Common Eland

About the common eland

The common eland, also called the southern eland or eland antelope, is a large savannah and plains antelope of East and Southern Africa, first scientifically described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1766. It is a spiral-horned antelope in the family Bovidae, and it is markedly sexually dimorphic. An adult male stands around 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) at the shoulder and can weigh up to 942 kilograms (2,077 pounds), with a typical range of 500 to 600 kilograms (1,100 to 1,300 pounds); some accounts put maximum male weight as high as 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds). Females stand around 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) tall and weigh 340 to 445 kilograms (750 to 981 pounds). Both sexes carry spiral-ridged horns resembling those of the bushbuck — males' horns are thicker, shorter, and more tightly spiraled, at 43 to 66 centimeters (17 to 26 inches), while females' are longer and less tightly coiled, reaching 51 to 69 centimeters (20 to 27 inches).

Coat appearance varies geographically: elands in the northern part of the range show torso stripes, leg markings, dark garters, and a spinal crest that are absent farther south. Females have tan coats, while males darken with a bluish-grey tinge as they age and develop dense forehead fur and a large throat dewlap. The common eland is the slowest antelope, with a peak speed of about 40 km/h (25 mph) that tires it quickly, though it can trot at 22 km/h (14 mph) indefinitely, and it can jump up to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) from a standing start when startled. Herds are often accompanied by a distinctive clicking sound, thought to result from the two halves of the hoof snapping together as the animal walks — a noise that may carry as a form of communication.

Three subspecies are recognized, though their validity has been disputed: the Cape eland (T. o. oryx) of southern and southwestern Africa, which loses its stripes as an adult; Livingstone's eland (T. o. livingstonii) of the Central Zambezian miombo woodlands, with up to 12 stripes; and the East African or Patterson's eland (T. o. pattersonianus), also striped, named for naturalist John Henry Patterson.

Behavior and diet

Common elands are nomadic and crepuscular, feeding in the morning and evening, resting in shade during heat, and staying in the sun when cold. They form herds of up to 500, though individual membership is loose, ranging from several hours to several months. Juveniles and mothers tend to form the largest herds, while males often travel in smaller groups or alone; in Southern Africa, elands frequently associate with zebras, roan antelopes, and oryxes. They communicate through gestures, vocalizations, scent cues, and the flehmen response, and bulls that spot a predator bark and trot back and forth to alert the rest of the herd to danger. Lions, African wild dogs, cheetahs, and spotted hyenas are among their main predators, with calves especially vulnerable.

The species is mainly herbivorous, browsing on leaves during the drier winter and grazing more in the rainy season when grasses are abundant and nutritious. It requires a high-protein diet of succulent leaves from flowering plants but can subsist on lower-quality forbs, shrubs, seeds, and tubers when necessary, and uses its horns to break off hard-to-reach branches. Most water comes from food, though elands drink when it's available.

Females reach sexual maturity at 15 to 36 months and males at 4 to 5 years, with mating concentrated in the rainy season. Males chase and test the urine of females to assess estrus, and competition between suitors can lead to horn-to-horn fights before a female allows the dominant male to mount. After a nine-month gestation, a female gives birth to a single calf; roughly 24 hours later, mother and calf rejoin the female group, while the calf joins a nursery group of similarly aged young until it is old enough, at around two years, to join a male or female group of its own.

Range and habitat

The common eland is native to Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, though it is no longer found in Burundi. It favors semiarid areas with shrub-like bushes and inhabits grasslands, woodlands, subdesert, bush, and mountaintops at altitudes up to about 15,000 feet (4,600 meters), avoiding forests, swamps, and deserts. It can be found in numerous national parks and reserves, including Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, Masai Mara in Kenya, and Kruger National Park in South Africa. Home ranges span 200 to 400 square kilometers for females and juveniles and about 50 square kilometers for males.

Conservation status

The common eland is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, though its population is decreasing, with low densities in parts of Africa attributed to poaching and human settlement. The species is used by humans for leather and meat and has been domesticated in parts of southern Africa; its milk contains more butterfat than cow's milk and can be stored for up to eight months.