A number of different mammals can live in the same biome because each occupies its own special space, or niche.

A niche is the way one particular plant or animal uses a space within its environment. Many different species can live together in the same small area because of the different ways each of them uses the resources of that area. Each occupies its own niche.

Two plant eaters may live in the same forest but feed on two different species of plants. This means they occupy two different niches. One tree may be a resource for a number of different mammals because each depends on a different part of the tree. One may burrow underneath among the roots, while another may swing from the tops of the trees. One type of herbivore may eat the very top of the trees while another nibbles only on the lowest branches. Each is living in its own niche.

The African savanna can support such a large number of different types of herbivores because each animal eats vegetation a little differently from its neighbors and therefore occupies its own niche. Elephants use their trunk much like the giraffe uses its long neck to reach the upper branches of trees while the black rhinoceros will feed on low bushes. Different antelope may each eat a different part of the surrounding grass. This is one reason so many different types of herbivores are able to coexist in the same biome.