West African hartebeest

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West Africa hartebeest
West African hartebeest (Alcelaphus major) in Pendjari National Park

West African hartebeest ( Alcelaphus major ) in Pendjari National Park

Systematics
without rank: Forehead weapon bearer (Pecora)
Family : Horned Bearers (Bovidae)
Subfamily : Antilopinae
Tribe : Red hartebeest (Alcelaphini)
Genre : Red hartebeest ( Alcelaphus )
Type : West Africa hartebeest
Scientific name
Alcelaphus major
( Blyth , 1869)

The West Africa Kuhantilope ( Alcelaphus major ) is a type of in Africa domestic species of authentics Kuhantilopen . It is a large representative of the genus, which, like other hartebeests, is characterized by a long snout and slender legs. The horns are comparatively massive. The animals occur in a narrow strip in West Africa , where they predominantly inhabit grasslands interspersed with open forests. They live in herds and feed mainly on grass with only a few deviations in the food composition between rainy and dry seasons. Otherwise, little is known about the way of life of the West African hartebeest. The first scientific description of the species dates back to 1869. In the second half of the 20th century, the West African hartebeest held the status of a subspecies of the more extensive species Alcelaphus buselaphus . Since 2011 it has been considered independent again. The stock is classified as threatened as a result of intensive hunting and landscape changes. Today, the species can largely only be found in protected areas.

features

Herd of the West African hartebeest in Benin, the horns curved in a U-shape when viewed from the front are clearly recognizable

The West African hartebeest is the largest representative of the red hartebeest. The head-trunk length is 200 to 250 cm, the tail is an additional 50 to 57 cm long. The shoulder height in males can reach 143 cm. One measured individual weighed 145 kg. There is little sexual dimorphism . The animals are characterized by their long snout and slender legs. The fur has a golden to medium brown hue on the back, the sides and underside are lighter in color. The transition from the back to the stomach color is gradual. Pale browbones appear above the eyes, as well as lighter areas under the eyes. Dark spots of color are largely absent, exceptions are the tufts of tails and sometimes the lower section of the forelegs. Compared to other hartebeests, the horns are massive and heavy. They have a distinctly turned back course. When viewed from the front, they form a striking U-shape, which differs from other red hartebeests with the exception of the extinct North African hartebeest ( Alcelaphus buselaphus ), since otherwise the horns tend to gape in a V-shape. Measured across the curvature, they have a length of 48 to 53 cm. The skull length is 44.8 to 52.8 cm. The horn span at the tips is 64 to 83% of the basal skull length with absolute dimensions of 23 to 34 cm. The frontal bone reaches 76 to 87% of the width of the eyes of the skull.

distribution

The distribution area of ​​the West African hartebeest ( Alcelaphus major ) and the other species of the red hartebeest ( Alcelaphus )

The West African hartebeest lives in West Africa and the western part of Central Africa . Their distribution area covers a strip that extends from Senegal in the west east to the sources of the Logone in the Central African Republic . The species has now disappeared from Gambia in the far west of the formerly more extensive occurrence, but occasionally individual animals cross the border from Senegal. The habitat consists of savannah landscapes with medium-length to long grasses such as panicle millet or representatives of the genera Andropogon and Hyparrhenia . These habitats are interspersed with open woodlands, the trees of which are mainly composed of acacias , long threads and myrobalans . Today, the animals can largely only be found in protected areas. The total population was estimated at around 36,000 individuals in the 1990s, but has since declined dramatically. The population density varies between 0.01 individuals per square kilometer in the Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal and 1.66 individuals per square kilometer in the Bénoué National Park in Cameroon .

