"Savannah" redirects here. For the city in the U.S. state of Georgia, seeSavannah, Georgia.
African elephants in the Serengeti savanna
The wordsavanna comes from aPanamanian word forprairie or plains. They are covered with tall grasses. They may have scattered bushes and trees, but not enough to keep grasses from growing.
One common example of a savanna is the tropicalgrassland, in Africa. They have seasonal rains and dry periods. All savanna plants and trees can survive periods ofdrought.[1] During the dry season the animals migrate north to countries on the East coast. Until the 20th century the elephant herds moving up the East coast were in the tens of thousands. They are far fewer today.
Some savannas get enough rain to support aforest, but the forest never happens becausegrazing keeps the trees from growing. Instead, there is lots ofgrasses and other plants that can regrow from the roots.[2]
Northern Australia has a large savanna zone. This area includes northernWestern Australia, the northern part ofNorthern Territory and easternQueensland.Eucalyptus trees are the main tree in the Australian savanna. There are many species of kangaroos but not much else.[1] Some savannas in Australia have regularly spaced trees. They are sometimes known as "the bush".
Savannas in Australia can also be found in the southern parts of the country, from northeasternNew South Wales in thesubtropics to northernVictoria in thetemperate zone. In the southwest, however, they change intochaparral (i.e. Mediterranean shrublands) and semi-desert bush.
InNorth America, the word savanna is also used to describe thetall grass prairies that have scattered trees, typically oaks. This is atemperate climate (colder than the tropics). It is called anoak savanna since the oak tree is the main tree. At least half of the view of the sky must be open. If there are more trees, then it is called a grove or a woodland. If there are fewer trees, it is a prairie. If there are many kinds of trees and brush and very little grass, then it is a forest.
Oak savannas are found inCalifornia andOregon on the west coast. In the southwest it is found inArizona,New Mexico, and northernMexico. In the Midwest it is found in the tall-grass prairie. Often a grove or a savanna is east of a river, which stopped the fire often enough to let trees grow. Large oak trees will survive grass fires.
The savannas in theMidwest of the United States are kept open by regular fires, not because it is too dry for many trees.[3]
Brazil'scerrado is an open woodland of short twisted trees. The are many kinds of plants and animals here, many that don't exist anywhere else on earth.Thellanos of the Orinoco basin ofVenezuela andColombia are grass savannas, some parts of it get flooded every year.
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