Kobus ellipsiprymnus

Waterbuck (scientific name: Kobus ellipsiprymnus) is called Waterbuck in English, Cobe onctueux in French, Afrikaans in Afrikaans, and Wasserbock in German. There are 13 subspecies.

Waterbuck is an animal active during the day. There are generally about 30 heads in a family. After giving birth to young, female waterbucks gather into large groups of dozens to hundreds of them. Males are most powerful at the age of 6-7. They will occupy 150-625 acres of territory and fight with other males to protect their territory. This territory won by strength can be protected until about ten years old. Waterbucks have an unpleasant smell. Generally, lions will not hunt them unless they are very hungry.

Waterbucks are herbivorous animals that like wet grass in flooded areas. In order to get food, waterbucks can go to the water deep to their belly to forage. In dry and cold weather, waterbucks do not need to drink water, but in dry weather, they need a certain amount of water. Even drink three times a day. Male and female antelopes generally do not live together. Female antelopes and young antelopes mostly live by the water, while male antelopes do not have a high demand for water, so they mostly live on land far away from water sources. Males usually form a bachelor group with other adult males. During the estrus period, they will fight with other males for the first right to mate. Female groups are more open and may change the composition or size of the group at any time. There is no fixed leader in the group. In each group, except for the mother antelope and the calf within one year after giving birth, there is little interaction between other individuals. Waterbucks are active a few hours before and after sunrise.

During the mating season, waterbucks will form a mating area. Because the habitat of waterbucks will change due to unstable river water. Female antelopes will enter the mating area on the first day of the estrus period to mate with one or more male antelopes. In the mating area, the leading male controls the area, but when it is exhausted, other male antelopes will take over. Female antelopes reach sexual maturity at 12-14 months, while male antelopes reach sexual maturity at 14 to 18 months. They mate during the rainy season from September to February of the following year, and most of the young antelopes are born after the rainy season (August to November). The gestation period is 8.5-9 months, with one calf per litter, and rarely two calves. Female antelopes generally choose to give birth alone or in a small group. They will find a dry and hidden place, and the young antelopes will hide in the birthing place for two to three weeks after giving birth. The female antelope feeds the young antelope in the morning and evening. After three weeks, the young antelope will form a group of young antelopes with other young antelopes, but the young antelopes are still dependent on the mother antelope. The striking white circle on the mother's buttocks is the identification mark of the young antelope. The group size is about 50 young antelopes. The young antelopes are weaned when they are 6 or 7 months old and begin to learn to be independent.

In the Ongwa Wilderness Reserve in Namibia, 49-year-old amateur photographer Ingrid Boonser captured a strange waterbuck. One of its horns was bent downward and tilted to one side, which was very eye-catching. Boonser, a native of Cologne, Germany, had traveled in Africa for many years. Before this, she had never seen such a strange waterbuck. "When I saw this waterbuck, I was determined to take a picture of it," said Boonser. "It was really unusual. I had never seen anything like it before. I didn't know why its horns were bent like this, and it didn't seem to care much." Boonser, who works for a publishing company, pointed out: "I think this phenomenon is very unique and rare. If a lion is close to you and poses well, everyone can take a perfect picture. Although this waterbuck is ordinary in other aspects, its horns are really unique. I may only have this opportunity to take a picture once in my life.

More than half of the waterbucks live in protected areas, with about 60% of the Deer's waterbuck and more than half of the common waterbuck in protected areas, and the other 13% on private land (East 1999). The species is found in Niokolo-Koba (Senegal), Comoe (Cote d’Ivoire), Arly-Singou, Nazinga (Burkina Faso), Mole and Bui (Ghana), Pendjari (Benin), national parks and game reserves in the North Province (Cameroon), Manovo-Gounda-St, Floris (Central African Republic), Mukalaba (Gabon), Garamba and Virunga (Congo-Kinshasa), Awash Valley and Omomagumule (Ethiopia), Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda), Serengeti, Movonoshi-Kigoshi, Ugala River and Katavi-Rukwa (Tanzania), Kafue (Zambia), but about half of these species have declined due to poaching. Important populations of common waterbuck occur in Tsavo, Laikipia, Kajiado, Lake Nakuru and coastal rangelands in Kenya, Tarangire and Selous-Mikumi in Tanzania, Luangwa Valley in Zambia and Hluhluwe-Umfolozi in Kruger and private lands (South Africa).

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2016 ver3.1 - Least Concern (LC).

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Origin: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya; Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Possibly extinct and wandering: Gambia.
Waterbucks live mostly in humid areas such as swamps and prefer wetlands near water because wetlands are easy to get drinking water and food. Especially floodplains containing wet plants. When the river floods during the rainy season, waterbucks will migrate to the bushes. They will graze in the bushes and savannahs near water. Although they are very good at swimming and can swim quickly to escape when they encounter danger, they usually don't like to enter the water.

Waterbuck is a medium-sized antelope, 100-130 cm tall at the shoulder, 177-235 cm long, 33-40 cm long tail, and 150-250 kg in weight. The body color is mainly reddish brown or chestnut, with white on the abdomen, throat, mouth, and outer ring of the eyes. The fur color of male antelopes deepens with age, and generally has black or red spots. The color of the spots varies slightly with different subspecies. The biggest feature is a ring of white hair on the buttocks, forming a white circle with the tail as the center. Only male antelopes have horns, which are slender and about 45-92 cm long. The shape of the hoof is suitable for this species to move in swamps.
They have the common characteristics of bovines, with a strong physique and legs suitable for long-distance running. They have four toes on their feet, but the lateral toes are more degenerate than those of deer, which are suitable for running. The incisors and canines are degenerate, but the lower incisors are retained, and th