Buntbock

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Buntbock
Buntbock (Damaliscus pygargus)

Buntbock ( Damaliscus pygargus )

Systematics
without rank: Forehead weapon bearer (Pecora)
Family : Horned Bearers (Bovidae)
Subfamily : Antilopinae
Tribe : Red hartebeest (Alcelaphini)
Genre : Damaliscus
Type : Buntbock
Scientific name
Damaliscus pygargus
( Pallas , 1767)

The Buntbock ( Damaliscus pygargus ) is an African antelope from the hartebeest group . It occurs only in a very limited area in the Cape region of South Africa and lives there in open fynbos landscapes , above all it prefers grass stands on recently burned areas. They are medium-sized antelopes, characteristic of the animals is a dark brown color on the back, a white underside that rises above the tail and a blaze on the nose. They are group-forming, with the herds of females comprising only a few individuals. The male groups, on the other hand, are significantly larger and consist of animals of all age groups. There are also individual, territorial males who defend their territory against other males. A challenge ritual takes place that is very complex. The diet of the Buntbock consists of different grasses. Reproduction is seasonally limited to the southern summer. As a rule, a young is born which, after one year of weaning, leaves the mother herd. The first scientific description with the species name that is valid today comes from the year 1767. In the 20th century, however, the Buntbock was sometimes led under the name Damaliscus dorcas . The species is considered to be closely related to the blessbok ( Damaliscus phillipsi ), whose range is separated from that of the buntbock in central and northern South Africa. Sometimes both are also managed within a species.

features

Habitus

Buntbock at the Cape of Good Hope

The Buntbock is a medium-sized antelope, it is similar in size to the Blessbock ( Damaliscus phillips ), but is slightly smaller than the Sassaby ( Damaliscus lunatus ). Exact body measurements of the Buntbock are only few, the head-torso length of a measured individual was 148 cm, the shoulder height 98.8 cm, the tail was 33 cm long. The weight of the animals is 59.6 to 63.6 kg, according to other information it reaches up to 83 kg, males are on average larger than females. The withers , as usual in open-air antelopes, protrude far beyond the croup . The fur has a strong dark brown color with a purple sheen on the sides, the cheeks and the upper limb sections. This contrasts with the white side of the abdomen, the mirror, the lower limbs and the rear part, in the case of the blessbock the white color of the abdomen usually does not extend up to the tail. The blaze , which extends from the nose to the forehead, is, unlike the blessbok, usually not interrupted by a narrow brown stripe in the middle, but a narrow stripe was noted in 19% of all examined individuals in the Bontebok National Park . Both sexes have ringed horns, which are darker in the Buntbock than in the Blessbock. They rise steeply at the base, then bend backwards and outwards and rise again steeply at the top. In males, the horns are 32 to 35.6 cm long and span 29.1 to 33.1 cm apart. The corresponding measurements for females are 22.2 to 24.6 cm and 19.7 to 22.7 cm. In general, the horns of the females are slimmer and do not thicken as much at the base, and their groove structure is not quite as distinctive either. The longest known pair of horns measured 42.6 cm.

Skull and dentition features

The skull becomes 29.3 to 33.5 cm long. The dentition consists of 32 teeth with the following dental formula .

distribution

Distribution area of ​​the Buntbock compared to the other representatives of the genus Damaliscus

The Buntbock is of course only found in the Western Cape Province in South Africa. He lives in the fynbos region of the Renosterveld . The historical distribution area is limited to the west by the Bot River and to the east by the Gouritz River. In the north the Riviersonderendberge and the Langeberge form natural borders, in the south the sea. The landscape is determined by thick and rich soils on which dense grass grows. It is interspersed with 30 to 70 cm high bushes, consisting of Elytropappus , Aspalathus and Montinia plant communities. The region is characterized by humid winters, the annual rainfall is 540 mm. The Buntbock prefers to visit areas with young grass stands on burned ground that are not older than two years. The height distribution ranges from 60 to about 200 m above sea level.

