Giraffe

Giraffa giraffa angolensis

There are currently nine different giraffe subspecies recognised in Africa. The Angolan giraffe is found in northern Namibia, south-western Zambia, Botswana, and western Zimbabwe. With only 13,000 remaining in the wild there are conservation efforts to monitor them and conserve their habitat.

Size:: The tallest animal on the planet up to 5.7m! Larger males weigh up to 1.2 tonnes.
Diet:: Browse on twigs of trees
Speed:: Up to 55 km / hour!
Habitat:: Arid & semi-arid savannah bushland
Superpower:: Have a tongue up to half a metre long! Allows them to grasp leaves and twigs while avoiding spiky thorns.

Other Animals

Orangutans are great apes found in the jungles of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are the most arboreal of the great apes living in trees. They are known locally as “person of the forest”. Their species are considered critically endangered, with their habitat being depleted and also being hunted for the…

Very widespread viper species, found from as far north as Morocco to the Cape of South Africa. Known for its large size and caterpillar-like locomotion. It is responsible for causing the most snakebite fatalities in Africa, mainly due to being an ambush predator it is easy to stand on one.

The common death adder occurs over much of eastern and coastal southern Australia. Thanks to its banded red earth stripes, the death adder is expertly camouflaged, hiding beneath leaf litter. It is an ambush predator, unlike most Australian elapid (the front fanged venomous snakes). The death adder venom is toxic,…

Blue-tongued lizards are the largest members of the skink family. At night they hide among leaf litter or under rocks and logs. Early in the morning blue-tongues emerge to bask in sunny areas before foraging for food. Blue-tongues live alone for most of the year, but between September and November…

Found throughout Australia and southern New Guinea. They are mostly active at dusk and dawn (i.e. are “crepuscular”). In winter they hiberate in holes in the ground. The echidna is famous for its coarse hairs and spines which it uses to defend against predators, where it will burrow into the…

The southern cassowary is the largest bird in Australia, and the third largest in the world. They are solitary pairing up only in breeding season. The male builds a nest on the ground and uses this to attract a female to mate with. The male also incubates the eggs and…

Wagler’s Pit Viper is often also called the Temple Pit Viper. It is a common species in Southeast Asia. Found on low vegetation, but can be found mid-canopy. As an ambush predator this snake can remain in the same spot for a month. It is a sexually dimorphic species, meaning…

Black rhinos are the smaller of the two African rhino species. It differs from the white rhino being a browser of shrubs and trees, rather than a grazer of grasses. To grip this food it has a hooked lip. Unfortunately the black rhino populations in the wild are under threat,…

This beautiful gecko that is nearly translucent, in the right light you can see the organs under the belly. They are nocturnal spending the day in self-dug burrows. Its unique webbed feet are the perfect adaptation for life in the Namib Desert.

The largest venomous snake in the world that is known the world over. The species lives across northern India to China down to Indonesia. They are threatened by habitat destruction and are listed as vulnerable to extinction. The kind cobra is noticeable not just by its size but also by…