Lake Victoria spans about 59,947 square kilometers across Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, making it Africa's largest lake and the world's largest tropical lake, with an average depth of 40 meters feeding the Nile River through its outlet at Jinja, Uganda. The lake was once home to more than 500 endemic haplochromine cichlid species that evolved over roughly 15,000 years, one of the fastest documented cases of vertebrate diversification. At least 200 of those species, around 40 percent, have gone extinct since the mid twentieth century, driven chiefly by the introduction of Nile perch along with eutrophication and habitat loss, a collapse often described as the most dramatic case of human caused extinction within a single ecosystem.
Facts
Classification
Biogeographic Realm Area (sq km) Connections
Demonstrates
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Hosts
Source World Wildlife Fund
In Biome
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Lake Victoria
WikipediaIntroductionQuote, Introduction
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes.
2. Lake Victoria (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section, first sentence, surface area and rank among lakesQuote, Lead section, first sentence, surface area and rank among lakes
With a surface area of approximately 59,947 km2 (23,146 sq mi), Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America.
World Wildlife Fund
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.