Africa offers an enormous range of natural habitats. Partly because of its abundance of forests, deserts, rivers, lakes, mountains, and savannas, Africa is the birthplace of some of the most remarkable mammals that the Earth has ever known. The familiar “safari” animals include gazelles, rhinoceroses, elephants, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, and hippos. Because they are too small, nocturnal, aquatic, or rare, aardvarks, elephant shrews, golden moles, tenrecs, and sea cows usually go unnoticed. Not all of these mammals are unique to Africa; most have been in parts of Asia, at least during recorded history.