50 free Savanna trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The savanna biome, a mixed grassland dotted with trees, covers around a fifth of the Earth's land, from the plains of East Africa to central Brazil, northern Australia and the Llanos of Venezuela. This quiz takes in all of it: how the biome is defined, where the word came from, the wet-and-dry climate that shapes it, the role of fire, and the plants and animals that make it famous, including elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, hyenas, wildebeest, termites and baobabs. Easy questions ask which continent the Serengeti is on and which is the fastest land animal; harder ones cover the Cerrado's share of Brazil, why the Sahel is named for a shore, and the mysterious tree that flowers for only 15 hours. It suits students of geography and biology, safari-goers, and quiz nights that want a nature round with real teeth. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on the savanna biome, its regions and its species, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01A savanna is best described as which kind of biome?
A grassland with widely spaced trees whose canopy does not close
The open canopy lets enough light reach the ground to keep an unbroken layer of grass growing beneath the trees.
Q 02Roughly what share of the Earth's land area is covered by savanna?
About 20 percent
Unlike North American prairies and Eurasian steppes, savannas mostly sit in warm to hot climates in Africa, Australia, South America and India.
Q 03'Savanna' reached English via Spanish from which Caribbean language?
Taíno
It first appeared in English in 1555 as "Zauana", describing a plain in present-day Panama.
Q 04Which English explorer's 1697–1705 travel volumes fixed the British spelling 'savannah', with a final H?
William Dampier
He applied it to sandy woodlands on an island in the Bay of Campeche and later to landscapes in Sumatra and the Philippines.
Q 05All savanna environments share year-to-year variation in rainfall and what other factor?
Dry-season wildfires
Controlled burns kill tree seedlings but spare mature trees, which is exactly what stops a closed canopy from forming.
Q 06Annual rainfall in savannas typically ranges from about 500 mm up to roughly how much?
1,270 mm
The rain falls mostly in six or eight months of the year, followed by a period of drought.
Q 07In the Köppen system, the tropical savanna climate with a dry winter is given which code?
Aw
The driest month gets less than 60 mm of rain; a dry-summer variant is coded As.
Q 08It is estimated that less than what percentage of savanna ecosystems can be classed as highly intact?
3 percent
Grazing livestock, tree clearing and changed fire regimes are the main reasons for the degradation.
Q 09Indigenous fire-stick farming is credited with the savanna of tropical Australia and which neighbouring island?
New Guinea
Aboriginal burning created a mosaic of habitats and probably increased biodiversity across northern Australia.
Q 10Which family of mammals predominates in the Australian savanna?
Macropodidae (kangaroos and wallabies)
Cattle, horses, camels, donkeys and Asian water buffalo have all been introduced there by humans.
Q 11Which tree, with Acacia and Pandanus, dominates Australia's savanna vegetation?
Eucalyptus
The grass layer includes kangaroo grass, of the genus Themeda, which also turns up in dry East African savannas.
Q 12The Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna, is the second-largest habitat type of which country?
Brazil
It covers about 21 percent of the country's land and is a shifting mosaic of open savanna and gallery forest along streams.
Q 13The Llanos, a vast tropical grassland east of the Andes, straddles Venezuela and which other country?
Colombia
Its main river is the Orinoco, which forms part of the border between the two countries.
Q 21What is the largest and heaviest living land animal?
African bush elephant
Big bulls average 3 to 3.4 metres at the shoulder and 5 to 7 tonnes; the largest recorded stood nearly 4 metres.
Q 22Since which year has the savanna elephant been listed as Endangered by the IUCN?
2021
It is threatened foremost by habitat destruction and, in parts of its range, by poaching for meat and ivory.
Q 23A savanna elephant's trunk ends in how many finger-like tips?
Two
Its large ears help shed body heat, and both sexes grow curved tusks that keep growing throughout life.
Q 14The Serengeti spans southwestern Kenya and which country, home to most of its protected area?
Tanzania
The protected zone covers about 30,000 square kilometres, including Serengeti National Park and several game reserves.
Q 15The name "Serengeti" is usually said to come from a Maa word meaning what?
Endless plains
Maasai pastoralists began migrating into the area in the early 1800s, before drought and disease struck them.
Q 16The great wildebeest migration begins each year in which conservation area of the southern Serengeti?
Ngorongoro
The herds loop clockwise, reaching Kenya in late July or August and returning south with the short rains in November for calving in February.
Q 17The Maasai Mara reserve in Kenya was originally established as a wildlife sanctuary in which year?
1961
It then covered only 520 square kilometres, including the Mara Triangle, and is contiguous with Serengeti National Park.
Q 18The Great Migration crossing of the Mara River into the Maasai Mara usually happens in which month?
July
The Mara is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa and named for the Maasai people, who migrated there from the Nile Basin.
Q 19The Sahel, the savanna belt south of the Sahara, takes its name from an Arabic word for what?
Coast or shore
The name is a figurative reference to the southern edge of the vast Sahara, and the belt runs 5,900 km from the Atlantic to the Red Sea.
Q 20Kruger National Park in South Africa became the country's first national park in which year?
1926
Parts of it had been protected since 1898 under President Paul Kruger, and it drew close to 2 million visitors in 2024.
Q 24Giraffes are the tallest land animals and also the largest of which group of mammals?
Ruminants
Their only living relative in the family Giraffidae is the okapi of the Congo forests.
Q 25What are the horn-like structures on a giraffe's head called?
Ossicones
Both sexes have them, and they can reach 13.5 cm; males also fight by "necking", swinging their necks like weapons.
Q 26How does a giraffe end up so much taller than its relatives?
Its cervical vertebrae are greatly lengthened
The recurrent laryngeal nerve, which loops down the neck and back up, is over 30 cm longer on the left side than the right.
Q 27Studies in captivity found that giraffes sleep about how many hours a day?
4.6
They mostly sleep lying down, though standing naps have been recorded, especially in older animals.
Q 28Which savanna animal is the fastest on land, reaching 93 to 104 km/h?
Cheetah
It is built for speed with powerful hindlimbs, long legs and a flexible spine, and it can only partly retract its claws.
Q 29The cheetah's genus name Acinonyx roughly means "immobile nails", a reference to what?
Its limited ability to retract its claws
Four subspecies survive, in fragmented populations across Africa and in central Iran.
Q 30Besides sub-Saharan Africa, wild lions survive today in only one other country. Which?
India
In the Neolithic they ranged from Southeast Europe to India, but now only one western Indian population remains outside Africa.