter - but on average it’s more like 16 miles. They spend the majority of their day foraging for food, which is made up of grasses, leaves, fruit and tree bark - their favorite. Elephants love tree bark, and are able to eat the leaves of the spiky acacia trees. These herbivores need a huge amount of shrubland to keep them going, and will consume around 350 lbs (150 kilograms) of vegetation per day, per elephant! That’s around the weight of three queen-sized mattresses stacked together.
All that eating, traveling and trampling helps clear large pathways through dense bush and shrubland which makes it easier for smaller animals to traverse the savannah. This is why they’re sometimes called ‘ecosystem engineers.’ Their dung is also crucial to biodiversity, as it helps distribute nutrients and seeds back into the earth so the bush can regenerate and thrive, supporting all life in the savanna.
Elephants are also experts in finding water, often using their tusks to dig deep holes in dry riverbeds and springs, releasing the water from deep underground. This process serves other savanna animals too; such as lions, zebras, giraffes, and warthogs; during the dry months. They are also known to supplement their fiber heavy diet with extra minerals from termite mounds and mineral licks.
Habitat
The largest African savanna elephant populations can be found in southern and eastern African countries such as Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, Zambia, and South Africa, but reside in 23 countries in total throughout Africa. African elephants like to roam for miles across vast landscapes, which has put them into conflict with humans who are using their habitat for farming and settlements - and don’t want it trampled by a herd of elephants passing through! As a result, the elephants’ range has shrunk from three million square miles in 1979 to just over one million square miles in 2007.
African savanna elephants are perfectly evolved to survive and thrive in hot, arid conditions. They can be found in a number of habitats, ranging from deserts to open savannas, grasslands and woodland.
Family Life
African elephants are highly intelligent and form close family bonds throughout their lives. Savanna elephants live in intricate social structures, forming tight-knit family groups led by a matriarch. These herds typically consist of other female relatives and their carves. The matriarch, usually the oldest and most experienced female (also calleds cows), plays a crucial role in decision-making and guiding the herd. The whole group works together to raise and protect the young, and search for food and water.
Male elephants (bulls), on the other hand, are solitary animals that either traverse the savanna alone or travel in smaller bachelor herds. The male elephants gradually separate from the larger herd as they become adults, and learn key navigation and survival skills from the older bulls who have spent decades maintaining and passing along their knowledge. Heartbreakingly, old bull elephant tusks are particularly valuable to poachers. The loss of these old bulls means that a lifetime of vital elephant knowledge is lost, impacting the survival of the younger males.
Threats to Elephants
Some elephant populations have plummeted almost 90% in the last 50 years. Throughout eastern and southern Africa, the outlook isn’t much better. There are only around 400,000 African elephants left in the wild, a big drop from the estimated 1.4 million African elephants that were alive in 1970. So what has caused the huge decline of elephants in Africa?
Ivory is one of the world’s most controlled and expensive materials. It is used as a status symbol, in art and in traditional medicine across a number of cultures. Because of its high value and desirability, a black market for ivory fuels the illegal trade and poaching - despite an international ban on its acquisition and unregulated sale. Poaching for ivory remains a significant threat to elephants in Asia and Africa. It’s not just elephants either - the black rhino has nearly been hunted to extinction for its valuable ivory horn.
When elephants feel threatened or collide with human settlements, it can result in some pretty unhappy situations. Human-elephant conflict (HEC) manifests as crop raiding; when elephants eat and trample farms; or casualties and deaths as humans get too close, triggering their defensive behaviors. These conflicts not only affect people's safety and elephants’ survival, but also the health of the ecosystem and rural communities.
As we mentioned, elephants need a lot of space to roam. Herds roam for miles and miles across borders and plains, but human settlements, farms and communities have shrunk their environment significantly. In many countries like South Africa and Tanzania, national parks and private game reserves help keep the elephant’s safe from humans and poachers, but also restrict their movement. However, despite the best efforts of these protected spaces, illegal poaching is still a big problem.
The Serengeti (And Other Savannas) are affected by humans and global warming. Human activity such as deforestation, illegal poaching, and poor land management weakens savannas around the world. Changes in the delicate balance of ecosystems within the savannas can set off a chain reaction that drastically affects the wildlife and plantlife.
