The topi ( Damaliscus lunatus ) is a common African antelope related to the blesbok, hartebeest, and wildebeest. In East Africa, it is known as the topi, while in southern Africa, it is called the sassaby or tsessebe. Topis are lean animals built for speed, with males averaging 115 cm high, weighing 130 kg, and having horns 30–40 cm long; females are about 20 percent smaller. Topis have variable social and mating systems, from small herds to large aggregations, and males must own territory to reproduce. They are territorial, and during mating season, as many as 100 males crowd together in arenas, where a few monopolize mating with females.

What makes the topi a mammal?

The topi is classified as a mammal because it possesses key characteristics unique to this group of vertebrate animals. Mammalian traits of the topi include the presence of mammary glands in females, which produce milk to nourish their young. Like other mammals, the topi has hair, though this feature may be absent in some other mammals. Additionally, the topi shares skeletal features such as a lower jaw hinged directly to the skull and a chain of three tiny bones that transmit sound waves across the middle ear. A muscular diaphragm separates the heart and lungs from the abdominal cavity.

Where do topis live in the wild?

Topis are widespread antelopes found in Africa. They are most common on the vast floodplains of the northern savanna and adjacent arid zones, with large populations in South Sudan. These antelopes often gather in herds of hundreds on wide plains and migrate between wet and dry season feeding grounds. During mating season, male topis establish leks, or breeding arenas, on wide plains.

What do topis eat and how do they find their food?

The topi, found in East Africa, is a lean antelope built for speed. As grazers, topis primarily eat grasses, and they will migrate great distances to find suitable pastures. They are dependent on feeding areas not being covered by too much snow or shriveled under a drought. Topis often aggregate in hundreds and become migratory where the distance between wet and dry season feeding grounds is long. During the rainy season, plains zebras migrate to find these more succulent pastures.

How do topis protect themselves from predators?

The topi is a lean animal built for speed, which helps it to avoid predators. Many animals use rapid locomotion to escape predators. Escape may be facilitated by the speed of response, which makes it difficult for a predator to predict the behavior of a prospective meal.

How do topis care for their young and live in groups?

Topis exhibit diverse social and mating behaviors, but all revolve around territoriality. They live in groups ranging from small herds of 2–10 females and their offspring to huge migratory aggregations. During the mating season, topi social systems vary from resident small herds to migratory aggregations. Males must own property to reproduce and may defend territories of 50–400 hectares year after year in wooded savanna. On wide plains, they form temporary territories or join migrations, reestablishing territories upon resettlement. Topi females calve toward the end of the dry season after an eight-month gestation, and the single calf hides for up to three weeks.

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Also called:: tsessebe or sassaby

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topi

mammal

Also known as: Damaliscus lunatus, sassaby, tsessebe

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Richard Estes

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What is a topi?
The topi (Damaliscus lunatus) is a common African antelope related to the blesbok, hartebeest, and wildebeest. In East Africa, it is known as the topi, while in southern Africa, it is called the sassaby or tsessebe. Topis are lean animals built for speed, with males averaging 115 cm high, weighing 130 kg, and having horns 30–40 cm long; females are about 20 percent smaller. Topis have variable social and mating systems, from small herds to large aggregations, and males must own territory to reproduce. They are territorial, and during mating season, as many as 100 males crowd together in arenas, where a few monopolize mating with females.
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1. topi
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What makes the topi a mammal?
The topi is classified as a mammal because it possesses key characteristics unique to this group of vertebrate animals. Mammalian traits of the topi include the presence of mammary glands in females, which produce milk to nourish their young. Like other mammals, the topi has hair, though this feature may be absent in some other mammals. Additionally, the topi shares skeletal features such as a lower jaw hinged directly to the skull and a chain of three tiny bones that transmit sound waves across the middle ear. A muscular diaphragm separates the heart and lungs from the abdominal cavity.
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Where do topis live in the wild?
Topis are widespread antelopes found in Africa. They are most common on the vast floodplains of the northern savanna and adjacent arid zones, with large populations in South Sudan.

