Egypt is a typically desert country, and so are its fauna and flora. In the delta and valley of the Nile, that is, places more fertile and more abundant in water, you can meet completely different animals and plants, than in the rest of the country.
We can find rich in seaside towns, underwater coral reef communities and herds of large marine mammals, such as e.g.. manaty.
Though Egyptian nature is not as rich and diverse as in many other places on Earth, but this is when we take a closer look at it, will amaze us with his amazing adaptations to this difficult one, desert climate. And when we decide to visit one of the numerous local national parks, we will have a chance to meet unusual plants and animals, as we have never seen before in our lives.
Egypt's vegetation is very poor, and in some areas it is completely absent. Deserts and semi-deserts are dominated by grasses and acacia trees, in oases, natural vegetation has been replaced by agricultural crops.
Man-planted date palms can be found in the valley and the delta of the Nile, eucalyptus and platany, the water hyacinth imported from abroad is very common in the waters of the Nile, which is not a natural component of the flora of Egypt and is now massively overgrowing the banks and canals. In addition to it, we can find a very rare papyrus reed and a lotus, which are still considered symbols of Egypt today.
LotusPerennial, aquatic herbaceous plant, whose peanuts (in times of crop failure, they were used to make flour) and rhizomes are edible.
In ancient times, the lotus was a symbol of the creation of the world, it was dedicated to the gods Osiris and Isis. Its flower was a popular decorative motif in Egyptian art, especially characteristic of columns called lotus. It was also used in wall painting and on papyrus.
It is popular nowadays, appreciated by aquarists, ornamental plant.
Date palmTree reaching even 35 meters high, used by humans for over 5000 years. It does not occur in the wild, it is planted artificially by man.
It is a dioecious plant, that is, only male or female flowers appear on one individual, and windproof. The female inflorescence is shaped like a flask of approx 10000 flowers, each of which has po 3 bars (but only one of these pistils fertilizes). Male inflorescences are similar in shape, but they contain much more flowers.
Because it is usually planted on the plantation 3-5 males na 100 female, dust problems often arise and growers must use artificial pollination.
Date palm is grown mainly for its tasty fruit, dates, which remain on the tree until it is dry. Moreover, the juice flowing from the cut inflorescences is made into wine and palm vodka, and extracts strong fibers from the leaves.
The fauna of Egypt is not so rich, as in many other African countries, especially the tropical ones, but nevertheless also deserves attention. The most associated species with this country is undoubtedly the camel, but no one is alien to such animals as the crocodile, skorpion, or various snakes, of which rattlesnakes are the most famous.
It can be found mainly on the bank of the Nile in Egypt, where in ancient times he was worshiped and his images were often placed on the walls of temples and tombs.
Generally, it does not occur in the desert areas of the Sahara, but in 2002 a few of its isolated populations were discovered in Mauritania in the Sahara desert. The place where this crocodile occurs is absolutely drought for most of the year, but over a period of several months, when its raining, rainwater creates large ponds covered with vegetation, creating a favorable living environment for these animals. When the water dries up, the crocodiles fall into lethargy, buried in ditches several meters deep.
It lives in virtually all countries of North Africa, and its range even extends to India, but these data are for domesticated individuals, living with man, because you don't find wild dromedaries anymore.
People use this camel as a mount, pack animal, meat source, milk, wool and leather. It was domesticated hundreds of years ago and still serves man as it did centuries ago, but its use as a means of transport with the advancement of technology significantly diminishes and shifts towards being merely a tourist attraction.
Camels are animals that are perfectly adapted to desert conditions. They show great resistance to water shortage, they can survive very long periods without access to water and survive the loss even 40% body weight, which for most other creatures would be fatal. This is possible thanks to the hump, huge reservoir of fat (not water, as is commonly believed), which gives the animal a high resistance to dehydration.
Dromedaries eat pretty much anything, even such plants, which no other desert inhabitants would touch. They may also not drink for a long time, but once they have access to water, they can drink even water 1/3 their body weight. In addition, they protect themselves from the heat with a little sweating, i.e.. they only start to sweat at very high temperatures, so they do not lose water from the body. They protect themselves from desert sand thanks to having a third eyelid on their eyes and long eyelids, curly eyelashes arranged in two rows. In addition, they efficiently move along sand dunes thanks to soft and wide hooves, preventing collapsing into hot sands.
It is a wild goat from the spine-legged family, living in the desert zone – rocky north africa.
She is very jumpy, it can even jump 2 meters up, although she herself usually achieves no more than 1 meter high. It weighs approx. 100kg, but the females are slightly smaller. Is, just like the camel and other desert animals, resistant to the lack of water and can survive for a long time in unfavorable conditions.
Several arui subspecies are dying out, although she herself is not difficult to meet.
It lives in the coastal waters of the tropical zones of the Indian and Pacific oceans, you can meet him off the coast of New Guinea and Egypt. It has a small body weight, it only weighs 170 kg, which is relatively little compared to other marine mammals. It reaches length 3 m, the body is massive with a blunt muzzle.
It feeds on seagrass, which he rubs with the use of horn disks on the front of the mandible and maxilla.
The female dugong reaches sexual maturity in between 8 a 18 one year of life and after a pregnancy lasting about one year, it usually gives birth to one young. Immediately after birth, the young dugong is transported by its mother to the surface of the water, so that he can take his first breath.