Way of life

Territorial behavior

Great ibex in the fynbos region of the Western Cape

The Buntbock belongs to the wandering horn-bearers. The females live in small groups with an average of three adults and 1.5 young animals; larger groups consist of up to nine individuals. The females tend to be less inclined to form large herds. Males often form up in bachelor groups. In contrast to the herds of females, these can contain up to 75 animals. They are made up of individuals of all ages, with the exception of newborns. Sometimes they also connect young, annual females before they switch to a female herd. In the bachelor groups, the young animals in particular learn social skills. Often there is also a temporary split into smaller groups with 3 to 24 members. There is no special hierarchy in the bachelor groups. There are also territorial males who claim a territory of 1 to 4 ha in size, on average 2.5 ha. The males mark their areas with the secretions of the pre-eye glands, which they rub off on grasses and branches. Sometimes they stroke their horns through parts of plants that are marked in such a way that a dark, waxy layer is deposited on them. Territorial males also regularly distribute dung heaps , an average of 4.3 heaps per hectare. This is also how they urinate in designated places. A conspicuous pose of the males is a high head with sideways pointing ears on a clearly visible hill, with which they probably lay claim to their territory. As a rule, the territories are distributed like a mosaic over the landscape and do not overlap. The herds of females usually migrate over two to three territories. Often times, the territorial male will join a female herd wandering through his territory and guard it for a period of time. Sometimes he drives the female herd back into the interior of his territory when it comes too close to the borders ( herding ). The bachelor groups also wander through the different areas and graze there.

Rank battle between two Buntbuck

The territorial male usually keeps his territory all year round, on average around 22 months. Individual animals may stay there for their entire life and only lose their territory in old age. The territory is defended against rivals, often neighboring territorial males, in ritualized acts. The challenge ritual begins with a neighbor crossing the border, it is very complex and includes more than 30 different behaviors. These consist of both aggressive and submissive acts. In addition to the already mentioned head held up with ears standing to one side, there is also a side presentation, often in a reverse position, various head movements such as shaking the side or moving up and down, sniffing the rear part, secretion marks in the grass, urinating and defecating, churning up the floor with the horns, stamping feet, circling, jumping up with all fours, licking and more. Real fights are rare and only occur in 3% of rituals. They are sometimes performed kneeling with the head pressed against each other on the floor. The challenge ritual does not take place in a location-specific manner; the animals sometimes pursue each other for up to half a kilometer. On average it takes 6.5 minutes, but it can also take up to 12 minutes. After that, the challenger returns to his territory. A territorial male acts similarly against members of the bachelor groups, but the actions are then not as strongly ritualized.

In further behavior there are individual differences between male and female animals. Territorial males in particular spend around 54.7% of their daily budget grazing, the proportion falling during the rutting season. In females it is 64.9%, but they spend less time in rival fights. Other activities such as ruminating and resting occur less frequently with 21 to 23% and 9.5 to 10% respectively and vary less between males and females. Typical comfort behavior is on hot days. The animals then hold their heads very low so that the horns protrude slightly forward. They can remain in this position for several hours; members of a herd or group often face the same direction. This may have something to do with thermoregulation, and it may also help the animals avoid a stronger infestation by bot flies , which lay their eggs in their nostrils. Often animals snort in the position. Other vocalizations are very rare in the Buntbock, in dangerous situations it gives off an explosive snort, and occasionally a grunt during reproduction.

nutrition

The Buntbock is an exclusive grass eater that feeds on short grasses. Investigations of stomach contents from the De Hoop Nature Reserve showed a 25% preference for brems over pseudopentameris (22%), plagiochloa (16%) and grass grass (14%). In Bontebok National Park, the animals often consume representatives of Ficinia , Restio , Helichrysum , Stenotaphrum , Pentaschistis and gnaphalium . Moreover, it was sorrel be identified as a food plant. The Buntbock often grazes on recently burned areas with fresh grass. When eating, the herd stands in a loose bandage, the animals slowly run upside down in the same direction. The Buntbock rarely needs water.

