The park has a rich array of southern African wildlife including the Big Five, the five most dangerous game animals in Africa. Most of the large animal species of southern Africa live in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve today, including lions, elephants, black rhinos, white rhinos, Cape buffaloes, leopards, cheetahs, Hartmann's mountain zebras, giraffes, hippos and crocodiles. The Cape wild dog ("Lycaon pictus pictus") was extirpated from the park by poachers, but subsequent reintroduction efforts were successful. The Pilanesberg is not in a location which the Big Five animals would naturally inhabit, however they have been brought into the 550 square kilometers of African bushland. The reserve is also home to brown hyenas.