These antelopes often gather in herds of hundreds on wide plains and migrate between wet and dry season feeding grounds. During mating season, male topis establish leks, or breeding arenas, on wide plains.
1 Britannica Source
1. topi
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What do topis eat and how do they find their food?
The topi, found in East Africa, is a lean antelope built for speed. As grazers, topis primarily eat grasses, and they will migrate great distances to find suitable pastures. They are dependent on feeding areas not being covered by too much snow or shriveled under a drought.

Topis often aggregate in hundreds and become migratory where the distance between wet and dry season feeding grounds is long. During the rainy season, plains zebras migrate to find these more succulent pastures.
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How do topis protect themselves from predators?
The topi is a lean animal built for speed, which helps it to avoid predators. Many animals use rapid locomotion to escape predators. Escape may be facilitated by the speed of response, which makes it difficult for a predator to predict the behavior of a prospective meal.
2 Britannica Sources
1. avoidance behaviour: Fleeing and escape
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How do topis care for their young and live in groups?
Topis exhibit diverse social and mating behaviors, but all revolve around territoriality. They live in groups ranging from small herds of 2–10 females and their offspring to huge migratory aggregations.

During the mating season, topi social systems vary from resident small herds to migratory aggregations. Males must own property to reproduce and may defend territories of 50–400 hectares year after year in wooded savanna. On wide plains, they form temporary territories or join migrations, reestablishing territories upon resettlement.

Topi females calve toward the end of the dry season after an eight-month gestation, and the single calf hides for up to three weeks.
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1. topi
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topi, (Damaliscus lunatus), one of Africa’s most common and most widespread antelopes. It is a member of the tribe Alcelaphini (family Bovidae), which also includes the blesbok, hartebeest, and wildebeest. Damaliscus lunatus is known as the topi in East Africa and as the sassaby or tsessebe in southern Africa.

A lean, sleek animal built for sustained speed, the topi looks like a smaller and darker hartebeest, with higher forequarters sloping to lower hindquarters, but it has a less-elongated head and ordinary-looking horns, which are similar in both sexes. The largest populations occur on the vast floodplains of the northern savanna and in adjacent arid zones, notably in South Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of the tiang subspecies (D. lunatus tiang) once migrated in search of green pastures and may still be numerous despite decades of war in that region. Females are about 20 percent smaller but otherwise are similar to males, which average 115 cm (45 inches) high and 130 kg (290 pounds), with horns 30–40 cm (12–16 inches) long. The tsessebe has weaker, crescent-moon-shaped horns (hence lunatus from the Latin for “moon”) and is also the least colourful subspecies. The basic tan coloration with dark blotches on the upper limbs intensifies toward the north and east, with the most colourful coat being the reddish brown of the East African topi—made more conspicuous by reverse countershading (lighter above and darker below). Young calves of all varieties are a similar light tan without markings.

The topi has one of the most variable social and mating systems of all the antelopes. Social systems range from resident small herds to huge migratory aggregations and from large individual territories to breeding arenas, or leks, where males crowd together and compete to inseminate females. However, all the variations are on a territorial theme: males must own property in order to reproduce. In wooded savanna where the preferred open grassland is patchy, males may hold on to territories of 50–400 hectares (125–1,000 acres) year after year, leaving only to drink or commute to areas where the first vegetation has grown after fires in the dry season. Herds of 2–10 females and their offspring of the year live in traditional home ranges that may include only a few territories. On wide plains, topi often aggregate in hundreds (formerly in thousands) and are mobile, becoming migratory where the distance between wet-season and dry-season feeding grounds is long. There males can only afford to hold temporary territories or risk being left behind; therefore, they join the migration but reestablish a territorial network as soon as the aggregation resettles.

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During a mating season of about three months, leks are established at high density on wide plains in certain spots regularly occupied or traversed by large aggregations. (Only two other antelopes are known to form leks: the kob and the lechwe.) As many as 100 males may crowd together in an arena, where the central males may be only 25 metres (80 feet) apart. A few of them monopolize matings with the females, which come specifically to mate and are possibly guided to the favoured spot by the scent of their predecessors. Topi females calve toward the end of the dry season. Gestation is eight months, and the single calf hides for up to three weeks.

Richard Estes

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