Reproduction

Female with cub

The mating is seasonally limited and takes place at the end of summer between January and mid-March, but sometimes also into April. The oestrus lasts 28 to 32 days, females are ready to receive for about 24 hours during the rut . Territorial males court the female by snaking their tail over their backs or by holding their head low and stretching their tail. Flehmen does not occur in the Buntbock. Males test the readiness of the female by sniffing the sexual organs, females who are not ready to receive then often run in circles around the male in order to avoid his stalking. The sexual act begins with the rise of the male on the female . This only takes a few seconds, but it can be repeated up to 14 times in two hours. According to studies in the Bontebok National Park from 1960 over a period of more than 20 years, conception is partly controlled by the amount of rain and the resulting food supply, the population size and the number of food competitors. The gestation period lasts about 240 days. The individual young animal is born in spring between September and November, and very rarely the time of birth extends into February. The mother does not separate from the herd. The boy weighs between 6 and 7 kg. It sucks for an average of 58 seconds at the age of 5 days, later this decreases to about 25 seconds. In the first two weeks the young animal spends up to 90% resting in the grass. At seven weeks, it is consuming up to 40% of the day grazing food. The suckling phase can last up to a year, but the mother's attention to the young already decreases after three weeks. With the weaning and when the mother has new offspring, both male and female offspring leave their herd, they are not actively driven away. Only in exceptional cases do older young animals stay with their mother, for example if she is not pregnant in the next reproductive period. Sexual maturity is reached in females at two and a half years of age, in males at three. The latter only become territorial at the age of five. Life expectancy in the wild is unknown, animals in human care lived up to 15 years and seven months.

Predators and parasites

As predators are especially large carnivores such as lion , leopard , spotted hyena and wild dog into consideration. External parasites include ticks such as Rhipicephalus , lice such as Damalinia and Linognathus and botflies such as Gedoelstia and Strobiloestrus . Worms are often found among the internal parasites. These include flukes such as Paramphistomum , tapeworms such as Taenia and Moniezia , and roundworms such as Longistrongylus or Nematrodius . Lymphomas and a copper deficiency were diagnosed as diseases .

Systematics

Internal systematics of the Alcelaphini according to Steiner et al. 2014
 Alcelaphini  

 Connochaetes 


   

 Alcelaphus


   

 Beatragus


  Damaliscus  

 Damaliscus lunatus


   

 Damaliscus pygargus






Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

The Buntbock is a species from the genus of lyre antelopes ( Damaliscus ) and the family of horned bearers (Bovidae). The lyre antelopes in turn belong within the family to the subfamily of the Antilopinae and together with the wildebeest ( Connochaetes ), the Hunter antelope ( Beatragus ) and the red hartebeest ( Alcelaphus ) form the tribe of the hartebeest (Alcelaphini). Common features of the hartebeest can be found in the rather large physique, in the characteristic high position of the shoulder and the sloping back, in the transversely ribbed horns and in the deep glandular pits on the face. In addition, the hartebeest have long skulls with large cavities in the forehead that reach into the roots of the horns. According to molecular genetic studies, either the red hartebeest or the hunter antelope are the closest relatives of the lyre antelopes. All three genera form a monophyletic clade with the wildebeest as a sister group .

Blessbock ( Damaliscus phillipsi )

Within the lyre antelope, the blessbock ( Damaliscus phillipsi ) and the buntbock are closely related. Genetic analyzes carried out as early as the early 1990s showed a genetic difference of only 0.47%, which speaks for a separation of the two forms in the Middle Pleistocene about 250,000 years ago. Further investigations showed a significantly lower genetic diversity for the Buntbock than for the Blessbock, which is related to its almost complete extinction by humans in the 19th century. Both are sometimes combined into one species, which then bears the scientific name Damaliscus pygargus . The question of whether the Buntbock and the Blessbock form one species or two species is handled quite differently in science. The last revision of the hornbeams from 2011, created by Colin Peter Groves and Peter Grubb , lists both forms as separate species, while the reference work on the African mammal fauna, Mammals of Africa , published two years later, brings them together. On the one hand, the numerous existing differences in characteristics are cited as reasons for a species-related separation of the blessbuck and the buntbock. On the other hand, there is a spatial separation between the two forms: the habitats of the blessbok in central South Africa are at least 320 km away from the habitat of the buntbock at the Cape of Good Hope in southwest South Africa. This geographical separation of the Buntbock and the Blessbock may have originated at the end of the last Ice Age more than 12,000 years ago with the rise in sea level, so that since then it has not been possible to mix the two representatives under natural circumstances. However, under artificial conditions caused by humans, for example on game farms, there are hybrid formations between the Buntbock and the Blessbock.

