The Evelyn and Herbert Frensley Hall of African Wildlife and Graham Family Presentation of Ecology and Conservation Biomes is a permanent collection at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The exhibit offers visitors a close-up look at some of the African continent’s most recognizable fauna, including animals from the Congo Basin, the serengeti grasslands, the Saharan desert, and the West African tropical forest.
The Congo Basin is home to two of Africa’s iconic land animals: the African forest elephant and the western lowland gorilla. The forest elephant is a close but far rarer cousin of the savanna elephant. They are difficult to observe, in part, due to their preference for dense rainforest habitats. In fact, researchers know far more about these elephants based on environmental evidence as opposed to visual observation.
The lowland gorilla, meanwhile, represents the world’s most prolific gorilla subspecies. Like the forest elephant, wild population estimates for lowland gorillas are difficult because they inhabit dense, remote forest regions. Lowland gorillas are smaller than most species and are known for their brownish coats and wider skulls.
Africa’s serengeti grassland is one of the most unusual environments in the world. These plains are home to the continent’s “Big Five” animals, the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and black rhino. But life is abundant and diverse on the serengeti, with other well known species including the giraffe, cheetah, and gazelle.
The serengeti is home to a multitude of additional predator and prey animals. The aforementioned big cats are joined by lesser varieties such as the serval and the caracal. Canines are well represented among the grasslands of Africa as well, ranging from spotted hyenas to golden jackals. These predators, and many other animals in Africa, base their lives around the Great Migration, an annual journey made by millions of herd animals between the serengeti and Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.
Africa’s forests and grasslands are often associated with their abundant biodiversity. The Sahara Desert is known for anything but, though the region still provides home and shelter to animals as large as camels and as small as jerboa. Unfortunately, many Saharan species have disappeared from the region. The addax, a large antelope, has not been seen in the region for a century, while the North African elephant went extinct when the continent was still controlled by the Roman Empire.
While some species have struggled in the unforgiving Sahara, the camel has thrived. The Saharan region is, in fact, home to the world’s largest concentration of camels. The African countries of Somalia and Sudan have estimated camel populations of 6 million and 3 million, respectively. Other desert animals include the fennec fox, the Cape hare, and deathstalker scorpions, to name a few.
Finally, the West African tropical forest, also known as the Afrotropical realm, encompasses the territories of Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and a number of additional countries between the Guinea Bissau coast of the Congo Basin. Prominent animal and plant life in this habitat is too numerous to list, but includes the pygmy hippopotamus, the African grey parrot, and the okapi, a smaller relative of the giraffe.
The Evelyn and Herbert Frensley Hall of African Wildlife also provides information regarding flora and fauna from the Lowveld region and Okavango delta. To learn more about visiting the exhibit, please visit the museum online at hmns.org.
