1. A Trip to the African Savanna
(Virtual Tour))
An Interactive Power Point
By Jill Tutten
ED 205 - 03
3rd-5th grade
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2. Mammals in the African Savanna
• What is a Savanna? •Lemur
• Elephant •Rhinoceros
• Lion •Meerkat
• Zebra •Sengi
• Cheetah
•Living Together
• Giraffe
•About the Author
• Gazelle •Resources
• Hippopotamus
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3. What is a Savanna??
• The African savanna is a
rolling grassland dotted
with trees.
• Africa has a wet season
and dry season.
• The animals in Africa are
well adapted to deal with
the changes in wet or dry
season.
• There are 45 species of
mammal in Africa.
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4. Elephant
• On average elephants are 10 feet tall
and the largest land animal by weight!!
• They use their trunks to breathe out of
and even use it as an arm like we
would.
– The trunk has two grasping extensions (like
fingers) that can grab onto things. The
truck can also be used to suck up water to
squirt into their mouth.
• The adult females usually live together
in a small herd where as males usually
live alone.
• The elephants usually migrate in-
between the dry and wet season
because they have to move to a place
To view an African Elephant in its with more vegetation.
habitat click on the picture above.
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5. Lion
•Lions hunt and live together
in groups called prides.
•Normally the females do the
hunting and work together to
take down their pray.
•Lions feed on zebras, wildebeest
and can even take down giraffes,
hippos and young elephants.
•They are the biggest predator in
Africa.
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6. Zebra
• Zebras strips are unique to each
individual like a human finger
print.
• They are found to live in small to
large herds.
• The strips are used as camouflage
because most of their strips are
vertical and their main predator
(the lion) is color blind.
– This allows them to hide in the grass.
• When chased zebras will run zig-
zag from side to side to attempt
to escape from predators.
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7. Cheetah
•The cheetah is the fastest land
animalsand can move up to 75
mph in short bursts.
•They can reach 43 mph under 2
seconds giving them the ability to
catch prey.
•When mother cheetahs have
young that are about 6 months
old they are know to bring home
live prey for their young to
practice killing techniques.
• Cheetahs have a tear mark
leading from their eyes to their
mouth while leopards do not.
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8. Giraffe
•Giraffes also live in •A giraffe has a blue
herds. tongue that can stretch
•They normally only eat out of its mouth more
in the morning or at than 40cm.
dusk from the tops of •This makes reaching and
trees. eating leaves easier.
•Baby giraffes known as •Like zebras each giraffe
calves grow very quick. his its own unique
•Up to an inch a day!! markings.
•Giraffes sleep standing
up!!
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9. Gazelle
• Gazelle can run at speeds of
50 miles per hour for extended
period of time.
– This helps them out run
predators.
• Before fleeing gazelle exhibit a
behavior of slowly running and
then jumping high in the air
know as stotting.
– They do this to show off their
strength because predators
usually go after the weaker prey.
• Like many other animals in
Africa they live in herds.
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10. Hippopotamus
• Hippos wallow in the water often
because their skin is very thin
and the water keeps them
hydrated.
• They normally graze at dusk
because the temperature is
cooler.
– They can eat up to 88 pounds of
short grass in one day!!
• Even though hippos are very
large they can gallop at speeds
up to 18 mph.
• Hippos are territorial in the water
where a bull (male leader)
presides over a small stretch of
river which contains many
females.
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11. Ring Tailed Lemur
• Ring Tailed Lemurs live on the island of
Madagascar which is off the coast of
Africa.
• They are very social and live in groups
up to 30 individuals.
– Which are dominated by females
• As a group activity the lemurs will
sometimes sunbath.
• At night they will all huddle together
which is know as a lemur ball.
• They are one of the most vocal
primates that use many different calls
to communicate messages to one
another.
– To hear click the lemur.
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12. Rhinoceros
• Rhinos belong to the same
family as horses.
• Unlike many of the mammals
discussed earlier rhinos mainly
live alone.
• They can be aggressive if
provoked. First they will snort
loudly at an intruder and if the
intruder does not leave they will
charge.
• Rhinos have think skin and a
horn growing out of the middle
of their head however the black
rhino, as pictured ,has two.
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13. Meerkat
•Meerkats live in a group •Meerkats are small
know as a mob, clan, or burrowing mammals that
gang. Most clans have build a large network of
about 20 individuals but tunnels with many
some super families can entrances and exits.
have 50 or more. •They regularly groom
•Meerkats mostly eat each other to strength
insects but will also eat bonds among their mob.
lizards, snakes, scorpions, •If a predator is spotted
etc. the meerkat will give a
•They are partially warning bark to all the
immune to certain other meerkats to hide.
venoms such as scorpion
venom.
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14. Sengi
(Elephant Shrew)
• The sengi got its nickname
from its long nose that
resembles an elephants trunk.
• They feed on insects but will
also eat seeds.
– The eat by using their tongue to
flick food into their mouth like an
anteater.
• They have long legs which
they use to move in a hopping
motion like a rabbit.
• The sengi are very well
camouflage and well adept at
dashing away from predators.
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15. Living Together
• Each mammal has its own
niche in the African
Savanna.
• Some mammals are
predators to others and
some just want to be left
alone.
• Some eat the leaves from
the tops of trees and others
graze on the grass below.
• All of the mammals of the
Click on Video Screen above to
African Savanna live
view video of Animals in Africa
together and fight their
living together. own battles to survive.
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16. About the Author
My name is Jill Tutten and I am
a student at Grand Valley. I am
majoring in Integrated Science
and I’ll have a minor in elementary
education. I enjoy teaching and
talk about science. I would like to
teach K-3rd. If you have any
comments or concerns , please
feel free to mail me:
tuttenj@student.gvsu.edu or click
on the mailbox to send an email.
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