Peter Simon Pallas
Artist's impression of the Buntbock from the Book of Antelopes 1894

The first scientific description of the Buntbock was written by Peter Simon Pallas in 1767 with the scientific name Antilope pygargus . Pallas did not indicate a type locality. This was later, in 1948, determined by Rudolph Carl Bigalke with the Swart River. Bigalke was referring to reports of an expedition by Isaq Schrijver (also Isaaq Schryver) from 1689. In it, Schrijver, a member of the Dutch East India Company , wrote on January 11th that he had sighted over a thousand bonte hartbokken on the Swart River . Palla's writing Spicilegia Zoologica from 1767, in which the first description of the Buntbock appeared, is a revised version of his work Miscellanea zoologica , published the year before , for which he had evaluated numerous Dutch collections. In it, Pallas describes the Buntbock under the scientific name Antilope dorcas , using undamaged skins as a template. Pallas had used the species name dorcas in the conviction that he was looking at the Dorcas gazelle , whose scientific species name goes back to Linnaeus in 1758 ( Gazella dorcas , Linnaeus, however, used the name Capra dorcas ). The Dorcas gazelle had already been mentioned by Claudius Aelianus in the 2nd century under the name δορκάς ( Greek for "gazelle"), which Pallas also alludes to. After the publication of the Miscellanea zoologica , Pallas recognized differences to the Dorcas gazelle and described the billy buck in his Spicilegia Zoologica again under the name Antilope pygargus . The species name pygargus is again of Greek origin ( πῡ́γᾰργος ) and also denotes a gazelle. As early as the end of the 19th century, Philip Lutley Sclater and Oldfield Thomas drew attention to the fact that Pallas assigned two names in their Book of Antelopes . Francis Harper, in turn, pointed out in 1940 that Damaliscus dorcas has priority over Damaliscus pygargus due to the earlier species name and so saw the former name as the valid one. He also noted that with the introduction of the genus Damaliscus by Sclater and Thomas in 1894, the specific epithet dorcas was available again for the Buntbock. Before that, in the course of the 19th century, both the Dorcas gazelle and the Buntbock were partially placed in the same genus ( antelope or gazella ), and due to the earlier assignment of the Dorcas gazelle as a species name , Dorcas was reserved. In the following 50 years, the Buntbock was usually led under Damaliscus dorcas in the sense of Harper . However, Leendert Cornelis Rookmaaker argued in 1991 that Pallas originally wanted to describe the Dorkas gazelle in 1766 and used the species name already used by Linnaeus. Only then did he recognize his mistake and correct it with the new description of Antilope pygargus . Accordingly, Damaliscus pygargus should be the valid species name, since then it has been used by most scientists for the Buntbock.

Threat and protection

The global population is around 3500 animals (as of 2001), of which only around 1500 can be found in their natural range. To preserve the species, the Bontebok National Park was established in South Africa in 1931 . At the time it was founded, there were fewer than 20 colored ibexes in the region; the number grew to over 320 in the early 1980s. Currently, the population is around 250 animals. From here, the Buntbock could be reintroduced in some protected areas in South Africa. With 700 animals, the De Hoop Nature Reserve in South Africa has the largest population. The IUCN classifies the species as " near threatened " due to the stable population .

literature

  • Jeremy HM David: The Behavior of the Bontebok, Damaliscus dorcas dorcas, (Pallas 1766), with Special Reference to Territorial Behavior. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 33 (1), 1973, pp .: 38-107
  • Jeremy David and Peter Lloyd: Damaliscus pygargus Bontebok / Blesbok. 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. 496-501
  • 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, ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4 , p. 701
  • John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (Eds.): The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 653-655

