10 Wild Animals in Niger [Wildlife in Niger]

Learn All About Nigerien Animals

Ready to learn all about Nigerien animals?

I’ve always been fascinated by animals, and by how they can be so different from one country to another. In this guide, we’ll focus on the many animals Niger has on the land, in the sky, and underwater.

I’ve split the guide into 4 categories:

• Native animals from Niger
• Endangered animals of Niger
• What is Niger national animal?
• How many animals native to Niger?

Let’s dive in right away with our first category!

Native Animals from Niger

Niger is a landlocked African country located in the western part of the continent, with 80 percent of its territory lying in the Sahara Desert. It is the second-largest landlocked country in Africa after Chad, has a predominantly Muslim population, is one of the least developed countries in the world, and used to be a French colony. It is bordered by Libya, Nigeria, Chad, Benin, Algeria, and Burkina Faso, and its capital and largest city is Niamey, which counts more than 1,335,000 inhabitants.

An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its wildlife. In light of that, I have listed the best of it, and I hope you will love learning what animals live in Niger.

Here’s the Niger animals list.

1. Hippopotamus

• Name: Hippopotamus
• Scientific name: Hippopotamus amphibius
• Conservation status: Vulnerable

The hippopotamus, also known as the river hippopotamus, the common hippopotamus, or simply the hippo, is a large species of semi-aquatic ungulate native to much of sub-Saharan Africa; while it used to occupy the entirety of the area, as well as the banks of the Nile River, its populations are now small and scattered across the continent.

This mammal is particularly dangerous, and capsized a boat and killed 13 people in Niger in 2014.

2. African buffalo

• Name: African buffalo
• Scientific name: Syncerus caffer
• Conservation status: Near threatened

After a dangerous mammal comes another: the African buffalo is a large species of bovine native to sub-Saharan Africa and known to run at, trample, gore, and sometimes kill humans. Due to its aggressiveness and highly unpredictable behavior, it has never been tamed.

Despite its looks, it is not the ancestor of domestic cattle. Its natural predators are lions, large crocodiles, and hyenas, and it is a prized target in trophy hunting.

3. West African lion

GRID-Arendal / CC BY-NC-SA

• Name: West African lion
• Scientific name: Panthera leo
• Conservation status: Vulnerable

The king of the jungle can indeed be found in Niger, where its local subpopulation is known as the West African lion. In the country, it can be found in the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex, also known as the WAP Complex, a large area encompassing Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

The West African lion is often killed in Benin, and its body parts are smuggled into Niger, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gabon, and Guinea.

4. African bush elephant

• Name: African bush elephant
• Scientific name: Loxodonta africana
• Conservation status: Endangered

The African bush elephant, also known as the African savanna elephant, is one of two species of the African elephant and is well-known for being the largest terrestrial animal on the planet. Sadly, it is considered endangered because of habitat loss and poaching for its body parts, meat, and ivory.

A serious problem for the preservation of this species is its gestation period of 22 months, which is the longest of any mammal.

5. Northwest African cheetah

• Name: Northwest African cheetah
• Scientific name: Acinonyx jubatus hecki
• Conservation status: Critically endangered

The Northwest African cheetah is the subspecies of the cheetah found in the northwestern parts of Africa, in countries such as Niger, Algeria, Benin, and Mali. Since there are only fewer than 250 mature individuals left, and their range drastically diminished over the course of the years, the Northwest African cheetah is on the brink of extinction.

In Niger, this cheetah can be seen in the northern areas of the country, in the Ténéré desert, and in the southern savanna regions of W National Park.

6. West African giraffe

• Name: West African giraffe
• Scientific name: Giraffa camelopardalis peralta
• Conservation status: Vulnerable

The West African giraffe, also known as the Niger giraffe or the Nigerien giraffe, is a subspecies of the giraffe which inhabits the Sahel regions of West Africa. While thousands of West African giraffes lived from Senegal to Lake Chad in the 19th century, there are now only 400 of them, and they are scattered in isolated pockets around the desert.

