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| SCIENTIFIC
CLASSIFICATION |
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| COMMON
NAME: |
common
eland |
| KINGDOM: |
Animalia |
| PHYLUM: |
Chordata |
| CLASS: |
Mammalia |
| ORDER: |
Artiodactyla |
| FAMILY: |
Bovidae |
| GENUS
SPECIES: |
Taurotragus
(goat like bull) oryx (antelope) |
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| DESCRIPTION: |
The
eland is one of the largest antelopes. It has fawn
coloring and long black spiral horns on both male
and female. |
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| SIZE: |
Approximately
1.36-1.8 m (4.5-6 ft.) |
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| WEIGHT: |
|
| MALE |
400-1000
kg (880-2200 lb.) |
| FEMALE |
136.4-272.7
kg (300-600 lb.) |
|
| DIET: |
Herbivore
- includes leaves and fruit |
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| GESTATION: |
Gestation
lasts approximately 8-9 months; one offspring is
born at a time |
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| SEXUAL
MATURITY: |
|
| MALE |
About
4 years |
| FEMALE |
About
3 years |
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| LIFE
SPAN: |
8-10
years in the wild |
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| RANGE: |
Eastern
and Southern Africa, Drakensburg Mountains |
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| HABITAT: |
Inhabits
sparse forests and brush; open territory to semi-deserts |
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| POPULATION: |
GLOBAL |
No
data |
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| STATUS: |
IUCN |
Lower
Risk/Conservation Dependent |
| CITES |
Not
listed |
| USFWS |
Not
listed |
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|
| 1. |
The eland is the largest African bovid, but the
slowest antelope. It can only run about 25 mph,
but it can jump 10 feet from a standing start. |
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| 2. |
When walking, tendon or joints in the eland's foreleg
produce a sharp clicking sound, the cause of which
has not been widely investigated. The sound carries
some distance and is a good indication of an approaching
herd. Some scientists believe it may be a form of
communication - if a male is walking through his
territory, the clicking which can be heard for up
to a mile away, may alert another eland about this
territory. |
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|
| 3. |
It shares characteristics with the ox such as a
thick neck and Brahman Bull-like dewlap (especially
in males). |
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| 4. |
It
is one of the most adaptable ruminants, able to
live in a wide array of environments, from desert
to savanna, grassland to mountain. The only environments
not suitable for an eland are swamps, forest, and
deserts. |
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|
| 5. |
Like
its distant gazelle and oryx relatives, the eland
can conserve water by raising its body temperature
as much as 7° Celsius (13.5° Fahrenheit)
on hot days. |
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|
| 6. |
Elands
can also vary their diet, breaking off high branches
with their horns. |
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| Elands
are an important food source for many larger predators,
especially cheetahs, lions, hyenas, African wild
dogs, etc.
They
have disappeared from large sections of their
former range due mainly to over-hunting and habitat
loss.
They
are considered docile and easily tamed. Africa
is attempting to domesticate them for meat and
milk production. Eland milk has almost three times
the fat and double the protein of milk from dairy
cows.
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|
|
Estes, R.D. The Safari Companion: A Guide to
Watching African Mammals. Vermont: Chelsea Green
Publishing Co., 1993. |
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Gotch, A.F. Mammals-Their Latin Names Explained.
Poole, U.K.: Blandford Press Btd., 1979. |
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|
Nowak, Ronald (ed.). Walkers Mammals of the
World. Vol. II, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1991.
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| Parker,
S.P. , (ed.). Grizmek's Encyclopedia of Mammals.
Vol 5. New York: McGraw Hill Pub. Co., 1990. |
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