What is Lake Chad?
Q: What is Lake Chad?
A: Lake Chad is a large, shallow, endorheic lake located in the African Sahel.
Q: How has Lake Chad varied in size over time?
A: Lake Chad has varied in size over the centuries, shrinking as much as 95% from 1963 to 1998.
Q: Was there any improvement in Lake Chad's size after 1998?
A: Yes, the 2007 satellite image shows significant improvement over previous years.
Q: Why is Lake Chad economically important?
A: Lake Chad provides water to over 68 million people in the four countries surrounding it: Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria.
Q: Where is Lake Chad located?
A: Lake Chad is on the edge of the Sahara Desert and is the largest lake in the Chad Basin, the largest drainage basin in Africa.
Q: What important extinct hominid fossils were found in the dried lakebed of Lake Chad?
A: Fossils of Sahelanthropus tchadensis were found in the dried lakebed of Lake Chad.
Q: When is it thought that Sahelanthropus tchadensis lived?
A: From evidence at the fossil site in Chad, it is thought that Sahelanthropus tchadensis lived about seven million years ago.