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Jeremy HM David: The Behavior of the Bontebok, Damaliscus dorcas dorcas, (Pallas 1766), with Special Reference to Territorial Behavior. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 33 (1), 1973, pp .: 38-107
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j 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, ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4 , p. 701
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jeremy David and Peter Lloyd: Damaliscus pygargus Bontebok / Blesbok. 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. 496-501
  4. ↑ T. Kraaij and PA Novellie: Habitat selection by large herbivores in relation to fire at the Bontebok National Park (1974–2009): the effects of management changes. African Journal of Range & Forage Science 27 (1), 2010, pp. 21-27
  5. ↑ Laurence H. Watson, Tineke Kraaij and Peter Novellie: Management of rare ungulates in a small park: habitat use of bontebok and Cape mountain zebra in Bontebok National Park assessed by counts of dung groups. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 41 (2), 2011, pp. 158-166
  6. ↑ a b c d e f John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (eds.): The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 653-655
  7. ^ Elisabeth Hempel: First observation of localized urination in territorial male bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus pygargus). Mammalian Biology 81S, 2016, p. 8
  8. ^ A b Jeremy HM David: Observations on mating behavior, parturition, suckling and the mother-young bond in the Bontebok (Damaliscus dorcas dorcas). Journal of Zoology 177 (2), 1975, pp. 203-223
  9. ↑ a b C. H. Langley and J .H. Giliomee: Behavior of the Bontebok (Damaliscus d. Dorcas) in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Journal of Southern African Wildlife Management Association 4 (2), 1974, pp. 117-121
  10. ^ A b P. Nouvellie: Relationships between rainfall, population density and the size of the bontebok lamb crop in the Bontebok National Park. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 16, 1986, pp. 39-46
  11. ↑ a b P. J. Barnard and K. van der Walt: Translocation of the Bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus) from Bredasdorp to Swellendam. Koedoe 4 (1), 1961, pp. 105-109
  12. ↑ IG Horak, Moira R. Brown, J. Boomker, V. de Vos and Elsa A. van Zyl: Helminth and arthropod parasites of the Blesbok, Damaliscus dorcas phillipsi, and of Bontebok, Damaliscus dorcas dorcas. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 49, 1982, pp. 139-146
  13. ↑ Rob L. Coke, Michael M. Garner, Gary D. West, John P. Hoover, and Brian Murphy: Epitheliotropic Lymphoma in a captive Bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 37 (3), 2006, pp. 401-404
  14. ↑ a b Cynthia C. Steiner, Suellen J. Charter, Marlys L. Houck and Oliver A. Ryder: Molecular Phylogeny and Chromosomal Evolution of Alcelaphini (Antilopinae). Journal of Heredity 105 (3), 2014, pp. 324–333 doi: 10.1093 / jhered / esu004
  15. ↑ MF Essop, EH Harley, PH Lloyd and HJ van Hensbergen: Estimation of the genetic distance between bontebok and blessbok using mitochondrial DNA. South African Journal of Science 87, 1991, pp. 271-273
  16. ↑ Joelle van der Walt, Louis H. Nel and A. Rus Hoelzel: Differentiation at mitochondrial and nuclear loci between the blesbok (Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi) and bontebok (D. p. Pygargus): implications for conservation strategy. Conservation Genetics 14, 2013, pp. 243-248
  17. ↑ Colin Groves and Peter Grubb: Ungulate Taxonomy. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, pp. 1-317 (pp. 108-280)
  18. ↑ Anna M. van Wyk, Antoinette Kotzé, Ettore Randi and Desiré L. Dalton A hybrid dilemma: a molecular investigation of South African: bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus pygargus) and blesbok (Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi). Conservation Genetics 14, 2013, pp. 243-248
  19. ↑ Anna M. van Wyk, Desiré L. Dalton, Sean Hoban, Michael W. Bruford, Isa-Rita M. Russo, Coral Birss, Paul Grobler, Bettine Janse van Vuuren and Antoinette Kotzé: Quantitative evaluation of hybridization and the impact on biodiversity conservation. Ecology and Evolution 7, 2017, pp. 320-330
  20. ↑ a b Peter Simon Pallas: Spicilegia Zoologica. Tomus 1 Berlin, 1767, pp. 1–44 (p. 10) ( [1] )
  21. ^ Rudolph Carl Bigalke: The type locality of the bontebok, Dammaliscus pygargus (Pallas). Journal of Mammalogy 29 (4), 1948, pp. 421-422
  22. ^ LC Rookmaaker: The Zoological Exploration of Southern Africa. Rotterdam, 1989, pp. 1–368 (p. 19)
  23. ↑ Peter Simon Pallas: Miscellanea zoologica. The Hague, 1766, pp. 1–224 (p. 6) ( [2] )
  24. ^ Philip Lutley Sclater and Oldfield Thomas: The Book of Antelopes. Volume I. London, 1894–1900, pp. 1–220 (S: 73) ( [3] )
  25. ^ Francis Harper: The Nomenclature and Type Localities of Certain Old World Mammals. Journal of Mammalogy 21 (3), 1940, pp. 322-332
  26. ↑ Leendert Cornelis Rookmaaker: The scientific name of the Bontebok. Journal of Mammalian Science 56, 1991, pp. 190-191
  27. ^ A b Peter Lloyd and Jeremy David: Damaliscus pygargus ssp. pygargus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008. e.T6236A12589894 ( [4] ); last accessed on June 3, 2017
  28. ^ A b Peter Lloyd and Jeremy David: Damaliscus pygargus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008. e.T30208A9530977 ( [5] ); last accessed on June 3, 2017

Web links

Commons : Buntbock  - Collection of images, videos and audio files