Wildlife of Angola

Wildlife of Angola includes its flora and fauna and their natural habitats.

In the Quitçama National Park in the Kwanza River Valley, Angola's top military brass are battling to reintroduce elephants, antelope and other species that once roamed the country's 10 national parks before the civil war. Quiçama spans nearly 10,000 km² about 75 kilometres south of Luanda, the country's capital. Backed by a privately funded, $10 million (U.S.) project, the generals are working with South African wildlife experts to revive Angola's wildlife, beginning with the Quiçama Park.

Angola's protracted war has had a catastrophic effect on the country's wildlife. Forty years ago, thousands of animals roamed the fertile bushland of Quiçama. But over the years, the animals fell prey to landmines, ivory-stalking poachers and hungry locals. Many animals were slaughtered by the country's military, which used low-flying helicopters to take pot shots at big game.

The civil war between the army and UNITA rebels began after a 14-year struggle for independence from Portugal, which was granted in 1975. Still raging, the war has cost the lives of more than a million people and driven more than 2.5 million civilians from their homes. UNITA is a Portuguese language acronym for the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola.

Angola Endemic Bird Area

The western Angola Endemic Bird Area has 14 range-restricted species. Little is known about the conservation status of the region's birds due to the civil war that has raged in Angola for the last 27 years. The greatest diversity of restricted-range species is found in Cuanza Sul province, and given the uncertainty about their current status, many of these species are listed as Threatened. Gabela Bush-shrike Laniarius amboimensis are common and Monteiro's Bush-shrike Malaconotus monteiri are fairly common in degraded secondary forest, old coffee plantations and primary forest at Kumbira. Pulitzer's Longbill Macrosphenus pulitzeri is fairly common at higher elevations at Kumbira as well as in the dense understorey of secondary forest west of Seles. Angola Cave-chat Xenocopsychus ansorgei is found on the rocky slopes above the forest at Kumbira.

Fauna

Animals native to Angola:

*Aardwolf
*African Buffalo
*African Bush Elephant
*African Civet
*African Golden Cat
*African Manatee
*African Striped Weasel
*Banded Mongoose
*Bat-eared Fox
*Black Rhinoceros
*Black-footed Cat
*Blue Duiker
*Blue-headed Wood-dove
*Bongo (antelope)
*Brown Hyena
*Bushbuck
*Cape Fox
*Cape Fur Seal
*Cape Hyrax
*Caracal
*Cheetah
*Common Duiker
*Common Eland
*Gemsbok
*Giant Sable Antelope
*Giraffe
*Greater Kudu
*Ground Pangolin
*Hartebeest
*Hippopotamus
*Impala
*Kirk's Dik-dik
*Klipspringer
*Lechwe
*Leopard
*Lion
*Marsh Mongoose
*Meerkat
*Mountain Zebra
*Oribi
*Plains Zebra
*Red-necked Francolin
*Roan Antelope
*Sable Antelope
*Serval
*Sitatunga
*Southern Reedbuck
*Spotted Hyena
*Springbok Antelope
*Steenbok
*Topi
*Trumpeter Hornbill
*Warthog
*Waterbuck
*Wildebeest
*Yellow Mongoose
*Yellow-backed Duiker

Mammals

Birds

Flora

Notes

References

*cite web
url=http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/search.php?kingname=ANIMALIA&phyname=CHORDATA&claname=MAMMALIA&freetext=&modifier=phrase&criteria=wholedb&taxa_species=1&redlistCategory%5B0%5D=all&redlistAssessyear%5B0%5D=all&country%5B0%5D=AO&aquatic%5B0%5D=all&regions%5B0%5D=all&habitats%5B0%5D=all&threats%5B0%5D=all&Submit_x=34&Submit_y=9&extendedResults=0&terrestrial=0&marine=0&freshwater=0&offset=0&sortorder%5B0%5D=spcscientificname&sortorder%5B1%5D=genname&sortorder%5B2%5D=spcname&sortorder%5B3%5D=spcauthor&sortorder%5B4%5D=spcinfrarank&sortorder%5B5%5D=spcinfraepithet&sortorder%5B6%5D=spcinfrarankauthor&sortorder%5B7%5D=spcstockname&sortorder%5B8%5D=comname_comp&sortorder%5B9%5D=rlcabb&sortorder%5B10%5D=rlscriteria&sortorder%5B11%5D=poptrend_code&sortorder%5B12%5D=rlcatcrit2001&sortorder%5B13%5D=spcrecid&sortorder%5B14%5D=kingname&debug=0&taxa_subspc=0&taxa_stock=0&newsort=Genus
title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Mammals of Angola
publisher=IUCN
date=2001
accessdaymonth = 22 May
accessyear=2007
*cite web
url=http://nmnhgoph.si.edu/msw/
title=Mammal Species of the World
publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
date=2005
accessdaymonth = 22 May
accessyear=2007
*cite web
url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html
title=Animal Diversity Web
publisher=University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
date=1995-2006
accessdaymonth = 22 May
accessyear=2007