Overview
A large, stately antelope with a shaggy coat and long, impressive horns. The back is level and the head is held high. Ears are large and rounded, white inside and tipped with black. Tail is moderately long with a dark tip. Overall color varies from reddish to dark brown. There is a long, white stripe above and before the eyes, and the end of the muzzle is white. Sometimes, there is a white patch under the throat. Legs are darker than the body, with a white ring above the hoofs. Rump markings vary from a solid white patch in the defassa races to a large white ring around the tail root in the common races. The coat is coarse and shaggy and is impregnated with an oily secretion from skin glands; therefore, its color in the field is largely determined by the color of the soil and the amount of burnt ash on the bush. The horns (males only) are heavily ringed, rising backward and upward in a single curve. Females are similar to males, but a little smaller and without horns.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammal
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Bovidae
- Genus
- Kobus
- Species
- Kobus ellipsiprymnus
Habitat
Woodlands, forests, and grasslands with nearby water sources. Distribution- The Webi Shebeli river valley in southeastern Ethiopia; the Juba and Webi Shebeli river valleys in Somalia; essentially east of the Rift Valley in Kenya and Tanzania; east of the Rift Valley in the middle Zambezi and Luangwa valleys in Zambia; Malawi; Mozambique; east of the Kwando River in the Caprivi Strip of Namibia; eastern and northern Botswana; Zimbabwe; and eastern and northern Transvaal in South Africa. Its distribution slightly overlaps that of the typical defassa along the Rift Valley in Kenya and Tanzania, and that of the Crawshay defassa in the Rift Valley in Zambia.
Diet
Their habitat furnishes them with a year-round source of food. Mainly grazers, they consume types of coarse grass seldom eaten by other grazing animals and occasionally browse leaves from certain trees and bushes.
Behavior
Although males do compete for and hold territories, the waterbuck is generally a quiet, sedentary animal. Like some other antelopes, the male does not mark his territory with dung or urine, as his presence and smell are apparently sufficient. He tries to retain females that wander into his area, but is seldom successful for long, since the females have large home ranges and, in herds of 5 to 25, are constantly crossing in and out of males territories. Waterbucks do not migrate or move great distances, so territories are usually held year round.
Hunting
When hunting waterbuck, good binoculars will be essential, as they can be spotted from quite some distance on the open grasslands and flood plains where they are most often found. While having excellent eyesight and hearing, the waterbuck is not as difficult to approach as other African plains game.
Conservation Status
Listed as Least Concern by IUCN.