The lion (Panthera leo ) is a large cat of the genus Panthera native to Africa and India. It is the most widely recognized animal symbol in human culture and it has been extensively depicted in sculptures and paintings, on national flags, and in...
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of the five extant species in the genus Panthera, a member of the cat family, Felidae. The leopard is distinguished by its well-camouflaged fur, opportunistic hunting behavior, broad diet, strength, and its...
The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being the Pygmy hippopotamus. Its name comes from the ancient Greek...
The Sperm whale or cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the...
The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. When its close relative the bonobo was more commonly known as the Pygmy chimpanzee, this species was often called the Common chimpanzee...
The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea ), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptile, reaching lengths of up to 1.8 metres and...
The Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. The common name of this species refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black....
The African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) is one of two living African elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal and is distributed across 37 African countries. Since 2021, it has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red...
The secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) is a large, mostly terrestrial bird of prey found only in Africa. John Frederick Miller described the species in 1779. Although a member of the order Accipitriformes, which also includes many other...
The olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea ), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world....
The ocean sunfish or common mola (Mola mola) is one of the largest bony fish in the world. It was misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which was actually a different species, Mola alexandrini. Adults typically weigh between 247 and 1,000 kg (545...
The Martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) is a large eagle native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of the most persecuted bird species in the world. Due to its habit of taking livestock and regionally valuable game, local farmers and game wardens...
The Northern lion (Panthera leo leo) is a lion subspecies, which is present in West Africa, northern Central Africa and India. In West and Central Africa, it is restricted to fragmented and isolated populations with a declining trajectory. The...
Rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppelli) is a large bird and its name comes from the 19th-century German zoologist and explorer Eduard Rüppell. It is native to the Sahel region and East Africa and its current population is decreasing due to loss of...
The Giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) is the biggest and the rarest of the African species of pangolin. It looks like an armored animal and behaves in the secretive manner of a spy. Its footprints look the same as a small elephant’s. This unusual...
The Sooty mangabey (Cercocebus atys) is an Old World monkey found in forests of Africa. These rare and endangered monkeys live in groups and communicate with each other using a wide repertoire of vocalizations, including distinct alarm calls for...
The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is the only known...
The White-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) is an Old World vulture native to Africa. This species is unique among African vultures as it shows a degree of reversed sexual dimorphism, where females are somewhat larger than males.
The White-backed vulture (Gyps africanus) is the most common large vulture in Africa and is an accomplished scavenger that eats the carcasses of large animals. Hundreds of these vultures gather to feed on large dead animals. They gorge themselves so...
The Tree pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) is a species of pangolins ("scaly anteaters"), and is native to equatorial Africa. It is the most common of the African forest pangolins.
The tawny eagle (Aquila rapax ) is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Its heavily feathered legs illustrate it to be a member of the subfamily Aquilinae, also known as "booted eagles". Tawny eagles have an...
The African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis ), also known as the West African manatee, is a species of manatee that inhabits much of the western region of Africa – from Senegal to Angola. It is the only manatee species to be found in the Old World....
The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 18.8 m (61.7 ft). The whale shark holds many records for size in the animal...
The common pochard (; Aythya ferina ) is a medium-sized diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek aithuia an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin ferina, "wild game", from ferus, "wild".
The hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus ) is an Old World vulture in the order Accipitriformes, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is the only member of the genus Necrosyrtes, which is sister to the larger Gyps genus, both...
The western red colobus (Piliocolobus badius ), also known as the bay red colobus, rust red colobus or Upper Guinea red colobus, is a species of Old World monkey in West African forests from Senegal to Ghana. All other species of red colobuses have...
The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas), also known as the Zambezi shark (informally zambi) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in rivers. It...
The black crowned crane (Balearica pavonina ) is a part of the family Gruidae, along with its sister species, the grey crowned crane. It is topped with its characteristic bristle-feathered golden crown. It is usually found in the shallow wetlands of...
The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark. It is one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Typically, basking sharks reach 7.9 m (26...
The western chimpanzee, or West African chimpanzee, (Pan troglodytes verus ) is a Critically Endangered subspecies of the common chimpanzee. It inhabits western Africa, mainly in Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, and Sierra Leone but with...
The Abyssinian ground hornbill or northern ground hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus ) is an African bird, found north of the equator, and is one of two species of ground hornbill. It is the second largest species of African hornbill, only surpassed by...
The dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis ), also known as the African dwarf crocodile, broad-snouted crocodile (a name more often used for the Asian mugger crocodile) or bony crocodile, is an African crocodile that is also the smallest extant...
The European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) is a member of the bird family Columbidae, the doves and pigeons. It breeds over a wide area of the south western Palearctic including north Africa but migrates to northern sub-Saharan Africa to winter.
The wattled crane (Grus carunculata ) is a large bird found in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. It is sometimes placed in the monotypic genus Bugeranus.
The shortfin mako (; Māori: /ˈmaːko/; Isurus oxyrinchus), also known as the shortfin mako shark, blue pointer, or bonito shark, is a large mackerel shark. It is commonly referred to as the mako shark, as is the longfin mako shark (Isurus paucus)....
The lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris) is a species of shark from the family Carcharhinidae and is classified as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Lemon sharks can grow to 3.4 metres (11 ft) in length....
The oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) is a large pelagic requiem shark inhabiting tropical and warm temperate seas. It has a stocky body with long, white-tipped, rounded fins. The species is typically solitary, though they may gather...
The nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) is an elasmobranch fish in the family Ginglymostomatidae. The conservation status of the nurse shark is globally assessed as Vulnerable in the IUCN List of Threatened Species. They are considered to be a...
The sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus), gray nurse shark, spotted ragged-tooth shark or blue-nurse sand tiger, is a species of shark that inhabits subtropical and temperate waters worldwide. It inhabits the continental shelf, from sandy shorelines...
The king colobus (Colobus polykomos ), also known as the western black-and-white colobus, is a species of Old World monkey, found in lowland and mountain rainforests in a region stretching from Senegal, through Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone...
The Atlantic goliath grouper or itajara (Epinephelus itajara), also known as the jewfish, is a saltwater fish of the grouper family and one of the largest species of bony fish. The species can be found in the West Atlantic ranging from northeastern...
The Atlantic blue marlin (Makaira nigricans) is a species of marlin endemic to the Atlantic Ocean. It is closely related to, and usually considered conspecific with, the Indo-Pacific blue marlin, then simply called blue marlin. Some authorities...
