What types of animals can you see in Algeria?

Algeria is home to some of the most incredible wildlife on the planet. The amount of diversity is truly incredible. 🙂

But because of the sheer number of different species, there was no way I could include every animal living in Algeria.

So, here is what I did to make this list more manageable:

The article below focuses mostly on the most common and unique MAMMALS found in Algeria.

If you were hoping to learn about something else, like reptiles, birds, or spiders, I have created separate ID guides for these categories of animals.

Please click the links below to view pages dedicated to these species in Algeria:

Birds / Owls / Ducks / Snakes / Lizards / Spiders

14 Incredible ANIMALS IN Algeria:

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#1. Honey Badger

• Mellivora capensis

Identifying Characteristics:

• Adults are 55–77 cm (22–30 in) long.
• They have stocky bodies, large heads, small eyes, strong, wide forefeet, small hind feet with short claws, muscular necks and shoulders, and thick, loose skin.
• Their color varies with subspecies, but generally, their lower half is black, and they have an upper mantle of gray or bright white.

Honey Badgers are one of the toughest animals in Algeria!

They have a reputation for living anywhere, eating anything, and surviving no matter what.

Their diet is as varied as their habitat. Honey Badgers are opportunistic foragers whose menu changes with the season and prey availability. They frequently prey on snakes, birds, eggs, frogs, and small rodents. As their name suggests, they’re also known for raiding honey bee hives to eat the larvae and honey inside.

Honey Badgers are known for their aggressive nature. Males will ferociously defend their territory and mate from other males. Naturalists sometimes refer to older adult males as “scarbacks” because they usually have a noticeable patch of scars on their backs from conflicts.

The video below is one of my favorites and shows how TOUGH Honey Badgers are! Seriously, you have to watch until the end.

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#2. Warthog

• Phacochoerus africanus

• Warthogs have disproportionately large heads with thick protective pads (“warts”) on the sides of their heads, two upper tusks that protrude from their snout, and sharp lower tusks.
• Sparse bristles cover their body, with manes of longer bristles down the top of their head and spine.
• A tuft of long hairs at the end of their tail.

Warthogs live in various habitats in Algeria, including wooded savannas, grass steppes, and semideserts. But their lack of body fat and fur means they need certain landscape features to help them regulate their body temperatures.

For example, they use wet areas called “wallows” to cool off in the mud when the temperature is hot. In cool temperatures, they go inside burrows to stay warm. They fill these holes with grass and use them as shelter and insulation from the hot sun and cold temperatures.

Warthogs have some interesting feeding adaptations. They often kneel on their calloused, padded front knees when feeding on grass. They also use their strong, blunt snouts and tusks to dig up and eat tubers, bulbs, and roots.

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#3. Striped Hyena

• Hyaena hyaena

• They have long hair, large, pointed ears, and noticeably longer front legs that give them a sloping appearance.
• Coloration is straw-colored to gray with black muzzles and black stripes on their bodies, legs, and heads. 

Striped Hyenas live in rocky mountainous regions in Algeria and dense grasslands. They build their dens in rocky hillsides, ravines, and crevices.

Despite their fierce reputation, Striped Hyenas are primarily scavengers that spend their nights feeding on carrion and human refuse. They’ll even eat bones from previously stripped carcasses. Occasionally, they prey on small game, including birds, reptiles, hares, and rodents.

Striped Hyenas are listed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. They’re often hunted as pests or out of fear, and some cultures still use them for food and medicine. Attacks on humans are rare, but historical reports of attacks on children continue to spread fear. Striped Hyenas will also scavenge human remains, adding to their negative reputation.

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#4. Caracal

• Caracal caracal

• Coloration is red to brown with white undersides adorned with many small spots and black facial markings.
• They have robust builds, disproportionately long, muscular back legs, short faces, long tufted ears, and short tails.

These animals are nearly impossible to spot in Algeria.