Way of life

Herd of West African hartebeest in Benin

Little research has been done into the way of life of the West African hartebeest. The animals are diurnal like other members of the red hartebeest. Female animals form family groups with their offspring. The males live territorially, whereby the individual districts can be up to 31  hectares in size. The animals flee from predators at high speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour. Like all red hartebeests, the West African hartebeest specializes in grazing . According to examinations of excrement samples from Burkina Faso during the rainy season, the main diet consists of over 95% fresh grasses such as andropogon and hyparrhenia . In the dry season, the proportion fell to around 80%, while the value of other plant groups such as legumes or representatives of the genus Jasminum increased . In comparative studies with other large antelope species such as the roan antelope ( Hippotragus equinus ), the proportion of fresh grass in the rainy season was roughly the same, but in this case it fell by about twice as much in the dry season. The differences are explained by the fact that the Hartebeest, with their relatively longer snouts and stronger chewing muscles, are better adapted to the chopping of rather fibrous plant food during the dry season with their limited range of plants. The reproductive phase is relatively long and spans three months. This is more extensive than most other hartebeest with the exception of the East African Kongoni hartebeest ( Alcelaphus cokii ). This may be related to the less pronounced sexual dimorphism in terms of skull and horn size. As a result, there seems to be less intense rank fights between the males than in species with greater differences between the sexes and a shorter reproductive phase. In contrast to other red hartebeests such as the lyre antelopes , the representatives of the red hartebeest are less susceptible to rinderpest . A large outbreak was recorded in the West African hartebeest between 1913 and 1917. The animals also carry antibodies against the bluetongue virus . External parasites include ticks of the genus Rhipicephalus , Amblyomma, and Haemaphysalis . Here the percentage is lower than with the wildebeest, for example .

Systematics

Internal systematics of the red hartebeest according to Flagstad et al. 2001
 Alcelaphus  


 Alcelaphus caama


   

 Alcelaphus lichtensteinii



   



 Alcelaphus cokii


   

 Alcelaphus lelwel



   

 Alcelaphus tora


   

 Alcelaphus swaynei




   

 Alcelaphus major




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The West African hartebeest is a species from the genus of the common hartebeest ( Alcelaphus ). The red hartebeest are specialized grazers with a wide distribution over eastern, western and southern Africa . They include medium-sized representatives of the antelopes , which are characterized by a slender head and long legs. But within the group, which consists of more than half a dozen species, there is considerable variation. The genus forms part of the red hartebeest (Alcelaphini) tribe , to which the gnus ( Connochaetes ) and the lyre antelopes ( Damaliscus ) are counted. The tribe is in turn assigned to the family of horned bearers (Bovidae), within which they are in the comprehensive subfamily of the Antilopinae .

Especially in the second half of the 20th century, the West African hartebeest was combined with other representatives of the red hartebeest to form a species with the scientific name Alcelaphus buselaphus . In German, the common name "Kuhantilope" was mostly used . Within the species in the broader sense, a distinction was made between up to eight subspecies, including Alcelaphus buselaphus major . Molecular genetic studies from the transition from the 20th to the 21st century showed a clear separation of the more extensive species Alcelaphus buselaphus into three main lines. These include a western one with the West African hartebeest and possibly also with the extinct North African hartebeest ( A. b. Buselaphus ) and an eastern one with the Kongoni hartebeest ( A. b. Cokii ), the Lelwel hartebeest ( A. b. lelwel ), the Somalia hartebeest ( A. b. swaynei ) and the Torah hartebeest ( A. b. tora ). They face a southern line with the Lichtenstein hartebeest ( A. b. Lichtensteini ) and the southern hartebeest ( A. b. Caama ) as sister groups . The separation of the southern from the western / eastern line took place in the Middle Pleistocene around 495,000 years ago, the latter two separated shortly afterwards around 389,000 years ago. Further diversification took place in the late Middle Pleistocene and in the transition to the New Pleistocene . In 2005 Peter Grubb raised the two representatives of the southern line to species level. During a revision of the hornbeams in 2011, Colin P. Groves and Grubb took the genetic findings as an opportunity to recognize the other subspecies of the western and eastern lines as separate species. Other classifications still list all red hartebeest as subspecies within Alcelaphus buselaphus .

