Top 10 Endangered Animals in the African Safari

Africa is a continent known for its rich mix of culture and wildlife. Sadly, a number for the animals in the African safari are tagged endangered. They face a number of threats, including poachers and habitat take-over by humans. Below are a few of the animals found in the African Safari which are threated to be wiped out.

Black and White Rhino

The black and white rhinoswere tagged as critically endangered in 1996. They’re known to be the highest profile endangered animal in the Southern Africa area and there are only around 4,880 black rhinos and 20,000 white rhinos left since December 2010. Recently a subspecies of the black rhinos, the western black rhino, was declared as extinct. Their main treat is poaching for their horns. These animals can still be seen in Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Namibia and Botswana, along with smaller populations in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

African Wild Dog

These dogs are known to be the most threatened carnivore species. Marked as endangered since the 1990’s, there are around 3000 to 5000 specimen left in the wild. Human conflict, infectious diseases and ongoing habitat change. These wild dogs can be seen in South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and certain parts of East Africa, specifically northern Mozambique and Tanzania.

Mountain Gorillas

They have been tagged as endangered since the 2000’s. The biggest primate alive, there are only around 700 individuals left.They’re mainly being threatened by human conflict,human diseases, habitat loss and hunting. They can only be seen in the eastern Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda.

Grevy's Zebra

The biggest amongst the zebra species, they have been endangered since 1986. There is an estimate of 1966 to 2447 of these large zebras in 2008. Constant habitat degradation, loss of water sources, disease and hunting has caused their population to drop. They canonly be seen in certain parts of Kenya and Ethiopia.

Rothschild Giraffe 

A certain giraffe subspecies that’s mainly seen in Uganda and Kenya, they have been marked endangered since 2010. There are an about 670 on them remaining in 2010 and are threatened by human-wildlife conflict, poaching, population segregation, and habitat loss. Nearly half of these giraffes now live in private reserves and national parks.

Riverine Rabbit

These rabbits are not only rare, but they’re tagged as critically endangered. There is said to be less than 250 individuals left in the wild and they’re population is still declining due to degradation, habitat loss, hunting and trapping. They’re only found in South Africa’s central Karoo region.