GRASSLAND BIOME

About one fifth of the Earth's land once had a cover of grass. Any more, the land would become a forest. Any less, the land would become a desert. Grasslands are often the transition from desert to forest. Near the forests where rainfall is abundant, trees grow intermixed with tall grasses. Trees are limited to river and stream basins. What is most striking about the grassland is how open and continuous the area is. It seems as though there is an endless ocean of grass. As the grasslands stretch away from the forests, the rain decreases and soil conditions change. Then come stretches of treeless tall grass. In semiarid regions near deserts grow short, or bunch grasses.

A grassland is a grassy, windy, partly-dry biome, a sea of grass. In many areas, grasslands separate forests from deserts. Deep-rooted grasses dominate the flora in a grassland; there are very few trees and shrubs in a grassland, less than one tree per acre. There are many different words for grassland environments around the world, including savannas, pampas, campos, plains, steppes, prairies and veldts.

There are two types of grasslands, including:

• Tropical grassland - hot all year with wet seasons that bring torrential rains. Located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, sometimes called savannas.
• Temperate grasslands - hot summers and cold winters. The evaporation rate is high, so little rain makes it into the rich soil. Located north of the Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn.

Animal Adaptations: The animals that live in grasslands have adapted to dry, windy conditions. There are grazing animals (that eat the grass), burrowing animals, and their predators; insects are abundant. A moderate of level species diversity exists on a grassland.

Where are Grasslands? Grasslands are located in North America's interior (called prairies), in southeastern South America (Argentina's pampas and the campos of Uruguay and Brazil), in Eurasia (the Eurasian steppe in Mongolia and parts of the former Soviet Union), in Africa (the semi-arid steppes of the Sahel of north-central Africa and the wetter grasslands, veldts, of East Africa and Madagascar), and in Australia and New Zealand (called rangelands).

Vegetation

There is mainly grass in the grassland. There are few trees except along streams and where there are cracks deep in the soil. There are some palm trees in savannahs, another type of grassland. There are tall grass praries and short grass praries. The tall grass praries get more water and that is why the grass is taller.

Besides grasses and trees there are also flowering perennials. The flowers arrive when the season's rainy weather kicks in. Some examples of the flowers that grow in the grasslands are milkweeds, goldenrods, asters, the blazing star, sweet coneflower, and purple coneflower. These plants survive cold winters and fires through underground storage organs and thick stem bases.

Shrubs are not common in the grassland. Poison ivy is found at the edge of the prairie. Big bluestem grass is the tallest grass found on tall grass prairies and it can reach a height of 11 feet! Another name for big bluestem is turkeyfeet because of the shape of the seedheads.

Climate

The climate in the grassland is warm and dry which is pretty temperate. In a grassland biome, between 25 and 75 cm of rainfall yearly. The grassland occurs in the interior of the continents and rainshadows. The grassland has a very continental climate with hot summers and cold winters. There is more precipitation in the summer time then there is in the winter. The temperature is a lot warmer in the summer than in the winter. The temperature control is heating of land and the climate control is latitude because it is near the equator. The heating of land is when land heats quickly and land cools down quickly.

Animals

There are many types of animals in the grasslands. Animals range from bison to zebras. Some adaptations that the animals of the grassland are being able to run away for hungry predators then hiding in a safe place were no one can get them. Also animals in the grassland are usually more active in the rainy season.

Aardvark Aardvarks are large mammals that eat ants.	African Elephant The African Elephant is the largest land animal.	African Wild Cat African Wild Cats are fierce, solitary hunters.	Anteater Anteaters are mammals with very long snouts from South and Central America.
Antelope Antelopes are graceful mammals with beautiful horns.	Ant Ants are social insects.	Asian Elephant The Asian Elephant is an endangered species.	Baboon The baboon is a large monkey with a long snout and large cheek pouches.
Bactrian Camel Bactrian Camels are two-humped camels from deserts and steppes of Asia.	Badger The badger is a nocturnal mammal with a black-and-white striped face.	Bison The American Buffalo (which is actually a Bison) is the heaviest land animal in North America.	Black-Footed Ferret The Black-Footed Ferret is an endangered type of ferret from North America.
Blue-tongued Skink An Australian lizard with a long, blue tongue.	Boa Constrictor A large constricting snake from South and Central America.	Bobcat A fierce, short-tailed wild cat from North America.	Bull Snake Also known as the gopher snake and the pine snake, this hissing constrictor lives in North America.
Camel Camels are large mammals that live in dry areas of the Middle East.	Cape Hunting Dog The Cape Hunting Dog hunts in packs in Africa.	CHEETAH The cheetah is the fastest land animal. Or go to a simple cheetah coloring printout (just the image).	Coati (Coatimundi) Coatimundi (also called coati) are long-nosed, long-tailed mammals from the Americas.
Coyote Coyotes are meat-eaters related to wolves.	Coypu Coypus (also called nutrias) are semi-aquatic rodents that are originally from South America.	Cricket Crickets are jumping insects.
Deer The deer is a shy, fast-moving plant-eater.	Dhole The dhole is a wild dog from Asia.	Dingo The dingo is a wild dog from Australia.
Donkey Donkeys are hoofed mammals adapted to environments with little water.	Dragonfly The dragonfly is a flying insect with a long abdomen.	Earthworm An earthworm is a little animal with a long, soft body and no legs. They are found worldwide
Emu The emu is a large Australian bird that cannot fly.	Fox The fox is a meat-eating mammal with a long, bushy tail.	Gecko Geckos are the only lizards that make noise. Some geckos live in grasslands.
Giraffe The giraffe is the tallest land animal; it is found in Africa.	Giraffe and Baby A mother and baby to color.	Gopher Snake Also known as the bull snake and the pine snake, this hissing constrictor lives in North America.
Gnu The gnu is a fast-running, herding, grass-eater from eastern Africa. It is also known as the wildebeest.	Goat Goats are sure-footed, hoofed mammals.	Golden Eagle Golden Eagles are large birds of prey.	Grasshopper Grasshoppers are insects that can hop, walk, and fly. There are about 10,000 different species of grasshoppers worldwide.
Gray Wolf Gray wolves are carnivores that live in packs and howl.	Great Horned Owl A large bird of prey from North and South America.	Hippopotamus The hippopotamus is a large African mammal that stays in the water a lot.	Hyena A meat-eating mammal that hunts and scavenges prey.

Impala A high-jumping, lightly-built antelope from southern Africa.	Jack Rabbit Jack rabbits are hares; they have very long legs and long ears.	Jaguar The jaguar is a large, spotted wild cat from South and Central America.	Kakapo A large, flightless, nocturnal, solitary parrot from New Zealand.
Kangaroo Kangaroos hop and have pouches. Their babies are called joeys.	Leopard Leopards are widely-distributed, spotted wild cats.	Lion A group of lions is called a pride.	Llama Llama are woolly mammals from South America.