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Africa
The Dark Continent
Austin Scrogin
Description of Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.2 million km²
including adjacent islands, it covers six percent of Earth's total surface area and 20.4 percent of its
total land area.
There are 57 bodies of water in the continent of Africa.\
Africa, the planet's 2nd largest continent and the second most-populous continent (after Asia) includes (54) individual
countries, and Western Sahara, a member state of the African Union whose statehood is disputed by Morocco. Note
that South Sudan is the continent's newest country.
Over 1,100 species of mammals are living in Africa.
Over 2,600 species of birds are living in Africa.
The last animal you might expect to see in Africa is a penguin, but they are there. There is a colony
living near the cape in South Africa. They are attracted to the cold currents there.
Map
Major bodies of water in Africa
Africa is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai
Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the east and southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
Africa is also home the longest river in the world. The mighty Nile river.
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is
6,853 km long or 4,258 miles.
There are also 40 lakes in Africa. Including lakes like.
Lake Victoria - one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named after Queen Victoria by the explorer John Hanning
Speke, the first Briton to document it.
Lake Tanganyika - also an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by
volume, and the second deepest, in both cases, after only Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is also the world's longest
freshwater lake.
Lake Chad - which is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries.
Lake
Victoria
Lake
Tanganyika
Lake
Chad
Animals
Lions
Gemsbok
Leopard
Buffalo
Elephant
Eland
Giraffe
Cheetah
Lions
The lion is one of the big cats in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae. The commonly used
term African lion collectively denotes the several subspecies found in Africa. With some males exceeding
250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist in subSaharan Africa and in India. In ancient historic times, their range was in most of Africa, including North
Africa, and across Eurasia from Greece and southeastern Europe to India. In the late Pleistocene, about
10,000 years ago, the lion was the most widespread large land mammal after humans.
Gemsbok
The gemsbok or gemsbuck is a large antelope in the Oryx genus. It is native to the arid regions of Southern
Africa, such as the Kalahari Desert. Some authorities formerly included the East African oryx as a
subspecies.
Leopard
The leopard is one of the five "big cats" in the genus Panthera. It is a member of the family Felidae with a wide
range in regions of sub-Saharan Africa, West Asia, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia to Siberia.
Fossil records found in Italy suggest that in the Pleistocene it ranged as far as Europe.
Buffalo
The African buffalo or Cape buffalo is a large African bovine. It is not closely related to the slightly larger wild
water buffalo of Asia and its ancestry remains unclear. Syncerus caffer caffer, the Cape buffalo, is the
typical subspecies, and the largest one, found in South and East Africa. S. c. nanus is the smallest
subspecies, common in forest areas of Central and West Africa while S. c. brachyceros is in West Africa
and S. c. aequinoctialis is in the savannas of Central Africa.
Elephant
Elephants are large mammals of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea. Two species are
traditionally recognised, the African elephant and the Asian elephant, although some evidence suggests
that African bush elephants and African forest elephants are separate species. Elephants are scattered
throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Elephantidae is the only surviving family
of the order Proboscidea; other, now extinct, members of the order include deinotheres, gomphotheres,
mammoths, and mastodons. Male African elephants are the largest extant terrestrial animals and can
reach a height of 4 m and weigh 7,000 kg.
Eland
The giant eland, also known as the Lord Derby eland, is an open-forest and savanna antelope. A species of the
family Bovidae and genus Taurotragus, it was described in 1847 by John Edward Gray. The giant eland is
the largest species of antelope, with a body length ranging from 220–290 cm. There are two subspecies: T.
d. derbianus and T. d. gigas.
Giraffe
The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest
ruminant. Its species name refers to its camel-like shape and its leopard-like colouring. Its chief
distinguishing characteristics are its extremely long neck and legs, its horn-like ossicones, and its
distinctive coat patterns. It is classified under the family Giraffidae, along with its closest extant relative,
the okapi. The nine subspecies are distinguished by their coat patterns.
Cheetah
The cheetah, also known as the hunting leopard, is a big cat that occurs mainly in eastern and southern Africa and a few parts of Iran.
The only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, it is placed in the subfamily Felinae. The cheetah is characterised by a slender body,
deep chest, spotted pelage, a small rounded head, black tear-like streaks on the face, long thin legs and a long spotted tail. Its lightly
built, thin form is in sharp contrast with the robust build of the other big cats.
The End