Afrotropical realm

The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms, taking in sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean; it was formerly known as the Ethiopian Zone or Ethiopian Region. Most of the realm experiences tropical climates, except for southern Africa, and it is separated from the Palearctic realm to the north by a broad belt of deserts including the Sahara. The region contains nine of Earth's fourteen major habitat types, ranging from tropical moist broadleaf forest near the equator to grasslands, savannas, and desert ecosystems in the south, with major ecological zones including the Sahel and Sudan grasslands, the equatorial rainforest zone, the acacia woodlands of the Somali-Masai region, the Afromontane highlands, and the Mediterranean-climate Cape floristic region. It hosts exceptional biodiversity, with numerous plant families and animal orders endemic to the realm and found nowhere else on Earth. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/