Common eland


The common eland, also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, is a large savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa. An adult male is around tall at the shoulder and can weigh up to with a typical range of. Females are around tall and weigh. It was scientifically described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1766.
Mainly a herbivore, its diet is primarily grasses and leaves. Common elands form herds of up to 500 animals, but are not territorial. The common eland prefers habitats with a wide variety of flowering plants such as savannah, woodlands, and open and montane grasslands; it avoids dense forests. It uses loud barks, visual and postural movements, and the flehmen response to communicate and warn others of danger. The common eland is used by humans for leather, and meat and has been domesticated in southern Africa. Eland milk contains more butterfat than cow's milk, and can be stored for up to eight months.
It is native to Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, but is no longer present in Burundi. While the common eland's population is decreasing, it is classified as of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Etymology

The scientific name of the common eland is Taurotragus oryx, composed of three words: tauros, tragos, and oryx. Tauros is Greek for a bull or bullock, meaning the same as the Latin taurus. Tragos is Greek for a male goat, referring to the tuft of hair that grows in the eland's ear and its resemblance to a goat's beard. Oryx is Latin and Greek for pickaxe, referring to the pointed horns of North African antelopes like the common eland and scimitar-horned oryx.
The name "eland" is Afrikaans for "elk" or "moose", from Dutch eland, from obsolete German Elend, probably from obsolete Lithuanian ellenis. When Dutch settlers came to the Cape of Good Hope, creating the Dutch Cape Colony, they named the animal after the large, herbivorous moose. In Dutch, the animal is called "eland antelope" to distinguish it from the moose, which is found in the northern boreal forests.

Physical description

Common elands are spiral-horned antelopes. They are sexually dimorphic, with females being smaller than the males. Females weigh, measure from the snout to the base of the tail and stand at the shoulder. Bulls weigh, are from the snout to the base of the tail and stand at the shoulder. The tail is long. Male elands can weigh up to.
Their coat differs geographically, with elands in northern part of their range having distinctive markings that are absent in the south. Apart from a rough mane, the coat is smooth. Females have a tan coat, while the coats of males are darker, with a bluish-grey tinge. Bulls may also have a series of vertical white stripes on their sides. As males age, their coat becomes more grey. Males also have dense fur on their foreheads and a large dewlap on their throats.
Both sexes have horns with a steady spiral ridge. The horns are visible as small buds in newborns and grow rapidly during the first seven months. The horns of males are thicker and shorter than those of females, and have a tighter spiral. Males use their horns during rutting season to wrestle and butt heads with rivals, while females use their horns to protect their young from predators.
The common eland is the slowest antelope, with a peak speed of that tires them quickly. However, they can maintain a trot indefinitely. Elands are capable of jumping up to from a standing start when startled. The common eland's life expectancy is generally between 15 and 20 years; in captivity, some live up to 25 years.
Eland herds are accompanied by a loud clicking sound that has been subject to considerable speculation. The weight of the animal may cause the two halves of its hooves to splay apart, and the clicking is the result of the hoof snapping together when the animal raises its leg. The sound carries some distance from a herd, and may be a form of communication.

Taxonomy

The common eland was first described in 1766 by German zoologist and botanist Peter Simon Pallas. It belongs to the order Artiodactyla, family Bovidae, and subfamily Bovinae. Common elands are sometimes considered part of the genus Tragelaphus on the basis of molecular phylogenetics, but are usually categorized as Taurotragus, along with the giant eland.

Subspecies

Three subspecies of common elands have been recognized, though their validity has been disputed.
  • T. o. oryx : also called alces, barbatus, canna and oreas. It is found in Southern and southwestern Africa. The fur is tawny and adults lose their stripes.
  • T. o. livingstonii : also called kaufmanni, niediecki, selousi and triangularis. It is found in the Central Zambezian miombo woodlands. Livingstone's eland has brown fur with up to 12 stripes.
  • T. o. pattersonianus : also called billingae. It is found in East Africa, hence its common name. Like Livingstone's eland, its fur can also have up to 12 stripes.

