Kruger wildlife
The incredible diversity of habitats and wildlife is ultimately what makes Kruger National Park so special. Its ecosystems play host to 147 mammal species, 517 bird species (of which 253 are resident), 114 reptile species, 50 fish species and tens of thousands of invertebrate species.
The Big 5 mammals – lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo – are present in good numbers in Kruger. This term has been co-opted by the tourism industry but originated as a hunting term in the nineteenth century to describe the five mammals that were most dangerous to hunt on foot.
It’s not all about the Big 5 though and the huge array of predators and herbivores, both big and small, is one of the park’s great attractions. As a quick reference guide, the following population estimates are made for some of Kruger’s larger animal species.​
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Kruger animal population estimates:
-
Lion
-
Leopard
-
Cheetah
-
Wild dog
-
Spotted hyena
-
Crocodile
-
Elephant
-
Buffalo
-
Giraffe
-
Hippo
-
Zebra
-
Wildebeest
-
Kudu
-
Impala
1,600
1,000
<150
<300
5,500
3,000
20,000+
40,000
9,000
3,000
26,500+
12,000+
15,000
160,000+
Source: SANParks
Many more of these animals, plus the huge numbers of other species resident in the area, can be found in the neighbouring private concessions and game reserves, highlighting just how huge and important the Greater Kruger wilderness area is for the future of these animals.
Figures deliberately not quoted here are the populations of white and black rhinos. These species have come under intense pressure from poaching over the last 5-years and all reference to populations and locations within the park are deliberately avoided throughout this website and in the KrugerExplorer App to avoid even the slightest risk of alerting poachers to these animals' whereabouts. Further reading on this terrible, man-made disaster can be found in our blog post called The Rhino Murder Crisis.​
KrugerExplorer Animals
For those wanting to learn about the many animals found in Kruger, the KrugerExplorer App wildlife field guide is unprecedented in its detail and has profiles on over 700 species found in the park. The profiles include information on physical characteristics and how to identify the species, diet, habitat, behaviours, where in Kruger to find the species, 'Did you know?' facts and 'Kids Corner!' games for little ones.
Mammals
Aardvark
Acacia rat
African bush elephant
African civet
African pipistrellus
African pygmy mouse
African wild cat
African yellow bat
Anchieta's bat
Angolan free-tailed bat
Angoni vlei rat
Ansorge's free-tailed bat
Banana bat
Banded mongoose
Black rhinoceros
Black-backed jackal
Blue wildebeest
Botswana long-eared bat
Buffalo
Burchell's zebra
Bush dassie
Bushbuck
Bushpig
Bushveld gerbil
Bushveld horseshoe bat
Butterfly bat
Cape clawless otter
Cape hairy bat
Cape porcupine
Cape serotine bat
Caracal
Chacma Baboon
Cheetah
Chestnut African climbing mouse
Commerson's leaf-nosed bat
Common duiker
Common molerat
Damara woolly bat
Darling's horseshoe bat
Dwarf mongoose
Eastern rock elephant shrew
Egyptian free-tailed bat
Egyptian fruit bat
Egyptian slit-faced bat
Eland
Fat mouse
Four-toed elephant shrew
Geoffroy's horseshoe bat
Giraffe
Greater cane rat
Grey African climbing mouse
Hildebrandt's horseshoe bat
Hippopotamus
Honey badger
House mouse
House rat
Impala
Klipspringer
Kudu
Lander's horseshoe bat
Large-spotted genet
Leopard
Lesser woolly bat
Lichtenstein's hartebeest
Lion
Little free-tailed bat
Long-tailed serotine bat
Madagascar large free-tailed bat
Mauritian tomb bat
Melck's house bat
Midas free -tailed bat
Mountain reedbuck
Multimammate mouse
