Home – Western, Central, and Eastern Africa
Habitat – grasslands and tropical forest
Niche – large herbivore
Favorite Food – grass
Length – up to 8 feet, nose to tail tip
Weight – up to nearly 700 pounds
Status – Lower Risk for Extinction
Threats – hunting, habitat loss
Waterbucks get their name from their main defense against predators on the African Savanna. When threatened, they will bolt to the nearest body of water and quickly submerge themselves. Although it’s not the most daring way to save skin, lions don’t swim. The French also gave a name to these giant antelopes that didn’t quite stick through the ages – greasy kob. The name refers to an oily secretion produced on the fur that acts as a smell signature for other waterbucks as far away as 500 miles.
Despite its ability to evade land predators, life is still difficult for a large, tasty herbivore on the vast grasslands of Africa. Fewer than 20% of males will live long enough to defend their own territory against other males during the mating season. The male waterbucks that do pass this rite of dominance are left with something besides a plentiful supply of females. Waterbuck territories are carved out bordering rivers and ponds, where the grass is greener and the avenue of escape is wider.
Waterbucks are among the more common antelope in Africa, owing to their wide distribution and better adaptability to marshy environments than their relatives. Apart from crocodiles and lions, the biggest threat to waterbucks is man. They thrive on both grassland and plentiful fresh water, so if either shrinks, then so will waterbuck populations.
Home – Southeast Africa
Habitat – moist grassland
Niche – Large grassland herbivore
Favorite Food – grass
Length – between 6 and 8 feet long
Weight – between 300 and 650 pounds
Status – Lower Risk
Threats – Habitat loss from ranching and farming
From a distance, the sable antelope looks like a small horse with horns. Although both the male and the female sables have the same markings on their bodies, the male is jet black and the female is a golden brown. Their fantastical appearance brings African unicorns to mind.
Sable antelope are peculiar relatives of horses, sheep, and goats. Both sexes sport two heavily-ringed horns the size and shape of curved swords atop their heads. These are the mark of their species, how males will determine dominance, and how the next generation will come about as a result.
The dry season has ended in Central Africa on a wide strip of grassland running from Kenya to South Africa. During this difficult season, the local sable antelopes had gathered into herds of 100 or more to protect young and locate food. But now, as the rain comes down with force to mark the opening of the new season, things get wet. It’s the mating season and the males have broken off into small gangs to prowl the moist grasslands for females. In fact, sable antelope prefer moister grasslands than most of their antelope cousins. For these young men, finding the ladies is only half the battle. The real test comes when the gang members square off for breeding rights.
Dipping his head into a bow, the dominant male shows off his gravitas to others thirsting to challenge him. There’s a lot at stake. Whichever sable antelope male earns the wary submission of the others gets to mate with a harem of females, sometimes 20 strong. Big horns, loud snorts, and dogged willpower decide the day.
When the dominant male has driven off the competition, he corrals his prize (often less than willing) to the territory he now controls. You might say sable antelope society is something like the human equivalent of territorial rule by warlords. A handful of males in a region control a zone of land and everything in it, but not beyond. Stout-hearted male sables have been observed defending and holding their territory for two years or more.
Although a big 600 pound male can drive even formidable predators from his territory, he doesn’t have such a cordial time of it with humans. After years of neglect by the developed world except for the exploitation of its living and physical resources, Africa is coming into its own. And as the young continent starts to assert its own destiny in the 21st century, the future of the sable antelope – alongside all the great mammals of the Serengeti, will once again be directed by one of two paths: one towards conservation or one of destruction.
