The fauna of South Africa is diverse and largely typical of the ecosystems in Africa. South Africa is ranked sixth out of the world's 17 megadiverse countries. Many endemic species are unique to South Africa. The country is among the world leaders in conservation, but at the time wildlife is threatened by poaching and canned hunting.
Habitats The topography and geology of South Africa is extremely varied, resulting in a wide variety of habitats. Due to this, South Africa enjoys high biodiversity, and is ranked sixth out of the world's seventeen megadiverse countries. In the extreme northwest of the country is true desert, which is the southernmost end of the Namib desert, a desert that is at least 55 million years old, making it the oldest desert in the world. This arid corner intergrades into the extensive semi-arid Karoo found across much of South Africa, covering the Northern Cape and into parts of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and the Free State. This biome used to be extensive grassland in the past, but has become dominated by small shrubs and succulents due to centuries of overgrazing. To the north and east of these biomes is the Kalahari, which is mainly semi-arid woodland, dominated by thorn trees of the genus Acacia. The north-east and eastern parts of South Africa (Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Kwa-Zulu Natal)is covered with savanna and open woodlands known as bushveld. This area supports the widest variety of wildlife in the country. The most prevalent biome in South Africa is grassland, particularly on the Highveld, where the plant cover is dominated by different grasses and low shrubs. In this biome trees are rare and occur only along watercourses where fires are uncommon. Towards the southern coast, the vegetation is again dominated by shrubs in ecological communities known as thicket and noorsveld, where succulent species such as Euphorbia, Aloe, and Portulacaria afra are common, as well as Cape honeysuckle Tecoma capensis and Cape leadwort Plumbago auriculata. To the west, the vegetation intergrades into Mediterranean shrubland known locally as fynbos, dominated mainly by plant families rare in other habitats, such as Proteaceae, Ericaceae and Restionaceae. Here the vegetation is made up of sclerophyllous plants which do not support much mammal or bird life. Finally, the last biome found is forest, which only covers 1% of South Africa and is concentrated around the Knysna area and scattered along the escarpment of the Drakensberg mountains upwards along Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Mammals The country has over 300 species of mammals.
Carnivores
Many carnivores, both large and small, inhabit South Africa. Most carnivoran families are well represented in South Africa, such as Canidae, Felidae, Hyaenidae, Mustelidae, Viverridae, Herpestidae, and Otariidae. Most famous of these is the lion, the largest carnivore on the continent and the second-largest cat in the world. The other two big cats are the African leopard and the South African cheetah. The spotted hyena is commonly found in most large game reserves, while the brown hyena inhabits the arid parts of the country, and the aardwolf is widespread. The African wild dog is an endangered species and is found mainly in the Kruger National Park and surrounding areas.
Smaller carnivores are common across the country, and two species, the black-backed jackal and the caracal, are seen by some as pest species, often taking livestock such as sheep and goats, as lion, leopard, cheetah, African wild dog, and both species of hyena have been largely extirpated outside of protected areas. The serval is a rodent specialist and often occurs in marshy areas. Bat-eared foxes, Cape foxes and small felids such as the black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) and Southern African wildcat (Felis sylvestris cafra) are widespread, although there are concerns about the genetic purity of the African wild cat, as it breeds readily with both domestic and feral domestic cats (Felis sylvestris catus), which dilutes the African wild cat's gene pool. There are many species of mongoose, such as the meerkat, yellow mongoose and water mongoose. There are two genet species, the common genet and the large spotted genet. There are relatively few mustelid species in South Africa, as it appears that most niches taken by mustelids elsewhere in the world are taken up by viverrids and herpestids in sub-Saharan Africa (only seven species are native to Africa south of the Sahara). Two species of otter are native to South Africa, both inhabiting freshwater habitats and the Cape clawless otter ranging into the sea at the coast. The honey badger is probably the best known mustelid native to the region; aside from the otters, two other species occur, the African striped weasel and the striped polecat - their black-and-white fur serves the same function as that of skunks. The only seal native to the region is the brown fur seal, which breeds in large colonies off Namibia and South Africa.
Herbivores Artiodactyls
South Africa has many antelope species, some which are widespread and are well known in other parts of the world, and some that are endemic. There is an extinct species of antelope endemic to South Africa known as the bluebuck. Several antelopes are found in different habitats. Species such as the gemsbok are found in arid areas, the black wildebeest (an endemic species) in grasslands, the Cape grysbok in fynbos, the impala in savanna and the klipspringer in rocky terrain. Other species range in a wider variety of habitats, such as the Springbok in arid shrublands, semidesert and grassland, and the Greater Kudu in thicket, open woodlands and riverine vegetation. South Africa has a wealth of small antelope species, such as the aforementioned klipspringer and Cape grysbok, common duiker, blue duiker, steenbok and oribi.
There are also larger artiodactyl species, such as the Cape buffalo, common eland and the giraffe. These are preyed upon mainly by lions.
