🌾 Savanna and grassland animals
A savanna is a sea of grass with trees standing far apart. It is warm all year, with a wet season when the grass grows tall and a dry season when it turns gold. Grasslands like the prairies are its cooler cousins. Grass-eaters gather in big herds there, and the hunters that follow them need speed, because there is nowhere to hide.
The biggest and the smallest here: the giraffe and the meerkat
13 animals here
- Cheetah
- Lion
- African elephant
- Giraffe
- Red kangaroo
- Komodo dragon
- Grévy's zebra
- White rhinoceros
- Meerkat
- American bison
- Pronghorn
- Ostrich
- Aldabra giant tortoise
Cheetah
Lion
African elephant
Giraffe
Red kangaroo
Komodo dragon
Grévy's zebra
White rhinoceros
Meerkat
American bison
Pronghorn
Ostrich
Aldabra giant tortoiseRecord holders here
- Fastest: the cheetah, 60 to 70 mph96 to 112 km/h1
- Heaviest: the African elephant, 6 tons5.4 tonnes2
- Lives longest: the Aldabra giant tortoise, 100 years100 years3
Savanna and grassland animals for kids, A to Z
- 🐘 African elephant: The biggest land animal, with a trunk for smelling, drinking and hugging.
- 🐢 Aldabra giant tortoise: A giant island tortoise that can live for a very long time.
- 🦬 American bison: The biggest land animal in North America, and it can run fast.
- 🐆 Cheetah: The fastest runner on land, built light and long like a greyhound.
- 🦒 Giraffe: The tallest animal alive: it eats leaves from the tops of trees.
- 🦓 Grévy's zebra: The biggest kind of zebra, with thin stripes and big round ears.
- 🦎 Komodo dragon: The biggest lizard alive, with a forked tongue that tastes the air.
- 🦁 Lion: The only big cat that lives in a family group, called a pride.
- 🦡 Meerkat: One meerkat stands guard on its back legs while the family eats.
- 🐦 Ostrich: The biggest bird alive: it cannot fly, but it runs very fast.
- 🦌 Pronghorn: The fastest land animal in North America, and not a real antelope.
- 🦘 Red kangaroo: The biggest animal that hops, carrying its baby in a pouch.
- 🦏 White rhinoceros: A huge grass-eater with horns made of the same stuff as fingernails.
- Smithsonian's National Zoo, Cheetah, checked 30 October 2026.
- Smithsonian Institution, "Africa's Elephant Kingdom" educator guide (PDF), checked 30 October 2026.
- Smithsonian's National Zoo, checked 30 October 2026.