science

Wildlife of Mali

Wildlife of Mali 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 Mali rather than just read about it. In short: The wildlife of Mali, composed of its flora and fauna, is widely varying from the Saharan desert zone (covering about 33% of the country) to the Sahelian east–west zone, to Mali, a landlocked francophone country in North Africa; large swathes of Mali remain unpopulated but has three sub-equal vegetation zones; the country has Sahara Desert in the north, the Niger River Basin at its center and the Senegal River on th…

Key takeaways

Wildlife of Mali 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 Mali to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wildlife of Mali from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The wildlife of Mali, composed of its flora and fauna, is widely varying from the Saharan desert zone (covering about 33% of the country) to the Sahelian east–west zone, to Mali, a landlocked francophone country in North Africa; large swathes of Mali remain unpopulated but has three sub-equal vegetation zones; the country has Sahara Desert in the north, the Niger River Basin at its center and the Senegal River on the south. The vegetation zones are the Saharan, the Sahel, and the Sudan–Guinea Savanna. Mali has many protected areas which include two national parks, one biosphere reserve, six faunal reserves, two partial faunal reserves, two sanctuaries (one is a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site), one chimp sanctuary, six game reserves, and three Ramsar Sites. Protected area in Mali, under legal acts and regulations (Law No. 86-43/AN-RM for trade and conservation of parks and reserves and Law No. 86-42/AN-RM for forest code), cover about 5,760.035 square kilometres (2,223.962 sq mi), which is 4.7% area of the country. Adding the buffer zone and the peripheral zone of the Biosphere of Baoul, it becomes 6.2% of the total area of the country. The rich biodiversity of the country is reflected in its more than 1,700 plant species and about 1,000 animal species.

Geography

Niger River valley The Niger River valley, which dominates the topography of Mali, drained by the Niger River and its tributaries. Along its course, the central southern region is the narrowest and is known as the Inner Delta or the Inundation Zone of the Niger, formed of 38,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi) of flood-plains, along a river length of 570 kilometres (350 mi); these form its wetlands of great ornithological interest.

Saharan zone Habitat wise, the Saharan zone occupies a third of the country, and is made up of Sahara Desert and the Sahel (which is a zone of transition between the two). There is hardly any vegetation as the habitat comprises "unvegetated regs, hamadas, dunes and wadis" and also a few oases. On the south-eastern part of this zone is the Adrar des Iforhas Massif rising to a height of 900 metres (3,000 ft), which is part of the Ahaggar Massif in southern Algeria. Average precipitation in the zone is reported to be less than 200 millimetres (7.9 in).

Sahelian zone The Sahelian zone, widest in an east–west direction, has the Dogon plateau (777 metres (2,549 ft)) elevation) and the Hombori mountains (1,155 metres (3,789 ft), highest location in Mali) with the Inundation Zone of the Niger River located to its west. Average annual rainfall varies from about 600 millimetres (24 in) in the south to under 200 millimetres (7.9 in) in the north; the vegetation also changes accordingly from acacia-wooded grassland and deciduous bushland to thin coverage of annual grasslands (of Cenchrus biflorus).

Sudan–Guinea zone The Sudan–Guinea zone is part of south-western region of Mali. The Senegal River and the Bafing and Baoulé Rivers rise here, and the basin is known for the lowest-lying land in the country of 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) area which is below the 100 metres (330 ft) contour. The zone also includes the Manding plateau (near Bamako, the capital of Mali) which is part of Fouta Djallon Mountains (700 metres (2,300 ft) elevation) of Guinea. This forms the upper region of the catchment area that lies between the Senegal and Niger River systems. Geological formation reported is of sandstone. Vegetation in this zone is mainly of Isoberlinia sp.

Protected areas There is very little wildlife and a few national parks in Mali. The reserve and largest national park is the Boucle du Baoulé National Park (7,710 square kilometres (2,980 sq mi)). located to the northeast of Bamako. There is hardly any wildlife left in this park due to intense poaching of elephants, giraffes, buffalo, chimpanzees and lions. Monkeys are the only animals seen now. The Reserve de Ansongo Menaka is in the southeast, near the border with Niger. The Reserve de Douentza is the most interesting in terms of wildlife. Bafing National Park (5,000 square kilometres (1,900 sq mi)). is in the south west bordering with Guinea which is a dry area between Mopti and Gao; it is home for desert elephants which move with change of seasons. The other notable parks are the Wongo National Park and the Kouroufing National Park. The Bafing Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 5,215 square kilometres (2,014 sq mi) and the Bafing Chimpanzee Sanctuary is exclusive to conserve chimpanzees.

Flora The dominant vegetation in the inland delta of the Niger consists of hygrophilous grassland species of Eragrostis atrovirens, Panicum anabaptistum, Panicum fluviicola, Vetiveria nigritana, Echinochloa stagnina, wild rice Oryza barthii, Andropogon gayanus, Cynodon dactylon and Hyparrhenia dissolute. The many tree species reported are in patches. Dominant species of grasses in the transition zone between the higher levels of flood plains and its flooded zones are Acacia nilotica with Mimosa and Ziziphus spp. and Guiera senegalensis, Borassus and Hyphaene. Cram cram grasses are scattered in Mali.

Fauna

Mammals

There are 146 species of mammals in Mali of which 2 are critically endangered (CR), 3 are endangered (EN), 10 are vulnerable (VU), and 3 are near-threatened (NT). The threatened species are the following.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wildlife of Mali

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wildlife of Mali 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 Mali 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 Mali 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 Mali

In research: Wildlife of Mali 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 Mali 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 Mali is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Biota of Mali, Wildlife by country, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wildlife of Mali 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 Mali in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wildlife of Mali 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 Mali out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wildlife of Mali in simple terms?

Why does Wildlife of Mali 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 Mali?

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 Mali.