Adopt a cheetah, meerkat, or another African animal.
The National Zoo Store Online offers an array of books, educational games, and more related to the African Savanna.
Visit
the Smithsonian's African Art Museum.
The East African savanna, a dry tropical grassland, is home to a rich array of spectacular animals. Predators like lions and cheetahs prey on grazing and browsing animals like zebras and gazelles. Stately birds like kori bustards stalk smaller prey while rarely seen naked mole-rats inhabit burrows on the savanna. You can see these species and more without traveling to Africa. Just come to the Zoo or take a virtual visit. 
African species at the Zoo
Animals from many parts of Africa make their home at the Zoo. The Zoo's Cheetah Conservation Station is home to Grevy's zebras, scimitar-horned oryx, dama gazelles, a cheetah, and other animals.
Dama Gazelle Birth
The Zoo welcomed a dama gazelle calf on October 1. For this critically endangered animal, each birth is a victory. She is now occasionally on exhibit. See photos of the calf and learn more.
Can’t see any animals?
Naked mole-what?
Despite the fact that they burrow underground like moles, and have big front teeth like rats have, naked mole-rats are more closely related to porcupines and guinea pigs than to moles or rats. This naked mole-rat colony occupies a labyrinth of transparent tubes that mimics the underground tunnels and burrows in Africa, where mole-rats live. The web cam is focused on a busy intersection of two tunnels. Mole-rats are the only known mammals to live in large colonies presided over by a queen (like ants and termites).
Cheetah Cam 1 Lions  |
Ask a question about naked mole-rats
The Naked Truth About Mole-RatsCheetah Chat
Tune into the Zoo's podcast, Cheetah Chat, to learn about cheetah spots and speed, and the history and future of the Zoo's cheetah conservation efforts.
Animal Enigma
This striped carnivore lives in many regions of Africa and is now on exhibit at the Small Mammal House. What is it?
Grasslands in Africa and Beyond
Africa's
Sahel grassland, home to endangered scimitar-horned oryx and
many other rare species, merges into the Sahara desert to
the north and the savanna to the south. Mostly dry grasslands
also cover southern Africa, home to cheetahs, Cape buffalo,
black rhinos, and kori bustards also found in East Africa.
Zoo scientists are working in all of these areas to help conserve
the incredible biodiversity of Africa's grasslands.
Moist tropical forests blanket parts of central and West Africa, home to great apes, including western lowland gorillas, which you can see at the Zoo.
North America's grasslands were once home to abundant black-footed ferrets, bison, and prairie
dogs. On South
America's plains, seriemas and maned wolves stalk prey. Parts
of Asia, such
as Mongolia, home of Bactrian camels, Mongolian gazelles,
and Prezwalski's horses, are covered with grasslands.
