There you have it – 10 awesome African animals that you will see when you ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris. I love learning about animals and hope you will share these fun facts with your family and friends.

10 Safari Stars:

1) Okapi

2) Hippo

3) Warthog part 1 and part 2

4) Giraffe

5) Greater Flamingo

6) Rhino

7) White-bearded Wildebeest

Elephant

9) Thomson’s Gazelle

10) Nile Crocodile

Which animal is your favorite?

 Goofy Trivia: Here are three fun facts about Kilimanjaro Safaris from The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Buy the book to learn even more about Kilimanjaro Safaris and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. You will also be supporting A Goofy Idea.

1) Kilimanjaro Safaris covers about 110 acres. That is almost the same size as all of the Magic Kingdom.

2) The plants were put in 18 to 20 months before the animals were allowed onto the landscape.

3) The ruts on the road are carefully placed to keep the “show” water used along the track separate from the animals’ life-support water.

Do you know the difference between an alligator and a crocodile? I never can remember and often get them confused. Since I have learned that there are 23 types of crocodilians (that’s what crocodiles and alligators are called) it no longer bothers me that I can’t tell them apart. The crocodilians seen on Kilimanjaro Safaris are Nile crocodiles. I don’t know how to identify them, but I know they are BIG. It doesn’t matter to me if they are alligators or crocodiles. They are still amazing animals.

5 fun facts about Nile crocodiles:

1) The Nile crocodile is the largest crocodile in Africa. It is 16 to 20 feet in length and can weigh anywhere from 500 to 1500 pounds.

2) Fish make up a large part of their diet, but they will also eat anything that comes to the water’s edge, including zebras, baby hippos, and humans.

3) A group of Nile crocodiles is called a bask when they are on land and a float when they are in the water.

4) They can eat half of their body weight when feeding. That would be like a human eating 60 to 75 pounds of food in one sitting.

5) Nile crocodiles are good parents. They stay by their eggs to protect them and even help the baby crocodiles get out of their egg shells when they hatch.

Can you tell the difference between an aligator and a crocodile?

Goofy Tip: Would you like to see Nile crocodiles and other animals of the Kilimanjaro Safaris up close and without the ride vehicles? There is a great tour that Guests can take called Wild Africa Trek. It is a three hour event that includes a guided tour of the Pangani Forest, lunch out on the savanna, and a professional photo.  From rare views of the hippos to a rope bridge over the Nile crocodiles this is a tour your family will never forget.

Not the big guys, the little one's in front.

As my photo shows these animals can be hard to spot. They are well adapted to the savanna, which is good because they are fast food to most of the predators living on the plains. Good thing there are lots of them in the wild.

Kilimanjaro Safaris is the only place you can see these fleet-footed animals in the park. Look carefully and if you are lucky you will see them. They have a beautiful coat and long gracious horns. I wouldn’t want to get up close to those horns, but they are majestic. Happiness squared.

5 fun facts about Thomson’s gazelles:

1) The Thomson’s gazelle is named after explorer Joseph Thomson. Thomson’s gazelles are sometimes known as “Tommies”. They are the most abundant gazelle in East Africa.

2) Thomson’s gazelles live where there is short grass. They can run up to 40 miles per hour across the savanna.

3) Mother gazelles give birth twice a year and hide their young in thick grass. The newborn gazelles may stay there for days or weeks before they join the herd.

4) Those horns are not just for looks. Male Thomson’s gazelles aggressively defend their territories, clashing their horns against a rival’s until one becomes the winner.

5) Thomson’s gazelle herds can have ten to thousands of gazelles in them. The herds grow larger as the rainy season arrives providing more food and water for the whole herd.

Do you think you can outrun a Thomson’s gazelle?

Goofy Tip: When you are on Kilimanjaro Safaris don’t worry about learning the names of all the animals. Instead of looking at the sheet posted over your head look out at the landscape. An animal might move out of sight at any moment so keep your eyes peeled and your camera clicking. Once you are home you can use A Goofy Idea, AllEars.net, or other sites to label the animals in your pictures.

