THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS.

The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb (Sunset), that is usually defined as much or most of the region of North West Africa, West of Egypt.  The basement rock of most Africa was formed during the largest span of time in Earth's history about 4.6 billion yeas ago, and is much older than the Atlas Mountains lying on the continent The Atlas was formed during three subsequent phases of Earth's history.
The Atlas Mountains stretches around 2,500 km / 1,600 mi through Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.
The range highest peak is Jebel Toubkal, with an elevation of 4,167 m / 13,671 ft in South Western Morocco. It separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert.
The mountains are home to a number of plant and animal species unique in Africa. Many of them are endangered and some have already gone extinct. Examples include:
-The Barbary Macaque best known as the Old World Monkey species. The Monkey is of particular interest because males play an atypical role in rearing the young. Because of uncertain paternity, males are integral to raising all infants. Generally, Barbary Macaque of all ages and sexes contribute in the system of parenting in which individuals other than the parents act in a parental role. Males live to a maximum of 25 years while females may live up to 30 years. The monkey is yellowish- brown to grey with a lighter under side. It has a body length of around 556 mm in females and 634 mm in males and mean body weight is reported to be 1 kg. Males often have a more prominent tail. The front limbs are longer than its hind limbs. Females are smaller than the males. Their diet consists of a mixture of plants and insect prey. The can occupy a variety of habitats, such as cedar, fir, and oak forests, or grassland, scrub, rocky ridges full of vegetation. Currently in the Atlas Mountains they inhabit cedar forests. Beside humans, they are the only free-living primates in Europe. Its name refers to the Barbary Coast of North West Africa.
-The Atlas Bear was Africa's only native bear that survived into modern times. Once inhabiting the Atlas Mountains and neighboring areas, from Morocco to Libya, the animal is now thought to be extinct. The decline of the Atlas bear is attributed to the Romans. As their empire expanded into Northern Africa, they intensely hunted and captured the bears and used them as sport for many games. This went for centuries, during which time thousands of bears had been used in the arenas to fight in games against gladiators, lions, tigers, and other animals. They were cruelly treated, often starved and malnourished to increase their desperation and hence their aggression within the arena. The bear become extinct shortly after modern firearms were developed. The bear was brownish black and lacked a white mark on the muzzle, and the muzzle and claws were shorter than those of the American Black Bear, though it was stouter and thicker in body. The fur on the under parts was reddish orange and 4-5 in /100-130mm long. It was 9 ft long and weighed 450 kg/1,000lb. It fed on roots, acorns and nuts.
Where the Atlas bear actually originated is unknown. One genetic study was unable to link it to any brown bear, but it had weak but significant genetic links to the polar bear. Polar bears appeared 2.6 million years ago and the drawing of them appeared in cave paintings in Anda-Lucia, Spain, which is a very short swim to the Atlas Mountains for a polar bear.
-Barbary Leopard or North African Leopard is grouped with the African Leopard after following genetic analysis. Leopards are rare in Northern Africa. Only small populations persist in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria in cedar forest and mountain steep in elevations of 300 to 2,500 m /980 to 8,200 ft where the climate is temperate to cold.
The Barbary lion (Panthera Leo Leo) also known as the Atlas Lion is now considered extinct in the wild. Small groups may have survived in Algeria and Morocco following the introduction of firearms and bounties for shooting them. Results of a long-term study of lions indicate that various factors such as ambient temperature, nutrition, and level of testosterone influence the color and size of lion manes.
Sub-Saharan lions kept in a cool environment usually develop bigger manes. Atlas Lions may have developed long-haired manes because of the temperatures in the Atlas Mountains that are much lower than in any other African regions, particularly in winter. The Atlas Lion was long considered one of the biggest subspecies, or even the largest of lions. The male was described as having very dark and long-haired mane that extended over the shoulder and to the belly. Head-to-tail length varied from 2.35 to 2.8 m / 7ft 9in to 9ft 2in, and females around 2.5 m / 8ft 2in. In some historic accounts the weight of the males reached 270 to 300 kb / 600 to 660 lb. Also it was described as being much superior to the black-maned lions of South Africa in bulk, strength and bravery.
-The Atlas Elephant, a separate elephant species that existed North of the Sahara until becoming extinct in Ancient Roman times.  these were the famous war elephants used by Carthage in the Punic Wars, during their conflict with the Roman Republic. Carthaginian frescoes and coins minted by the power of whoever controlled North Africa at various times show small elephants, perhaps 2.5m / 8ft 2in at the shoulder, with the large ears and concave back typical of modern African elephants. It is also possible that it was more docile and plainer allowing the Punics to tame it as a war elephant. After the Romans conquered Sicily in 242 BC, they wanted to capture some specimens that had been left behind in the middle of the island by the Carthaginians, but failed in their endeavor. The elephants with which Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps in order to invade Italy during the 2nd Punic War (218-201 BC) belonged to this group, with the exception of Hannibal's personal animal, Surus, meaning 'the Syrian' or 'One Tusker,' which became extinct shortly after Hannibal invaded Italy but before the extinction of the Atlas Elephant. The Atlas elephant was also trained and used by the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt. The taming of the animal was inferior and the results in battle also inferior against the larger Indian elephants used by the Seleucid kings, after the break up of the Macedonian Empire. A surviving Ptolemaic inscription enumerates 3 types of War Elephants: the Troglodytic (Libyan), the Ethiopian, and the Indian.  The Ptolemaic king prides himself with being the 1st to tame the Ethiopian elephants, a stock which could be identical to one of the two extant African species. During the reighn of Augustus, Roman circus games resulted in the killing of 3,500 elephants.
-The Atlas Urus is a extinct type of large wild cattle. It is the ancestor of domestic cattle. The species survived until the last recorded Urus that died in Poland in 1627. During the Agricultural Revolution, a wide-scale transition of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, there were at least two Uros domestication events. One related to the Indian subspecies, leading to Zebu cattle. The other related to the Eurasian sibspecies, leading to Taurine cattle. Other species of wild bovines were also domesticated. the oldest Uros remains have been dated to about 2 million years ago, in India. The Indian subspecies were the first to appear. The species migrated West into the Middle East (Western Asia) as well as to the East. They reached Europe about 270,000 years ago. The South Asian domestic Zebu descended from India Uros at the edge of the Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert in the North Western part of Indian subcontinent that forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan, and is the world's 17th largest desert, and the world's 9th largest subtropical desert. The Zebu is resistant to drought. Domestic Yak, Gayal, and Banteng  do not descend from Uros. The Uros was one of the largest herbivores in post-glacial Eurasia.
The size appears to have varied by region. Also the body mass appeared to have shown variability. The ones from the late-middle Pleistocene are estimated to have weighed up to 1,500 kg /3,300lb. The Uros populations in Hungary, Denmark, and germany had an average weight reaching around 700 kg / 1,500 lb. The cows were significantly shorter than their males counterparts.
Because of the massive horns, the frontal bones of Uros were elongated and broad. The horns were characterized in size, curvature and orientation. They were curved in 3 directions: Upwards and outwards at the base, Swinging forwards and inwards, the Inwards and upwards.  they reached 80cm/31in  in length and between 10 to 20 cm/3,9 and 7.0in in diameter. The male horns were stronger                                                                      and larger that the female. the Uros were swift and fast and very aggressive when teased or hunted. they had a food selection very similar to domestic cattle.