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Africa doesn't have that many species compared to, say, South America. They just happen to be some of the most famous and iconic ones. During the Victorian exploration of "the Dark continent", animal discovery and naming went side by side with developing science, popularity of zoos and mass popular literature.

The elephants and lions became famous, just like celebraties do in the media today. Less spectacular animals were not so famous. South American animals were largely discovered by Spanish speaking scientists and explorers and these didn't get as much media as animals from English speaking discovers.

Also, Africa's big game are largely Savannah animals, live in the open and are easy to see. South Americas big game animals are mostly jungle animals and difficult to spot.

Unfairly, Jaguars are not as well known as leopards.

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12y ago

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