VulnerableLeopard
Panthera pardus
Africa
Djibouti sits at the point where three tectonic plates pull apart, and that geological condition explains its landscape: lava fields, open faults, volcanoes and depressions below sea level. Lake Assal, more than one hundred and fifty metres below sea level, is the lowest point in Africa and one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, ringed by a dazzling crust of salt. Lake Abbe, on the Ethiopian border, is dotted with limestone chimneys that vent steam. In the middle of that aridity survives the Day forest, a relict of junipers and box at altitude that shelters a bird living nowhere else. The coast, in the Gulf of Tadjoura and the Bab el-Mandeb strait, combines reefs, mangroves and one of the greatest raptor migration funnels in the world.
National animal: No official national animal
Every winter, dozens of young whale sharks gather very close to shore in the Gulf of Tadjoura to feed on plankton. What stands out is the age of the animals: most are immature individuals only a few metres long, whereas in other aggregations around the world adults predominate, which has made this gulf one of the few known nursery areas for the species.
The Djibouti francolin is critically endangered and depends entirely on the Day forest, a relict of barely a few square kilometres that is being degraded by grazing and drought. The Bab el-Mandeb strait is a key point for raptor migration between Eurasia and Africa.
The Gulf of Tadjoura between November and February for whale sharks. The Day forest year-round for the endemic francolin. The coast in autumn for the raptor migration.
279 species found
Based on what we already know about Djibouti.
