Pastoralism in Sub-Saharan Africa was, and still is in many cases, characterized by subsistence l livestock for the purpose of milk and adaptation to environmental variability by geographical mobility in exploiting natural grazing areas. Additional food requirements are met by the production, barter or purchase of grain. This type of exploitation of natural resources is mostly associated with dry lands. However, pastoral economies are not limited to these areas. In West Africa they show a recent tendency to expand in wetter, even sub-humid, areas.