Tropical Savanna Grassland

Location!Tropical grasslands are located near the equator, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. They cover much of Africa as well as large areas of Australia, South America, and India.

Tropical grasslands are found in tropical wet and dry climates. These areas are hot year-round. Although these areas are overall very dry, they do have a season of heavy rain. Annual rainfall is from 20-50 inches per year. It is crucial that the rainfall is concentrated in six or eight months of the year, followed by a long period of drought when fires can occur.

Many of these tropical grasslands have been converted into the most beneficial agricultural areas. There is not any other biome that is as agriculturally beneficial to humans as the tropical grasslands. The soil is very rich and fertile.

Native Plants

Bermuda Grass: It grows in open areas where there are frequent disturbances such as grazing, flooding, and fire, or even nutrient poor soil.

The candelabra tree is beautiful, but poisonous. If a drop of the white sap from the inner tree comes in contact with the skin a blister will form. It will blind you if it touches the eyes and even breathing the fumes burns. This sticky poisonous latex along with its sharp spines makes it so animals don't feed on it.

The Baobob: Grows up to 25 meters tall and can live for several thousand years. This tree is lifeless for 9 months of the year. In between these nine months the tree stores water in its trunk.

Native Animals

African elephants, also known as the savanna elephants, are the largest land mammal in the world. They weigh up to 10,000 pounds and grow to 12 feet tall. They have a long trunk that is very flexible and has nostrils on the end. It is used to pick up food and water and carry it to it's mouth. They have thick, gray skin on their bodies that protects them from deadly predator bites.

Egyptian Mongoose, Egyptian mongooses claws have adapted to digging allowing them to dig bugs out of the ground. Their teeth have adapted to tearing the flesh of animals they prey on. Egyptian mongooses also eat poisonous snakes. They can run backwards, roll over, swim and stand on two hind feet. They can puff their hair up to appear two times their actual size, change directions quickly and jump.

Plains Zebra: The horse of the savanna. It has black and white stripes and every zebra has a different pattern. They live in groups for protection against predators. The zebras are very fast and the stripes confuse predators.

Relationships<3 The oxpecker gets the ticks that are on the rhinoceros as its food. The oxpeckers also warn the Rhinoceros of any danger that may be lurking. An example of a predator prey relationship in the Savanna, is a lion and a gazelle. A lion serves as the predator, and catches and feeds on the gazelle that serves as the prey. Seen most often between species of large predators like lions and Leopards. Herbivores are often cooperative. Zebras eat long, dry grass and the wildebeest then consume the remainder of the green grass. The Gazelle then eat the tender new growth and keep the plains open. This deters predators from using tall grass as cover. Cheetahs have adapted to running down gazelle on open ground but face intense competition from all other large carnivores. Cheetahs are very lightly built for speed and lack the strength to defend kills from anything larger than a jackal or vulture. Male cheetahs often form large gangs to defend kills.

Endangered Species ̀Black Rhino

Poaching and habitat loss have reduced the black rhino's range in western, eastern and southern Africa. Protection has improved in some areas and the Namibia's Etosha National Park protects them from poachers.

African Wild Dog

they have declined precipitously due to disease, habitat loss and active hunting by livestock owners fearful of depredation. Without the wild dog there will be an increase in the animals that they consume like antelope, gazelle, and other grazing animals.

Invasive Species

The fire ant is an invasive species of the African Savanna. It is replacing the local ant species and eliminating other arthropods. These little changes can mess up the food chain dramatically. The fire ant is believed to affect the eyes of sea turtles, elephants, and large cats of the Savanna and the bite of a fire ant is painful. Scientists are working on removing the species from the African Savanna.

Weeds are an invasive plants that takes up space, nutrients ,and light from other plants. Many plants can be considered weeds in different habitats. In the tropical savanna weeds cause a lot of problems such as outcompeting other plants and altering the conditions of the ecosystem. Many chemical preventative techniques are used to eradicate the weeds from the area.

Human Impact

Urbanization: We are building on top of these areas and driving the animals away.Farming: This leads to the starving of animals since farmers do not allow the animals to eat the crops. Also, farming of livestock could deplete the grasses in soil and farming of the crops could lead to the depletion of nutrients in the soil.Hunting: Has killed off many of the animals in the biome.Fires: The area is very susceptible to fires and it could devastate the ecosystem.