ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS

The Savanna has is populated by many well-known animals like leopards, zebras, meerkats, hyenas, elephants and rodents. There are many other animals and here you can find out more about them and how they have adapted to their environment.

Animals such as giraffes and meerkats are an attraction to animals such as leopards. To keep safe, they must be able to see their predators from far away. Giraffes have long necks which are useful for doing this, and also for being able to reach the leaves on trees. Their black tongue is sticky, so it can wrap around the leaves and pull them off. Meerkats stand up straight to see predators, and also to see if they can spot any beetles scurrying around (this is their prey).

Leopards and lions have camouflage fur so they can hide in the grass (which is yellow in the dry season) and suddenly pounce onto it's prey. They have very strong teeth to bite the food, and fast speed to catch up with it, if the prey is a fast animal such as a gazelle. 

The gazelle has long and springy legs that helps it it escape from predators. They have large ears which are good for a better hearing of the predators, and they also help locate where the sound is coming from so they know exactly where the predator is, so it knows where to escape. 

Elephants have huge thin ears, which they use as fans when the weather is very hot. However, their skin is very thick and wrinkly so this way predators find it much harder to bite into them. Their trunk is used to support water, which they then share with other elephants or keep for themselves later.