THE SERENGETI: The Serengeti in the Past

Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320712000237
What the Serengeti would have looked like before human development.

There are areas of the Serengeti that still resemble what it would have looked like before human impact, and the information can used to be study the effects of human impact (8).

Hyparrhenia which was historically abundant in the Serengeti
Source: http://www.plantzafrica.com/planthij/hyparrhirta.htm

In one study, researchers took censuses of native areas of savannah in the northern Serengeti and compared them to censuses of areas impacted by agriculture. From looking at these comparisons, they were able to see that historically, the vegetation in the Serengeti was dominated by Acacia and Terminalia trees surrounded by tall perennial grass of the species Hyparrhenia and Themeda. The comparison also revealed that bird population density and variety were much greater before the effect of humans (8).

Historic migration route that still takes place today.

Source: http://psugeo.org/Africa/African%20UNEP%20Atlas

Animal migration is a key characteristic of the Serengeti that was part of the past and is still part of today due to relatively good conservation. The migration is led by the wildebeests, which are then followed by Thomson’s gazelles and eland . These animals migrated due to needing to find where there was an abundance of food and water. Two animals that used to be prevalent in the Serengeti but are now extremely rare are the black rhinoceros and the African wild dog. Historically, the density of animals migrating was higher than it is today (7). Also, studies have shown that there was much more diversity and density in resident animal species as well. More than just animals, flora was more abundant in the past (8).