Interesting Facts About African Wild Animals

The Big Five

Africa is home to some of the world’s most popular wildlife, including the famous “big five”. Since wildlife safaris are among the top Africa holiday activities, you may find it helpful to know some fun facts about these big five animals.

The big five consist of buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhinoceros. They were given this name, NOT because of their massive sizes, BUT because of how difficult and dangerous it was to hunt them down. In the earlier days when there were less restrictions on hunting, big game hunters considered it a great achievement to capture or kill one of these animals.

African Cape Buffalo

The African cape buffalo is a big and very intimidating cow-like animal with a dark-skin almost black in color. These ill-tempered animals are reputed to have killed so many trophy hunters, more than other animals did, hence their inclusion in the big five. 

During your safari in Africa, you will see large herds of buffaloes (as many as 2000 members) in the top game reserves in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. Occasionally however, you may spot a solitary buffalo bull, an extremely dangerous and ill-tempered animal, especially if it is wounded.

Older buffalo bulls have a darker skin than the females and the younger males. The older males also have a hard shielding protecting the base of their skulls. The huge upcurving horns give the African buffalo a real dangerous look.

The Elephant

No other animal on land rivals the African elephant in size. Yet, despite its huge size, the elephant is a peaceful animal when it is not threatened. Unfortunately however, in many places in Africa, human beings have encroached into lands that were previously the habitats for elephants and other wild animals. 

Inevitably, this has led to conflicts between man and elephants e.g. when man seeks to protect his farm, and the elephants are looking for pasture in their traditional grazing fields. This human-wildlife conflict has often resulted to cases of elephants killing people.

Some fun facts about the African elephant

• Like human beings, elephants show great respect for their dead. They bury them under tree branches and mourn for them. I have also heard of reports that when elephants come across the bones of a dead elephant, they stop briefly to pay respect . More information in the Animal planet website.

• They have very good memory. Elephants remember and can retrace their grazing routes even if they revisit them after several years.

• Male and female elephants stay and graze in different herds, only getting together during the breeding season.

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