Editing Serengeti (section)

==Ecology==
[[File:Serengeti - Stefan Swanepoel.jpg|thumb|River and the Serengeti plains]]
The Serengeti has some of East Africa's finest game areas.<ref>{{Citation |title=Africa's Great Rift Valley |first=Nigel |last=Pavitt |year=2001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/africasgreatrift0000pavi/page/122 122] |publisher=Harry N. Abrams |isbn=978-0-8109-0602-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/africasgreatrift0000pavi/page/122}}</ref> Besides being known for the great migration, the Serengeti is also famous for its abundant large predators. The ecosystem is home to over 3,000 [[lions]], 1,000 [[African leopards]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/11/cheetahs/smith-text |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028190438/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/11/cheetahs/smith-text |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 October 2012 |title=Cheetahs on the Edge - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine |website=ngm.nationalgeographic.com |access-date=5 April 2016}}</ref> and 7,700 to 8,700 spotted hyenas (''[[Spotted hyena |Crocuta crocuta]]).''<ref> {{Cite web |url=http://mpalalive.org/field_guide/spotted_hyena |title=Mpala Live! Field Guide: Spotted Hyena {{!}} MpalaLive |website=mpalalive.org |access-date=5 April 2016}}</ref> The [[East African cheetah]] is also present in Serengeti.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cheetahs in Tanzania |url=https://www.expertafrica.com/wildlife/cheetah/tanzania |website=Expert Africa |access-date=22 June 2021}}</ref>

[[African wild dog]]s are relatively scarce in much of the Serengeti. This is particularly true in places such as Serengeti National Park (where they became almost extinct in 1992), in which lions and spotted hyenas, predators that steal wild dog kills and are a direct cause of wild dog mortality, are abundant.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/12/science/one-for-all-and-all-for-hunt-.html |title=African Wild Dogs, True Best Friends |last=Angier |first=Natalie |date=11 August 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=5 April 2016}}</ref>

The Serengeti is also home to a diversity of grazers, including [[African buffalo|Cape buffalo]], [[African elephant]], [[Common warthog|warthog]], [[Grant's gazelle]], [[Common eland|eland]], [[waterbuck]], and [[topi]]. The Serengeti can support this remarkable variety of grazers only because each species, even those closely related, has a different diet. For example, wildebeests prefer to consume shorter [[grass]]es, while [[plains zebra]]s prefer taller grasses. Similarly, [[dik-dik]]s eat the lowest leaves of a tree, [[impala]]s eat the leaves that are higher up, and [[Masai giraffe |giraffes]] eat leaves that are even higher.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

[[File:Eastern Serengeti 2012 05 31 2866 (7522635772).jpg|thumb|left|Giraffes in Eastern Serengeti|alt=]]
The governments of [[Tanzania]] and [[Kenya]] maintain a number of protected areas, including national parks, conservation areas, and game reserves, that give legal protection to over 80 percent of the Serengeti.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kideghesho |first=Jafari R. |date=September 2010 |title='Serengeti Shall Not Die': Transforming an Ambition into a Reality |journal=Tropical Conservation Science |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=228–247 |doi=10.1177/194008291000300301 |s2cid=87914905 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Despite this, the ecosystem is now just 60 per cent of its original size, due to human encroachment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Being a responsible safari tourist - Horizon Guides |url=https://horizonguides.com/journal/being-a-responsible-safari-tourist |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=horizonguides.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

Near [[Lake Victoria]], floodplains have developed from ancient lakebeds.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Travellers' guide to Serengeti_National_Park |url=https://www.travellerspoint.com/guide/Serengeti_National_Park/ |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=Travellerspoint |language=en}}</ref>

In the far northwest, acacia woodlands are replaced by broadleaved [[Terminalia (plant) |Terminalia]]-[[Combretum]] woodlands, caused by a change in geology. This area has the highest rainfall in the system and forms a refuge for the migrating ungulates at the end of the dry season.<ref>{{Citation |title=Serengeti III: Human Impacts on Ecosystem Dynamics |first1=A. R. E. |last1=Sinclair |first2=Simon A. R. |last2=Mduma |first3=John M. |last3=Fryxell |year=2008 |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=11 |isbn=978-0-226-76033-9}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Sinclair |first1=A. R. E. |last2=Mduma |first2=S. A. |last3=Hopcraft |first3=J. G. |last4=Fryxell |first4=J. M. |last5=Hilborn |first5=R. |last6=Thirgood |first6=S. |year=2007 |title=Long-Term Ecosystem Dynamics in the Serengeti: Lessons for Conservation |journal=Conservation Biology |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=580–590 |doi=10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00699.x |pmid=17531037 |bibcode=2007ConBi..21..580S |s2cid=41391403 |url=http://ib.cbs.uoguelph.ca/pdfs/Sinclair_2007_ConsBiol.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122150216/http://ib.cbs.uoguelph.ca/pdfs/Sinclair_2007_ConsBiol.pdf |archive-date=22 November 2010 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Altitudes in the Serengeti range from {{convert|920|to|1850|m|ft}} with mean temperatures varying from {{convert|15|to|25|C|F}}. Although the climate is usually warm and dry, rainfall occurs in two rainy seasons: March to May, and a shorter season in October and November. Rainfall amounts vary from a low of {{convert|508|mm|in|0}} in the lee of the Ngorongoro highlands to a high of {{convert|1200|mm|in|0}} on the shores of Lake Victoria.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glcom.com/hassan/serengeti.html |title=The Serengeti National Park |publisher=Glcom.com |access-date=23 October 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Lioness-in-the-Serengeti.JPG|thumb|Lioness on a kopje, or rock outcropping]]
The area is also home to the [[Ngorongoro Conservation Area]], which contains [[Ngorongoro Crater]] and the [[Olduvai Gorge]], where some of the oldest [[Hominini |hominin]] [[fossils]] have been found.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Leslea J. Hlusko |author2=Whitney B. Reiner |author3=Jackson K. Njau |title=A one-million-year-old hominid distal ulna from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |date=June 8, 2015 |volume=158 |issue=1 |pages=36–42 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22765 |pmid=26058378}}</ref>