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{{short description|Geographical region in Africa}} |
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{{other uses|Serengeti (disambiguation)}} |
{{other uses|Serengeti (disambiguation)}} |
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{{TAFI}} |
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[[File:Serengeti sunset-1001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Umbrella thorn]] silhouetted by the setting sun near Seronera Camp]] |
[[File:Serengeti sunset-1001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Umbrella thorn]] silhouetted by the setting sun near Seronera Camp]] |
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{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}} |
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}} |
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[[File:Parks Tanzania.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of Tanzania showing the country's national parks, including the Serengeti National Park]] |
[[File:Parks Tanzania.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of Tanzania showing the country's national parks, including the Serengeti National Park]] |
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The '''Serengeti''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|s|ɛr|ə|n|ˈ|g|ɛ|t|i}} {{respell|SERR|ən|GHET|ee}}) ecosystem is a [[Geography of Africa|geographical region in Africa]], spanning northern [[Tanzania]] and some of southwestern [[Kenya]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.livescience.com/23310-serengeti.html|title=The Serengeti: Plain Facts about National Park & Animals|last=Zimmermann|first=Kim Ann|date=June 23, 2017|website=Live Science|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> The [[protected area]] within the region includes approximately {{convert|30000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} of land, including the [[Serengeti National Park]] and several [[game reserve]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/images/75073/serengeti|title=Serengeti|last=Schmaltz|first=Jeff|date=January 9, 2006|website=NASA: Visible Earth|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> The Serengeti hosts the second largest terrestrial mammal [[Animal migration|migration]] in the world, which helps secure it as one of the [[Seven Natural Wonders of Africa]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sevennaturalwonders.org/africa|title=Seven Natural Wonders of Africa|work=Seven Natural Wonders|access-date=22 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151221103510/http://sevennaturalwonders.org/africa/|archive-date=21 December 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> and as one of the [[Wonders of the World#Natural travel wonders|ten natural travel wonders of the world]].<ref name="partridge">{{cite news|first=Frank |last=Partridge |title=The fast show |date=20 May 2006 |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060520/ai_n16416123 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219104115/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060520/ai_n16416123 |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 December 2007 |work=The Independent (London) |accessdate=2007-03-14 }}</ref> |
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The '''Serengeti''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|s|ɛr|ə|n|ˈ|g|ɛ|t|i}} {{respell|SERR|ən|GHET|ee}}) ecosystem is a [[Geography of Africa|geographical region in Africa]]. It is located in northern [[Tanzania]]. It spans approximately {{convert|30000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}. |
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The Serengeti is also renowned for its large lion population and is one of the best places to observe prides in their natural environment.<ref>{{cite book | last=Nolting | first=Mark | title=Africa's Top Wildlife Countries | year=2012 | publisher=Global Travel Publishers Inc. | isbn=978-0939895151 | pages=356}}</ref> Approximately 70 large [[mammal]] and 500 [[bird]] species are found there. This high diversity is a function of diverse habitats, including riverine forests, [[swamp]]s, [[kopjes]], [[grasslands]], and [[woodland]]s. [[Blue wildebeest]]s, [[gazelle]]s, [[zebra]]s, and [[African buffalo|buffalo]]s are some of the commonly found large mammals in the region. |
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⚫ | The Serengeti also contains the [[Serengeti District]] of Tanzania. There has been controversy about a [[Serengeti National Park#Proposed road across the northern Serengeti|proposal to build a road through the Serengeti]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.savetheserengeti.org/issues/highway/stop-the-serengeti-highway/|title=Highway Development Threatens Serengeti|work=Serengeti Watch}}</ref> |
