INTRUDUCTION The Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region located in north-western Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya. People of Serengeti were known as maasai. The Maasai were known as fierce warriors. The Serengeti brings the largest and longest migration in the world, which is one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world.TanzaniaKenyaMaasaimigrationten natural travel wonders of the world

History The Serengeti has Approximately 70 larger mammal and some 500 avifauna species are found there. By the mid 1970s wildebeest and the Cape buffalo populations had recovered, and were increasingly cropping the grass, reducing the amount of fuel available for fires. A rinderpest epidemic and drought during the 1890s greatly reduced the numbers of both Maasai and animal populations. By the 1960s, as human populations increased. Fire, elephants, and wildebeest were influential in determining the current character of the Serengeti. Meanwhile, elephant populations were reduced from 2,460 in 1970 to 467 in 1986 by hunting without permission. Hunting without permission and the absence of fires, which had been the result of human activity, set the stage for the development of dense woodlands over the next years. avifauna

MIGRATION Around October, nearly two million herbivores travel from the northern hills toward the southern plains, crossing the Mara River, and following rain. This strange incident is sometimes called the Circular Migration. Some 250,000 wildebeest died during the journey from Tanzania to Masai Mara, Death is usually accrued from thirst, hunger, and exhaustion. herbivoresplains Mara RiverTanzaniaMasai Mara

ECOLOGY Ol Doinyo Lengai, the only active volcano in the area of the Serengeti, is the only volcano which still ejects carbonates lavas. Rainfall amounts vary from a low of 508 mm (20 in) in the lee of the Ngorongoro Highlands. Near Lake Victoria there are flood plains developed from ancient lakebeds. Ol Doinyo Lengai

Serengeti animals In Serengeti there are “The Big Five” which are lions, leopards, rhinos, Cape Buffalo, and the elephant.rhinosCape Buffaloelephant

LIONS: Male lions are much larger than lion females and will fight to control lion groups. When a lion sees another lion they fight and the leopard takes her cubs and goes to hide until the fight is over. After a lion dies the lions and the cubs go home as if nothing happened.

Leopards: The Serengeti leopard population appears to be healthy. not much is known about them as lions or cheetahs. Leopards are solitary big cats that live all over Africa and as far as South-East Asia, wherever there is sufficient tree cover for them to hide in. Leopards are heavier and more strongly built than cheetahs, but still one third the size of lions. Leopards hunt at night. The leopards of Serengeti can be seen along rivers and in the denser parts of the woodlands. By day, leopards often lounge and nap in large trees with sloping stems. After making a kill, they will drag it back and up into a convenient tree for protection. Leopards communicate by roaring and by smell. Leopard camouflage makes them extremely difficult to see on the ground, so looking into tall trees with inclined trunks is the best bet for finding a resting leopard.

Cape Buffalo: The Cape or African Buffalo is the larger of the two animals, and is, in fact, the second largest animal in the bovid class, second only to the Plains Buffalo of North America. As males get older and are displaced by new dominant males, they leave the herd and live on their own. (0) If an animal is very threatened or angry, it might charge with its head high and face forward, turning down and hooking its smaller opponent into the air at the last moment. It is these old, grumpy males that hunters sought after for their prized horns and which gave the Cape Buffalo its fearsome reputation. Most sounds are grunts and mumbling sounds that they make while feeding, probably to keep contact with each other. Under good conditions, buffalo mature and can have young at age 5, and can live to 18 years old. The Cape Buffalo lives throughout sub-Saharan Africa, from open grassland to forests, mountains, to coastal areas. The Cape Buffalo's only predators are lions and humans. Buffalo are ruminants, which means they have anaerobic bacteria in a specially segmented stomach that break down rough. buffalo have a lower row of teeth, wide hard lips, and a long flexible tongue which they use to gather the rough grasses which they prefer. By 1990, only 16,000 buffalo remained, and by1969 only.

Rhinoceros: There are five species of rhinoceros in the world of which two species are found in Africa - the White or Square-lip Rhino and the Black or Hook-lip Rhino. Consequently, the number of rhino in the Serengeti has been reduced to a handful and these are under heavy protection by the park's. The black rhino found in the Serengeti- Ngorongoro Ecosystem belong to the ecotype Diceros bicornis michaeli. Black rhino were once numerous on the Serengeti plains. But their horns are still in demand.

Serengeti Elephants: During the 1930's, they newly arrived in the park administrators began seeing a few elephants entering the Serengeti. Males live with the herds until they reach puberty and then leave to join bachelor herds, or live on their own. Today, elephants still range over a wide area of Africa. By 1990, only about 500 elephants remained in the park, had fled to Kenya, and the remaining 1500 had been killed by hunters.

There are other animals in the Serengia regions called “The Little Five” witch are the ant lion, RHINO beetle, ELEPHANT shrew and BUFFALO weaver and the LEOPARD tortoise.ELEPHANT shrew and BUFFALO weaverLEOPARD tortoise