Dave Taylor's African Safari: Trophic Level II - The Herbivores - Eland

Dave Taylor's African Safari: Trophic Level II - The Herbivores - Eland - Page 34

Trophic Level II - The Herbivores
Eland
Page 34

Taurotragus oryx

Length: 200-280 cm (79-110") female, 240-345 cm (94-136") male

Height: 125-160 cm (49-63") female, 135-178 cm (53-70") male

Tail: 50-90 cm (19-35")

Weight: 300-600 kg (660-1320 lb.) female, 400-942 kg (880-2077 lb.) male

Status: Common. Attempts have been made to domesticate eland and to replace cattle with them. As a result, this species is found on many farms in a semi-wild state.

Habitat: Eland live in arid zones and savannas from southern Africa to the Sudan. They live in low densities of about 1.2 elands per square kilometer ( 3.6 per square mile). They are a very adaptable antelope and are found in a variety of habitats: subdesert, acacia savanna, woodlands, grasslands and up to 4 000 meters (13,123 feet) on mountains.

In the Serengeti, they are found on the open plains and woodlands. They are among the most nervous of the hoofed animals and do not let safari vehicles get very close the way wildebeest do.

Food: Elands are browsers and grazers. During the dry season, they browse mostly on foliage but will eat fruits, seeds, seedpods, herbs and tubers. In the wet season, their diet changes to grazing on the new green grass. At that time, their diet is 80% grass.

Social System: Herds of up to 500 eland have been reported during the rainy season. Such aggregations are short-lived. Elands are normally found in much smaller groups. Males are often found in groups of three to five. Females are found in mixed herds of about 12 animals. The largest herds are made up of females with young. Young eland like to be with each other and when two herds meet, the calves will seek each other out. When this happens, the herd size swells and the two herds may stay together for some time. The basic bond is between mother and calf. Herd loyalty is not strong. Cows seldom stay with the same cows for more than a day or two.

Calves will stay within a meter of each other. Even as adults, cow eland seldom move more than eleven meters away from other eland.

Home ranges of females and young range between 174 and 422 square kilometers (67-163 square miles). The range of bulls is much smaller. It ranges from 13 to 60 square kilometers (5 to 23 square miles). Due to their large size, bull eland will venture into woodlands far more readily than females.

Eland are the slowest runners of the Serengeti's antelopes. They run no faster than 40 kph (25 mph) and tire quickly. They can trot at 22 kph (14 mph) for long periods. Elands are remarkable jumpers for such large animals. A calf can easily clear 3 meters (10 feet) from a standing start.

Behavior: Calves will either lie-out for two weeks before joining the herd or, if there are numbers of calves, join a crèche within days of being born. After weaning, groups of calves may be left on their own while their mothers graze or may even be deserted while the mother joins all-cow groups.

Social contact among adults and calves is strengthened through constant licking. All animals lick calves but almost never lick other adults.

Males take longer to mature than females. They show marked sexual dimorphism and are much larger and heavier set than females. Males reach maturity around the time they are five years old, but do not reach their full weight until they are seven.

Males, partly due to their size, behave in a much different manner from the other antelope species we have seen so far. Female eland move over huge areas much as wildebeest do. Bull elands stay within their small ranges and never move far from it. The older they get, the smaller their range becomes. It is not however, a territory. They readily tolerate other males and make no effort to keep them out.

They rely on size and age to intimidate younger bulls. There is a recognized hierarchy with older, larger bulls dominant over the younger bulls. Bull eland get darker with age. This is only one change. They lose their manes and their dewlap increases in size. The hair on their forehead grows long and becomes an easy way of identifying a bull. They rub their heads in mud and urine, matting it and giving it a powerful odor.

Big bulls make a clicking sound when they walk that can be heard for over a kilometer (.6 miles) by other elands. The sound is made by the tendons in the bulls legs. The purpose of this sound seems to be to warn other bulls of their approach and to advertise their location to breeding cows.

Being too large for most predators allows bulls to live in wooded grasslands. Cows prefer the open grasslands. Only a pride of lions can hope to take down a bull eland.

Predators: Lion and spotted hyena prey on all ages, but large bulls are relatively safe. Calves might be taken by wild dogs and leopards.

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