The River Nile Facts

8/3/2019 The River Nile Facts

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The River Nile Facts

y The Nile is famous as the longest river in the world.

y The river got its name from the Greek word Neilos, which means valley.

y The Nile floods the lands in Egypt, leaving behind black sediment. That's why the ancientEgyptians named the river Ar, meaning black.

y How long is the Nile River? The Nile River is actually 6695 kilometers (4184 miles) long. With

such a long length, the Nile River is speculated to be the longest river in the world. The Amazon

River runs a very close second, although it has been difficult to determine which is actually longe

y W hat countries does the river flow through? River Nile facts state it winds from Uganda to

Ethiopia, flowing through a total of nine countries. While the Nile River is often associated with

Egypt, it actually touches Ethiopia, Zaire, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan,

as well as Egypt. It's only recent that the first known navigation team successfully followed the

river from beginning to its end.

y The Nile Delta in Northern Egypt is where the Nile River drains in to the Mediterranean Sea. It is

around 160 kilometres (100 miles) in length and spreads out over 240 kilometres (149 miles) of

coastline. It is rich in agriculture and has been farmed for thousands of years.

y Around 40 million people (half of Egypts population) live in the Nile Delta region.



The organic stage of the ecological cycles (the reservoir of life) can be considered the "motor" of all the cycles. In the course of this stage the principal substances responsible for the maintenance

of life are made and consumed. Here the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is regulated andthe billions of tons of materials are stored. All of this comes about through an organization that is

a model of industry and economy, with production, stockpiling, distribution, consumption,



equitable sharing of energy, and complete recycling of materials. The three groups of organismson which this industry and this economy rest are the producers, the consumers, and the

decomposers.

The producers are green plants, aquatic vegetation, and, more generally, all organisms capable of

photosynthesis (the production of organic material solely from solar light and mineral carbongas). Producers are also called autotrophs.

The consumers are animals of all sizes, herbivores and carnivores, in terrestrial and aquaticmilieus. They feed on living organisms and, through an internal oxidation called respiration, burn

the organic materials that compose the tissues of their prey. Consumers are also calledheterotrophs.

The decomposers feed on dead organisms or chemical substances dispersed in the environment.

Figure 6 sums up the relationship between these three groups whose activity makes possible the

functioning of the ecosystem and the regulation of its equilibrium.

General Facts about animal life on the Nile There are many animals that live in or around the Nile River. Most of them arereptiles. The most common reptile is the Nile Crocodile. The Nile Crocodile isthe largest crocodile in Africa, and also one of the largest in the world. It canbe as long as 20 feet, and can weigh up to 1,500 pounds. It eats animals thatcome to the water to drink. Sometimes that even means other crocodiles. Itusually hunts gazelle, buffalo, wild dogs and wildebeest. The crocodile uses

its strong jaws and teeth to pull the animal under the water until it drowns.Then, it puts it under a rotten tree trunk. After the animal has rotted, the

crocodile eats it. During the spring, the female crocodiles lay their eggs. They usually layaround 30 to 70 eggs. The eggs hatch after about 50 days, then the mother

takes them to the water in her mouth. Newborn crocodiles are 12 inches long. DID YOU KNOW:

Crocodiles are the closest living relatives to birds. The incubation temperature determines the sex of the crocodiles.



MISCELLANEOUS FACTS ABOUT THE NILE CROCODILE: weight: up to 1,650 pounds.

breeding season: July diet: mammals, birds, fish, carrion and other reptiles

lifespan: 70-100 years There are also soft-shelled turtles, lizards and 15 species of venomous

snakes that live in the Nile River habitat. The hippopotamus also lives alongthe Nile River. The hippopotamus usually lives in a group of 10 to 20. Theyoften walk on the bottom of lakes. The hippopotamus is an herbivore, whichmeans it eats plants.

DID YOU KNOW: The teeth of a hippopotamus can be as long as 20 inches.

MISCELLANEOUS FACTS ABOUT THE HIPPOPOTAMUS: length: 10-11 feet

height: 5 feet weight: females up to 3,300 lb.;

males 3,300-7,000 lb. diet: grasses

call: roars and bellows lifespan: 45-50 years

There are also many different kinds of fish in the Nile River. The Nile Perchcan weigh up to 175 pounds. The Nile Perch is one of the biggest fish in the



river. Other fish include the tiger fish, lungfish, catfish, mudfish and eel. Lake

Nasser High Dam produces 25,000 tons of fish a year .

Riverine life

y Crocodiles are among the top predators in the Nile River ecosystem.

R iver ecosystems support abundant life. The ready supply of water nourishes plants and

microorganisms, as well as the insects, fish, birds, and mammals that feed on them.

Nile crocodiles only concern is big cats, hippos, elephants and humans. Big Cats have been known to kill

and eat nile crocodiles. Adult Nile crocodiles use their bodies and tail to herd groups of fish toward abank, and eat them with quick sideways jerks of their heads. They also cooperate, blocking migrating

fish by forming a semicircle across the river. The most dominant crocodile eats first.

Their ability to lie concealed with most of their body underwater, combined with their speed over short

distances, makes them effective opportunistic hunters of larger prey. They grab such prey in their

powerful jaws, drag it into the water, and hold it underneath until it drowns. They will also scavenge

kills, although they avoid rotting meat. Groups of Nile crocodiles may travel hundreds of meters (yards)

from a waterway to feast on a carcass.

Once their prey is dead, they rip off and swallow chunks of flesh. When groups of Nile crocodiles aresharing a kill, they use each other for leverage, biting down hard and then twisting their body to tear off



large pieces of meat. This is called the death roll. They may also get the necessary leverage by lodging

their prey under branches or stones, before rolling and ripping.



The Nile perch. <www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb/2374.html>

In recent history, and especially during the last one hundred years, the Nile R iver ecosystem hasseen a radical decrease in the diversity of its fish populations (Getabu, Tumwebaze, &

MacLennan, 2002). This oversimplification of the river¶s and its various lake¶s fish populationshas, of course, ramifications that threaten not only the stability of the ecosystem, but perhaps the

human populations around the river as well. This section of our research delves into what thelikely causes are for this decrease in biodiversity, as well as what effects this may have further on

into the future.





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The River Nile Facts