Parque Nacional da Gorongosa Moçambique

As in any ecosystem, each animal species in the Park has evolved with other species yet is adapted to its own unique niche. Each has a role to play in nature's constantly unfolding drama.

• Some animals live in social groups (lions, buffalos, vervet monkeys) while others live or breed in colonies (Gorongosa gerbils, Sundeval’s leaf-nosed bats, and many water birds).
• They are environmental engineers—hippos, for example, plow through marshes, accidentally carving channels for water to flow through.
• They maintain the long-term health of other populations--leopards cull old or sick animals from the herds, controlling their numbers, keeping ungulates fit and strong.
• They help each other, unintentionally--Nile crocodiles get free dental service when Egyptian plovers pick detritus from their gaping jaws.
• They exploit other species—emerald cuckoos sneak eggs into other birds’ nests to avoid the burdens of parenthood. 
• They clean up the place: white-backed vultures feed on carcasses, dung beetles on excreta, and termites on dead plants.

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