This giraffe mainly lives around the Niger River valley, which runs through the southwestern parts of the country and its capital city, Niamey.

7. White-headed vulture

• Name: White-headed vulture
• Scientific name: Trigonoceps occipitalis
• Conservation status: Critically endangered

The white-headed vulture is a species of Old World vulture endemic to Africa. It is considered critically endangered, and its populations have been declining since the beginning of the 1940s, primarily due to habitat loss because of urban expansion, depletion of prey, and most notably poisoning.

One of the reasons for poisoning animals such as elephants (which are then eaten by vultures, which in turn die) is for the poachers to avoid detection by rangers, who usually follow the tracks of scavenger birds.

8. North African ostrich

• Name: North African ostrich
• Scientific name: Struthio camelus camelus
• Conservation status: Least concern

The North African ostrich, also known as the Barbary ostrich or the red-necked ostrich, is the largest subspecies of the common ostrich, and therefore the largest bird in the world, reaching heights of up to 2.74 m / 9 ft and weights of up to 154 kg / 340 lb!

This ostrich can be found from the western coast of Africa to the northeastern coast and the Red Sea.

9. Nile crocodile

• Name: Nile crocodile
• Scientific name: Crocodylus niloticus
• Conservation status: Least concern

The Nile crocodile is one of the largest species of crocodile in the world, and despite its name can be found throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, up the Nile River banks, and into its Delta and the Mediterranean Sea.

It is particularly powerful, aggressive, and therefore dangerous, and is an ambush, apex predator which feeds on a wide variety of prey, from large mammals to fish, birds, and reptiles.

10. African leopard

• Name: African leopard
• Scientific name: Panthera pardus pardus
• Conservation status: Vulnerable

It looks like every single iconic African animal can be found in Niger, as even the African leopard is native to the country! To be fair, the variety of the environments of the country, from the more tropical southern half to the northern desert areas, is ideal for biodiversity.

The African leopard is a species of big cat widely spread throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Its range has greatly shrunk over the years, mainly because of habitat loss and poaching for its body parts and coat.

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So there you have them, these were my 10 wild animals in Niger. I hope you enjoyed this list and that you learned something new today.

In case you want to learn more about Niger wildlife, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about:

Endangered Animals of Niger

This is definitely the saddest part of the list, but it is very important to raise awareness. Because of this, let’s go through the list of endangered animals in Niger.

Here are the animals in danger of extinction in Niger.

Extinct in the wild

• Scimitar-horned oryx

Critically endangered

• Addax
• Black rhino
• Hooded vulture
• African forest elephant
• Rüppell’s vulture
• and 3 more…

Endangered

• African spurred tortoise
• Lappet-faced vulture
• Steppe eagle
• Egyptian vulture
• Slender-horned gazelle
• and 10 more…

To see the full list of endangered species in Niger, head over to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

What is the National Animal of Niger?

The national animal of Niger is the dama gazelle.

The dama gazelle, also known as the mhorr gazelle or the addra gazelle, is a species of desert gazelle native to the Sahara Desert and found in countries such as Niger, Mali, and Chad. It is on the brink of extinction and has already disappeared from much of its former range, mainly because of habitat loss and overhunting.

This gazelle is the national symbol of Niger, is locally known as “ménas” or “meyna”, and it is represented on the badge of the national football team.

How Many Animals Native to Niger?

What is the diversity of native animals in Niger?

Let’s look at the total number of species of Chordata (mammals, birds, fishes, and reptiles).

Total number of animal species in Niger: 868 (14,205 in total in sub-Saharan Africa)

More About Animals in the World!

Loved these Niger animal facts? Want to see what animals live in other countries?

Then check out these posts:

• Wild Animals in Mali
• Wild Animals in Mauritania
• Wild Animals in Burkina Faso

Or click here to see ALL the facts up on the blog! Spoiler alert: there’s A LOT of them.

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