In Africa, the little five game animals are:
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Elephant shrew
Elephant shrews, also called jumping shrews or sengis, are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family Macroscelididae, in the order Macroscelidea. Their traditional common English name "elephant shrew" comes from a perc ...
: a small, insect-eating mammal with a long nose. Elephant shrews are very common in Southern Africa but seldom seen.
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Buffalo weaver: the buffalo weaver is the easiest among the little five to find and observe.
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Leopard tortoise
The leopard tortoise (''Stigmochelys pardalis'') is a large and attractively marked tortoise found in the savannas of eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan to the southern Cape. It is the only extant member of the genus ''Stigmochelys'', althou ...
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Antlion, which is the littlest of the little five.
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Rhino beetle: A subfamily of large beetles in the
scarab beetle
The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...
family.
The term ''little five'' was brought to life after the marketing success of the
big five for tourist safaris in
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...
. This prompted a call by nature conservationists for visitors to acknowledge the smaller, less noticed, but still enigmatic animals of the savanna (called ''bushveld'' in South Africa).
The "little five" species are a contrast in terms of sheer relative size to the animals which they share a part of their
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
name with the more well known "big five".
File:Rhynchocyon petersi from side.jpg, Elephant shrew
Elephant shrews, also called jumping shrews or sengis, are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family Macroscelididae, in the order Macroscelidea. Their traditional common English name "elephant shrew" comes from a perc ...
File:Red-billed_Buffalo_Weaver.jpg, Buffalo weaver
File:Geochelone pardalis bw 01.jpg, Leopard tortoise
The leopard tortoise (''Stigmochelys pardalis'') is a large and attractively marked tortoise found in the savannas of eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan to the southern Cape. It is the only extant member of the genus ''Stigmochelys'', althou ...
File:Antlion1 by Jonathan Numer.jpg, Antlion
File:Pentodon idiota - Навозник (Дупляк) кукурузный.jpg, Rhino beetle
See also
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Impossible five
References
Sources
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Wildlife
Tourism in South Africa
5 (number)
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