Chapter 1: What makes the African savanna iconic compared to other savannas?
Ah, the African Savannah, an expansive region that is arguably Earth's most iconic type of biome, being home to many of the planet's most famous creatures, as well as the birthplace of the Serengeti, a sub-region of this massive sprawl that alone is larger than the state of Connecticut, and home to a near-calous amount of animals.
while also being one of the most diverse places on Earth when it comes to megafaunal mammals. And because of how famous it is, and the African savanna in general, the word savanna often goes hand in hand with the continent of Africa.
But, in reality, a savanna can be found anywhere.
After all, all a savanna is, is an environment where woodland and grassland are mixed, and that the trees are spaced widely enough so that their canopy doesn't close up. And thus, worldwide, you'll find many others besides the African savanna.
And amazingly, there is even one savanna out there, not on the African continent, that not only beats the Serengetian animal diversity, but is also vastly larger. And the crazy part is, you've likely never even heard of it.
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Chapter 2: What is the Sahadu and where is it located?
But today, you will. And this is the Sahadu. It is within the central region of Brazil where you would find this vast tropical savanna, which spans for a shocking amount of distance, encompassing nearly 2 million square kilometers of land. Meaning that if it was its own country, it would literally be the 13th largest on the planet, edging out the likes of Mexico.
It's also an extremely fertile and bountiful land, where the climate is fairly reasonable, with the average temperature hovering between 22 and 27 degrees Celsius, or 71 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, while the precipitation averages between 80 and 200 centimeters annually, for over 90% of all the Sahadu.
So while it does have a distinct dry season, the amount of rainfall here overall is still quite high. and is partially the reason why this savanna is the most biologically diverse of all savannas, at least when it comes to plant diversity, boasting over 10,000 various flora species, with 37% of them literally only being found here, truly making it a one-of-a-kind environment.
But it's not like this savanna is just one giant mixing pot of plants, as a mosaic system has taken root here, no pun intended, with the land shifting in environment and the dominant flora type changing as you move along, resulting in each local area being pretty unique in its lonesome.
Although, that said, there are a few trees that still hyperdominate in the region, accounting for large amounts of the total flora, with the main players being the Vachyceaceae, Phabaceae, Malpaheaceae, Myrtaeaceae, Delaneaceae, and Ochnaceae.
And what's interesting with the plants here isn't just the total variety, as compared to elsewhere, these plants are also very ancient, with many of the plants tracing back, at least in prototypic form, to the Cretaceous period, when Brazil and the rest of South America was still attached to Africa, making the Sahadu in some ways a true lost world.
and its almost magical nature is only empowered by another key trait about it, which is, there's a lot of water.
You see, the Sahadu is actually informally known as the Cradle of Waters, possessing a unique hydrological cycle that consists of 8 to the 12 major water basins within South America, as well as a large amount of high-altitude waterfalls and normal rivers, resulting in the Sahadu being a haven for life.
and life there is a lot of so much so that along with being the most diverse savannah and plant diversity it is also the most diverse when it comes to not just mammals but reptiles too and sure nearly every place has mammals and reptiles yet the ones found in sahadu are like the serengetis in the sense that they are extremely exotic
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Chapter 3: Why is the Sahadu considered the most biologically diverse savanna?
When you look at the skull of one of these guys, it's seriously hard to imagine that such a thing really exists. And yet, in the Sahadu, it does, and in great numbers at that, with this savannah being home to the most giant anteaters in the entire world, with a population of over 10,000 strong, and, um, very hard to miss.
And this is because they are surprisingly large creatures that can measure up to 7 feet or 2.1 meters long, which is longer than the average NBA player is tall.
while also weighing as much as the large male Cane Corso, making them the biggest living anteater and the biggest member of Pelosa, the order to which they belong to, which contains anteaters and their closest relatives, the sloths, which, by the way, have also been recorded in the Sahadu as well, but much more rarely due to their dependence on trees.
Now both animals, being Pelosans, are also Xenarthans, a super order of mammals native to South America, that were once much more diverse and widespread, but are now quite limited in terms of variety. Yet, of the ones that we could have potentially kept, I have to admit that the giant anteater is a pretty good one, as almost nothing is normal about it.
It's obviously quite the striking animal thanks to its very bushy tail, colored fur that takes on the eerie shape of a second head, and then of course its elongated snout, which makes it the icon that it is. And looking at this thing, you might start thinking that their head is actually some sort of deformity, but really it's just an adaptation for their highly specialized lifestyle.
In over millions of years, these skulls have narrowed and elongated into a tube-like shape, and have lost all their teeth, all to benefit their unique sole eating tool, their tongues. And surprise, surprise, these guys have extremely long tongues.
They're longer than a ruler, spaghetti-shaped, as well as highly sticky, and not to mention backed by powerful muscles that allow them to shoot the tongue in and out at rates of 160 times per minute, turning their tongue into a biological minigun of sorts. And the purpose? To terrorize ants and other insects.
Giant anteaters are, as their name implies, insectivores, who primarily eat ants or termites, but are known to chow down on other bugs as well. And to support their large bodies, they will travel far and wide every day to ravage up to 200 nests and hives, which they do so with the help of the large formidable claws that can rake these structures apart, and thus exposing the inhabitants.
And after that, it's game over, and each adult can consume up to 35,000 insects a day, or over 12 million bugs a year. That's a pretty good KD ratio, if you ask me.
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Chapter 4: What unique plant species can be found in the Sahadu?
So yeah, they can handle themselves. And yet, with that said, one of the other big five can still score up with it, and does so rather regularly, despite all the risks. And this would of course be the king of the Sahadu, the jaguar. Now, I'm sure to most of you the jaguar is a bit more familiar, as it is a well-known predator from many parts of South America.
But the Sahadu, that is a stronghold for the big cat, being home to the second largest population after the Amazon. It is also the largest terrestrial predator in the Sahadu, growing up to 1.85 meters, or 6 foot 1 inches, and weighing up to 158 kilograms, or 348 pounds, making them the third-largest cat behind tigers and lions.
And most of them are adorned with the classic striking pattern that we've all come to know, but certain individuals do have a black, melanistic pattern that results from a genetic mutation, which when that occurs, we often call them panthers instead.
Mutation or not, though, all the jaguars of the Sahadu still retain their razor-sharp retractable claws that allow them to firmly grasp prey after having sprung an ambush, using their rich patterns to blend in with the vegetation.
And once they get you, things do not end well, as they will kill you with the most unique technique of all the big cats, and that is by biting straight through your skull, right into your brain, and thus killing things instantly.
And they're able to do this thanks to extremely robust and powerful jaw muscles that allow them to bite the hardest of all big cats, with some studies registering 2,000 pounds per square inch, which is double that of a lion despite being quite a bit smaller. And because of this power, they are capable of taking down virtually every animal in the Sahadu, regardless of their size.
And this includes another one of the big five that is actually even larger than the jaguar, being the heaviest terrestrial animal in these parts. And that is the elephant equivalent to the environment, the tapir. Like the giant anteater, this is one of the more unusual and exotic looking megafauna we still have around.
And it's not hard to see why, as the tapir literally looks like a mix between a pig and some sort of elephant, due to its short yet highly flexible and prehensile snout. Now, they are quite shy of humans, and certain laws keep them rather inaccessible, which is why you don't often see them alongside people, besides also their location. And thus, many don't know how truly big these guys can get.
with adults sometimes weighing as much as 320 kilograms or 710 pounds and measuring over 8 feet long, tail not included. So yeah, they're bigger than lions, just for reference. However, despite actually looking large, tapirs are in fact heavier than you'd expect given their volume.
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