Kenya Animals. The best of African Wildlife

Kenya Animals include some of the most legendary and intimidating animals in Africa. Here are thumbnail sketches of a few of Kenya’s most popular animals.

Lion

The mighty lion is a symbol of power across the world. Once found roaming anywhere from Greece to India and across the Middle East, you can hear these gracious and noble animals roaring from a distance of 8 kilometres away.
A member of the cat species, male lions have brown or black manes and inhabit the savannas and grasslands in the sub-Saharan regions of Africa. There are typically about 15 lions in a pride, with 2 to 3 males and the rest females and their young.  When food is scarce a lioness might abandon her cubs, but when food is abundant she will allow another mother’s cubs to suckle. Lions are not afraid to take on the biggest of African prey; they hunt buffaloes, hippos, rhinos and giraffes, with females performing most of the hunting. But another’s kill is just as tempting to this intimidating Kenya animal. Other animals are often forced to give up their prey to scavenger lions.  The biggest threat to a lion’s survival is the human.

Elephant

Hunted for many years for its prized ivory tusks, the Elephant is the largest mammal that lives on land. But perhaps the most intriguing feature of this enormous Kenya animal is its trunk. An elephant uses its trunk as a tool for finding food, keeping itself clean, and even signaling to other elephants. Elephants are not fussy about their habitat. All they require is plenty of grass to eat and plenty of water to drink. They also appreciate being near water to bathe and to cool themselves off.

An elephant’s tusks wear down from constant use and often use one tusk more than the other such that they appear “right-tusked” or “left-tusked.” They are very sociable and prefer to live in large groups dominated by a female. Males visit the herd now and then to seek out a female in heat for mating.

The highly intelligent Elephants are so friendly and sociable that when elephants from different herds meet at watering holes they greet each other affectionately. Female elephants are quick to adopt calves that are orphaned.

Leopard

This shrewd and elusive member of the cat family comes in a variety of shades and spot patterns. The East African leopard has round spots rather than the square spots found in his South African cousin. Leopards love dense, bushy forests where they sleep by day and prey stealthily under cover of darkness. This is perhaps one of the most adaptable of Kenya’s animals.

Leopards are continuously seeking new territory and have proven very adaptable as civilization creeps in and pushes back the boundaries of the natural Kenyan wilderness. They prey on carrion, fish and small mammals such as monkeys and rodents, but they are also adept at killing antelope and warthogs. They have to guard their prey closely, often hiding it in trees, away from scavenging hyenas and lions. Long hunted for their beautiful fur, the Leopards most dastardly predator is the human hunter.

Rhinoceros

This large, pre-historic mammal is one of the most endangered of the Kenya animals. Hunted relentlessly for many years, the rhino population in Africa is on the point of extinction. There are several species remaining. In Kenya there are handfuls of both black and white rhinos.

White rhinos have a hump on the neck, light grey skin and a long face. They tend to live in savannas and around watering holes where they love to wallow in the mud and feast on soft grass. Black rhinos have darker skin and favour densely forested areas. They are more solitary than the sociable white rhinos who like to move around in herds. Black rhinos enjoy a more varied diet than white rhinos, including bushes, leaves and shoots in addition to grass. Don’t mistake that large, pre-historic form for a slow moving animal. Once roused to anger, a charging rhinoceros is a speeding mass of strength and power. There are many efforts underway in Kenya as well as other parts of Africa to preserve the rhino from extinction. It has no natural predators other than man.

Buffalo

Buffaloes are unpredictable animals, capable of dangerous and savage behaviour if roused to anger by inexperienced hunters. Both male and female buffaloes are characterized by their large, curly horns. The dark colour of the large savanna buffalo you will see in Kenya is often hidden beneath the mud they love to wallow in. Buffaloes like to be near water and during the rainy season they will form large herds, sometimes numbering in the thousands, although older bulls are more solitary and will separate from the herd. They graze at night and depend on fresh green grass for their survival, being less adaptable than some other Kenya animals to a varied diet.

Because buffalo exist in considerable numbers in East Africa, they often become pests to local farmers who struggle to maintain fences that will keep them away from livestock and crops and have a tendency to kill the buffalo in order to protect their farms.

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