Serengeti

Coordinates: 2°19′51″S 34°50′0″E / 2.33083°S 34.83333°E / -2.33083; 34.83333
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Serengeti (disambiguation).
See also: Serengeti National Park

umbrella thorn
silhouetted by the setting sun near Seronera Camp.
Map of Tanzania showing the country's national parks, including the Serengeti National Park.

The Serengeti (/ˌsɛrənˈɡɛti/ SERR-ən-GHET-ee) ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa, spanning the Mara and Arusha Regions of Tanzania.[1] The protected area within the region includes approximately 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi) of land, including the Serengeti National Park and several game reserves.[2] The Serengeti hosts the world's most massive[3] land animal migration (in terms of total body weight), which helps secure it as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.[4]

The Serengeti is also renowned for its large

grasslands, and woodlands. Blue wildebeest, gazelles, zebras, and buffalos are some of the commonly found large mammals in the region. [6]

The Serengeti also contains the Serengeti District of Tanzania.

The name "Serengeti" is often said to be derived from the word "seringit" in the Maasai language, Maa, meaning "endless plains".[1][7][dubious – discuss] However, this etymology does not appear in Maa dictionaries.[8][9]

History

For eons,

African wildlife have roamed freely across the vast rolling plains of the Serengeti, which was sparsely inhabited by humans. This changed when nomadic pastoralists of the Maasai began to migrate to the area in the early 1800s.[citation needed
]

However, the Maasai were struck by drought and disease. Thousands died in the 1880s from a

Ngorongoro Crater. Poaching, and the absence of fires (which had been caused by humans), allowed dense woodlands and thickets to develop over the next 30–50 years. Tsetse fly populations now prevented any significant human settlement in the area.[citation needed
]

By the mid-1970s, wildebeest and

Cape buffalo populations had recovered and were increasingly cropping the grass, reducing the amount of fuel available for fires.[11] The reduced intensity of fires has allowed acacia to once again become established.[12]

In the 21st century, mass

African wild dog.[13]

Great migration

Migrating wildebeest.
Wildebeest crossing the river during the Serengeti migration.

Since the 1970s, each year around the same time, the circular great

Masai Mara reserve in Kenya.[14] This migration is naturally caused, by the availability of grazing. The initial phase lasts from about January to March, when the calving season begins – a time when there is plenty of rain-ripened grass available for the 260,000 zebras that precede 1.7 million wildebeest and the following hundreds of thousands of other plains game, including around 470,000 gazelles.[15][16][17]

During February, the wildebeest are on the short grass plains of the southeast part of the ecosystem, grazing and giving birth to approximately 500,000 calves in 2 to 3 weeks. Few calves are born ahead of time and of these, hardly any survive, largely because very young calves are more noticeable to predators when mixed with older calves from the previous year. As the rains end in May, the animals start moving northwest into the areas around the Grumeti River, where they typically remain until late June. The crossings of the Grumeti and Mara rivers beginning in July are a popular safari attraction because crocodiles are lying in wait.[15] The herds arrive in Kenya in late July / August, where they stay for the rest of the dry season, except that the Thomson's and Grant's gazelles move only east/west. In early November, with the start of the short rains, the migration starts moving south again, to the short grass plains of the southeast, usually arriving in December in plenty of time for calving in February.[18]

About 250,000 wildebeest die during the journey from Tanzania to the

big cats.[19]

Ecology

River and the Serengeti plains.

The Serengeti has some of East Africa's finest game areas.

African leopards,[21] and 7,700 to 8,700 spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta).[22] The East African cheetah are also present in Serengeti.[23]

African wild dogs are relatively scarce in much of the Serengeti. This is particularly true in places such as Serengeti National Park (where they became extinct in 1992), in which lions and spotted hyenas, predators that steal wild dog kills and are a direct cause of wild dog mortality, are abundant.[24]

The Serengeti is also home to a diversity of grazers, including

grasses, while plains zebras prefer taller grasses. Similarly, dik-diks eat the lowest leaves of a tree, impalas eat the leaves that are higher up, and giraffes eat leaves that are even higher.[citation needed]

Giraffes in Eastern Serengeti.

