Atlas Mountains 5.41

The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb. It stretches around 2,500km through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The range's highest peak is Jebel Toubkal, with an elevation of 4167m in southwestern Morocco. It separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert. The Atlas mountains are primarily inhabited by Berber populations. The terms for 'mountain' in some Berber languages are adrar and adras, which are believed to be cognates of the toponym Atlas.The mountains are home to a number of plant and animal species unique in Africa, often more like those of Europe; many of them are endangered and some have already gone extinct. Examples include the Barbary macaque, the Atlas bear (Africa's only native bear; now extinct), the Barbary leopard, the Barbary stag, Barbary sheep, the Barbary lion (extinct in the wild), the Atlas Mountain badger, the North African elephant (extinct), the North African aurochs (extinct), Cuvier's gazelle, the Northern bald ibis, dippers, the Atlas mountain viper, the Atlas cedar, the European black pine, and the Algerian oak.