Do you know how to tell an African elephant from an Indian elephant? No, you don’t have to check and see which continent you are on.  Just check the ears. Indian elephants have small ears and African elephants have huge ears. The elephants at Disney’s Animal Kingdom are African elephants. If you’re not sure just check what ride you’re on. You won’t see any Indian elephants on Kilimanjaro Safaris. Elephants are amazing animals. I mentioned in a previous post that rhinos were considered mega-fauna. Well, elephants must be super mega-fauna since they are the largest land animals around. I always enjoy seeing them during the attraction for they are amazing creatures. Happiness squared.

5 fun facts about African elephants:

1) An adult African elephant’s trunk can get up to seven feet long. Its trunk can be used as a nose, straw, snorkel, fingers, fork, trumpet, rescue rope, arms for hugging, and lasso.

2) One elephant can eat up to 300 pounds of food a day.

3) Elephants are pregnant for 22 months. That is the longest of any animal.

4) Elephants can live to be 70 years old.

5) An adult African elephant can weigh up to 6 tons. That is the same as 3 Volkswagen Beetles.

Which elephant is your favorite? African or Indian?

Goofy Jokes:  (Okay, unless you are Dumbo these are not funny, but I love elephant jokes so I had to give you more than one.)

Q: How does an elephant get into a tree?

A: He climbs into it.

Q: How does an elephant get out of a tree?

A: He floats down with the leaves between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Q: Why should you never walk through the forest between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.?

A: That’s when the elephants get out of the trees.

Q: Why are alligators flat?

A: Because they walked through the forest between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Q: How do you get down from an elephant?

A: You don’t, silly.  You get down from a goose.

Q: What’s the different between an elephant and a dozen eggs?

A: If you don’t know I’m not sending you to the store for a dozen eggs.

White-bearded wildebeests are a sub-species of wildebeests. Most wildebeests have black beards. I find it interesting that Disney picked the less common of the two to display. Perhaps they did this so we would realize that something may be abundant, but that doesn’t mean we should stop noticing what makes them unique. This is a fun animal to look for on the ride because you will probably find one. They are plentiful in the park and in the wild.

5 fun facts about white-bearded wildebeests:

1) Every year the wildebeests migrate to find fresh grass and water. More than a million animals travel on this yearly migration.

2) The animals migrate in long columns that can stretch thousands of miles.

3) Wildebeests have a more dense herd population than any other animal except humans.

4) Newborn wildebeests can stand and run 3 to 7 minutes after being born.

5)Wildebeests are also called gnus because of the sound they make.

Did you know that wildebeests and gnus are the same animal?

Goofy Tip: If you are looking for more information on animals Seaworld’s website is a fun place to explore. This website has information about lots of animals, not just marine ones. They also have a good bibliography so you can do more research on your favorite animals. I wonder if the wildebeest is anyone’s favorite animal.

The rhinos on Kilimanjaro Safaris are some of the more illusive animals. I don’t always see them and when I do they are often far away and hard to recognize since they blend in with the landscape. They are considered mega-fauna, like elephants, because they weigh over a ton and are descendants of the large mammals that lived tens of thousands of years ago. In the wild they are endangered because people kill them for their horns. (They really should stop doing that.) Hopefully breeding programs at zoos and wild animal parks can turn the tide, along with world-wide education. Happiness squared.

5 fun facts about rhinos:

1) There are 5 types of rhinos in the world. The black rhino and white rhino live in Africa. These are the two rhinos that live at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The greater one-horned rhino, the Javan rhino, and the Sumatran rhino live in Asia.

2) White rhinos and black rhinos are the same color – gray!

3) Rhinoceroses are named for their horn. Rhino means nose and ceros means horn. The greater one-horned and Javan rhino have only one horn. The Sumatran, black, and white rhino have two horns.

4) Rhinos are very nearsighted and tend to charge at everything because they can’t see well. This gives them the reputation of being aggressive.

5) Rhinos are herbivores. They have no front teeth and instead mash their food with large back molars.

Can you tell the difference between a black rhino and a white rhino?

Goofy Tip: The attractions at Disney’s Animal Kingdom are a lot of fun, but most of them are educational, too. Don’t let the learning stop when the ride ends. When you get your pictures developed do some research on the animals and learn how cool they are. My posts on Safari Stars are a start, but the Internet can teach you a lot more. Plus some zoos have web-cams on their animals so you can watch your favorite animal from your living room. By educating your family about the amazing animals of this world you can help protect them. I’m sure the rhinos will appreciate it.