Edward Blyth
Horns of the West African hartebeest from the first description by Blyth in 1869

The first scientific description of the West African hartebeest was carried out by Edward Blyth in 1869 under the name Boselaphus major . It is based on a pair of horns from West Africa, which Blyth was able to separate from the North African hartebeest due to its enormous size. From the other hartebeest known at the time, such as the Lichtenstein hartebeest, the pair of horns differed from the usual V-shaped ones due to the U-shaped spreading. Blyth put another pair of horns aside, still clinging to their skin and a light, maroon-colored fur. Later the species was often led under the name Bubalis major . The name Alcelaphus major , which is correct today , was first used by John Edward Gray in 1872. Gray also included animals from North Africa in the species, which he had already introduced in 1852 under Alcelaphus bubalis var. Tunisianus . The togetherness of the West and North African animals was later questioned. A more detailed description of the fur of the species was then presented by William Edward de Winton a good 30 years after Blyth's first description. The only general indication by Blyth of the type region with west coast of Africa ("West Coast of Africa") was specified more precisely in 1920 by Ernst Schwarz with Gambia , where the West African hartebeest is extinct today. He had examined numerous other horns from this area. As early as 1914, Schwarz named two subspecies of the West African hartebeest in addition to the nominate form : Bubalis major invadens from Cameroon and Bubalis major matschiei from Togo . The determination was made in each case on a skull of an adult male animal. As a rule, however, the subspecies are not recognized today. In the same year, Guillaume Grandidier established the species Bubalis luzarchei , citing a skull from Niéri Ko near the mouth of the Gambia in Senegal, the horns of which, like those of the West African hartebeest, were bent into a U-shape, but in Grandidier's opinion were more simply structured . However, in 1929 Schwarz and his colleague AE Ruxton recognized that the skull was that of a young animal, which was no different from that of a West African hartebeest. They therefore synonymized Bubalis luzarchei with Alcelaphus major .

Threat and protection

The IUCN classifies the West African hartebeest on the Red List of Threatened Species as "endangered" ( vulnerable ). The assessment is based on the intensive hunting of the animals, mainly for the high quality meat, but also for sporting purposes. In addition, the stock is threatened by the conversion of open land into arable and grazing land. These two main threat factors have caused the population to decline significantly by around 30% since the 1990s. Around 95% of the total population of the West African hartebeest lives within protected areas. Significant here include the Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal, the Comoé National Park in the Ivory Coast and the W-Arly-Pendjari National Park complex in Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger. In the Comoé National Park alone, the population collapsed by 60% between 1984 and 1998 as a result of hunting. Something similar was reported from the Niokolo-Koba National Park.

