The savannas of Africa may have become the cradle of human evolution millions of years earlier than thought, researchers suggest. The human lineage originated about 2.5 million years ago, coinciding with the expansion of savannas — grasslands mixed with trees — across East Africa.

Savanna, also spelled savannah, vegetation type that grows under hot, seasonally dry climatic conditions and is characterized by an open tree canopy (i.e., scattered trees) above a continuous tall grass understory (the vegetation layer between the forest canopy and the ground).

LOCATION: Savannas are comprised mostly of grasses and a few scattered trees. They cover half the surface of Africa, large areas of Australia, South America, and India. That is a lot of the earth’s surface! Savannas can result from climate changes, soil conditions, animal behavior, or agricultural practices.

The African savanna ecosystem is a tropical grassland with warm temperatures year-round and with its highest seasonal rainfall in the summer. The savanna is characterized by grasses and small or dispersed trees that do not form a closed canopy, allowing sunlight to reach the ground.

The savanna is a grassland with widely spaced trees, preventing a closed canopy and thus allowing a lot of sunlight into the biome. They are frequently a transitional zone between deserts and forests. Savannas have a dry climate and receive less than 30 inches of rain per year.

65 percent

At the top of the food chain as apex predators, African lions are strict carnivores, eating only meat, and are crucial to the health and balance of their ecosystem. Male kori bustards in breeding season are among the world’s heaviest birds capable of flight.

You can also find jackals, hyenas and predatory birds. While they do compete for food, some of them survive the same way the grazers do – preying on different types of food.

Africa – African savannas take up a huge part of the continent and about 5 million square miles. This is approximately half of the continent. The Serengeti national park that can found within Kenya and Tanzania is located within the African savanna as well as large parts of Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The habitat of the savannah favours farming and breeding and this is why it has been remarkably altered. Many peoples live in the savannahs: the Nubians in the upper Sudanese Nubia, the Kualngo and the Akan in the Ivory Coast, the Bushmen and the Hottentots in Namibia. …

African Savanna Climate The Savanna biome has a wet/dry climate. In the savanna climate there is a distinct dry season, which is in the winter. Savannas get all their rain in the summer months. During the distinct dry season of a savanna, most of the plants shrivel up and die.

Another term for the savanna is the grassland.

One of the more spectacular sights in nature is the animals of the African Savanna. Because the savanna is so rich in grasses and tree life, many large herbivores (plant eaters) live here and congregate in large herds. These include zebras, wildebeests, elephants, giraffes, ostriches, gazelles, and buffalo.

Tigers are found in amazingly diverse habitats: rain forests, grasslands, savannas and even mangrove swamps.

Humans impact the Grassland Savanna by lessening the area of the land by making new space for industrialization. The trees and animals have less space to be so the population decreases with the land, making everything smaller.