A grassland is a habitat where most or all of the vegetation is either grass or non-woody, herbaceous plant life. The types of vegetation can be quite diverse, and grasslands are found on every continent except Antarctica. Grasslands generally have a complicated ecosystem with a wide range of fauna. Most grassland habitats offer an abundance of digestible plant species that serve as a staple diet of large mammals such as the American bison, wildebeest, and Przewalski's horse. Typically herd animals with an easily recognizable internal hierarchy, these and similar species are among the most visible of grassland inhabitants.
Many grasslands also contain apex predators. Africa, which is covered with grasslands over half of its area serves an extreme example with its lions, cheetahs, and hyenas.
Grasslands can be subject to variable weather patterns, which, along with a lack of impassible tree roots, encourages a thriving subterranean animal community. Insects like the prairie mole cricket and the earthworm tunnel through the dirt for both sustenance and living quarters. Other insects, such as the monarch butterfly, live above ground, where they provide food for small birds, which then in turn provide food for hawks and other birds of prey.
Reptiles also usually have a strong presence in grasslands. Tortoises and snakes in particular seem well adapted to the open, dusty terrain of most grasslands.
Even-toed ungulates
Thomson's gazelle
Guanaco
Common rhebok
Nubian ibex
Mountain nyala
Walia ibex
Chunyi
Nyala
Common hartebeest
Klipspringer
Greater kudu
Giraffe
Barasingha
Common hippopotamus
Aoudad
Gerenuk
African buffalo
Roan antelope
Goa
Nilgiri tahr
Sable antelope
Dzeren
Himalayan tahr
Springbok
Bharal
Blackbuck
Southern reedbuck
Mountain reedbuck
Oribi
Tsessebe
Argali
Bohar reedbuck
Bighorn sheep
Blesbok
Snow sheep
Saiga antelope
Black wildebeest
Grey ox
Pampas deer
Lechwe
Blue & white-bearded wildebeest
Wild yak
Cuvier's gazelle
Nile lechwe
Nilgai
Addra gazelle
Waterbuck
Elk
Tamaraw
Dorcas gazelle
Grant's gazelle
Red goral
Kob
Asian buffalo
Chiru
Red-fronted gazelle
Addax
Goral
Silver dik-dik
Puku
Takin
Speke's gazelle
Impala
Carnivores
American jackal
Bush dog
Arctic wolf
Ethiopian wolf
Black-backed jackal
Nilgiri marten
Sloth bear
African caracal
Pallas's cat
Ocelot
Andean bear
Bat-eared fox
Serval
Ounce
Common fox
Arctic fox
California channel island fox
Bengal fox
Wolverine
Corsac fox
African sand fox
Swift fox
Asiatic wild dog
Cape fox
Peruvian desert fox
Striped hyaena
Sand fox
Eyra cat
Argentine gray fox
Cross fox
African clawless otter
Azara's fox
Cameroon clawless otter
Andean fox
Common otter
Speckle-throated otter
Maned wolf
Hairy-nosed otter
Indian smooth-coated otter
Chinese desert cat
African wild dog
Black-footed cat
Brown palm civet
African lion
Palawan stink badger
Jaguar
Cheetah
Leopard
Asiatic jackal
Racoon dog
Bats
Egyptian slit-faced bat
Kuhl's pipistrelle
Jones's roundleaf bat
Canary big-eared bat
Lamotte's roundleaf bat
Mongalla free-tailed bat
Horn-skinned bat
Naked-rumped tomb bat
De winton's long-eared bat
Dasyuroid marsupials and marsupial carnivores
Tasmanian tiger
Eastern quoll
Bronze quoll
Red-tailed phascogale
New guinean planigale
Kowari
Mulgara
Julia creek dunnart
Large desert marsupial-mouse
American marsupials
Three-striped short-tailed opossum
Southern short-tailed opossum
Patagonian opossum
Emilia's short-tailed opossum
Long-nosed short-tailed opossum
Ihering's short-tailed opossum
Shrewish short-tailed opossum
Pygmy short-tailed opossum
Theresa's short-tailed opossum
Marajó short-tailed opossum
Osgood's short-tailed opossum
One-striped short-tailed opossum
Chestnut-striped short-tailed opossum
Kangaroos, possums, wallabies, and relatives
Mala
Dusky pademelon
Boodie
Bernard's wallaroo
Hares, pikas, and rabbits
Koslov's pika
Muli pika
Steppe pika
Arctic hare
White-sided jackrabbit
Hainan hare
Alaskan hare
Elephant-shrews
Dusky-footed elephant shrew
Eastern rock elephant shrew
Round-eared elephant shrew
Short-snouted elephant shrew
