Historically the Sahel has been characterized by strong climatic variations and irregular rainfalls, which pose two of the biggest obstacles to food security and poverty reduction in the region, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Things have gotten worse in recent decades, experts say.

Both desert and grazing land, the Sahel has attracted a population as varied as its environment. Some are semi-nomadic cattle herders, moving with the seasonal flooding of the Niger. Others are farmers, eking out a living from millet and sorghum.

The animal life of the Sudan and of the Sahel is rich and varied. Large herbivorous mammals include gazelles, antelopes, giraffes, and elephants. The main carnivores are lions, panthers, and hyenas.

ten

The Sahel part of Africa includes from west to east parts of northern Senegal, southern Mauritania, central Mali, northern Burkina Faso, the extreme south of Algeria, Niger, the extreme north of Nigeria, the extreme north of Cameroon and Central African Republic, central Chad, central and southern Sudan, the extreme …

The study results suggest that human-caused climate change, as well as natural climate cycles such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), caused the desert’s expansion.

The Sahel stretches from the Atlantic Ocean eastward through northern Senegal, southern Mauritania, the great bend of the Niger River in Mali, Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), southern Niger, northeastern Nigeria, south-central Chad, and into Sudan.

Nigeria is covered by three types of vegetation: forests (where there is significant tree cover), savannahs (insignificant tree cover, with grasses and flowers located between trees), and montane land (least common and mainly found in the mountains near the Cameroon border.

1 : a treeless plain especially in Florida. 2a : a tropical or subtropical grassland (as of eastern Africa or northern South America) containing scattered trees and drought-resistant undergrowth. b : a temperate grassland with scattered trees (such as oaks)

Savanna is grassland with scattered individual trees. A third type of savanna, known as derived savanna, is the result of people clearing forest land for cultivation. Farmers fell a tract of forest, burn the dead trees, and plant crops in the ashes for as long as the soil remains fertile.

Climate: A tropical wet and dry climate predominates in areas covered by savanna growth. Mean monthly temperatures are at or above 64° F and annual precipitation averages between 30 and 50 inches. For at least five months of the year, during the dry season, less than 4 inches a month are received.

Grasslands are found where there is not enough regular rainfall to support the growth of a forest, but not so little that a desert forms. In fact, grasslands often lie between forests and deserts.

The semidesert, with minimal rainfall, supports a mixture of grasses and acacia scrub. Farther south appear low-rainfall savannas that consist of grasses, thorny trees, and baobab trees.

A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses.

Sudan’s forests contain 1,393 million metric tons of carbon in living forest biomass. Biodiversity and Protected Areas: Sudan has some 1431 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles according to figures from the World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Among the dangerous Sudanese animals are the large feline species of lion, leopard, and cheetah, as well as the many organized canine pack species such as hyena and jackal.

Common Hippo

Some of the hardest dogs to train

• Basset Hounds.
• Bull Mastiff.
• Chow Chow.
• Poodles.
• German Shepherd.
• Labrador Retriever / Golden Retriever.
• Doberman Pinscher.
• Border collie. A Border collie is probably one of the hardest working dog breeds out there and is regarded as the most intelligent dog too.

Tardigrades

honey badger

CHIMPANZEES. RECKONED to be the most-intelligent animals on the planet, chimps can manipulate the environment and their surroundings to help themselves and their community. They can work out how to use things as tools to get things done faster, and they have outsmarted people many a time.