Special Sub-Topic: Serengeti National Park Click Here To Play: Serengeti National Park

What does 'Serengeti' mean?

Endless plain. In the language of the Masai people, Serengeti means 'endless plain'. The Serengeti stretches for endless miles across the East African landscape. A world where over two million animals play out a daily drama of life and death.

How does an African elephant release its body heat?

By flapping its ears. Elephant skin lacks sweat glands, therefore body heat is released by other means. Elephants stay cool by flapping their ears. Blood entering the heavily veined ear is cooled by breezes caused by flapping and return to the body 9 degrees cooler.When elephants arrive at a water hole they will often wet their ears before they drink.

There is no difference between antelopes and deer.

f. Antelope have deer-like characteristics but are not deer. They have hollow horns that are never branched and do not fall off as the seasons pass, as do the solid deer antler. Male and female antelope may both possess horns.

What does the name 'antelope' mean?

Bright eyed. The oversized eyes, set to the sides of the head, provide full wide-angle vision for the antelopes.

What is a daily requirement for most of the animals in Serengeti?

Water. For most animals water is a daily requirement. The rivers in the Serengeti are where great herds come to drink and where predators come to ambush them. Most animals approach water cautiously, when they are drinking with heads lowered, they are vulnerable. Smaller animals sneak in warily for their turn to drink.

The largest migrating group of terrestrial mammals lives in Serengeti. When they migrate, there can be as many as 1.5 million of them. What animal is this?

wildebeest. The great wildebeest migration is joined by more than 200,000 Burchell's zebras, 20,000 or so elands, some 500,000 Thompson' s gazelles and 50,000 Grant's gazelles, but they don't travel as far.

A group of this animal can drive off a group of lionesses from their prey. What is it?

Spotted Hyena. Lioness usually have to give up their prey when they are out numbered by a group of Hyena's.

Spotted hyenas live in female-dominated societies.

t. The male hyenas do most of the killing but the females control the kill and divide the morsels among themselves and the cubs. A physically unattractive animal with a cringing demeanor, it has been said, 'The spotted hyena, at it best, resembles an unmade bed.'

A caracal, a small nocturnal cat, is able to catch birds.

t. Caracals can catch birds in flight by springing at them.

There is this ugly animal called an warthog. Which animal's burrows do they often use?

aardvark. Warthogs often use aardvark burrows for sleeping and bearing their young. The burrows are enlarged and lined with grass. When alarmed, warthogs run with their tails in the air or retreat into a burrow, entering backwards.

An antelope may be able to escape a cheetah by what?

zigzagging. Because cheetah tires quickly, it does not always catch its prey. The cheetah can run at top speed for only about the length of three football fields. If an antelope is able to zigzag and stay in front, it may be able to escape the cheetah.

This animal is usually found in dry bush country and thorn scrub. The male are usually solitary but the females may have one or two young with them. Their usual gait is a fast walk and a bouncing trot when frightened. They are ill tempered and sometimes charge without apparent reason. What is this?

Black Rhinoceros. Like other rhino, the black rhino population is threatened by poachers, in spite of the protection given them, in all the territories in which it still survives. In spite of their size, rhinos are quite agile, able to make a quick turn.

Which of these is a kind of heron-like bird that is never found far from water?

Hammerhead. These comical-looking birds are sometimes overtaken by an urge to play. They jump into the air and dance around one another looking more foolish than nature probably intended and ridiculousness replaces every sign of dignity.

Is it true that zebras are never bothered by the African Tse-Tse fly?

Yes. Some scientists believe the eye of the tsetse fly cannot distinguish clear images when looking at the stripes and the zebras is therefore invisible to the fly.True or not, the zebra is one of the few large mammals not bothered by the tsetse fly.

Griffon Vultures cannot survive in some areas in Central Europe because ________

Animal corpses are removed by men. Griffon Vultures are Africa's 'sanitary workers'. The Griffon's main food is large dead mammals, of which it takes only the flesh and intestines.