Nigeria has two distinct climatic zones. Along the coastal influence of marine air equatorial climate, characterized by a high humidity and heavy rainfall is marked. In the north, the continental tropical air dry dusty winds (Harmattan) from the Sahara. The temperature fluctuates considerably with the seasons, as well as the rains, which are much smaller than in the south. The main rainy season is from April to October, and the average rainfall is between 2 497 millimeters in Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta and 869 millimeters in Kano in the north of the country.
The vegetation zones in Nigeria run parallel to the climate zones. The water-rich south is partly remnants of dense tropical rainforest covered with a stock of hard woods like mahogany and obeche aufweist. Palm trees are particularly abundant. In the high plains and savannah area near the forest are also pasture land and hardwood trees such as baobab and tamarind encountered. In the far northeastern region of the Sahel is a Halbwüstenvegetation before. Overall, Nigeria, over time, approximately 84 percent of its original forest and about 90 percent of its wetland forest areas lost. Only about 12 percent of the total land area are now covered by forest.
Crocodiles and snakes are found in the swamps and rain forests. The African Großsäugetiere, once home in Nigeria, are given intensive settlement here no longer exist. Some antelopes, camels and hyenas live in the north.
With members from more than 250 ethnic groups of the population of Nigeria is extremely heterogeneous. More than half the population is made up of tribes and Fulbe Hausa in the north, Yoruba in the southwest and Ibo in the southeast together. Other ethnic groups include the Edo, Ibibio and Ijaw in the South, Kanuri in the northeast and the NUPE and Tiv in the central part of the country.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, the exact size and distribution of its ethnic population but are unknown and a political dispute within the country. The census of 1963 identified 55.7 million inhabitants. The result of the census of 1973 was rejected by the government. Estimates of the population of the United Nations (UN), the World Bank and the Nigerian government in the late eighties, moved well over 100 million, but the results of the census of 1991 showed a total of only 88.5 million inhabitants. Meanwhile, the population of approximately 137 million (2004), which has a population density of 151 people per square kilometer is. About 46 percent of the population live in urban areas.
