Africa!

Buckle up and get ready to explore the animals of the African Savanna. As you enter this area of the Zoo, to your left you may hear the whistle of our Africa! safari railway train pulling out of the station to take guests around for a different view of this exhibit. To your right, you will hear the sound of the carousel with various African animals you can ride such as cheetah, gorilla, giraffe, ostrich, baboon, hippo and more. As you get closer to the viewing area of the Africa! exhibit, you may hear guests on the Aerial Adventure Course that takes visitors on a zipline over the top of the exhibit.

Now at the viewing area of our Africa! exhibit, you are standing before a large open area with tall, swaying grasses. Toward the back of the exhibit are a few trees with leaves offering shade for the animals, and a small watering hole is in the front. This exhibit is meant to look and feel like the real African Savanna. Multiple species of animals live together in this enclosure. While exploring this area, you may encounter the following animals: giraffes, zebras, ostriches, Nyala antelope and Watusi cattle.

Whoa! Check out those amazingly tall animals over on the right! Can you guess who they may be? Yup, you got it—they’re giraffes! Did you know they have super long necks so that they can munch on tree leaves that the other animals can’t reach? The dark blue/purple color of their tongue helps to protect it from getting sunburned as they grab onto the yummy acacia leaves they like to eat. Acacia leaves are green with a feathery, fern-like texture and have a sweet, honey-like fragrance. Have you ever wondered about the cool patterns on giraffe’s skin? No two giraffes have the same ones, just like your fingerprints! We have two different kinds of giraffe in our Africa! exhibit. The giraffes with dark, leaf-like patterns on them are called Masai giraffes. And those with a lighter orange/brown net-like pattern are called reticulated giraffes.

You may also notice some interesting-looking cows with brown and white fur and HUGE horns. These are called Watusi cattle. Their horns can be up to 8 ft. wide. If they tipped their heads sideways, they would barely fit through the door of your home! These huge horns act like their own built-in air conditioner to keep them cool. Their blood goes into their horns, cools off, and then goes back into their body. This is really important in the extreme heat of the African Savanna.

Now we will shift our focus to the black-and-white striped animals grazing on the Savanna. I bet you know who they are! That’s right! Zebras! Each zebra has its own stripy style—no two are exactly the same! This helps baby zebras and their mothers easily find each other in a large herd. These stylish stripes aren’t just for show, though! They help to keep the zebras safe. When they stand together in a group, their stripes all blur together, and confuse animals like lions and leopards. This makes the herd look like one giant zebra, making it hard for them to pick out just one, keeping the zebra safe. Zebras are not only known for their style, but they are also very fast. They can run over 40 mph. That’s about the same speed as we drive our cars!

As you continue to explore the Savanna, you may notice a deer-like creature roaming through the grass. These are our nyala antelope. They are herbivores and enjoy spending most of their time grazing on leaves, shrubs and grasses. Male and female nyala look very different from one another. The males have long, curly horns and shaggy, dark grey fur with fine white stripes down their sides. Females and young nyala do not have horns and their fur is shorter and red/brown in color, with 10 distinctive white stripes down their sides. Nyala have large ears that provide them with a great sense of hearing. They use this to detect danger from far away so that they can quickly get to safety.

The Africa Savanna is also home to the largest bird, the ostrich. Ostriches are 6–9 feet tall, which is almost as tall as a basketball hoop, and weigh up to 300 pounds, which is about the same as a refrigerator! They have long, muscular legs and large feet with only two toes. Due to their large size, they are unable to fly. They make up for this though with their incredible speed! Ostriches can run up to 40 mph! Male and female ostriches have different colored feathers. Males have striking black feathers with white wings and tails, while females have soft, shaggy brown feathers. Ostriches have long necks and the largest eyes of any land mammal. Their eyes are about the same size as a golf ball! This gives them excellent vision to help them look out for danger. Not only are they the largest birds, but they also lay the largest eggs of any living bird. One ostrich egg is equal to 24 chicken eggs. Imagine that omelet!

As you leave our Africa! exhibit at the Toledo Zoo, we hope that you’ll keep your imagination running wild as you continue to discover as much as you can about the amazing animals that call the Zoo home. Are you ready for the next adventure?