A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses. Savannas are found in tropical climates and are defined by the seasons, with two seasons instead of four: wet and dry. They occur where there isn’t enough rain to support a tropical rainforest, but there is enough to keep it from becoming a desert. The largest areas of savanna are found in Africa, South America, Australia, India, the Myanmar (Burma)–Thailand region in Asia, and Madagascar.

Here are some key features of savannas:

• Vegetation: Savannas are characterized by an open tree canopy (i.e., scattered trees) above a continuous tall grass understory (the vegetation layer between the forest canopy and the ground) . The grasses are the dominant plants of savannas, and they appeared only about 50 million years ago.

• Climate: Savannas are a transitional biome, not really a forest and not really a desert – just somewhere in between. They have a dry season and a rainy season, with strong, hot winds in the dry season and enough rain in the wet season to flood low-lying areas.

• Wildlife: The savanna is home to many different species of plants and animals around the world, and in Africa, it is home to the largest land mammal in the world – the African elephant. The savanna is home to large herds of grazing wildlife and the predators that follow them.

Savannas are important ecosystems that support a wide variety of plant and animal life. They are also important for human activities such as farming and cattle herding. However, they are delicate ecosystems that can easily be disturbed by changes in climate, an imbalance in the number and type of wildlife, and human influences such as farming and cattle herding.