    Genetics and evolution

Male elands have 31 diploid chromosomes and females have 32. The male chromosome has been translocated to the short arm of an autosome. Both the X chromosome and Y chromosome replicate late; they do not match well and are variable. The chromosomes resemble those of the greater kudu.
Male elands and female greater kudus can produce a viable male hybrid, though whether it is sterile is unknown. An accidental crossing of an East African common eland with an East African kudu occurred in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. This was believed to be due to the absence of male kudus in the herd. The hybrid produced was sterile. The study confirmed the chromosome numbers of both the eland and the kudu and the strangeness of their attached Y chromosomes. Attempt matings of male elands with domestic and zebu cows indicated the species are not able to interbreed. Female elands have acted as surrogates for bongos.
The Bovidae family ancestors of the common eland arose approximately 20 million years ago in Africa; fossils are found throughout Africa and France, but the best records are in sub-Saharan Africa. The first members of the tribe Tragelaphini appear six million years ago during the late Miocene. An extinct ancestor of the common eland appears in the Pleistocene in northern Tanzania and the first T. oryx fossil appears in the Holocene in Algeria.
In 2010, a genetic study was made basing on the evolutionary history of common elands. Using material from East and Southern Africa, analysis of mitochondrial DNA control-region fragments from 122 individuals revealed information concerning the phylogeography, genetic diversity, and demographic history of the species. The conclusions supported the presence of a long-standing population in the southern Africa and a mosaic of Pleistocene refugia in eastern Africa. The similarity of dates obtained from other studies indicates a significant genetic event around 200 ka.

Habitat and distribution

Common elands live on the open plains of Southern Africa and along the foothills of the great southern African plateau. The species extends north into Ethiopia and most arid zones of South Sudan, west into eastern Angola and Namibia, and south to South Africa. However, a low density of elands exists in Africa due to poaching and human settlement.
Elands prefer to live in semiarid areas that contain many shrub-like bushes, and often inhabit grasslands, woodlands, subdesert, bush, and mountaintops with altitudes of about. Elands do, however, avoid forests, swamps and deserts. The places inhabited by elands generally contain Acacia, Combretum, Commiphora, Diospyros, Grewia, Rhus, and Ziziphus trees and shrubs; some of these also serve as their food.
Eland can be found in many national parks and reserves today, including Nairobi National Park and Tsavo East National Park, Tsavo West National Park, Masai Mara National Reserve, ; Serengeti National Park, Ruaha National Park and Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, ; Kagera National Park ; Nyika National Park ; Lake Mburo National Park ; Kidepo Valley National Park ; Luangwa Valley and Kafue National Park ; Hwange National Park, Matobo National Park, Tuli Safari Area and Chimanimani Eland Sanctuary ; Kruger National Park, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Giant's Castle and Suikerbosrand NR.
They live on home ranges that can be 200–400 km2 for females and juveniles and 50 km2 for males.

Ecology and behavior

Common elands are nomadic and crepuscular. They eat in the morning and evening, rest in shade when hot, and remain in sunlight when cold. They are commonly found in herds numbering up to 500, with individual members remaining in the herd from several hours to several months. Juveniles and mothers tend to form larger herds, while males may separate into smaller groups or wander individually. During estrus, mainly in the rainy season, groups tend to form more regularly. In Southern Africa, common elands will often associate with herds of zebras, roan antelopes and oryxes.
Common elands communicate via gestures, vocalizations, scent cues, and display behaviors. The flehmen response also occurs, primarily in males in response to contact with female urine or genitals. Females urinate to indicate fertility during the appropriate phase of their estrous cycle, as well as to indicate their lack of fertility when harassed by males. If eland bulls find any of their predators nearby, they bark and attempt to attract the attention of others by trotting back and forth until the entire herd is conscious of the danger. Some of their main predators include lions, African wild dogs, cheetahs, and spotted hyenas. Eland calves are more vulnerable than adults to their predators.