Wildlife of Benin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (April 2007)
Red River Hog
Red River Hog

Wildlife of Benin includes it's flora and fauna and their natural habitats.

Contents

[edit] Fauna

[edit] Subclass: Theria

[edit] Infraclass: Eutheria

[edit] Order: Hyracoidea (hyraxes)

The hyraxes are any of four species of fairly small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. About the size of a domestic cat, they are well-furred with rounded bodies and a stumpy tail. They are native to Africa and the Middle East.

[edit] Order: Proboscidea (elephants)

African Bush Elephant
African Bush Elephant

The elephants comprise three living species and are the largest living land animals.

[edit] Order: Sirenia (manatees and dugongs)

African Manatee
African Manatee

Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit rivers, estuaries, coastal marine waters, swamps, and marine wetlands. All four species are endangered.

[edit] Order: Primates

Mona Monkey
Mona Monkey

The order Primates contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. It is divided informally into three main groupings: prosimians, monkeys of the New World, and monkeys and apes of the Old World.

[edit] Order: Rodentia (rodents)

Rodents make up the largest order of mammals, with over 40 percent of mammalian species. They have two incisors in the upper and lower jaw which grow continually and must be keep short by gnawing. Most rodents are small though the capybara can weigh up to 45 kg (100 lb).

[edit] Order: Lagomorpha (lagomorphs)

The lagomorphs comprise two families, Leporidae (hares and rabbits), and Ochotonidae (pikas). Though they can resemble rodents, and were classified as a superfamily in that order until the early twentieth century, they have since been considered a separate order. They differ from rodents in a number of physical characteristics, such as having four incisors in the upper jaw rather than two.

[edit] Order: Erinaceomorpha (hedgehogs and gymnures)

The order Erinaceomorpha contains a single family, Erinaceidae, which comprise the hedgehogs and gymnures. The hedgehogs are easily recognised by their spines while gymnures look more like large rats.

[edit] Order: Soricomorpha (shrews, moles, and soledons)

The "shrew-forms" are insectivorous mammals. The shrews and soledons closely resemble mice while the moles are stout bodied burrowers.

[edit] Order: Chiroptera (bats)

The bats' most distinguishing feature is that their forelimbs are developed as wings, making them the only mammals in the world naturally capable of flight. Bat species account for about 20% of all mammals.

[edit] Order: Pholidota (pangolins)

Giant Pangolin
Giant Pangolin

The order Philodota comprises the eight species of pangolin. Pangolins are anteaters and have the powerful claws, elongated snout and long tongue seen in the other unrelated anteater species.

[edit] Order: Cetacea (whales)

The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. They are the mammals most fully adapted to aquatic life with a spindle-shaped nearly hairless body, protected by a thick layer of blubber, and forelimbs and tail modified to provide propulsion underwater.

[edit] Order: Carnivora (carnivores)

Leopard
Leopard
Common Genet
Common Genet

The carnivores include over 260 species, the majority of which eat meat as their primary dietary item. Carnivores have a characteristic skull shape and dentition.

[edit] Order: Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates)

African Buffalo
African Buffalo
Bushbuck
Bushbuck
Yellow-backed Duiker
Yellow-backed Duiker
Waterbuck
Waterbuck

The even-toed ungulates are ungulates whose weight is borne about equally by the third and fourth toes, rather than mostly or entirely by the third as in perissodactyls. There are about 220 artiodactyl species, including many that are of great economic importance to humans.

[edit] Birds

Main article: List of birds of Benin

[edit] Flora

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Wildlife of Africa
Sovereign states

Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Comoros · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) · Djibouti · Egypt · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe
Dependencies,
autonomies,
other territories

Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla (Spain) · Madeira (Portugal) · Mayotte / Réunion (France) · Puntland · St. Helena (UK) · Socotra (Yemen) · Somaliland · Southern Sudan · Western Sahara · Zanzibar (Tanzania)
Italics indicate an unrecognised or partially recognised country.