Tag: Antelope

The Sitatunga is a mid-sized antelope, which lives throughout central Africa, across much of central Africa. They are often threatened by loss of habitat, which is drained and then used for other things.

Around 40% live in protected areas – places like the Okovango delta are strongholds. This is based on an estimate of the whole population at 170,000, however unfortunately this estimate is considered insanely positive.

While there are a good number of this species left (even if the population was half the estimate above, it still is almost 100,000), given that much occurs outside protected areas, and those living in protected areas are not considered secure, a change in the situation like a crop failure, could rapidly change the status of this species.

It is a large antelope species, only found in a small part of mountainous Ethiopia. It is shy towards humans, and is usually seen in small herds of 4-5. Tending to live between heights of 3000m to 4000m. Human populations are forcing them higher, with current populations generally found above 3400m.

Around half of the current population is found in Bale mountains national park, is a small specific area. It is mostly a browser, though may on occasions change to browsing of the mountain nyala include illegal hunting, habitat destruction, predation of calves by dogs, encroachment for both cultivation and grazing of livestock as well as construction of various things at high altitudes (like villages). in the 1960s as much as 12,500 remained, but by the 1980s this had fallen to just 2000-4000, and it is still falling today. The current estimate is around 2500.

The animal is hunted for its horns and meat – not sustainably. The meat is utilised in local medicine and for making nipples for traditional milk bottles. Despite trophy hunting, in theory being a sustainable use, little attention is given to the current numbers of wild members when setting quotas. As such, far from being sustainable, hunting is pushing them closer to extinction. If well regulated, trophy hunting could play an important role in the long term management of this species, but things need to change first.

They are featured on one of the Ethiopian coins, and live 15-20 years. It was not first described until 1920.

Their main predator is Leopard.

Found in east Africa, the lesser kudu is a mid-sized antelope. It is from the same family as the greater kudu, so it is closely related, though there are definitely other antelope that are more closely related.

This species survives exclusively as a browser, usually eating relatively high branches which are out of reach for many of the littler antelope species.

The wild population is thought to be 118,000 individuals, though the population is reducing. It should be noted that 60% of the population lives outside protected areas – this means that while it is currently doing fine, and these wild roaming individuals are able to allow gene flow between reserves, it also means that 60% of these animals are outside fortress reserves (how well these reserves are protected is not always something that could be described as a fortress, like the reserves in places like South Africa) which means that should local attitudes change, this 60% could be hunted relatively easily.

here is a video of a lesser Kudu browsing in the Tsavo west national park.

The current status of the lesser kudu is considered near theratened – not least concern, so while they are not currently in danger, it is a species that needs to be watched.

The greater kudu is a large antelope species which is found in southern and eastern Africa. While they are found across a large area, due to deforestation, poaching and humans taking their habitat for other uses, it is increasingly fragmented, and live in sparsely population groups throughout its range. Oddly, its closest relations are the Elands, and is there are a few species which are more closely related to the greater Kudu than the lesser Kudu.

This clearly makes it more susceptible to local extinction, as it would not take much increased hunting.

The horn is quite notable, and as such it is hard to mistake males for any other antelope. The horns grow at a rate of roughly 3 years per spiral, and is fully grown when it is 2 and a half spirals long, (so a male is fully grown at 7.5 years)

Below is a list of the currently recognized subspecies.

• T. s. strepsiceros – southern parts of the range from southern Kenya to Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa
• T. s. chora – northeastern Africa from northern Kenya through Ethiopia to eastern Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea
• T. s. cottoni – Chad and western Sudan

They are thought to have a wild population of around 118,000 individuals, which means that they are pretty safe as a whole.

The giant eland is a species from Africa. It is broken into a western and eastern subspecies.

It is important to note, that the “giant” in its name refers to its longer horns, not to the animals size -the eland is already the largest antelope in Africa.

It is generally found in open forests, and savannah ecosystems. They eat grass, as well as browsing branches and leaves. They will often form herds of 15-25 members.

It is said to be found across a wide range of countries, including Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and South Sudan, as well as Guinea-Bissau and Uganda. It is also found in the Jos wildlife park in Nigeria. Having said this, it is thought that there are only 170 western giant Eland that remain and these are found in Niokolo-Koba National Park which is in Senegal. The eastern giant Eland is in a better position with around 15,000 Eastern giant Eland left in the wild. 12,500 of these Eastern giant eland live in the Central African Republic. In South Sudan, the Southern national park is thought to have around 165 of these animals still surviving.

The eastern giant eland is conserved in the Faro National Park, Bénoué National Park, Bouba Njida National Park, Bamingui-Bangoran National Park and Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park. 

It is locally extinct in Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo

The eastern giant Eland is considered least concern (though the population is declining)

The western giant Eland is considered critically endangered with only 200 remaining in the wild. These are all found within Niokolo-Koba national park, which is an important reserve, but not well protected. This reserve also hosts small numbers of western lions.

It would seem a sensible thing to translocate eastern giant Eland into western Africa, but it is quite possible that nothing like this will happen as there are still western giant Eland in the wild. 200 is a good basis for recovery of the species – as much as 100 calves could be born each year. Should all non-natural pressures end, it is quite possible that withing a decade, the species number could be back above 1000 wild members.

Also referred to as the Southern Eland, or Eland antelope, it is the largest antelope to be found in the savannahs of Africa. Adult males can weigh almost 1000kg, with females weighing 500-600kg. It was originally described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1766. They can form herds of up to 500. Adult males stand around 1.6m at the shoulder.

Places to look for it: there are a large number of reserves with these animals, however, in many places there are not many of them. Chinko national park in the Central Africa Republic has 1500 of the Eland. I have only seen them in the Kruger – there are only 300 that live in this large reserve, but with luck encounters can be had.

Conservation status: it is currently listed as least concern, but its population is decreasing.

Also called the Harnessed antelope, the bushbuck is found in subsaharan brush and forests.

Active at night and usually solitary, it is not an easy animal to see. Having said that, our encounters with one in the Kruger national park, have almost always occurred in rest-camps where they will often take up residence, as it is the safest place when it comes to leopards and lions.

It can be anything from redish brown, to black. There are 1.3 million of these in Africa, with them found in 40 countries. The population is coming under threat, as their habitat is turning into housing and agriculture. It is hunted for both its meat and its hide, so that while it is often capable of living in close proximity of humans, elsewhere it will struggle to hang on.

Conservation status is least concern: there is a population of around 1.3 million in africa