science

Wildlife of Chad

Wildlife of Chad is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wildlife of Chad rather than just read about it. In short: The wildlife of Chad is composed of its flora and fauna. West African lions, African buffalo, hippopotamuses, Kordofan giraffes, antelopes, African leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, bush elephants, and many species of snakes are found there, although most large carnivore populations have been drastically reduced since the early 20th century.

Key takeaways

Wildlife of Chad belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wildlife of Chad to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wildlife of Chad from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The wildlife of Chad is composed of its flora and fauna. West African lions, African buffalo, hippopotamuses, Kordofan giraffes, antelopes, African leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, bush elephants, and many species of snakes are found there, although most large carnivore populations have been drastically reduced since the early 20th century. Elephant poaching, particularly in the south of the country in areas such as Zakouma National Park, is a severe problem.

Vegetation

As of 2011, there were 2,288 species of plants in the country, 55 of which are endemic. Precipitation varies widely from south to the north. The country is also subject to hot, dry, dusty conditions. Harmattan winds are a feature in the northern part of the country. Droughts and locust plagues are also common. The vegetation in the country is broadly categorized under the three regions of the northern Sahara zone, the central Sahel zone, and the southern Sudan zone; all three zones are of equal proportion. In Chad forest cover is around 3% of the total land area, equivalent to 4,313,000 ha (10,660,000 acres) of forest in 2020, down from 6,730,000 ha (16,600,000 acres) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 4,293,000 ha (10,610,000 acres) and planted forest covered 19,800 ha (49,000 acres). For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership. The northern part of the country which has the Sahara desert and which borders Libya and the volcanic massif of Tibesti (3,415 metres or 11,204 feet) forms part of the northern zone. Vegetation is dominantly tropical in the tropical zone of the country with deserts having least vegetative growth. However, a large area of desert dunes lie between Lake Chad and the Ouaddai massif, where fringes of xerophytic scrubland is noted. The montane vegetation on the massif is rich, unlike the vegetation that is in the lowlands. Woody vegetation occurs in some deep gorges of the Ennedi massif, which rises to 1,450 metres (4,760 ft). A flat terrain supports Sahelian grasslands. The transition zone that lies between the southern Sahel and northern Sudan–Guinea is also a seasonal wetland. The Sudan Savanna zone mostly consists of Sudanian woodland with intermittent vegetation of edaphic grassland and Acacia. The well-drained soils of the area once supported areas of dense woodlands with ebony and kapok trees (species of the Malvaceae family), but this has declined due to soil erosion and degradation. Vegetation found in the area includes acacias, baobab, desert date, palms, African myrrh, and Indian jujube. Found within the lake itself are aquatic plants such as reeds, papyrus, ambatch, and water lilies.

Fauna

As of 2002, there were at least 134 species of mammals and 532 species of birds (354 species of residents and 155 migrants) in Chad. Before the 20th century, Chad reportedly had a rich fauna of large carnivores in the Lake Chad region, but due to deforestation, hunting and competition from livestock most of the population of lions, leopards, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus have disappeared from the region. The Zakouma National Park is an important habitat with the highest number of large mammals. Ouadi Rime Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve is home to a growing population of around 600 scimitar horned oryx. This antelope species had become extinct in Chad in the late 1990s and was declared extinct in the wild in 2000, a reintroduction project was started by the Sahara Conservation and the Environment Agency of Abu-Dhabi in 2016 establishing the only truly wild herd. Following the oryx reintroduction, addax (Addax nasomaculatus) were reintroduced starting in 2019, as this species was thought to have become extinct in the reserve and possibly extinct in Chad as a whole. Other species reported are: dama gazelle (Nanger dama), red-fronted gazelle (Gazella rufifrons), dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas), patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas), striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), Sudan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii), caracal (Felis caracal), Chadian wild dog (Lycaon pictus sharicus), African elephant (Loxodonta africana), spotted-necked otter (Lutra maculicollis), African clawless otter (Aonyx capensis), sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekei) and kob (Kobus kob). Rodent species reported are Mastomys verheyeni and gerbil (Taterillus lacustris). African rock pythons and spitting cobras are the reptile species reported.

Aquafauna Lake Chad has 179 species of fish which feed on vegetation, phytoplankton and zooplankton. Some of the species reported are catfish (Clarias gariepensis), tilapia, cichlids, characin (Alestes baremoze) and Nile perch (Lates niloticus). Lungfish and sailfin are the two other unique species in the lake. Crocodile and hippopotamus also inhabit the lake as do birds, and it is an important destination for many migratory species of birds.

Avifauna

BirdLife International has reported 532 species of birds of which 354 residents and 155 are migrants, the Avibase - Bird Checklists of the World reports 587 species including 6 globally threatened species. Of these the species under critically endangered, endangered, near-threatened, and vulnerable categories are:

The violet turaco (Musophaga violacea) is a species of least concern, which is found in large numbers in a range of less than 20,000 km2 (7,700 sq mi) covering many African countries including Chad.

Protection The protected parks, reserves, protection forests, reforestation areas, and Ramsar Wetlands of international importance in the country include the IUCN Level II categorized Aouk (7,400 km2 or 2,900 sq mi), Goz Beïda, Manda (1,140 km2 or 440 sq mi), and Zakouma (3,000 km2 or 1,200 sq mi) national parks. The country has a number of faunal reserves which are loosely protected including:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Wildlife of Chad: Map of Chad — Map of Chad

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wildlife of Chad

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wildlife of Chad claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wildlife of Chad before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wildlife of Chad ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wildlife of Chad

In research: Wildlife of Chad appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wildlife of Chad in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wildlife of Chad is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Biota of Chad, Wildlife by country, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wildlife of Chad outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wildlife of Chad in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wildlife of Chad means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wildlife of Chad out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wildlife of Chad in simple terms?

Why does Wildlife of Chad matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wildlife of Chad?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wildlife of Chad.