WILDLIFE OF TANZANIA

Fauna is one of the country’s greatest attractions. In the National Parks we find the greatest variety of fauna in Tanzania, including:

• Big cats: lion, leopard and cheetah.
• Small cats: caracal, serval and the wild cat.
• Terrestrial primates: chimpanzee, olive baboon and vervet monkey.
• Arboreal primates: colobus, blue guenon and garnet bushbaby.
• Ruminant mammals: greater kudu, wildebeest, gazella, cape buffalo, gerenuk and waterbuck.
• Hoofed mammals: giraffe, african elephant, common zebra, black rhinoceros, hippos, warthogs and topi.
• Carnivores: spotted hyena, wild dog, striped mongoose, honey badger and golden jackal.
• Birds: in Tanzania there are almost 100 species of falcons, eagles, vultures, flamingos, ostrich, ground hornbill, among raptors, and another 1100 species of birds.

Lion

Lionesses living in a secure habitat can live as young as 12-14 years, while male lions rarely live more than eight years.

Leopard

Adult males can weigh between 37-90 kg, and females 28-60 kg.

Cheetah

Females can have up to five pups per litter.

Caracal

They are solitary animals except during the breeding season. They have a gestation of 69-81 days. Females give birth to between 6-4 pups, although there are usually 3. In captivity they usually live 17-19 years.

Serval

Good runners of medium size, males larger than females. They measure between 67-100cm, plus 24-45cm of tail. They weigh from 8-18kg.​ Slender build, not very long tail, small head, large ears, long legs and yellowish fur with black specks.

Wildcat

Sturdy domestic tabby cat, large head, short thick tail, rounded at tip. Color generally dark gray with yellow tones. Four black lines on the back of the neck, body with dark stripes. On the tail it has 2-4 black rings and a black tip. Throat and belly much paler in color, soles of feet black.

Chimpanzee

They have sophisticated hunting strategies that require cooperation. They are aware of their social status. Manipulators, capable of deceiving. They can learn symbols, human language, syntactic relationships, numbers and numeration. Able to spontaneously plan the near future.

Olive baboon

Herds of between 30 and 50 individuals, can exceed 100 depending on their resources. When they are adults, the males leave their group to join a new herd that does not maintain any relationship of kinship; the adult females are the ones who allow the entry of a new male.

Vervet monkey

Females give birth to 1 young, every 1-2 years, at any time. Before copulation, the male begins courtship by touching the female’s genitals and holding her from behind; if the female does not move away or strike, they proceed to copulate for about 30 seconds. Their gestation lasts about 5.5 months. The life expectancy of this monkey is about 30 years.

Colobus

Colobuses (genus Colobus) are a genus of catarrhine primates of the family Cercopithecidae that is made up of several species of African monkeys.

Blue Monkey

Stay near water sources. With daily habits. Territorial groups of 10-40 individuals. It feeds on fruits, vegetables, larvae, worms and small animals. Mating occurs at any time of the year.

Northern greater galago (Otolemur garnettii)

Their activity is nocturnal, they spend the day hiding in holes in the trees or in nests that they build themselves. ​Females give birth to 1-2 pups per year.

Greater kudu

The weight of the males is 320 kg and the females 220 kg. Gray to greyish-brown coat with 7-10 white vertical bands on each side. On the dorsal spine from the nape to the lighter tail, mane in a long and narrow row, black and white tips, growing in the center of the neck and chest. Males have V-curved horns with 2-3 spiral turns, reaching 1.25 m in length.

Wildebeest

During the mating season, adult males maintain plots where they attempt to maintain a group of females with which to mate. Forced to constantly move to group them and defend them from other males so that they do not appropriate. They avoid consanguinity and select the strongest and most resistant specimens for reproduction.

Gazella

They live in large herds of thousands of individuals. They are herbivores. To survive they must be vigilant, they do not sleep more than 1 hour a day, in periods of five minutes or less.

