African Antelopes:

What much facts do you know about different species of African Antelopes?

The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. that is to say 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. The antelope may only graze on grasses but it is 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 swampy areas, the forested places and pure desert regions.Therefore they are found in many national parks in Kenya, Rwanda, and other countries within the same region but particularly in Uganda, they are found in almost every park.

Uganda-African Antelopes and types.
Uganda is one of the countries with such a huge population of Antelopes and they are distributed across all the 10 national parks. Many of them are found in Lake Mburo, Queen Elizabeth, Kidepo valley, Murchison fall, Semliki national park, among other game reserves.The Savanna grassland and rainforests of Africa continent makes it a great home to the largest species of antelopes,deer and wild goat. Some of the elegant antelopes in Uganda includes Eland, Kudu, Jackson's hartebeest, and Water buck and Uganda kob.

Eland:  (Taurotragus oryx)

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

Diet; Mainly an herbivore and its diet is primarily grasses 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 2–4 hours 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 9 months, and give birth to only one calf each time.

Behaviour; Common elands are nomadic and crepuscular. They eat in the morning and evening, rest in 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. During entus, mainly in the rainy season, groups tend to form more regularly. But 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, and open and montane grasslands; it avoids dense forests. Communication is carried out by loud barks, postural 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.

Spoor Description; The female elands are smaller than the males. Males and females both have horns that form a tight spiral, though females' horns are generally longer and thinner.


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 on 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.

Behaviour; 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 behaviour, 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.

Spoor Description; Horns are present only on males and are dark brown and tipped with white in color.


Jackson's hartebeest:  (Alcelaphus buselaphus)
 

Appearance; The Jackson's hartebeest has . The hartebeest ⁽Alcelaphus buselaphus), also known as
kongoni, is an African antelope with an unusual flat face and only found in Uganda Eight subspeciest 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 unusually long. Horns can reach lengths of 45–70 cm (18–28 in). 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.

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

Habitat; Inhabiting dry savannas and wooded grasslands, hartebeest often move to more arid places after rainfall. They are more tolerant of high grass and woods other than alcetaphines

Where they are found; In Uganda you will find this antelope in Murchison Falls Protected Area.

Spoor Description; Both sexes of all subspecies have horns, with those of females being more slender.

 Waterbuck: (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa)

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 defassa waterbuck are remarkably different in their physical appearances. Measurements indicate greater tail length in the latter, whereas the common waterbuck stand taller than the defassa 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 seven to eight months, followed by the birth of a single calf.

Behaviour; Waterbuck are rather sedentary in nature. A gregarious animal, the waterbuck may form herds consisting of six to 30 individuals. These groups are either nursery herds with females and their offspring or bachelor herds. Males start showing territorial behaviour from the age of five years, but are most dominant from the age of six to nine. The waterbuck cannot tolerate dehydration in hot weather.

Habitat; Waterbuck inhabit scrub and savannat areas along rivers, lakes and valleys. Due to their requirement for grasslands as well as water, the waterbuck have a sparse ecotone 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 gonalek and some 300 bird species. Lake Mburo is the largest of the five lakes in this park, which together attract hippo, crocodile and a variety of water birds.

Spoor description;
Males are taller as well as heavier than females. The coat colour varies from brown to grey. The long, spiral horns, present only on males, curve backward.

Uganda kob:

 
Appearance; The Ugandan kob (Kobus kob thomasi) is a subspecies of the kob, a type of antelope. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa in South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Ugandan 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 watercourses 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, the females living in loose groups and only visiting the traditional breeding grounds in order to mate. For this purpose, males hold small territories of up to 200 m (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, Adenota kob thomasi, 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 make 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.

Spoor description; Only the males have horns, which are lyre-shaped, strongly ridged and divergent. Males are slightly larger than females