South Africa wildlife

South Africa is home to many types of plants from cacti to baobabs to the montane evergreens of its temperate rain forest. It is estimated that roughly 10% of all known species of plants can be found in this country.

Aardvark — Aardvark

The aardvark is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Its appearance is somewhat similar to [...]

African buffalo — African buffalo

The African, also known as cape buffalo or congo buffalo, is a large, robust animal that is [...]

African caracal — African caracal

The caracal possesses an extended tuft of hair on the very top of its very large ears, which [...]

Baboon — Baboon

Baboons are extremely adaptable and can be found in a wide variety of terrains. In [...]

Bat-eared fox — Bat-eared fox

Bat-eared foxes have large, wide ears, a short narrow mouth and long, jackal-like legs. This [...]

Black mamba — Black mamba

The black mamba is a regular on the world’s top 10 deadliest snakes. It averages around [...]

Bushbaby — Bushbaby

.c1-ui-state-hover {background-color:yellow !important; padding:5px !important } Bushbabies, [...]

Chameleon — Chameleon

Chameleons are reptiles that form part of the lizard family. Over 150 species of chameleons [...]

Cheetah — Cheetah

Reaching speeds of 115 kp/h (70 mph), the cheetah is the fastest land animal. It can go from 0 [...]

Dik-dik — Dik-dik

The dik-dik is a tiny antelope that dwells within the bushlands of eastern and southern [...]

Eland — Eland

The eland is a large African antelope having a light brown or grayish coat and both sexes have [...]

Elephant — Elephant

Elephants are expansive warm blooded animals of the family Elephantidae and the order [...]

Genet cat — Genet cat

.c1-ui-state-hover {background-color:yellow !important; padding:5px !important } Genets are [...]

Giraffe — Giraffe

The giraffe is the largest ruminant animal and the tallest land mammal, with an adult giraffe [...]

Hartebeest — Hartebeest

The hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus) is a field gazelle of the family Alcelaphus. It is [...]

Hippopotamus — Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus, or hippo, derives its name from ancient Greek for “river horse”. [...]

Honey badger — Honey badger

The honey badger (Mellivroa capensis) is an opportunistic carnivore that eats a wide range of [...]

Hyena — Hyena

Hyenas are carnivores that are known for their scavenger tendencies. They are clever animals [...]

Impala — Impala

The impala is a medium-sized antelope (Aepyceros melampus) ranging between 75 and 95 cm (30 [...]

Jackal — Jackal

The jackal is part of the dog family and its North American counterpart is called the coyote. [...]

Kudu — Kudu

Two species of kudu are found in Africa: Lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis) and greater kudu [...]

Leopard — Leopard

The leopard is related to the jaguar, lion and tiger, and is the smallest feline of the four. [...]

Lion — Lion

The lion is related to the jaguar, leopard and panther. After the tiger, it is the largest big [...]

Meerkat — Meerkat

The meerkat, or suricate, is a warm-blooded animal belonging to the same scientific family as [...]

Mongoose — Mongoose

The mongoose is part of the same family as the meerkat. 33 species exist, such as the yellow [...]

Nile crocodile — Nile crocodile

The Nile crocodile is found throughout sub-Sahara Africa, parts of the Nile River and in the [...]

Oryx — Oryx

Two species of oryx can be found in Africa: Eastern African oryx and South Africa oryx, also [...]

Ostrich — Ostrich

Native to Africa, the ostrich is the largest bird on earth and lays the largest of all bird [...]

Pangolin — Pangolin

The physical description of a pangolin is best described as an anteater with silvery, plate- [...]

Puku — Puku

The puku is a type of antelope that is found primarily in DR Congo, Namibia, Zambia and [...]

Rhinoceros — Rhinoceros

Both black and white rhinoceroses are actually gray. What distinguishes one from the other is [...]

Serval — Serval

The serval cat is known in Afrikaans as Tierboskat, “tiger-backwoods feline”. [...]

Suni — Suni

The suni is a reddish brown to sand-colored antelope. It is found in eastern Africa, primarily [...]

Terrapin — Terrapin

A terrapin is also known as a fresh water tortoise. It is found in many parts of the world and [...]

Topi — Topi

The topi resembles the Hartebeest but is slightly darker in color and does not have as angled [...]

Vervet monkey — Vervet monkey

The vervet monkey is a small, grayish-white monkey with a black face. It is found along the [...]

Warthog — Warthog

The Warthog is found along the eastern part of Africa and can be found in arid or in humid [...]

Waterbuck — Waterbuck

The waterbuck is a large antelope that resides primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. Waterbucks [...]

Wild dog — Wild dog

The wild dog’s latin name, Lycaon pictus, means painted wolf, and with the multicolored [...]

Wildebeest — Wildebeest

The wildebeest is a large antelope that is better known as a gnu. The name wildebeest comes [...]

Zebra — Zebra

Zebra belong to the same scientific family as horses. Zebra coats are covered in [...]