Cape buffalo

A peculiar characteristic of theirs is that they not only close ranks so that predators do not attack them, but also break them to attack them, defending each other, although sometimes they give in to prudence. The herds have a group of old males who guide the group and alert it to predators. Due to their size and teamwork they have few predators.

Gerenuk

These animals can live in small groups made up of females from the same family and their young, groups of single or solitary males. Its range is large and its population dispersed, so it has been difficult to determine if these animals defend their territory.

Waterbuck

It defends itself against its predators by entering the water where its long hair and oily glands protect it from moisture.

Masai giraffe

The Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi), also known as the Kilimanjaro Giraffe. Due to habitat destruction and deforestation, it only lives in Kenya and Tanzania.

African elephant

When they move, they do it at 6 km/h with a firm step, when they get scared or angry they can run at speeds of over 40 km/h.

Common zebra

They are very social and commonly live in small groups of a single male and 1-2 or several females with their young. The groups are permanent, they vary according to the habitat: in poor fields small groups. Zebra families group herds of zebras and other species, such as wildebeest and other antelopes.

Black rhinoceros

It reaches 1.6 meters tall and weighs 1,500 kilos, making it the fourth largest mammal in Africa.

Hippopotamus

It is semi-aquatic, inhabits rivers and lakes. Territorial adult males in groups of 5-30 females and young control an area of the river. During the day they rest in the water or mud, copulation and birth take place in the water. At dusk they are more active and come out to eat terrestrial herbs. Hippos rest together in the water but graze solitary.

Warthogs

Males fight over females in violent combat. Gestation is 175 days, litters usually 4 piglets, which are weaned at 2 months. The pups remain with the mother until the next birth.

Topi

Inhabits mainly grasslands, among treeless plains or sparse forests. Scattered populations do not thrive for long and must congregate or disappear. It is migratory, they move in herds of hundreds of individuals.

Spotted hyena

They are mainly nocturnal and crepuscular. They live in family groups led by a female. They take refuge in natural holes, rocks or similar, bushes or galleries abandoned by aardvarks that they themselves enlarge. They defend their territory from other groups of hyenas by marking them with the secretions of their anal glands, urine and droppings.

Lycaon pictus (African wild dog)

Its scientific name means painted wolf. The African wild dog is a highly social animal, living in herds with separate dominance hierarchies for males and females.

Striped mongoose

Lives in mixed groups of 7-40 individuals (average 20). They sleep together at night in burrows or abandoned termite mounds. They change residence every 2-3 days.

Honey badger

Its diet ranges from large prey to carrion, although its favorite dish is destroying hives. They pillage hives to feed on honey. Despite its taste for honey, it is mainly carnivorous and devours any animal.

Golden jackal

He spends the day hiding in the burrows he digs in the thicket, rock crevices or in shelters abandoned by other animals.

Falcon

Their wings are thin and pointed, allowing them to reach extremely high speeds. Peregrine falcons are the fastest on the planet, reaching dive speeds between 1230-360 km/h. In horizontal flight it reaches 96 km/h.

Eagle

They are birds of prey, they have a large, powerful and pointed beak to detach the meat of their prey. Powerful tarsi and claws. Their strength enables them to lift prey much heavier than themselves into flight. They have extremely keen eyesight which allows them to see prey from a distance.

Vulture

They tend to feed especially on dead animals, although, in the absence of these, they are capable of hunting live prey.

Flamingo

All species are more or less deep pink. While they fly they keep their neck and legs fully stretched.

Ostrich

It is a large bird that does not fly, but is a runner. It is found in Africa, and in past times it also inhabited the Middle East. It is the largest and heaviest of the birds that still exist; it can reach three meters in height and weigh about 180 kg.

Ground hornbill

One meter long, beak 38-50 cm. It lives in small family groups made up of a male and a female with their young. When they grow up, they abandon their parents.