Facts about the African Antelopes

Facts about the African Antelopes

Facts about the African Antelopes : The term “antelopes” is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant indigenous to various regions in Africa; that is to say, an antelope is a deer-like mammal found in Africa, Asia and also parts of the America. African Antelopes are one of the many medium-sized mammals holding the African food chain together whereby an antelope may only graze on grass which is also a stable food source for many of Africa’s large carnivorous predators, such as lions, hyenas and crocodiles. The African Antelopes mainly live in the Savannah regions and are very common in the savannah plains on the East and Southern parts of Africa. They prefer regions with woodlands, bushes, semi-arid areas therefore they keep away from the swamp areas, the forested places and pure desert regions. Antelopes are found in many national parks in Kenya, Rwanda and other countries within the same region but particularly in Uganda where they are found in almost every park.

Types of African Antelopes

Uganda is one of the countries with such a huge population of antelopes and they are distributed across all the 10 national parks. Some of the elegant antelopes in Uganda include Eland, Kudu, Jackson’s hartebeest, Water buck and Uganda kob.

Eland:(Taurotragus oryx)

Appearance

The eland antelope is the world’s largest antelope that measures up to 180cm at the shoulder. Common elands are spiral-horned antelopes, they become gray or bluish-gray when they get older and the oldest animals are almost black. 

Diet

Mainly an herbivores and its diet are primarily grass and leaves. They browse more than they graze, feeding in areas where shrubs and bushes provide the leaves they prefer and using their horns to bring twigs and branches into reach. They also consume certain fruits, large bulbs, and tuberous roots.

Breeding

It takes 2-4hours before a female allows a male to mount. Males usually keep close contact with females in the mating period. The dominant male can mate with more than one female. Females have a gestation period of 9months, and gives birth to only one calf each time. Elands are sexually dimorphic.

Behavior

Common elands are nomadic and crepuscular, they eat in the morning and evening, rest in the shade when hot and remain in sunlight when cold. They are commonly found in herds of up to 500, with individual members remaining in the herd anywhere from several hours to several months. The Juveniles and mothers tend to form larger herds, while males may separate into smaller groups or wander individually. In southern Africa, common elands will often associate with herds of zebras, roan antelopes and oryxes.

Habitat

The common eland prefers habitats with a wide variety of flowering plants such as savannah, woodlands, open and montane grassland; it avoids dense forests. Communication is carried out by loud barks, pastural and visual movements.

Where they are found

The Elands in Uganda are completely wild animals and all thrive in protected areas of Kidepo Valley National Park, Pian Upe Game Reserve and Lake Mburo National Park where they are explored on safari tours in Uganda Africa. 

Lesser Kudu: (Tragelaphus imberbis)

Appearance

The Kudu are woodland antelopes, they are the second largest antelopes after the Elands and they have long and elegant spiral horns as well as 4-12 vertical white side stripes. They have got long legs supporting a very narrow body with their body coat either brown-grey color or reddish-brown color. The females and juveniles have a reddish-brown coat, while the males become yellowish grey or darker after the age of 2 years. Males have a prominent black crest of hair on the neck. One long white stripe runs along the back, with 11-14 white stripes branching towards the sides.

Diet

Lesser Kudu are herbivorous animals, they browse or foliage from bushes and trees (shoots, twigs) and herbs. These antelopes also eat flowers and fruits if available, and take small proportions of grasses, usually in the wet season.

Breeding

No fixed breeding season is seen; births may occur at any time of the year.

Behavior

The lesser Kudu is mainly active at night and during the dawn, and seeks shelter in dense thickets just after the sunrise. The lesser Kudu exhibits no territorial behavior and fights are rare. While females are gregarious, adult males prefer being solitary.

Habitat

They inhabit dry, flat, and heavily forested regions, woodlands and hilly areas. These animals avoid open areas and long grass, preferring shaded areas with short grasses instead.

Where they are found

Lesser Kudu are native to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. in Uganda you can also find them in Kidepo Valley National Park.

Jackson’s hartebeest:(Alcelaphus buselaphus)

Appearance

The Jackson’s hartebeest also known as Kongoli, is an African antelope with an unusual flat face and only found in Uganda. Eight subspecies have been described, including two sometimes considered to be independent species. A large antelope, it has a particularly elongated forehead and oddly shaped horns, short neck, and pointed ears. Its legs, which often have black markings are usually long. Horns can reach length of 45-70 cm (18-28in) apart from its long face, the large chest and the sharply sloping back differentiate the hartebeest from other antelopes.