Monotremes
Long-beaked echidna
Bandicoots and bilbies
Barred bandicoot
Desert bandicoot
Eastern barred bandicoot
Pig-footed bandicoot
Golden bandicoot
Bilby
Lesser bilby
Horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs
Square-lipped rhinoceros
Great indian rhinoceros
Burchell's zebra
Elephants
African elephant
Rodents
Black and red bush squirrel
Hinde's rock rat
Menzbier's marmot
Mechow's mole rat
Speke's pectinator
Namaqua rock rat
Vancouver island marmot
European ground squirrel
Ochre mole rat
Spring hare
Bushy-tailed hairy-footed gerbil
Tinfields rock rat
Bobak marmot
Plateau vole
Rümmler's brush mouse
Idaho ground squirrel
Mottled tuco-tuco
Washington ground squirrel
Greater short-tailed gerbil
Mountain paca
Remarkable climbing mouse
Forrest's mouse
African groove-toothed rat
Townsend's ground squirrel
Bell groove-toothed swamp rat
Harwood's gerbil
Lindbergh's grass mouse
Rufous-nosed rats
Kivu climbing mouse
Shortridge's multimammate mouse
Mittendorf's lemniscomys
Bushy-talied woodrat
Sierra madre ground squirrel
Julian's gerbil
Sao paulo grass mouse
Ghana rufous-nosed rat
Lovat's climbing mouse
Buffoon lemniscomys
Marsh rice rat
Russet ground squirrel
Principal gerbil
Gray glimbing mouse
Typical lemniscomys
Perote ground squirrel
Least gerbil
Gobi jerboa
Brant's climbing mouse
Beach vole
Speckled ground squirrel
Owl's spiny rat
Arizona pocket mouse
Little red gerbil
Euphrates jerboa
Banana climbing mouse
Insular vole
Plains viscacha rat
Kreb's fat mouse
Little pocket mouse
Iranian jerboa
Angolan vlei rat
Cameroon climbing mouse
Townsend's vole
Tiny fat mouse
Woodland thicket rat
Angoni vlei rat
St. lawrence island collared lemming
Kondana soft-furred rat
Fat mouse
Macmillan's thicket rat
Ammodile
Dent's vlei rat
Ogilvie mountains collared lemming
Ethiopian narrow-headed rat
Nelson's antelope squirrel
Vlei rat
Wrangel lemming
Magellanic tuco-tuco
Gray-tailed narrow-headed rat
Silvery mole rat
Laminate vlei rat
Stephens' kangaroo rat
Natterer's tuco-tuco
Florida mouse
Mutable sun squirrel
Aquatic rat
Large vlei rat
Patagonian cavy
Social tuco-tuco
Gray brush-furred rat
Audacious mole rat
Western vlei rat
Chacoan mara
Black-clawed brush-furred rat
Demon mole rat
Caucasian snow vole
Saunder's vlei rat
Mexican prairie dog
Yellow-spotted brush-furred rat
Big-headed mole rat
European snow vole
Sloggett's vlei rat
Utah prairie dog
Rusty-bellied brush-furred rat
King mole rat
Robert's snow vole
Kerala rat
Naked mole rat
Tropical vlei rat
Arizona black-tailed prairie dog
Montane long-nosed squirrel
Ruanda mole rat
Typical vlei rat
Ethiopian striped mouse
Lowland long-nosed squirrel
Pacific jumping mouse
Rudd's mole rat
Abyssinian grass rat
Alai mole vole
Servant mouse
Crested porcupine
Hildegarde's broad-headed mouse
East african mole rat
Blick's grass rat
Desert pygmy mouse
Cape porcupine
White-toothed brush mouse
Barbary ground squirrel
Pygmy mouse
Highveld gerbil
African wading rat
Free state pygmy mouse
Fox's shaggy rat
Lesser egyptian jerboa
Unalaska collared lemming
Bushveld gerbil
Pouched mouse
Rabbit-eared tree-rat
Torres's crimson-nosed rat
Phillips's mouse
African marsh rat
Candango mouse
Fring-tailed gerbil
Felou gundi
Algerian mouse
Gray-bellied pygmy mouse
Montane shaggy rat
Emin's gerbil
Thick-tailed pygmy jerboa
Angolan marsh rat
Harrington's gerbil
Armenian birch mouse
Ghana mole rat
White-tailed mouse
West african shaggy rat
Idaho pocket gopher
Long-tailed birch mouse
Bocage's mole rat
Louise's spiny mouse
Mazama pocket gopher
Southern birch mouse
Damara mole rat
Franklin's ground squirrel
Lesser cane rat
Nigerian mole rat
Alcorn's pocket gopher
Smoky pocket gopher
Long-tailed marmot
Greater cane rat
African mole rat
Edentates
Brazilian lesser long-nosed armadillo
Andean hairy armadillo
Screaming hairy armadillo
Large hairy armadillo
Burmeister's armadillo
Lesser fairy armadillo
Six-banded armadillo
Southern long-nosed armadillo
Common long-nosed armadillo
Llanos long-nosed armadillo
Read more at the list of biomes of the world...