Mythbusting Elephant Myths
Contrary to popular belief, elephants are not exactly afraid of mice. The myth is likely a misunderstanding about how any animal would react to something scuttling around its feet. So yes, an elephant may be startled by a mouse, but not exactly terrified. Having said this, these giant animals are afraid of one thing: bees. Elephant hide is tough and thick, but bees are small enough to reach the sensitive areas around their eyes, trunks and mouth. Elephants will often flap their ears, stir up dust, make noise, or turn and flee in the presence of bees. Baby elephants have thinner skin which means that accidental collision with a bee hive can cause some serious damage!
Elephant graveyards are, according to legend, a place where old elephants direct themselves to die, laying down to be buried amongst their ancestors. However, there is no scientific evidence that these so-called ‘elephant graveyards’ exist. There are a couple of theories as to where this myth came from, including groups of elephant bones being discovered together. Another theory is that poachers killed groups of elephants in one location, taking their tusks away to be sold. Elephants can live for around 70 years.
It would be strange to imagine any land mammal drinking through its nose, and the same can be said for elephants! African elephants do use their nose to drink, however, but they suck water halfway up their trunks and squirt it into their mouths. In fact, it takes an African elephant only one second to suck three liters into its trunk!
When it comes to peanuts, elephants aren’t really a big fan. They are herbivores who prefer to munch on grasses, fruits, leaves, tree bark and an abundance of other foliage found in the bush. This myth is likely to have originated in the 19th century when elephants were an attraction in circuses and zoos. Onlookers could pay to feed them, and a bag of peanuts was a simple and affordable way to do so.
Fun Facts About African Elephants
- Three different kinds of elephants exist: the African savanna elephant, the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant.
- Elephants are one of the only mammals that cannot jump.
- Elephants have about 150,000 muscle units in their trunk. An elephant’s strength is in its trunk!
- An elephant can use its trunk to kill a lion, but the trunk is also gentle and can be used for affection, like when an elephant nestles a baby calf.
- Elephants can feed for 16 hours a day.
- The African savanna elephant is the largest land mammal in the world.
- African elephants typically reside in open areas like forests and grasslands in Africa.
- Asian elephant ears are small and are in the shape of India.
- Illegal poaching in Africa kills over 20,000 elephants per year due to demand for their ivory tusks.
Other Interesting Savanna Facts
- Research shows that about 65% of Africa is nothing but savanna.
- Much of the entire savanna is covered with lush trees, canopies, plants, and grass/woodlands.
- You may think that the African Savanna is a land deprived of people, but that’s far from the case. The African Savanna accommodates many communities. For example, the Nubians live in the upper Sudanese Nubia, the Akan and Kulango in the Ivory Coast, and so on.
- The world’s largest savanna is the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in Africa.
- African elephants are the world’s largest mammals on land, weighing up to 11 tons.
- Baobab trees can live up to 5,000 years.
- The Lion King takes place in an African savanna.
- The Serengeti plain is famous for the Great Migration, the world’s largest mammal migration, with over 1.5 million mammals.
How to Help Protect the Savanna
You can protect our amazing savannahs by helping to prevent climate change. Always turn off electrical items when you’re not using them, switch to energy-saving lightbulbs, and try to recycle and reduce your food waste whenever you can. Help raise awareness of the savannah animals that need our help by writing a story about them. Then, gather your family and read it to them - you can do this over the phone with friends and family who don’t live with you.
A conservation group, called African Parks, has taken a new approach to rescuing Africa’s wild spaces. By providing all the resources to help parks, the group are in a better position to tackle poaching and other issues. Sadly, the number of giraffes in Africa has fallen by 40% in the last 30 years, due to poaching and habitat loss. But six African countries - the Central African Republic, Chad, Kenya, Niger, Mali, and Senegal - have pledged to do more to protect the long‐necked critters, and aim to stop giraffe meat and products being bought and sold.
Savanna Biome: Key Facts
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| Location | Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, South America, Madagascar, Mediterranean region |
| Climate | Warm year-round, distinct wet and dry seasons |
| Rainfall | About 59 inches annually, concentrated in the wet season |
| Vegetation | Grasses, scattered trees (e.g., baobab), shrubs |
| Animals | Elephants, zebras, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, gazelles, hyenas, birds of prey |
| Threats | Deforestation, poaching, poor land management, climate change |