All flamingos look alike to me, and unless a greater and a lesser flamingo are side by side it can be hard to tell them apart. The greater flamingos, found on Kilimanjaro Safaris, are larger and have a more widespread habitat. The lesser flamingos, found on Discovery Island, are smaller but more numerous in the wild. I think flamingos are fun to look at. It is common knowledge that they get their pink color from the shrimp they eat, and my favorite ones are the gluttons who are deep pink.

5 fun facts about greater flamingos:

1) They use their long legs to stir up the silt at the bottom of the mud flats where they like to feed.

2) They feed by sticking their bills, and sometimes their whole heads, in the silty water. They have filters inside their beaks that allow them to remove plankton, small fish, and larvae before they expel the water.

3) Young flamingos are born grey and white and don’t turn pink for two years.

4) Greater flamingos are found on many continents from Europe to Central America.

5) A group of flamingos is called a colony. Remember that when you see a grouping on someone’s lawn.

Goofy Tip: In your eagerness to get to Expedition Everest or Kilimanjaro Safaris it is easy to walk past two areas filled with hidden animals, Discovery Island Trails and The Oasis. Make time to walk through these winding paths. There are lots of fun animals to see, like lesser flamingos. It is also a cool place to be in the heat of the day.

This is a Masai Giraffe

Of all the animals I’ve seen on Kilimanjaro Safaris the giraffe is the one animal that has always been out in the open. A couple of times they have been right next to the track. I thought all the giraffes were the same, but on the last trip our driver told us that there were actually two types of giraffes in the area. Wow!

The Reticulated Giraffes, also known as Somali Giraffes, have smooth dark patches with thin white lines. They are what most people think of when they picture giraffes. Masai Giraffes are a lighter brown and their patches are more jagged. When they are standing side by side the two types of giraffe are very obvious. The next time you ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris point out the differences to your group. Happiness squared.

5 fun facts about giraffes:

1) A giraffe’s tongue is 21 inches long allowing it to pull tasty leaves off the tallest trees.

2) While a giraffe eats hundreds of pounds of leaves in a week it only has to drink water once every few days.

3) Female giraffes give birth standing up. The newborn giraffes fall about five feet to the ground when they are born.

4) Giraffes can run 35 miles per hour for a short distance, but can run 10 miles an hour for quite long distances thanks to their six-foot long legs.

5) Like fingerprints on humans the pattern on each giraffe is unique.

Have you ever noticed two different types of giraffes on Kilimanjaro Safaris?

Goofy Tip: For interesting photos don’t just take wide angle shots of the animals. Zoom in on animals that are close to the vehicles and see what details you can uncover. Perhaps you can see the different spots on the two types of giraffes.

In my last post I picked the warthog to be that day’s Safari Star. By coincidence the Disney Parks Blog featured the warthog on their Wildlife Wednesday post. It turns out that five baby warthogs were born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in February. Click here to see a very cute picture of a newborn warthog. They also include some fun facts to add to your warthog knowledge. Hakuna Matata.

Have you ever seen a baby warthog before? Do you think they are cute or ugly?

Goofy Quote: “Home is where your rump rests.” – Pumbaa

Everyone knows about warthogs because of the Lion King. Pumbaa (which means foolish in Swahili) is Timon, the meerkat’s, best friend. Even though he is a little smelly he has no worries. Hakuna Matata. In real life warthogs are not quite so cute and cuddly, and in fact, they do have warts on their face. I think I’ll stick with Pumbaa.

If you want to see the funniest movie ever, starring Timon and Pumbaa, watch Lion King 1 1/2. Real life warthogs may not be funny, but Pumbaa steals the show.

5 fun facts about warthogs:

1) Warthogs are related to domestic pigs.

2) They look ferocious, but they are actually grazers, eating grasses and using their snout to dig up roots and bulbs.

3) When threatened they can run up to 30 miles an hour. Their first defense is running away.

4) They love to wallow in water and mud to get away from insects, but their tough hide allows them to go months without water.

5) A group of warthogs is called a sounder.

Were you surprised to find out that warthogs would rather run than fight?

Goofy tip: If you are curious about any of the animals seen on Kilimanjaro Safaris National Geographic has a great website about lots of African animals. Check it out by clicking here.