The governments of Tanzania and Kenya maintain a number of protected areas, including national parks, conservation areas, and game reserves, that give legal protection to over 80 percent of the Serengeti.[25]

Near Lake Victoria, floodplains have developed from ancient lakebeds.[citation needed]

In the far northwest, acacia woodlands are replaced by broadleaved Terminalia-Combretum woodlands, caused by a change in geology. This area has the highest rainfall in the system and forms a refuge for the migrating ungulates at the end of the dry season.[26][27]

Lioness on a kopje, or rock outcropping.

Altitudes in the Serengeti range from 920 to 1,850 metres (3,020 to 6,070 ft) with mean temperatures varying from 15 to 25 °C (59 to 77 °F). Although the climate is usually warm and dry, rainfall occurs in two rainy seasons: March to May, and a shorter season in October and November. Rainfall amounts vary from a low of 508 millimetres (20 in) in the lee of the Ngorongoro highlands to a high of 1,200 millimetres (47 in) on the shores of Lake Victoria.[28]

The area is also home to the

fossils have been found.[29]

In media

See also

  • List of topics related to Africa
  • Maasai mythology

References

  1. ^ a b Zimmermann, Kim Ann (23 June 2017). "The Serengeti: Plain Facts about National Park & Animals". Live Science.
  2. ^ Schmaltz, Jeff (9 January 2006). "Serengeti". NASA: Visible Earth.
  3. ^ "14 of the Greatest Animal Migrations".
  4. ^ Sharaf, Yasir (4 June 2017). "The Serengeti Migration | Seven Natural Wonders of Africa". XPATS International. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  5. ISBN 978-0939895151
    .
  6. ^ "serengeti". rutastanzania.viajes - ES (in European Spanish).
  7. ISBN 978-1-84162-146-3
  8. ^ Richmond, Charles (1940). "Maasai Dictionary". Archives & Reprint Series (Imprint).
  9. ^ Payne, Doris L.; Ole-Kotikash, Leonard (eds.). "Maa (Maasai) Dictionary".
  10. ^ "Serengeti, Heartbreak on the Serengeti". archive.ph. National Geographic Magazine. 29 June 2012. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  11. S2CID 128520518
  12. ISBN 978-0-226-76032-2
    . Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  13. ^ "Trevor Blackburn Award 2008" (PDF). British Veterinary Association. September 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  14. ^ "The Great Wildebeest Migration: Exploring Africa's biggest wildlife phenomenon". 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. ^ a b Anouk Zijlma. "The Great Annual Wildlife Migration – The Great Migration of Wildebeest and Zebra". About.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  16. ^ "How to Get There, Ngorongoro Crater". Ngorongoro Crater Tanzania. 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  17. ^ "Ngorongoro Conservation Area". United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  18. ISBN 978-0-789-20669-5
    .
  19. ^ Partridge, Frank (20 May 2006). "The fast show". The Independent (London). Archived from the original on 19 December 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2007.
  20. ISBN 978-0-8109-0602-0
  21. ^ "Cheetahs on the Edge - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine". ngm.nationalgeographic.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  22. ^ "Mpala Live! Field Guide: Spotted Hyena | MpalaLive". mpalalive.org. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  23. ^ "Cheetahs in Tanzania". Expert Africa. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  24. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  25. S2CID 87914905
    .
  26. ISBN 978-0-226-76033-9
  27. S2CID 41391403, archived from the original
    (PDF) on 22 November 2010
  28. ^ "The Serengeti National Park". Glcom.com. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  29. PMID 26058378
    .
  30. ^ Nicholson, Rebecca (4 July 2019). "Serengeti review – the Made in Chelsea of nature documentary". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  31. ^ Toto – Africa, retrieved 11 November 2023

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serengeti.

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