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Wild Africa
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144 million years ago Africa was part of a huge primordial supercontinent
called Gondwana which also contained South America, Australia, Antarctica
and India. Over the millennia this vast island began to fragment and split.
These rifts widened to become new oceans and by 100 million years ago the
continents we know today had drifted towards their familiar locations on the
globe.
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The diversity of habitats in Africa may have been created largely by geological upheaval but they
have been moulded by climate change. Savannahs have turned to desert, coastlines have been
inundated and jungles reverted to grasslands. The whole process is one of constant change and
Africa's animals and plants have kept pace with the changes, exploiting new habitats as well as old.
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This map, incorporating satellite images from the NASA Johnson Space Centre MRC, highlights some of the distinct physical features of
the African continent.
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