literature

  • Colin P. Groves and David M. Leslie Jr .: Family Bovidae (Hollow-horned Ruminants). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 2: Hooved Mammals. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2011, pp. 444-779 (p. 695), ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Ernst Schwarz: Diagnoses of new races of African ungulates. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 8 (13), 1914, pp. 31–45 ( [1] )
  2. ↑ a b A. E. Ruxton and Ernst Schwarz: On hybrid hartebeests and on the distribution of the Alcelaphus buselaphus group. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 99 (3), 1929, pp. 567-583
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Colin P. Groves and David M. Leslie Jr .: Family Bovidae (Hollow-horned Ruminants). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 2: Hooved Mammals. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2011, pp. 444-779 (p. 695), ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4
  4. ↑ a b c d L. Morris Gosling and Isabelle Capellini: Alcelaphus buselaphus Hartebeest. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume VI. Pigs, Hippopotamuses, Chevrotain, Giraffes, Deer and Bovids. Bloomsbury, London, 2013, pp. 511-526
  5. ↑ a b IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group: Alcelaphus buselaphus ssp. major. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017. e.T817A50181578 ( [2] ); last accessed on December 3, 2018
  6. ↑ James R. Schuette, David M. Leslie Jr., Robert L. Lochmiller and Jonathan A. Jenks: Diets of hartebeest and Roan antelope in Burkina Faso: Support of the long-faced hypothesis. Journal of Mammalogy 79 (2), 1998, pp. 426-436
  7. ^ Isabella Capellini and Leonard Morris Gosling: The evolution of fighting structures in hartebeest. Evolutionary Ecology Research 8, 2006, pp. 997-1011
  8. ↑ Y. Ntiamoa-Baidu, C. Carr-Saunders, BE Matthews, PM Preston and AR Walker: An updated list of the ticks of Ghana and an assessment of the distribution of the ticks of Ghanaian wild mammals in different vegetation zones. Bulletin of Entomological Research 94, 2004, pp. 245-260
  9. ↑ a b Øystein Flagstad, Per Ole Syvertsen, Nils Chr. Stenseth and Kjetill S. Jascobsen: Environmental change and rates of evolution: the phylogeographic pattern within the hartebeest complex as related to climatic variation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 268, 2001, pp. 667-677
  10. ^ L. Morris Gosling and Jonathan Kingdon: Tribe Alcelaphini Alcelaphines. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume VI. Pigs, Hippopotamuses, Chevrotain, Giraffes, Deer and Bovids. Bloomsbury, London, 2013, pp. 488-489
  11. ^ L. Morris Gosling: Genus Alcelaphus Hartebeest. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume VI. Pigs, Hippopotamuses, Chevrotain, Giraffes, Deer and Bovids. Bloomsbury, London, 2013, pp. 510-511
  12. ↑ Peter Arctander, Carsten Johansen and Marie-Agnès Coutellec-Vreto: Phylogeography of Three Closely Related African Bovids (Tribe Alcelaphini). Molecular Biology and Evolution 16 (12), 1999, pp. 1724-1739
  13. ↑ Don E. Wilson and DeeAnn M. Reeder: Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005 ( [3] )
  14. ↑ Colin P. Groves and Peter Grubb: Ungulate Taxonomy. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, pp. 1-317 (pp. 108-280)
  15. ^ Edward Blyth: Notice of two overlooked species of antelopes. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1869, pp. 51-55 ( [4] )
  16. ^ A b Philip Lutley Sclater and Oldfield Thomas: The Book of Antelopes. Volume I. London, 1894–1900, pp. 11–14 ( [5] )
  17. ^ Richard Lydekker: The game animals of Africa. London, 1908, pp. 1–484 (pp. 96–99) ( [6] )
  18. ^ John Edward Gray: Catalog of ruminant Mammalia (Pecora, Linnaeus) in the British Museum. London, 1872, pp. 1–102 (p. 44) ( [7] )
  19. ^ John Edward Gray: Catalog of the specimens of Mammalia in the collection of the British Museum. London 1952, pp. 1–286 (p. 123) ( [8] )
  20. ^ William Edward de Winton: The mammals collected by Lieut.-Colonel W. Giffard in the Northern Territory of the Gold Coast. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7 (4), 1899, pp. 353–359 ( [9] )
  21. ↑ Ernst Schwarz: Ungulates from West and Central Africa. In: Results of the second German Central Africa Expedition 1910–1911. Volume I: Zoology. Leipzig, 1920, pp. 832-1044 (pp. 914-917) ( [10] )
  22. ↑ Guillaume Grandidier: Description d'une nouvelle espèce d'antilope d'Afrique occidentale, le Bubalis luzarchei. Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle 20, 1914, pp. 316–318 ( [11] )
  23. ^ Frauke Fischer and Eduard Linsenmair: Decreases in ungulate population densities. Examples from the Comoe National Park, Ivory Coast. Biological Conservation 101 (2), 2001, pp. 131-135
  24. ^ Frauke Fischer: Status of the Comoé National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, and the effects of war. Parks 14 (1), 2004, pp. 17-25

Web links

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