Namaqua rock mouse
Natal long-fingered bat
Natal multimammate mouse
Nyala
Pangolin
Peak-saddle horseshoe bat
Peters' epauletted fruit bat
Red veld rat
Roan
Rock dassie
Rufous mouse-eared bat
Rüppell's bat
Rüppell's horseshoe bat
Rusty bat
Sable
Schlieffen's bat
Scrub hare
Serval
Sharpe's grysbok
Short-snouted elephant shrew
Side-striped jackal
Single-striped grass mouse
Slender mongoose
Small-spotted genet
Somali serotine bat
South African lesser bushbaby
Southern Africa pouched mouse
Southern Africa spiny mouse
Southern giant pouched rat
Southern reedbuck
Spotted hyaena
Springhare
Steenbok
Sundevall's leaf-nosed bat
Swinny's horseshoe bat
Thick-tailed bushbaby
Tree squirrel
Tsessebe
Vervet monkey
Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat
Warthog
Water rat
Waterbuck
Welwitsch's hairy bat
White rhinoceros
White-tailed mongoose
Wild dog
Wood's slit-faced bat
Woodland dormouse
Woodland thicket rat
Birds
Common ostrich
Helmeted guineafowl
Crested guineafowl
Natal spurfowl
Swainson's spurfowl
Crested francolin
Coqui francolin
Shelley's francolin
Harlequin quail
White-faced whistling duck
Fulvous whistling duck
Spur-winged goose
Knob-billed / comb duck
Egyptian goose
African pygmy goose
African black duck
Yellow-billed duck
Red-billed teal
Southern pochard
Kori bustard
Red-crested korhaan
Black-bellied bustard
Purple-crested turaco
Grey go-away-bird
Burchell's coucal
Senegal coucal
Great spotted cuckoo
Levaillant's cuckoo
Jacobin cuckoo
Thick-billed cuckoo
Diederik cuckoo
Klaas's cuckoo
Black cuckoo
Red-chested cuckoo
African cuckoo
Common cuckoo
Double-banded sandgrouse
Mourning collared dove
Red-eyed dove
Cape turtle dove
Laughing dove
Emerald-spotted wood dove
Tambourine dove
Namaqua dove
African green pigeon
Speckled pigeon
African finfoot
African crake
Black crake
Allen's gallinule
Common moorhen
Lesser moorhen
Red-knobbed coot
Little grebe
Common buttonquail
Water thick-knee
Spotted thick-knee
Black-winged stilt
Pied avocet
Blacksmith lapwing
White-crowned lapwing
Senegal lapwing
Crowned lapwing
African wattled lapwing
Kittlitz's plover
Three-banded plover
White-fronted plover
Greater painted-snipe
African jacana
Ruff
Curlew sandpiper
Little stint
African snipe
Common sandpiper
Green sandpiper
Marsh sandpiper
Wood sandpiper
Common greenshank
Temminck's courser
Three-banded courser
Bronze-winged courser
Collared pratincole
African skimmer
Grey-headed gull
Whiskered tern
White-winged tern
Reed cormorant
White-breasted cormorant
African darter
Yellow-billed stork
African openbill
Black stork
Abdim's stork
Woolly-necked stork
White stork
Saddle-billed stork
Marabou stork
African spoonbill
Hadada ibis
African sacred ibis
Glossy ibis
Striated heron (green-backed heron)
Squacco heron
Little bittern
Dwarf bittern
White-backed night heron
Black-crowned night heron
Western Cattle Egret
Grey heron
Black-headed heron
Goliath heron
Purple heron
Great egret
Yellow-billed egret
Little egret
Black heron
Hamerkop
Secretarybird
Western osprey
Black-winged kite
African harrier-hawk
European honey buzzard
African cuckoo-hawk
Hooded vulture
White-backed vulture
Cape vulture
White-headed vulture
Lappet-faced vulture
Black-chested snake eagle
Brown snake eagle
Bateleur
Bat hawk
Crowned eagle
Martial eagle
Long-crested eagle
Lesser spotted eagle
Wahlberg's eagle
Booted eagle
Tawny eagle
Steppe eagle
Verreaux's eagle
African hawk-eagle
Lizard buzzard
Gabar goshawk
Dark chanting goshawk
African goshawk
Shikra
Little sparrowhawk
Ovambo sparrowhawk
Black sparrowhawk
Pallid harrier
Montagu's harrier
Yellow-billed kite
Black kite
African fish eagle
Common buzzard
Jackal buzzard
Lesser kestrel
Rock kestrel
Dickinson's kestrel
Amur falcon
Eurasian hobby
