Africa

Africa book cover — FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS THE WORLD OF ENDANGERED ANIMALS AFRICA BROWN BEAR BOOKS

Africa — page 1 — Habitats Threats and Conservation Africa has some of the biggest wilderness areas on Earth It has the largest desert the Sahara the second-biggest tropical rain forest in the Congo Basin vast areas of savanna grassland and the unique fynbos habitat of South Africa Bigger than the state of Alaska the lush Congo Basin rain forest spreads across parts of six countries It is home to more than 400 species of mammals over 1,000 different kinds of birds 700 fish species and many thousands of invertebrates Many of these animals are endangered including bonobos chimpanzees lowland and mountain gorillas and forest elephants The basin is rich in wood oil and minerals such as diamonds gold and coltan used in cell phones and global demand for all these resources is growing Concessions have been granted for more and more of the forest to be opened up for mining and logging Each time a mining or logging operation starts up roads have to be driven into the forest and homes have to be built for the workers Often the demand for locally killed bushmeat grows In fact about 1 million tons 0 9 million tonnes of bushmeat are eaten every year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo especially monkeys and antelope These pressures have reduced the populations of many animal species even where they are supposed to be protected A good example is Virunga which was the first national park when it was established in 1925 to protect a vast tract of forest stretching between the Virunga Mountains and the Rwenzori Mountains in eastern D R Congo The forest suffered greatly during a civil war in the early 21st century and poaching has been a major problem Since 1994 140 park rangers have been killed trying to prevent poaching Despite this Virunga probably still has more bird mammal and reptile species than any other protected area on the African continent Mountain gorillas though rare are still present in the forest as are lowland gorillas okapis and several hundred species of birds Agencies such as the Worldwide Fund for Nature WWF have worked with communities to encourage 4 the sustainable use of resources For example more than 10 million trees have been planted around Virunga to help provide local people with fuel and therefore take the pressure off older forest where much sensitive wildlife including mountain gorillas lives Desert and semidesert The Sahara Desert which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east could not provide a greater contrast with the luxuriant vegetation of the Congo Basin Whereas the latter has many thousands of plant species the Sahara has only 500 mainly xerophytes and ephemeral plants that are able to survive in the very arid conditions Considering the hyper-arid conditions the fauna of the central most arid part of the Sahara is richer than is generally believed There are about 70 species of mammals 20 of which are large mammals These include very small numbers of the Critically Endangered addax the dama gazelle Endangered and the red-fronted gazelle Vulnerable The populations of all three of these antelope and others whose numbers are not so threatened at present have been greatly reduced by hunting for food and also through hunting for sport and recreation Another antelope bubal hartebeest has been extinct since the early 20th century the last

Africa

Africa

Africa's animals, routines, and region and data panels such as population, endangered status, habitat change, and more.

About This Book

By: Tim Harris

Illustrated by:

Published by: Brown Bear Books by Black Rabbit Books

9-12Age Range

7.5+AR

62Pages

Wild ThingsSubject

1150LLexile

1-2 hoursReading Time

ZGuided Reading

ZFountas & Pinnell

80DRA

0

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