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Ethiopian wildlife is as diversified as the topography and the climatic conditions of the country. Ethiopia has a recorded list of 242 land mammals, of which twenty-eight are endemic.

The endemic Simien Fox

Hartebeest in Mago National Park.

The endemic Walia Ibex

The endemic gelada baboon

Hippopotamus

Most of the highlands, which stand at 2,500 meters (8,200 feet), have little wildlife to boast, except for those that coexist with humans, such as the bushbuck, grey duiker, vervet monkey, and Anubis baboon. The rest are found either at the extremes of the highlands of the Simien, Bale, Arsi and Ahmar mountains, or in the more arid habitats of the lowlands, which are home to the more common East African wildlife.

Two of Ethiopia's wildlife conservation sites are the Simien and Bale national parks, where one finds the Walia Ibex, the Gelada baboon, and the Klipspringer (Simien Mountains), the Mountain Nyala and the Simien Red Fox (Bale Mountains), all of them endemic to Ethiopia. Eleven of Ethiopia's endemic wildlife species are recorded from Bale and the Simien mountains.

The rest of Ethiopia's wildlife species are either on the borders or down the length of the Rift Valley: Yangudi-Rassa, Awash, Abijatta-Shalla Lakes, Nechisar, Omo, and Mago national parks and Senkele Swayne's Hartebeest Sanctuary. In the lowlands are found Babille and Yabello sanctuaries and Gambella National Park.

Swayne's hartebeest is an endemic subspecies that once inhabited areas extending from Somalia through the Ethiopian Rift Valley, but which now live scattered in Awash, where it was reintroduced, Senkele, Nechisar, and Yabello. The wild ass lives in the remote desert confined by the Danakil (Afar) Depression and is conserved in the Yangudi-Rassa National Park. In Gambella, which is swampy, one finds wildlife from neighboring Sudan, including the white-eared kob and the Nile lechwe.

Omo and Mago boast an abundance of the usual African savannah wildlife: the Giraffe, common eland, buffalo, elephant, ostrich (which is also a common sight the Afar desert), greater and lesser kudu, and Burchell's zebra. Further north, in Nechisar, are found Grant's gazelle and Guenther's dik-dik, in addition to Burchell's zebra and greater kudu.

The Awash part of the Rift Valley is inhabited by Beisa oryx (in large numbers), greater and lesser kudu, Defarsa waterbuck, Soemmering's gazelle, as well as Swayne's hartebeest. Further north in the Rift is the Yangudi-Rassa, which is home to the wild ass as well as other dry-area, African mammals, including Grevy's zebra, greater and lesser kudu, oryx, lion, leopard, cheetah, Soemmering's gazelle, gerenuk, and hamdryas baboon.

Two of the Rift Valley Lakes, Abbaya and Chamo are habitats to a large number of crocodiles, hippopotamus, and, of course fish, including the huge Nile Perch.

The Abijatta-Shala Lakes National Park, which is part of the Rift Valley recreational area with neighboring Lake Lanaganno, is home to thousands of water birds, but especially lesser flamingos and great white pelicans. Ethiopia is home to a large number of endemic birds inhabiting both the highlands and the lowland lake areas.

There also are a number of reptiles and amphibians inhabiting different parts of Ethiopia.