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Approximately 70 large [[mammal]] and 500 [[bird]] species are found there. This high diversity is a function of diverse habitats, including riverine forests, [[swamp]]s, [[kopjes]], [[grasslands]], and [[woodland]]s.<ref name="www.ath.aegean.gr">{{cite web|url=http://www.ath.aegean.gr/srcosmos/showpub.aspx?aa=8868 |accessdate=9 February 2014 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> [[Blue wildebeest]]s, [[gazelle]]s, [[zebra]]s, and [[African buffalo|buffalo]]s are some of the commonly found large mammals in the region. |
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The name "Serengeti" is often said to be derived from the word from "seringit" in the [[Maasai language]], [[Maasai language|Maa]], meaning "endless plains".<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Citation | title=Northern Tanzania: The Bradt Safari Guide with Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar | first=Phillip | last=Briggs | year=2006 | page=198 | publisher=Bradt Travel Guides | isbn=978-1-84162-146-3}}</ref>{{dubious|etymology|date=December 2017}} However, this etymology does not appear in Maa dictionaries.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/reprint/2/|title=Maasai Dictionary|last=Richmond|first=Charles|publisher=|year=1940|isbn=|location=|pages=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pages.uoregon.edu/dlpayne/Maa%20Lexicon/lexicon/main.htm|title=Maa (Maasai) Dictionary|last=|first=|date=|editor-last=Payne|editor-first=Doris L.|editor2-last=Ole-Kotikash|editor2-first=Leonard|website=|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> |
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⚫ | There has been controversy about a [[Serengeti National Park#Proposed road across the northern Serengeti|proposal to build a road through the Serengeti]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.savetheserengeti.org/issues/highway/stop-the-serengeti-highway/|title=Highway Development Threatens Serengeti|work=Serengeti Watch}}</ref> |
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Serengeti is derived from the [[Maasai language]], [[Maasai language|Maa]]; specifically, "Serengit" meaning "Endless Plains".<ref>{{Citation | title=Northern Tanzania: The Bradt Safari Guide with Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar | first=Phillip | last=Briggs | year=2006 | page=198 | publisher=Bradt Travel Guides | isbn=978-1-84162-146-3}}</ref>{{dubious|date=December 2017}} |
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==History== |
==History== |
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Much of the Serengeti was known to outsiders as Maasailand. The [[Maasai people|Maasai]] are known as fierce warriors and live alongside most wild animals with an aversion to eating game and birds, subsisting exclusively on their cattle. Historically, their strength and reputation kept the newly arrived Europeans from exploiting the animals and resources of most of their land. A [[1890s African rinderpest epizootic|rinderpest epidemic]] and drought during the 1890s greatly reduced the numbers of both Maasai and animal populations. The Tanzanian government later in the 20th century re-settled the Maasai around the [[Ngorongoro Crater]]. Poaching and the absence of fires, which had been the result of human activity, set the stage for the development of dense woodlands and thickets over the next 30–50 years. [[Tsetse fly]] populations now prevented any significant human settlement in the area. |
Much of the Serengeti was known to outsiders as Maasailand. The [[Maasai people|Maasai]] are known as fierce warriors and live alongside most wild animals with an aversion to eating game and birds, subsisting exclusively on their cattle. Historically, their strength and reputation kept the newly arrived Europeans from exploiting the animals and resources of most of their land. A [[1890s African rinderpest epizootic|rinderpest epidemic]] and drought during the 1890s greatly reduced the numbers of both Maasai and animal populations. The Tanzanian government later in the 20th century re-settled the Maasai around the [[Ngorongoro Crater]]. Poaching and the absence of fires, which had been the result of human activity, set the stage for the development of dense woodlands and thickets over the next 30–50 years. [[Tsetse fly]] populations now prevented any significant human settlement in the area. |
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Wild dogs are relatively scarce in much of the Serengeti. This is particularly true in places such as Serengeti National Park (where they became extinct in 1992), in which lions and spotted hyenas, predators that steal wild dog kills and are a direct cause of wild dog mortality, are abundant.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/12/science/one-for-all-and-all-for-hunt-.html|title=African Wild Dogs, True Best Friends|last=Angier|first=Natalie|date=2014-08-11|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-04-05}}</ref> |
