Serengeti is home to almost 20 species of antelope of which the wildebeest is one. The largest antelope is the Patterson's eland (Taurotragus oryx) that weighs up to 900 kg and stands 1.7 meters at the shoulder.
They are dull fawn in color, often with vertical white stripes on their bodies. Older bulls tend to become blue-grey and calves are a reddish-brown. Both sexes have horns that are laid back, spiraled and ridged.
Their preferred habitat is shrub and grassland, and they are mainly browsers who feed at night when the vegetation has more moisture. They range over large areas, but are not territorial. In summer months they form large herds that may number several hundred.
They trot rather than gallop, fight vigorously to defend their calves and fight each other, sometimes resulting in fatalities. The low cholesterol content of their milk, and their meat, is particularly valued.
Two other large antelope the visitor will see are kongoni, a Swahili word for Coke's hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), and topi (Damaliscus korrigum). Despite the similarity in their shapes they can readily be told apart.
The hartebeest is yellowish to tawny in color with a reddish saddle while the topi is brick red with definite blue-black markings on the face and hindquarters. The topi s horns are broad and rimmed while the hartebeest's are slightly ridged and bent sharply outwards.
Both are savanna animals. But while the larger hartebeest congregates in smaller herds, the topi may link up in huge herds numbering several hundreds when migrating. Both are fast runners.
Two other antelope you will also see which can be readily identified are the Defassa waterbuck (Kobus defassa) and impala (Aepyceros melampus).
Waterbuck in the Serengeti are generally lighter in body color than the common waterbuck found in southern Africa; and the white rump circle of its southern cousin is more a broad white patch. However, these two species are very similar in other respects.
They are stocky animals with short legs, grayish-brown in color, with white collars. Their coats are rough and shaggy, the horns (worn by males only) sweep upwards in a smooth curve and they have a strong goat-like smell. Males weigh about 270 kg.
In contrast, the impala is a much more delicate-looking antelope, although sometimes cruelly referred to as "the goat of the plains" because of the way it vacuums everything edible, degrading areas for other species such as waterbuck.
Medium-sized, weighing about 50 kg, its upperparts are reddish, becoming whiter on the belly, chin, chest and throat. The buttocks have vertical black stripes and there is a tuft of black hair above the hoof of each hind leg.
Only males have horns that are long, sweeping backwards and then forwards. Their preferred habitat is open savannah woodland and they will not be found on the southern short grass-plains of the Serengeti.
Males are territorial during rutting and they snort, grunt and roar their disapproval at intruding rams while unendingly trying to herd in their ewes, who in some cases number as many as 30. They both graze and browse.
Two other smaller antelope to be found in the vicinity of kopjes are Kirk's dikdik (Rhynchotragus kirki) and klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus).
Dikdik maybe found in wooded areas at the base of kopjes. They weigh about four kg, with the female slightly larger than the male. They are drab-grey, have large, luminous eyes that are white ringed, and pointed noses. Only males are horned.
Klipspringers are to be found on rocks in the northern parts of the park, particularly in the Lobo area. They weigh 10 to 13 kg, have coarse, spiky hair which is yellow-brown to grey-yellow, and creamy under parts, chins and lips. They are the only antelopes to walk on the tips of their hooves and are extremely agile and sure-footed on the kopjes. Only males have horns and both species make a nasal whistling sound.
Also in the northern area, you may see grey bush duiker (Sylvicaprn grimmia) and Cotton's oribi (Ourebia ourebi). The oribi is the largest of the small antelope weighing about 14 kg. They look like small gazelles, have distinctive reddish-fawn coats, black-tipped noses and tails and circular gland patch below the ears.
They are to be found in open short grasslands with patches of taller grass providing cover and they whistle sharply when disturbed.
The Serengeti duiker range in weight from four to 80 kg, are grey-buff in colour and, like oribi, only the males normally have horns.
Two species of reedbuck are found in the Serengeti. These are Mountain or Chanler's reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula) in the Lobo area and on higher ridges, and Bohor reedbuck (Pelea capreolus) that live around reed lands.
The mountain species is grey-fawn in color over most of its body, with white under parts. In contrast, the Bohor reedbuck is yellowish to pale red-brown with black markings on its forelegs. Both species have short, forward-pointing, horns.
One other antelope, which you are unlikely to see unless you venture well off the beaten track, is the Roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus). They are the second largest antelopes after the eland, weighing about 270 kg, and occur in fairly inaccessible country on the Ndoha Plain in the southwest of the Western Corridor.
Their general color is grayish-brown tinted with red and they have very distinct white muzzles and eye patches. Both sexes carry horns that are heavily ridged, swept back and curved. They live in small herds led by a mature bull with a dominant female who selects feeding areas.
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