Animals Living in Egypt

What animals live in Egypt

Many people’s love for wildlife is so intense that they travel round the globe just to see some animals. Many travel across continents to discover certain species of animals, while some people’s reason for going to live in a region is simply because of the types of animals in that region. They simply enjoy exploring wildlife! When most people think about the land of Pharoahs, they only envisage large kilometers of desert filled with dusts, sandstorms and dryness and devoid of substantial wildlife. This is far from being true, because there are endless numbers of animals living in Egypt beyond the popular fat-tailed lizards and sand rats. Well, there are indeed so many desert animals in Egypt, thanks to the large hectares of deserts such as the camels, caracals, sand cats and many others but there are also other types of wildlife living in Egypt as you will soon find out. So, the next time you are traveling to live in Egypt, watch out for these adorable animals living in Egypt. Some of them will obviously leave you dreaded while so many others will appeal to your sense of love for wildlife.

The Aardvarks

Aardvarks are mammalian types of animals that look somehow like the popular bears and they eat ants majorly and they are therefore nicknamed “ant bears”. These small ant-eating animals are primarily found in the savannas of Upper Egypt and also other sub-Saharan parts of Africa. You wonder why they regard aardvarks as a bear lookalike when in fact they look so much like unfed pigs on a diet. They have protruded snouts which they use to slurp ants and termites up, and they also have some dreadful claws which they use in digging. Aardvarks are some of the popular types of animals living in Egypt . So, if you want to explore the wildlife in Egypt, aardvarks are definitely some of the animals you’ve got to see but please keep your distance. They are nocturnal – so if you want to find them, it is better to go at night. Once again, it is very important to keep them at arm’s length because you don’t want to mess with one. There terrifying claws are so strong and sharp like pick axes and their fat, cone-shaped tails can hurt anyone.

Saharan Striped Polecat

Polecats are among the most popular types of animals living in Egypt and all of North Africa. These tiny little creatures are also called the Libyan striped weasel. They are quite appealing to the eyes and beautiful to behold. However, do not be deceived by the polecat’s cuteness, because they are strictly carnivorous animals. Polecats prey on the flesh lizards, birds, rodents and other small mammalian animals. Polecats are among the terrifying animals living in Egypt because of the stinky, skunk-like fume they emit whenever they are provoked. They are nocturnal burrowers and they can be very scary at times. So, polecat is one of the cute animals you will find living in Egypt but they are far from being among the most friendly animals you will see in Egypt.

Wild Boar

Wild boars are some of the well-known animals in the world today but quite amazingly, they exist in good numbers in Egypt. In fact, they exist in colonies! So many people, including wildlife experts, dispute the fact that wild boars originated from Egypt even though there are many of them living in Egypt. These wild mammals live close to the deserts and also to the Nile delta, so if you want to see them when you go on tour to Egypt, try searching for them around the Nile delta because there are some colonies of them living around the region. The experts belief that the colonies of wild boars living in Egypt today are a hybrid of domesticated, native pigs.

Egyptian Mongoose

These little creatures are among the most common types of animals that live in Egypt. They are quite playful in nature. However, these animals are scarcely known in Egypt, because they range from the Mediterranean right down to the border of Sudan. Just like monkeys, they can be arboreal in nature, nesting in trees. Mongooses are also dilurnal land animals that live in trees near water sources. There is little documentation about their disposition and lifestyle; however it is believed that they can be domesticated. One has to be extremely cautious around them and not be deceived by their playful acts because they can be wild too.

Aardwolf

This is the closest animal to hyena that lives in Egypt. An aardwolf is an insectivorous canine that lives in the plain lands of Upper Egypt and very close to the Sudanese border. Unlike their other hyena family members, aardwolf doesn’t feast on large mammals or other animals; instead they prey on multitude of ants and termites of about 200,000 in one sitting. Aardwolf is one of the biggest threats to insects, ants and termites living in Egypt. They trap these tiny little creatures with their sticky tongues. The funny thing about aardwolf is that, it doesn’t build its own den; instead it inhabits the burrows dug by aardvarks or porcupines.

Blind Rat

Egyptian blind mole rat is one of the rodents living in Egypt. However, the spectacular thing about this type of animal is that it spends most of its lifetime living underground. Egyptian blind mole rats are burrowing animals with very poor eyesight level and so, they usually live in areas where there is a limited presence of oxygen.

Caracal

A Caracal is one of the most adorable animals living in Egypt. It is also known as desert lynx, and it is renowned for its obvious facial coloration and long ear tufts. They are becoming rare in Egypt nowadays because of the growing threat against them in the country. Despite being a cat-like animal, caracals are surely going to amaze you with their other traits. If you want to learn more about caracals living in Egypt, now may be the best time because according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), these species of rats are constantly threatened in North Africa, and so there may not be so many of them remaining.

Sal3wa

Although some people think this creature isn’t real, you can ask around Egypt and you will see how terrified little children are while describing it. It is a half-dog, half-wolf hybrid and it lives everywhere that there are human inhabitants in Egypt. It looks so much like a dog but it is bigger, lankier, and creepier. It attacks humans, especially children, unprovoked, so it’s advisable to always avoid a Sal3wa at all cost.

Camel

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