Are there tundras in africa

All rights reserved. What Are Tundras? Plants and animals in tundras Mountain goats, sheep, marmots, and birds live in mountain—or alpine—tundra and feed on the low-lying plants and insects. See all of National Geographic's videos about tundra ecosystems here. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets.

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Travel My Hometown In L. Travel The last artists crafting a Thai royal treasure. Subscriber Exclusive Content. Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars? How viruses shape our world. Grasslands are open regions that are dominated by grass and have a warm, dry climate. There are two types of grasslands: tropical grasslands sometimes called savannas and temperate grasslands.

Savannas are found closer to the equator and can have a few scattered trees. They cover almost half of the continent of Africa, as well as areas of Australia, India, and South America. They do not have any trees or shrubs, and receive less precipitation than savannas. Prairies and steppes are two types of temperate grasslands; prairies are characterized as having taller grasses, while steppes have shorter grasses. Forests are dominated by trees, and cover about one-third of the Earth.

The three major forest biomes are temperate forests, tropical forests, and boreal forests also known as the taiga. These forest types occur at different latitudes, and therefore experience different climatic conditions.

Tropical forests are warm, humid, and found close to the equator. Temperate forests are found at higher latitudes and experience all four seasons. Boreal forests are found at even higher latitudes, and have the coldest and driest climate, where precipitation occurs primarily in the form of snow. Deserts are dry areas where rainfall is less than 50 centimeters 20 inches per year.

Deserts can be either cold or hot, although most of them are found in subtropical areas. Because of their extreme conditions, there is not as much biodiversity found in deserts as in other biomes. Any vegetation and wildlife living in a desert must have special adaptations for surviving in a dry environment.

Desert wildlife consists primarily of reptiles and small mammals. Deserts can fall into four categories according to their geographic location or climatic conditions: hot and dry, semiarid, coastal, and cold. A tundra has extremely inhospitable conditions, with the lowest measured temperatures of any of the five major biomes with average yearly temperatures ranging from to 12 degrees Celsius to 54 degrees Fahrenheit.

They also have a low amount of precipitation, just 15—25 centimeters six to ten inches per year, as well as poor quality soil nutrients and short summers. There are two types of tundra: arctic and alpine. The tundra does not have much biodiversity and vegetation is simple, including shrubs, grasses, mosses, and lichens. This is partly due to a frozen layer under the soil surface, called permafrost. The arctic tundra is found north of boreal forests and the alpine tundra is found on mountains where the altitude is too high for trees to survive.

Any wildlife inhabiting the tundra must be adapted to its extreme conditions to survive. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society.

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