Common warthogs are common in the east of the country. Bushpigs occur in habitats with dense cover.
Distantly related to the warthog and the bushpig but closer to cetaceans is the hippopotamus, an amphibious mammal that usually submerges itself in water bodies during the day and comes on land to feed on grasses during the night. The hippopotamus is found in the eastern part of the country down to the St Lucia wetlands/ Kosi Bay estuary in Kwa-Zulu Natal, although they used to be much more widespread, occurring as far west as Cape Town and down the length of the Orange River. There is a small population of hippos in Cape Town, where they were reintroduced to control alien vegetation. After their arrival in 1652 the Dutch settlers, led by founder of Cape Town Jan van Riebeeck, shot the resident hippopotamus population to extinction for meat and hides.
Perissiodactyls
Herbivores which are not artiodactyls also occur in the region. There are two native species of equids in the country, the plains zebra and the mountain zebra. An extinct subspecies of the plains zebra, the quagga, was endemic to the country.
Both the white rhinoceros and the black rhinoceros occur in the country. Neither can be distinguished by the colour, as both are a similar colour, but can be told apart by the shape of their mouths: with the white rhino, it has a wide or square mouth, while the black has a hook-lipped mouth. Both also behave differently, with the black rhino being smaller, shyer, and more aggressive.
Rodents, insectivores and lagomorphs There are again many species of rodents in South Africa, such as the vlei rat and four-striped grass mouse.
The three alien species of muroid rodents, the brown rat, the black rat and the house mouse, are all widespread in the country.
The Cape ground squirrel is common in arid areas and often shares its burrows with mongooses and meerkats, and is known to use its bushy tail as an umbrella from the harsh sun. There are tree squirrels, one of which is an introduced species: the eastern grey squirrel, introduced in Cape Town by Cecil John Rhodes from Europe. The rest, such as Paraxerus cepapi, are found in the savanna biome in the north-east of the country.
Shrews occur, which prey on invertebrates. The Southern African hedgehog (Atelerix frontalis) is a hedgehog that is native to South Africa. It differs from the European hedgehog in having a dark face bordered by white fur and longer legs, an adaptation to a warmer climate. They are found in the Eastern Cape northwards to Zimbabwe.
The South African springhare is common in savanna and semiarid habitats. This animal is similar in appearance to a small wallaby, but it is actually a rodent. It consumes tubers and bulbs.
Scrub hares and Cape hares are common in all regions of South Africa, and are a common prey item of many predatory species such as leopards, cheetahs and birds of prey. The riverine rabbit is a critically endangered species of rabbit that is confined to several small populations in the Karoo. Smith's red rock hare (Pronolagus rupestris), Jameson's red rock hare (Pronolagus randensis) and the Natal red rock hare (P. crassicaudatus) are three species of hare that live in rocky environments, hence their name. These species are isolated from one another in where they live. There is an introduced population of European rabbits on Robben Island, which is under a culling programme.
Afrotheria
The origins of the taxon Afrotheria is deeply rooted in the African continent. The best known of these is the aardvark and the African bush elephant. Most members of the Afrotheria have remained in Africa.
The African bush elephant is the only proboscidean in South Africa, and the largest native animal. It is an ecosystem engineer, opening up dense thicket and woodland for more open-habitat species.
The aardvark is an odd-looking creature. It is a prodigious digger and sleeps in burrows during the day. It feeds mainly on termites and ants.
There are two species of dassies or hyraxes, the rock hyrax and the tree hyrax, the former widespread over the country and the latter occurring in the eastern part of the country. They are relatives of the elephants, although not the closest (sirenians are more closely related). Their major predators are the Verreaux's eagle and the caracal.
Elephant shrews resemble shrews but are not related to them. They similarly eat arthropods.
Primates The largest primate in the region, excluding humans, is the chacma baboon. A true generalist, it is found in virtually all habitats in South Africa. The other primates in the region are the vervet monkey and the Samango monkey. They are mainly frugivores, although they are true opportunists and may take eggs and nestlings from bird nests.
Avifauna 858 species of birds have been recorded in South Africa.
Raptors There are many raptor species found in South Africa, some of which are the eagles, hawks, falcons and vultures.
Eagles are widespread over the country. Different species inhabit different habitats. The African fish eagle is found wherever there are large bodies of water, and takes mainly fish and occasionally other vertebrates. The martial eagle is found in savanna, while Verreaux's eagle is found in areas with rocky terrain and mountains. The Verreaux's eagle is being given attention by conservation authorities as there has been noticeable population decline in some areas. It is an important predator of the rock hyrax. The crowned eagle is a forest species, and takes monkeys and duikers. There are myriad species of hawk found across the country; examples are harriers, sparrowhawks, the African harrier hawk, Buteo species known as buzzards (the jackal buzzard), and kites, such the black-winged kite.