Caracals are nocturnal and generally very secretive. These medium-sized cats live in a range of habitats, including plains, rocky hills, scrub forests, woodlands, and thickets. They love edge habitats, especially the transition between forest and grasslands.

Caracals are highly athletic, capable carnivores that can take down prey three times their size. They’re also known for their incredible bird-snaring leaps into the air. To hunt, they rely on stealth to get close to prey and then pounce on it, using their muscular back legs.

They’re also perfectly capable of avoiding predation. When they sense a threat, they often lie flat and use their coloring to blend in with the ground and go unnoticed. They’re also agile climbers that can escape lions and other large predators by climbing into trees. If all else fails, they’re known to chase off predators twice their size.

Unfortunately, the one predator they can’t go up against is humans. Farmers and ranchers frequently kill them for feeding on small livestock.

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#5. Cheetah

• Acinonyx jubatus

Identifying Characteristics:

• Relatively long legs, small, rounded heads, and short ears. 
• Their coloration is yellowish with a white or light tan underside, small black spots, and dark rings terminating in a white tip on the end of their tail. 

As you probably know, Cheetahs are the FASTEST animal in Algeria (and the world).

Unlike most other big cats, Cheetahs do not stalk their prey. Instead, they use their incredible speed (80-130 kph, or 50-80 mph) to charge. However, they can only maintain this speed for short distances. 

Cheetahs are solitary except during mating. The cubs are cared for solely by their mother. When they’re young, the female will hide the cubs in tall vegetation, rocky outcrops, or marshy areas while she hunts, occasionally carrying them to new hiding spots. Once they are old enough to fend for themselves, the mother goes back to her solitary lifestyle until mating again.

When a Cheetah overtakes its prey, it strangles its target by squeezing its neck in its jaw. They feed mostly on gazelles but also consume impalas, hares, and birds. Interestingly, most hunts are unsuccessful, and they work much harder than other big cats to get a meal.

Cheetahs are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Researchers have found they have little genetic diversity, which leaves them susceptible to disease and environmental changes. Despite this, some countries still allow Cheetahs to be hunted, and they are sometimes persecuted for livestock losses.

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#6. North African Hedgehog

• Atelerix algirus

• They have large ears, long snouts, relatively long legs, and lack a widow’s peak of spines on their head, common in other hedgehog species.
• They have brown or whitish underbellies, and their upper sides are covered with white spines with dark banding.

North African Hedgehogs love the arid climates in Algeria. They spend their nights roaming these lands on surprisingly fast legs, which are relatively long compared to other hedgehogs. Individuals can cover five miles in one night!

North African Hedgehogs use their spines to protect themselves and roll into a ball when threatened. In these arid climates, they also have to protect themselves from the weather, and during hot periods, they may hide in a burrow and go into a dormant state.

These spiky animals also engage in an odd ritual called anointing, which scientists don’t fully understand. When they encounter a new scent, they lick and bite the object and create a frothy saliva, which they paste over their bodies.

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#7. Rock Hyrax

• Procavia capensis

Also called Dassie, Cape hyrax, Rock Rabbit, and Coney.

• Short snouts, cleft upper lips, stout legs, short ears, and rubber-like soles on their feet.
• They are brownish-gray with creamy undersides, long black whiskers, and a black patch of hair on their back.

These small animals may look like rodents in Algeria, but their closest living relatives are actually elephants and manatees! As their name suggests, they live in rocky, scrub-covered areas.

Rock Hyrax have several adaptions that allow them to move about skillfully on steep, rocky surfaces. First, Rock Hyrax feet soles are rubber-like and kept moist by a glandular secretion. And second, their feet also have a depression in the center that acts a bit like a suction cup.

Rock Hyrax Range Map

Rock Hyraxes usually live in colonies called “kopjes,” ranging from 5 to 60 individuals. Usually, these groups are made of a male, several females, and their young.