Wild dogs are relatively scarce in much of the Serengeti. This is particularly true in places such as Serengeti National Park (where they became extinct in 1992), in which lions and spotted hyenas, predators that steal wild dog kills and are a direct cause of wild dog mortality, are abundant.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/12/science/one-for-all-and-all-for-hunt-.html|title=African Wild Dogs, True Best Friends|last=Angier|first=Natalie|date=2014-08-11|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-04-05}}</ref> |
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The Serengeti is also home to a diversity of grazers, including [[African buffalo]], [[warthog]]s, [[Grant's gazelle]], [[Taurotragus|eland]], [[waterbuck]], and [[topi]]. The Serengeti can support this remarkable variety of grazers only because each species, even those that are closely related, has a different diet. For example, [[wildebeest]]s prefer to consume shorter [[grass]]es, while [[zebra]]s prefer taller ones. Similarly, [[dik-dik]]s eat the lowest leaves of a tree, [[impala]]s eat the leaves that are higher up, and [[giraffe]]s eat leaves that are even higher.[[File:Eastern Serengeti 2012 05 31 2866 (7522635772).jpg|thumb|Giraffe in Eastern Serengeti|alt=]]The governments of [[Tanzania]] and [[Kenya]] maintain a number of protected areas, including national parks, conservation areas, and game reserves, that give legal protection to over 80 percent of the Serengeti. |
The Serengeti is also home to a diversity of grazers, including [[African buffalo]], [[warthog]]s, [[Grant's gazelle]], [[Taurotragus|eland]], [[waterbuck]], and [[topi]]. The Serengeti can support this remarkable variety of grazers only because each species, even those that are closely related, has a different diet. For example, [[wildebeest]]s prefer to consume shorter [[grass]]es, while [[zebra]]s prefer taller ones. Similarly, [[dik-dik]]s eat the lowest leaves of a tree, [[impala]]s eat the leaves that are higher up, and [[giraffe]]s eat leaves that are even higher.[[File:Eastern Serengeti 2012 05 31 2866 (7522635772).jpg|thumb|Giraffe in Eastern Serengeti|alt=]]The governments of [[Tanzania]] and [[Kenya]] maintain a number of protected areas, including national parks, conservation areas, and game reserves, that give legal protection to over 80 percent of the Serengeti. |
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The southeastern area lies in the rain shadow of the [[Ngorongoro Conservation Area]]'s highlands and is composed of shortgrass treeless plains with abundant small [[dicots]]. Soils are high in nutrients, overlying a shallow calcareous hardpan due to [[natrocarbonatite]] [[eruption]]s from [[Ol Doinyo Lengai]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.volcanocafe.org/the-strangest-volcanoes-in-the-world-a-non-official-list/ |title=The Strangest Volcanoes In The World – A Non-Official List|date=28 March 2017|publisher= |accessdate=4 August 2017}}</ref> A gradient of soil depth northwestward across the plains results in changes in the herbaceous community and taller grass. About {{convert|70|km|mi}} west, [[acacia]] woodlands appear suddenly and stretch west to [[Lake Victoria]] and north to the Loita Plains, north of the [[Maasai Mara National Reserve]]. The sixteen acacia species vary over this range, their distribution determined by [[edaphic]] conditions. Near Lake Victoria, floodplains have developed from ancient lakebeds. |
The southeastern area lies in the rain shadow of the [[Ngorongoro Conservation Area]]'s highlands and is composed of shortgrass treeless plains with abundant small [[dicots]]. Soils are high in nutrients, overlying a shallow calcareous hardpan due to [[natrocarbonatite]] [[eruption]]s from [[Ol Doinyo Lengai]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.volcanocafe.org/the-strangest-volcanoes-in-the-world-a-non-official-list/ |title=The Strangest Volcanoes In The World – A Non-Official List|date=28 March 2017|publisher= |accessdate=4 August 2017}}</ref> A gradient of soil depth northwestward across the plains results in changes in the herbaceous community and taller grass. About {{convert|70|km|mi}} west, [[acacia]] woodlands appear suddenly and stretch west to [[Lake Victoria]] and north to the Loita Plains, north of the [[Maasai Mara National Reserve]]. The sixteen acacia species vary over this range, their distribution determined by [[edaphic]] conditions. Near Lake Victoria, floodplains have developed from ancient lakebeds. |
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The area is also home to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which contains [[Ngorongoro Crater]] and the [[Olduvai Gorge]], where some of the oldest [[Hominini|hominin]] [[fossils]] have been found. |
The area is also home to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which contains [[Ngorongoro Crater]] and the [[Olduvai Gorge]], where some of the oldest [[Hominini|hominin]] [[fossils]] have been found. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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{{portal|Africa|Geography}} |
{{portal|Africa|Geography}} |