Lanner falcon
Peregrine falcon
Western barn owl
African scops owl
Southern white-faced owl
Spotted eagle-owl
Verreaux's eagle-owl
Pel's fishing owl
African wood owl
Pearl-spotted owlet
African barred owlet
Marsh owl
European nightjar
Rufous-cheeked nightjar
Fiery-necked nightjar
Freckled nightjar
Square-tailed nightjar
Pennant-winged nightjar
Speckled mousebird
Red-faced mousebird
Narina trogon
African hoopoe
Green wood hoopoe
Scimitarbill
Southern ground hornbill
Southern red-billed hornbill
Southern yellow-billed hornbill
Crowned hornbill
African grey hornbill
Trumpeter hornbill
Purple roller
Lilac-breasted roller
European roller
Racket-tailed roller
Broad-billed roller
Grey-headed kingfisher
Brown-hooded kingfisher
Striped kingfisher
Woodland kingfisher
African pygmy kingfisher
Malachite kingfisher
Half-collared kingfisher
Giant kingfisher
Pied kingfisher
Little bee-eater
White-fronted bee-eater
European bee-eater
Southern carmine bee-eater
Swallow-tailed bee-eater
Blue-cheeked bee-eater
White-throated bee-eater
Crested barbet
Black-collared barbet
Acacia pied barbet
Yellow-fronted tinkerbird
Yellow-rumped tinkerbird
Greater honeyguide
Lesser honeyguide
Scaly-throated honeyguide
Brown-backed honeybird
Bennett's woodpecker
Golden-tailed woodpecker
Bearded woodpecker
Cardinal woodpecker
Olive woodpecker
Brown-headed parrot
Grey-headed parrot
Meyer's parrot
Chinspot batis
Black-throated wattle-eye
Grey-headed bushshrike
Orange-breasted bushshrike
Gorgeous bushshrike
Brown-crowned tchagra
Black-crowned tchagra
Black-backed puffback
Tropical boubou
Southern boubou
Brubru
White-crested helmetshrike
Retz's helmetshrike
Black cuckooshrike
White-breasted cuckooshrike
Magpie shrike
Southern white-crowned shrike
Red-backed shrike
Lesser grey shrike
Southern fiscal
Black-headed oriole
African golden oriole
Eurasian golden oriole
Fork-tailed drongo
Square-tailed drongo
African paradise flycatcher
Pied crow
Southern black tit
Grey penduline tit
Eastern nicator
Dusky lark
Chestnut-backed sparrow-lark
Grey-backed sparrow-lark
Sabota lark
Fawn-coloured lark
Rufous-naped lark
Flappet lark
Monotonous lark
Red-capped lark
Dark-capped bulbul
Sombre greenbul
Yellow-bellied greenbul
Terrestrial brownbul
Black saw-wing
Grey-rumped swallow
Brown-throated martin
Sand martin
Banded martin
Barn swallow
White-throated swallow
Wire-tailed swallow
Pearl-breasted swallow
Rock martin
Common house martin
Greater striped swallow
Lesser striped swallow
Red-breasted swallow
Mosque swallow
African palm swift
Alpine swift
Common swift
African black swift
Little swift
Horus swift
White-rumped swift
Mottled spinetail
Bohm's spinetail
Long-billed crombec
Willow warbler
Lesser swamp warbler
African reed warbler
Marsh warbler
Olive-tree warbler
Icterine warbler
Little rush warbler
Garden warbler
Red-faced cisticola
Lazy cisticola
Rattling cisticola
Rufous-winged cisticola
Levaillant's cisticola
Croaking cisticola
Neddicky
Zitting cisticola
Desert cisticola
Tawny-flanked prinia
Yellow-breasted apalis
Bar-throated apalis
Rudd's apalis
Green-backed camaroptera
Grey-backed camaroptera
Stierling's wren-warbler
Yellow-bellied eremomela
Green-capped eremomela
Burnt-necked eremomela
Arrow-marked babbler
Cape white-eye
Northern yellow white-eye
Common myna
Wattled starling
Black-bellied starling
Cape glossy starling
Greater blue-eared starling
Meves's starling
Burchell's starling
Violet-backed starling
Red-winged starling
Yellow-billed oxpecker
Red-billed oxpecker
Groundscraper thrush
Kurrichane thrush
Bearded scrub-robin
White-browed scrub-robin
Brown scrub-robin
Grey tit-flycatcher
Southern black flycatcher
Pale flycatcher
Marico flycatcher
Fiscal flycatcher
Spotted flycatcher
Ashy flycatcher