Interestingly, Rock Hyrax colonies usually urinate and defecate in a common restroom. This habit causes a build-up of calcium carbonate from the urine, turning the cliffs where they live white. In the past, African tribes and Europeans collected the calcium carbonate crystals for medicine to treat epilepsy, hysteria, and other injuries and ailments.

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#8. Dorcas Gazelle

• Gazella dorcas

• Pale-colored with white underbellies and a rufous stripe down their sides, separating their upper and lower coloring.
• They have white eye rings, a pair of white and dark brown stripes running from each eye to the corners of the mouth, and ringed, lyre-shaped horns, which are generally thinner, straighter, and shorter in females.

These animals thrive in the dry habitats of Algeria.

Dorcas Gazelles are small but well adapted to the desert and live in arid places. They can easily handle high temperatures and harsh sunlight.

Despite these intense conditions, they don’t need much water and get most of their moisture from their food, though they will drink when it’s available.

If they spot a predator, these herbivores twitch their tails and make bounding leaps to warn others and confuse their attacker. Dorcas Gazelles are often able to escape if a predator gives chase. Their long, slender legs allow them to sprint away at speeds of 80-100 kph (50-62 mph). They also can perform quick zig-zags, which help them to escape.

Unfortunately, these fascinating creatures are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of endangered species. Their populations have declined significantly as they have faced extreme habitat loss due to land development and climate change.

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#9. African Wildcat

• Felis lybica

• Coloration varies and may be tawny brown, sandy yellow, reddish, or gray with faint tabby spots and stripes, banded legs, and reddish or rusty-brown on the backs of their ears.
• They have long legs, small ear tufts, and long, thin tails with rings near the end and black tips.

You are looking at the ancestor of the domestic cat!

African Wildcats are skillful hunters with incredible hearing. Once they’ve located prey, they slowly and sneakily approach it and pounce once they’re in range. They usually feed on mice, rats, and other small mammals.

African Wildcats are most active at night. During the day, they tend to avoid the heat and rest under bushes or other shelter, although sometimes they can be observed out hunting on cloudy, overcast days. Additionally, when threatened, these cats raise their hair to make themselves seem larger and intimidate their opponents, similar to what we see in domestic cats.

However, they have some distinctly wild traits. For example, when they sit upright, their long front legs raise their bodies almost vertically (more so than domestic cats). This posture can be seen on Egyptian bronze mummy cases and tomb paintings. They also have high shoulder blades that give them a distinctive cheetah-like gait.

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#10. African Wolf

• Canis lupaster

• Relatively long pointed snouts and ears, comparatively short tails, and robust teeth.
• They’re yellowish to silvery gray with reddish legs, black speckling on their tails and shoulders, and some white markings on their faces, throats, and abdomens.

Look for this canine during the day in Algeria in grassland areas.

African Wolves have an extensive range, and their appearance and size vary with location. They usually center their territory around a den, often made from a modified aardvark or warthog den, where the female will have her pups.

African Wolves have flexible social structures that are largely dictated by prey availability. Each pack consists of a monogamous breeding pair that remains together constantly. It also includes current offspring and previous generations that help to raise their siblings.

These wolves can be formidable predators in Algeria, sometimes taking prey up to three times their weight. However, they usually go after much smaller animals.

Pairs of wolves often hunt gazelle fawns and other small mammals like cane rats and ground squirrels. They also consume fruit, snakes, and insects. Interestingly, during the wildebeest calving season, African Wolves feed almost exclusively on wildebeest afterbirth.

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#11. Rüppell’s Fox

• Vulpes rueppellii

• They have slender bodies and long, bushy tails with white tips.
• Coloration is buff or sandy colored with white hairs in their dense undercoat and gray markings on their faces, but there are some gray morphs in rocky areas.

Rüppell’s Foxes are one of the most resourceful animals in Algeria.

