Wildlife of Angola

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Plains Zebra
Plains Zebra
Springbok Antelope
Springbok Antelope
Wildebeest
Wildebeest
African Buffalo
African Buffalo
Ground Pangolin
Ground Pangolin

Wildlife of Angola includes its flora and fauna and their natural habitats.

In the Quitçama National Park in the Kwanza River Valley, Angola's top military brass are battling to reintroduce elephants, antelope and other species that once roamed the country's 10 national parks before the civil war. Quiçama spans nearly 10,000 km² about 75 kilometres south of Luanda, the country's capital. Backed by a privately funded, $10 million (U.S.) project, the generals are working with South African wildlife experts to revive Angola's wildlife, beginning with the Quiçama Park.

Angola's protracted war has had a catastrophic effect on the country's wildlife. Forty years ago, thousands of animals roamed the fertile bushland of Quiçama. But over the years, the animals fell prey to landmines, ivory-stalking poachers and hungry locals. Many animals were slaughtered by the country's military, which used low-flying helicopters to take pot shots at big game.

The civil war between the army and UNITA rebels began after a 14-year struggle for independence from Portugal, which was granted in 1975. Still raging, the war has cost the lives of more than a million people and driven more than 2.5 million civilians from their homes. UNITA is a Portuguese language acronym for the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola.

Contents

[edit] Angola Endemic Bird Area

The western Angola Endemic Bird Area has 14 range-restricted species. Little is known about the conservation status of the region's birds due to the civil war that has raged in Angola for the last 27 years. The greatest diversity of restricted-range species is found in Cuanza Sul province, and given the uncertainty about their current status, many of these species are listed as Threatened. Gabela Bush-shrike Laniarius amboimensis are common and Monteiro's Bush-shrike Malaconotus monteiri are fairly common in degraded secondary forest, old coffee plantations and primary forest at Kumbira. Pulitzer's Longbill Macrosphenus pulitzeri is fairly common at higher elevations at Kumbira as well as in the dense understorey of secondary forest west of Seles. Angola Cave-chat Xenocopsychus ansorgei is found on the rocky slopes above the forest at Kumbira.

[edit] Fauna

Animals native to Angola:

[edit] Mammals

Main article: List of mammals in Angola

[edit] Subclass: Theria

[edit] Infraclass: Eutheria

[edit] Order: Afrosoricida (tenrecs and golden moles)

The order Afrosoricida contains the golden moles of southern Africa and the tenrecs of Madagascar and Africa, two families of small mammals that were traditionally part of the order Insectivora.

[edit] Order: Macroscelidea (elephant-shrews)

Often called sengisi, the elephant shrews or jumping shrews are native to southern Africa. Their common English name derives from their elongated flexible snout and their resemblance to the true shrews.

[edit] Order: Tubulidentata (aardvarks)

Aardvark
Aardvark

The order Tubulidentata consists of a single species, the Aardvark. Tubulidentata are characterised by their teeth which lack a pulp cavity and form thin tubes which are continuously worn down and replaced.

[edit] Order: Hyracoidea (hyraxes)

The hyraxes are any of four species of fairly small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. About the size of a domestic cat they are well-furred, with rounded bodies and a stmpy tail. They are native to Africa and the Middle East.

[edit] Order: Proboscidea (elephants)

African Bush Elephant
African Bush Elephant

The elephants comprise three living species and are the largest living land animals.

[edit] Order: Sirenia (manatees and dugongs)

African Manatee
African Manatee

Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit rivers, estuaries, coastal marine waters, swamps, and marine wetlands. All four species are endangered.

[edit] Order: Primates

Greater Spot-nosed Monkey
Greater Spot-nosed Monkey
Chacma Baboon
Chacma Baboon

The order Primates contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. It is divided informally into three main groupings: prosimians, monkeys of the New World, and monkeys and apes of the Old World.

[edit] Order: Rodentia (rodents)

Typical Striped Grass Mouse
Typical Striped Grass Mouse

Rodents make up the largest order of mammals, with over 40 percent of mammalian species. They have two incisors in the upper and lower jaw which grow continually and must be keep short by gnawing. Most rodents are small though the capybara can weigh up to 45 kg (100 lb).

[edit] Order: Lagomorpha (lagomorphs)

The lagomorphs comprise two families, Leporidae (hares and rabbits), and Ochotonidae (pikas). Though they can resemble rodents, and were classified as a superfamily in that order until the early twentieth century, they have since been considered a separate order. They differ from rodents in a number of physical characteristics, such as having four incisors in the upper jaw rather than two.

[edit] Order: Erinaceomorpha (hedgehogs and gymnures)

The order Erinaceomorpha contains a single family, Erinaceidae, which comprise the hedgehogs and gymnures. The hedgehogs are easily recognised by their spines while gymnures look more like large rats.

[edit] Order: Soricomorpha (shrews, moles, and soledons)

The "shrew-forms" are insectivorous mmmals. The shrews and soledons closely resemble mice while the moles are stout bodied burrowers.

[edit] Order: Chiroptera (bats)

The bats' most distinguishing feature is that their forelimbs are developed as wings, making them the only mammals in the world naturally capable of flight. Bat species account for about 20% of all mammals.

[edit] Order: Pholidota (pangolins)

Giant Pangolin
Giant Pangolin

The order Philodota comprises the eight species of pangolin. Pangolins are anteaters and have the powerful claws, elongated snout and long tongue seen in the other unrelated anteater species.

[edit] Order: Cetacea (whales)

Bryde's Whale
Bryde's Whale
Pygmy Sperm Whale
Pygmy Sperm Whale

The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. They are the mammals most fully adapted to aquatic life with a spindle-shaped nearly hairless body, protected by a thick layer of blubber, and forelimbs and tail modified to provide propulsion underwater.

[edit] Order: Carnivora (carnivores)

Leopard
Leopard
Common Genet
Common Genet
Black-backed Jackal
Black-backed Jackal
Bat-eared Fox
Bat-eared Fox
Southern Elephant Seal
Southern Elephant Seal

The carnivores include over 260 species, the majority of which eat meat as their primary dietary item. Carnivores have a characteristic skull shape and dentition.

[edit] Order: Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates)

Burchell's Zebra
Burchell's Zebra
Black Rhinoceros
Black Rhinoceros

The odd-toed ungulates are browsing and grazing mammals. They are usually large to very large, and have relatively simple stomachs and a large middle toe.

[edit] Order: Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates)

Lichtenstein's Hartebeest
Lichtenstein's Hartebeest
Bushbuck
Bushbuck
Blue Duiker
Blue Duiker
Roan Antelope
Roan Antelope
Waterbuck
Waterbuck

The even-toed ungulates are ungulates whose weight is borne about equally by the third and fourth toes, rather than mostly or entirely by the third as in perissodactyls. There are about 220 artiodactyl species, including many that are of great economic importance to humans.

[edit] Birds

Main article: List of birds of Angola

[edit] Flora

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

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