eland
What are the two species of eland?
Where can the giant eland be found?
How do elands use their horns?
eland, either of two species of very large, oxlike African antelopes of the spiral-horned antelope tribe (Tragelaphini, family Bovidae), which also includes the bushbuck and the kudus. Formerly classified in the genus Taurotragus, several taxonomies place elands in the genus Tragelaphus, along with bushbucks, nyalas, and sitatungas. The giant eland (T. derbianus), which is also known as the greater eland, the Derby eland, or Lord Derby’s eland, is a woodland antelope that often feeds on the broad-leaved doka tree (Isoberlinia doka), whereas the common, or Cape, eland (T. oryx) frequents woodlands, plains, mountains, and arid grasslands. The elands are the largest of all antelopes.
Giant elands are divided into two subspecies, the eastern giant eland (T. derbianus gigas), whose range extends across central Africa from Nigeria to Sudan and Uganda, and the western giant eland (T. derbianus derbianus), which is limited to three reserves in Senegal. Some taxonomies recognize three subspecies of common elands (T. oryx oryx, T. oryx livingstonii, and T. oryx pattersonianus); however, they are not universally recognized. The range of the common eland spans large parts of central and southern Africa.
Natural history
Bulls of both species attain shoulder heights of 150–180 cm (59–71 inches), body lengths of up to 340 cm (11 feet), and can weigh as much as 1 metric ton (2,200 pounds). Males mature at seven years and continue to add bulk with age, whereas females are mature by four years and remain much slimmer, with a shoulder height of 120–150 cm (47–59 inches) and a weight of 317–470 kg (699–1,036 pounds).
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The common eland is tawny with up to 12 white torso stripes and dark markings, which include foreleg garters, a short dorsal crest and neck mane, and the tuft of the hock-length tail. Color is paler with indistinct markings in the southern subspecies (T. oryx oryx). A dewlap, present in both sexes, grows long and pendulous in bulls, which also turn darker and develop a thick, black forehead tuft. The horns are straight with one or two screwlike spirals; horns are usually longer and thinner in females.
The giant eland is reddish brown with a blackish neck and vertical white striping. It has large, rounded ears. Its horns are heavier and more widely divergent than those of the common eland; they stretch up to 123 cm (48 inches) long in bulls.
The giant eland is known to form herds of up to 60 animals, but it is more elusive and less sociable than the common eland, which sometimes aggregates in herds of hundreds on open plains (up to 500 in Serengeti National Park). The average, however, is a dozen or less, and herd membership is very fluid. Large herds invariably include numerous calves, whose strong mutual attraction forces mothers to remain in attendance. Though bulls often accompany female herds, they commonly associate in separate bachelor herds, which occupy smaller home ranges (50 square km [19 square miles], compared with 400 square km [154 square miles] for females in one Kenyan study) and denser woodland. Senior bulls often wander alone seeking mating opportunities, announcing themselves by the loud clicking of their forelegs as they walk.
Elands are both browsers and grazers. They feed mainly on green grass during the rains and then switch to the foliage of dicots during the dry season. Both sexes use their horns to break off branches too high to grasp with their lips and tongue.
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- Kingdom: Animalia
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Artiodactyla
- Family: Bovidae
- Genus: Tragelaphus
The giant eland (T. derbianus) is classified as a Vulnerable Species; the common eland (T. oryx) is classified as a Species of Least Concern.
The common eland has been domesticated in South Africa and Russia. In parks where they are well protected, bulls become quite tame. Paradoxically, the eland is usually the shyest of all African antelopes, possibly because bulk makes it short-winded: elands can trot for hours and are prodigious high jumpers (they spring over one another and 2-metre [7-foot] fences effortlessly), but they cannot sustain a gallop. Their size offers protection from other predators, and females with calves mount a group defense against lions, unlike most other antelopes.
Conservation status
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) listed both elands as species of least concern through 2016. On the basis of the common eland’s large adult population, which numbered roughly 100,000 individuals in the 2010s, the IUCN continues to classify it as an non-threatened species. However, the IUCN has marked the giant eland as a vulnerable species, because of the ongoing conversion of its habitat to agriculture and hunting by trophy hunters and poachers has reduced its population to fewer than 10,000 adults. While the eastern giant eland (T. derbianus gigas) numbers more than 15,000 animals, the population of the highly endangered western giant eland (T. derbianus derbianus) has fallen to roughly 250. Without effective protection in its last refuges in Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park and on private game reserve, the only hope for this subspecies’ survival is a captive breeding program.