African dusky flycatcher
White-throated robin-chat
White-browed robin-chat
Red-capped robin-chat
African stonechat
Mocking cliff chat
Arnot's chat
Familiar chat
Collared sunbird
Amethyst sunbird
Scarlet-chested sunbird
Marico sunbird
Purple-banded sunbird
White-bellied sunbird
House sparrow
Southern grey-headed sparrow
Yellow-throated bush sparrow
Red-billed buffalo weaver
White-browed sparrow-weaver
Thick-billed weaver
Spectacled weaver
Eastern golden (Yellow) weaver
Holub's golden weaver
Southern brown-throated weaver
Lesser masked weaver
Southern masked weaver
Village weaver
Red-headed weaver
Red-billed quelea
Southern red bishop
Yellow-crowned bishop
Fan-tailed widowbird
White-winged widowbird
Red-collared widowbird
Green-winged pytilia
Orange-winged pytilia
Red-headed finch
Cut-throat finch
Green twinspot
Pink-throated twinspot
Red-billed firefinch
African firefinch
Jameson's firefinch
Blue waxbill
Violet-eared waxbill
Common waxbill
Orange-breasted waxbill
African quailfinch
Bronze mannikin
Red-backed mannikin
Pin-tailed whydah
Shaft-tailed whydah
Long-tailed paradise whydah
Village indigobird
Purple indigobird
Dusky indigobird
Cuckoo-finch
African pied wagtail
Cape wagtail
Yellow-throated longclaw
African pipit
Buffy pipit
Plain-backed pipit
Striped pipit
Bushveld pipt
Yellow-fronted canary
Lemon-breasted canary
Brimstone canary
Streaky-headed seedeater
Cinnamon-breasted bunting
Golden-breasted bunting
Lark-like bunting
Vagrants:
White-backed duck
Hottentot teal
Cape teal
Denham's bustard
Black coucal
African emerald cuckoo
Madagascan cuckoo
Rock dove / Feral pigeon
Red-chested flufftail
African rail
Corn crake
Striped crake
African swamphen
Greater flamingo
Lesser flamingo
Grey plover
Common ringed plover
Caspian plover
Lesser jacana
Eurasian (Common) whimbrel
Ruddy turnstone
Sanderling
Caspian tern
Rufous-bellied heron
Slaty egret
Great white pelican
Pink-backed pelican
Palm-nut vulture
Ayres's hawk-eagle
African marsh harrier
Red-footed falcon
Sooty falcon
African grass owl
Red-throated wryneck
Cape batis
Olive bushshrike
Crimson-breasted shrike
South African cliff swallow
Sedge warbler
African (dark-capped) yellow warbler
River warbler
Fan-tailed grassbird (Broad-tailed warbler)
Common whitethroat
Chestnut-vented tit-babbler (warbler)
Southern hyliota
Rose-coloured starling
Cape robin-chat
White-starred robin
Collared palm thrush
Thrush nightingale
Capped wheatear
Olive sunbird
Cape sparrow
Scaly-feathered weaver (finch)
Yellow bishop
Swee waxbill
Western yellow wagtail
Mountain wagtail
Golden pipit
Reptiles
Crocodile
Southern tree agama
Flap-necked chameleon
Rainbow skink
Striped skink
Variable skink
Common tropical house gecko
Giant plated lizard
Rough-scaled plated lizard
Rock monitor
Nile monitor
Southern African python
African puff adder
Brown house snake
Cape wolf snake
Western yellow-bellied sand snake
Mozambique spitting cobra
Snouted cobra
Black mamba
Common boomslang
Rhombic egg-eater
Twig snake
Spotted bush snake
Leopard tortoise
Speke's hinged tortoise
Serrated hinged terrapin
Invertebrates
Armoured ground cricket
Termites
Dung beetle
African monarch
Dancing acraea
Guineafowl butterfly
Diadem & mimic
Yellow pansy
Blue pansy
Painted lady
Lang's short-tailed blue
Small orange tip
Brown-veined white
African common white
African migrant
Citrus swallowtail
Giant African millipede
Baboon spiders
Golden ord-web spider
Jumping spiders
Huntsman spiders
Giant African snail
Flora
Apple-leaf
Baobab
Blue water lily
Fever tree
Impala lily / Sabi star
Jackalberry
Knob-thorn
Leadwood
Marula
Mopane
Naboom
Red bushwillow
Sausage tree
Shepher's tree
Sycamore fig
Water hyacinth
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