Diet

They are primarily grazers, with their diets consisting mainly of grasses. Between seasons they mainly feed on the culms of grasses. A study found that the hartebeest is able to digest a higher proportion of food than the topi and the wildebeest. In areas with scarce water, it can survive on melons, roots and tubers.

Breeding

Mating in hartebeest takes place throughout the year with one or two peaks, and depends upon the subspecies and local factors. Both males and females reach sexual maturity at one to two years of age. Gestation is eight to nine months long, after which a single calf is born. Births usually peak in the dry season.

Behavior

Gregarious animals, hartebeest form herds of 20 to 300 individuals. They are very alert and non-aggressive.

Habitat

Inhabiting dry savannahs and wooded grasslands, hartebeest often over to more arid places after rainfall. 

Where they are found

In Uganda you will find them in Murchison Falls protected Area.

Waterbuck: (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defessa)

Appearance

The waterbuck is of a robust build, the shaggy coat is reddish brown to grey, and becomes progressively darker with age. The common waterbuck and the defessa waterbuck are remarkably different in their physical appearances. Measurements indicate greater tail length in the latter, whereas the common waterbuck stand taller than the defessa waterbuck.

Diet

Mainly grazers, they consume types of coarse grass seldom eaten by other grazing animals and occasionally browse leaves from certain trees and bushes. They feed in the mornings and at night and rest and ruminate the remainder of the time.

Breeding

This takes place throughout the year, but births are at their peak in the rainy season. The gestation period lasts for 7-8 months, followed by the births of a single calf.

Behavior

Waterbucks are rather sedentary in nature and they can form herds consisting of 6 to 30 individuals. These groups are either nursery herds with females or bachelor herds. Males start showing territorial behavior from the age of five years, but are the most dominant from the age of six to nine. The waterbuck cannot tolerate dehydration in hot weather.

Habitat

Waterbuck inhabit scrub and savannah areas along rivers, lakes and valleys. Due to their requirement for grasslands as well as water, waterbucks have a sparse acetone distribution. Predominantly a grazer, the waterbuck is mostly found on grassland.

Where they are found

The rare sitatunga, a water-adapted antelope, is found in the interior swamps alongside papyrus gonolek and some 300 bird species. Lake Mburo is the largest of the five lakes in the park, which together attract hippo, crocodile and a variety of water birds.

Uganda kob: (Kobus kob thomasi)

Appearance

It is found in the Sub-Saharan Africa in South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Uganda kob is similar in appearance to the impala but it is more sturdily built. The Ugandan kob is normally reddish-brown, the belly and inside of the legs are white, and the front of the forelegs are black, differentiating it from other kob subspecies. A Ugandan kob appears on the coat of arms of Uganda, along with a grey crowned crane (Balearica regulorum gibbericeps), representing the abundant wildlife present in the country.

Diet

Ugandan kobs are herbivores and feed largely on grasses and reeds. The females and young males form loose groups of varying size which range according to food availability, often moving along water courses and grazing in valley bottoms.

Breeding

Females become sexually mature in their second year, but males do not start breeding until they are older. Larger populations of kob tend to have a lek mating system, females living in loose groups and only visiting the traditional breeding groups in order to mate. For this purpose, males hold small territories of up to 200m (660 ft) in diameter, the smallest territories being in the Centre of crowded leks. Calving takes place at the end of the rainy season; a single calf is born in November or December, after a gestation period of about nine months.

Behavior

Regarding the social behavior, it can be noted that kobs are diurnal species but tend to be considerably inactive during the heat of the day. The kobs thrive in groups comprised of either calves, females or only males and these can range from five (5) to forty (40) animals. Territorial behavior of the Uganda kob, is largely the defense of small, fixed territories within a central area of concentrated territorial activity. This area is surrounded by a zone of more widely spaced territories. Females enter the territorial ground throughout the year for the purpose of breeding

Habitat

It grazed the grasslands margining Lake Victoria and into southwestern Kenya, but it has been extirpated from these countries. It is typically found in open or wooded savanna, within a reasonable distance of water and it also occurs in grasslands near rivers and lakes. Its habit of lying out in open grassland makes it an accessible target for poachers and 98% of the present population are found in national parks and other protected areas.

Where they are found

Greatly found along the northern savannah, the kob antelope is greatly encountered in the Uganda safari parks of Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth, the Congo’s Virunga and Garamba National Parks and the flood grassy plains of South Sudan.