Classroom lesson 路 Big Five馃嚳馃嚘 South Africa

The Big Five

Five famous African animals - and why they are protected today

A montage of the Big Five: elephant, lion, buffalo, rhinoceros and leopard

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The 'Big Five' is the nickname for five enormous African animals: the lion, the leopard, the African elephant, the white rhinoceros and the African buffalo. South Africa is one of the few places on Earth where all five live wild in the same country, especially in giant nature reserves like Kruger National Park.

Tell me more

Kruger National Park is one of the most famous wildlife reserves on the planet. It is bigger than several European countries - around 20,000 square kilometres - and is home to thousands of elephants, lions, leopards, buffalo and rhinos, plus hippos, giraffes, zebras, wild dogs and over 500 kinds of bird.

Each of the Big Five is special in its own way. The elephant is the biggest land animal alive. The white rhino is the second-biggest. The leopard is the best climber - it can drag prey twice its own weight up a tree. The buffalo lives in huge herds that look after each other carefully. And the lion is the only big cat that lives in family groups.

All five are protected by law. South Africa has rangers whose job is to look after them, count them, and make sure they are safe. Some of the rangers are women, some are dog-and-handler teams, and many work overnight on patrol in the parks.

Tourists from all over the world come to South Africa hoping to see the Big Five in the wild - on safari, in a special vehicle, with a guide. Spotting all five on one trip is called 'getting the Big Five' and is the proudest thing a safari guide can help you do.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Why might it be helpful to give five animals one shared nickname like 'the Big Five'?
  2. 02What does it mean for an animal to be 'protected'? Why would humans need to do that?
  3. 03If you were a ranger, which of the Big Five would you most want to learn about, and why?
Try this

Classroom activity

Each child picks one of the Big Five and makes a small fact card: name, weight, what it eats, one surprising habit, and a hand-drawn picture. Pin all five cards up together on the classroom wall as your own Big Five chart.

More about South Africa

Other things that make South Africa special

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