Savanna Biome Research Paper

Savannas are located in many parts of the world, especially in Africa. Nearly half of Africa is considered to be a Savanna, it is the largest of them all. The African Savanna biome is located between latitudes of 15 degrees North and 30 degrees South. Here, the ecosystem includes warm temperatures year-round with high seasonal rain in the summer. Dry seasons bring about four inches of rain and occur about seven months in the year. In the months of October to March this dry period happens in the southern hemisphere and from April to September in the northern hemisphere.
The African Savanna includes many types of plants from scrubs to grasses and a large diversity of trees. Each plant contains its own traits which separates one from the other.
The animals consist of herbivores ranging in different sizes, many in which are grassers. About 2 million herbivores live in the Savanna. These include about 40 species of mammals and nearly 450 species of birds. There is a large diversity of hoofed animals like antelopes, buffalos, zebras and rhinos located here. Similar to plants, animals also have to adapt to their surroundings. This is due to the weather, predators, plants and their surroundings. Trees grow tall and their leaves are located on the highest level of the trees, therefore, animals needs to have higher necks to reach them. Other possible adaptations could be tough teeth in order to chew their food and faster speed in order to catch food. An example would be cheetahs, they would need to run fast to catch their food and ostriches would need to run fast in order to get away from their predators such as cheetahs. An interesting fact that I read during my research about African Savanna fauna was that monkeys that live in this biome spend most of their time on the floor rather than up in the high trees. As known in other biomes, monkeys play sleep and do other things in trees but in the Savanna it’s