The forests contain several varieties of monkey, chimpanzee, gorilla, elephant, okapi, wild boar, and buffalo. Wildlife in the savanna regions includes several varieties of antelope, jackal, wild dog, hyena, and cheetah. On the plateaus, rhinoceroses and giraffes are numerous, but lions are scarce. Birdlife includes the predatory eagle, hawk, and owl, the scavenging vulture, and the wading heron. Freshwater fish include perch, catfish, sunfish, and mudskippers.
Crocodiles live throughout the Congo River.
The numerous snakes include such poisonous varieties as cobra, green mamba, and puff adder, as well as species of python. Among the insects, the most dangerous are the tsetse fly, which causes sleeping sickness in human beings and a similar disease, called nagana, in cattle, and the mosquito, which carries malaria and yellow fever.