Common tsessebe
- This article is about the antelope. For the town see Topi (town). For the headgear, see Pith helmet.
| Topi | |
|---|---|
| |
| Topi in the Masai Mara, 2007 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Subfamily: | |
| Genus: | |
| Species: | D. lunatus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Damaliscus lunatus | |
The Topi, or Tsessebe, as it is called in Southern Africa (Damaliscus lunatus), also known as Tiang or Korrigum) is a savannah and floodplain antelope found in Sudan, Chad, Kenya, Tanzania, and Southern Africa.
Appearance
Topi stand over a metre tall at the shoulder and weigh 85 to 165 kilograms. Their coats are a rusty red colour with black legs, chest and a black strip running from forehead to the tip of the nose. The horns are lyre-shaped and are conspicuously ringed and can reach 70 centimetres in both sexes. The horns of older animals tend to wear down, and this can be used as a means of assessing the age of individuals in the field.
Ecology and behavior
Topi live in savannah and floodplains where they eat mainly grass. Males hold territories from a few tens of thousands of square metres to a few square kilometres. These are marked out with urine, and dung. In the rutting season, some males defend leks, and females preferentially mate the with holder of the central leks; other males, however, continue to hold conventional territories.Females generally live in loose herds of up to twenty females and calves. However, thousands of Topi may migrate together.
Males will engage in fights for territory or at the lekking grounds, and these are fought by lunging on to their knees while whacking each other with their horns. Fights between males and females may also be seen. Topi can reach 70 kilometres per hour when frightened and will sometimes jump over each other to get away from a threat. They have the reputation of being the fastest of all antelopes, though this is disputed, as the North American pronghorn has been timed at 98 kilometres per hour. [citation needed]
Research by Dr Jakob Bro-Jorgensen published in the journal Current Biology, shows that dominant males rebuff the sexual advances of older partners and prefer to mate with new females - this would have the effect of a greater spread of dominant males' genes.
Gallery
-
Topi in the Masai Mara, 2007. -
Topi (or Tsessebe) (Botswana, 2002)
-
Topi standing in Masai Mara.
External links
- ARKive - images and movies of the tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus)
- BBC - Male topi antelope's sex burden
References
- Bro-Jorgenson, J., & Durant, S. M. (2003). Mating strategies of topi bulls: getting in the centre of attention. Animal Behaviour, 65, 585-594. doi:10.1006/anbe.2003.2077