Unravelling the Bushbuck

Imbabala

Three years ago, I wrote a series of posts on the various species of bovine. This was using 'bovine' in the wider, technical, sense than it's everyday meaning, essentially including all animals more closely related to cows than to sheep or goats. This obviously includes all the really close relatives of cattle - bison, buffalo, yak, and so on - but it also includes a number of animals that are more accurately described as 'antelopes'.

Most species of these 'bovine antelopes' belong to the genus Tragelaphus, collectively known as 'spiral-horned antelopes'. Especially if we include the large cow-like elands (sometimes given their own genus, Taurotragus) these are a fairly diverse range of animals, including some adapted to open woodland or savannah, and others adapted to dry scrub, mountain slopes, dense jungle, or swampland. Perhaps because it seems to be the most adaptable of the species, the most widespread of the spiral-horned antelopes is the bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus).

Bovines: Bushbuck and More

Bushbuck

Of all the many kinds of antelope found in Africa, the one that is most widespread is the bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus). Bushbuck are essentially found throughout the whole of sub-Saharan Africa outside of the densest parts of the Congo jungles, the Kalahari Desert, and the drier parts of the veldt and the Horn of Africa. That's a huge range; everywhere from Senegal to Angola, and from Djibouti to the Cape.

Bushbuck are the smallest of the African bovines, sufficiently so that any resemblance to cows beyond the basics true of all antelopes (horns, cloven hooves, and so on) is quite absent. Specifically, they stand 60 to 100 cm (2' to 3'3") tall at the shoulder, with the males slightly taller, and much more heavily built, than the females. They do, however, much more closely resemble their larger immediate kin, such as bongos, having a somewhat similar coat colour, and the same twisted horns that make about a single turn along their length. Unlike in bongos, however, the horns are only found in the males - a feature shared with another close relative, the swamp-dwelling sitatunga.