section_path: Ecology/Fauna
section_name: Fauna
paragraph_text: Fauna
  
  Grasslands support the greatest aggregations of large animals on Earth, including jaguars, African wild dogs, pronghorn, black-footed ferret, plains bison, mountain plover, African elephant, Sunda tiger, black rhino, white rhino, savanna elephant, greater one-horned rhino, Indian elephant and swift fox. Grazing animals, herd animals, and predators in grasslands, like lions and cheetahs live in the grasslands of the African savanna. Mites, insect larvae nematodes, and earthworms inhabit deep soil, which can reach 6 metres (20 feet) underground in undisturbed grasslands on the richest soils of the world. These invertebrates, along with symbiotic fungi, extend the root systems, break apart hard soil, enrich it with urea and other natural fertilizers, trap minerals and water and promote growth. Some types of fungi make the plants more resistant to insect and microbial attacks.
  
  Grassland in all its form supports a vast variety of mammals, reptiles, birds, and insects. Typical large mammals include the blue wildebeest, American bison, giant anteater, and Przewalski's horse.
  
  The plants and animals that live in grasslands are connected through an unlimited web of interactions. But the removal of key species—such as buffalo and prairie dogs within the American West—and introduction of invasive species, like cane toads in northern Australia, have disrupted the balance in these ecosystems and damaged a number of other species. Grasslands are home to a number of the foremost magnificent animals on the planet—elephants, bison, lions—and hunters have found them to be enticing prey. But when hunting is not controlled or is conducted illegally, species can become extinct.