Because Red Foxes often get the best territory, these smaller foxes have become highly adapted to inhospitably dry deserts. While they’re primarily insectivores, they’ll consume anything they can grab and eat, including small mammals and roots.

Their fur closely matches the substrate where they’re located, camouflaging them from predators such as Steppe Eagles and Eagle Owls. Rüppell’s Foxes also have a fascinating, skunk-like defense mechanism. When threatened, they will hump their back, raise their tail, and spray their attacker with a foul secretion from their anal gland. 

Living in such harsh conditions, Rüppell’s Foxes have gained a reputation as incredibly tough survivalists. There’s even a legend that these foxes can drink water from the wind by keeping their head in a breeze. That’s quite a reputation for such a tiny animal!

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#12. Fennec Fox

• Vulpes zerda

• They have massive, conical ears.
• Their coloration is buff on their upper bodies and white on their legs, faces, ear-linings, and undersides.

Fennec Foxes are the smallest wild dog in Algeria!

They’re even smaller than most house cats, but don’t let their size fool you. Also called the Desert Fox, Fennec Foxes are tough animals that live almost exclusively in sandy, arid regions.

Their massive ears help Fennec Foxes locate food, even when it’s underground. They catch most of their prey by digging it out of the earth.

These omnivores live in a harsh environment and feed on anything they can get, including rodents, birds, eggs, lizards, insects, fruits, leaves, and roots. Plant materials are vital as they comprise 100% of the Fennec Fox’s hydration. Unlike most mammals, these foxes can live indefinitely without a water source. 

Fennec Foxes are highly social animals that often live together in clans. Together, these clans hold territories and dig burrows, which are used to raise pups and shelter from the hot desert sun.

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#13. Wild Boar

• Sus scrofa

Identifying Characteristics:

• Adults are 140–150 cm (55–59 in) long.
• Their heads are large for their bodies, and they have extremely short and thick necks.
• They have short, coarse hair that’s typically rusty brown, although older specimens sometimes have silvery hairs.

Wild Boars are the ancestors of most domesticated pig species, including typical farm pigs. But while they have the same basic body shape and a familiar flattened snout, the similarities end there!

For example, Wild Boars are some of the toughest animals in Algeria.

They can dig in hard-packed earth and move rocks up to 40–50 kg (88–110 lb). This talent is handy because Wild Boars are extreme omnivores, meaning they’ll eat pretty much anything they can fit in their mouths! So, moving rocks to get to buried insects, small mammals, and roots is key.

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#14. Red Fox

• Vulpes vulpes

Identifying Characteristics:

• Adults range from 45-90 cm (18-35 in) in length and weigh 3-14 kg (7-31 lbs).
• Their coloring ranges from pale orange or red to deep reddish-brown on their upper parts, with white on their underside.
• They have black feet, a fluffy white-tipped tail, and large, pointy, black-tipped ears.

Red Foxes are arguably the most beautiful animal in Algeria!

These canines are often considered cunning and smart, with good reason! They’re excellent hunters and foragers. They also cache food and are adept at relocating it. Although they prefer rabbits, fish, and berries, they won’t hesitate to eat anything readily available.

This species has a distinctive way of hunting mice and other small rodents. Once the prey has been detected, they stand motionless, waiting and listening. Then they leap high into the air and bring their forelegs straight down, pinning the rodent.

Once baby foxes, known as kits, reach adulthood, their biggest threat is humans. They are hunted and trapped for their or killed to protect chickens. While some countries have banned hunting Red Foxes, the practice still persists worldwide. Red Foxes can live 10 to 12 years in captivity but average only about three years in the wild.

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Do you want to learn about MORE animals in Algeria?

Check out these ID Guides. Each one is specific to wildlife in Algeria!

Birds / Owls / Ducks / Snakes / Lizards / Spiders

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Which of these animals in Algeria is your favorite?

Leave a comment below! I’d especially like to know if you have visited Algeria before and what you saw.