Waterbuck

Waterbuck
	Female
Conservation status
	; Conservation Dependent
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Genus:	Kobus
Species:	K. ellipsiprymnus
Binomial name
	Kobus ellipsiprymnus; (Ogilby, 1833)
	Range map

The Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) is an antelope found in Western, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa.

Waterbuck stand 100 to 130 centimetres at the shoulder and weigh from 160 to 240 kilograms. Their coats are reddish brown in colour and become progressively darker with age; they also have a white 'bib' under their throats and a white ring on their rumps surrounding their tails. The waterproofing secretions of the waterbuck's sweat glands produces an unpleasant odor in its meat. The long spiral structured horns, found only in males, sweep back and up.

Waterbuck are found in scrub and savanna areas near water where they eat grass. Despite its name, the waterbuck does not spend much time in the water, but will take refuge there to escape predators. Waterbuck are diurnal. Females gather in herds of between two and six hundred individuals. Males keep territories of around three hundred acres (1.2 km²) during their prime. They usually lose their territories before the age of ten.

The Defassa Waterbuck is a subspecies (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa) in which the ring on the rump is solid white.

References

Template:IUCN2006
Animals Online encyclopedia
African Wildlife Foundation
Waterbuck at Animal Diversity Web

Images

Male Waterbuck, 16 November 2004, Kruger National Park, South Africa

File:Pictures0028.jpg

Male Waterbuck, 28 May 2004, Masai Mara National Game Preserve, Kenya