Waterbuck - Water-loving antelope

Hearing the word "antelope" we are spontaneously thinking of fast and slender ungulates inhabiting the African arid regions. But there are several species, which differ from this image of an "antelope". The Waterbuck is one of them. Strictly speaking "antelope" isn't an exact zoological term for a certain group of animals anyway. It's more a collective name for all horned even-toed ungulates excluding bovines, sheep and goats, not taking into account the real relationships. Nevertheless it is useful to keep such an established term, and so the Waterbuck is also known as "Hirschantilope" in German, which can be translated as "Deer antelope". The Waterbuck's physique actually resembles the one of a deer and its size is similar to the size of a Red deer: Waterbucks reach lengths of more than 200 cm and weights of 250 kg - females are just a little smaller than males. But the horns, which are exclusively worn by the males, are not at all alike the antlers of deers; they are up to 100 cm long and are slightly curved to the front. The Waterbuck's hair is long and straggly and of different brownish shades, depending on the population's distribution. It is permanently greased with an oily, water-repellent secretion of the perspiratory glands.

The greasing of the hair is significant for the Waterbucks' ecology, since they prefer living near lakes and rivers and like entering the water very much. They are good swimmers, which try to escape into the water when hunted by Lions, Leopards or African hunting dogs. Their habitats are Africa's savannahs and sparse forests along the rivers south of the Sahara - a huge distribution range, inhabited by several subspecies, among which the best-known are the Common waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus ellipsiprymnus) and the Defassa waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa). Due to its wide distribution the Waterbuck's stocks are not endangered, especially inside the nature reserves.

Like most ungulates Waterbucks show several social structures. There are seperate female groups as well as male groups, consisting of up to 30 members. Adult bucks may be territorial and defend an area of 60 to 250 hectares. Naturally the most sought-after spots are near the water. These areas offer the best security to their owners and are most attractive to females, which "visit" the males within their territory to mate with them. Afterwards they return to their female group and give birth to mostly a single young after a pregnancy of a little more than nine months. In contrast to many other ungulate species the newborn Waterbuck doesn't follow its mother right from the beginning. It lies inconspicuously in the long grass apart from its mother and is visited by her to have the chance to suckle. The young joins its mother and her female group when about one month old. At the age of nine months the young Waterbucks leave the groups of their mothers. Young females join other female groups and young males form bachelor groups. Not until a buck has reached an age of six years it is endeavoured to establish a territory. Since the good spots are defended by strong older males, the young buck has to content itself with less attractive areas or live within an older male's territory as a "satellite", which has to behave obsequious to be tolerated by the owner of the territory. It takes a few more years until a buck is able to conquer one of the attractive territories. By far not all adult males hold a territory at the same time. It is estimated that just seven percent of the adult males are territorial within a certain area at a certain time.

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