Our Environment- Which Animal Live In The Steppes & The Savannas

The steppes and the savannas are the great grasslands of the earth. Savanna grasslands lie between the tropical rainforest and the deserts in the northern as well as the southern hemisphere. Trees like the acacia and the water storing baobab grow in the savannas. In addition to these plants, gnus, giraffes and antelopes are found here. countless flamingos stand in the sea and one can see bald-headed vultures in the sky. In contrast, the steppe grasslands like the pampas of South America and prairies of North America are found in the middle of the continents. They are dry, devoid of trees, and cold in winter.

Do Bison still exist in the prairie?

Today there are around 4000,000 bison in the Northamerica steppes, but they had almost become extinct about 120 years ago. At that time the few remaining animals were transferred to the Yellowstone National Park in North America to protect them. 

Bison look docile

Bison are nomadic grazers and are usually peaceful, unconcerned and even lazy. However, they may attack, often without warning and for no apparent reason. The native Americans lived on the meat of the animal and used the skin, fur, bones and, tendons to make a variety of things like tents, clothes, tools, and weapons. 

Why do flamingoes stand on one leg?

The flamingo stands on one leg to conserve body heat and energy. Its long featherless legs cause considerable heat loss through the exposed skin. The flamingo tucks one leg into its body feathers to warm it, alternating each leg as needed. they may also stamp their feet in the mud to stir up food from the bottom.  

Flamingo

Why do vultures not have feathers on their heads and necks?

Vultures are scavengers. They need to rip off pieces of meat from dead animals with their powerful beaks, and often need to stick their heads deep inside the dead body. Fethers on the head and the neck would become dirty or get caught in something. Dead animals often pose a risk of spreading infectious disease. Vultures eat them and so are often known as the 'health police' of nature.

How does the baobab store the water?

The baobab is also known as the monkey bread tree baboons lie to eat its large fruit. This tree stores water in the thick, spongy tissue of its stem. In the rainy reason, it can store up to 140,000 litres of water, which it uses during the subsequent dry period.

Baobab tree- a very thick stem and small leaves prevent evaporation of water

Elephants damage these trees for their water reserve. They destroy the bark of the trees with their tusks, pull out the water-rich tissue from the stem, and suck it dry. Tress hallowed out in this ways often collapse and die.

Do you know that...

➤Bushfires are often caused by self-ignition? Forest and grasslands during hot weather are known to be capable of spontaneously combusting.

➤ The pink colour on the feathers of the flamingo comes from the pink coloured crabs that the birds eat? If flamingoes do not feed on these crabs- such as in zoos-their plumage slowly becomes white.

➤ Every year at the end of the rainy season thousands of gnus are eaten by crocodiles when they cross the river Mara between Tanzania and Kenya? Vultures also follow the gnus when they cross the river as their carcasses are an important source of food for their scavengers.