Savannah Project by James Lobley 6C
Animals of the savannah
Giraffe
Giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis) are the tallest animals. The males can be 4.8 meters to 5.5 meters (16-18 feet) and can weigh up to 1700 kilograms (3800 Lbs). A male Giraffe is called a bull and the biggest bull to be shot was in Kenya, it was 5.87m (19.2ft) and weighed about 2000kg (4400lbs). The female Giraffe is smaller and weighs less than a male Giraffe. They like areas enriched with acacia trees.
When a Giraffe has a baby it is 1.8m (6ft tall). When a Giraffe sleeps it only sleeps for 10 minutes to two hours a day. A Giraffe eats leaves off an acacia tree. Giraffes are threatened by Hyenas and are prey to a Hyena.
A Giraffe has skinny fur to stay in the heat and has a long neck to reach food and is quite fast to get away from predators.
Rhino
There are two things you can call a Rhino, a Rhino or a Rhinoceros. A Rhino is a large animal and in the few years Rhino’s have lost a lot of their population. A Black Rhino eats shoots, buds and leaves and the White Rhino eats grass. A Rhino doesn’t really have any predators apart from man and lots of things are happening to save the rhinos.
Caracal
The Caracal or the Persian/ African Lynx is a medium sized cat. The Caracal is called Caracal because the name comes from the Turkish word karakulak meaning black ears.
Male Caracals a weigh about 13-18kg (28-40lbs) and like most animals the female are smaller. Recent results say that the Caracal isn’t even close to related to the Lynx. The Caracal is about 65cm long (2 foot) plus a 30cm tail (1 foot). The fur can vary from wine-red, grey or sand coloured. A Caracal can also live in the grasslands as well as the savannah. A Caracal may survive without drink for a long period. It hunts at night but in colder seasons it will hunt in the day. It hunts for rodents and hares and rarely goes and hunts for Gazelle, an Antelope and a small Ostrich.
A Caracal lives up to 12 years in the wild and in captivity 17 years. Because it’s so easy to tame it has been used to hunt in India and Iran. A Caracal sometimes can be kept as pets