Somalia hartebeest

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Somalia hartebeest
Somalia hartebeest (Alcelaphus swaynei)

Somalia hartebeest ( Alcelaphus swaynei )

Systematics
without rank: Forehead weapon bearer (Pecora)
Family : Horned Bearers (Bovidae)
Subfamily : Antilopinae
Tribe : Red hartebeest (Alcelaphini)
Genre : Red hartebeest ( Alcelaphus )
Type : Somalia hartebeest
Scientific name
Alcelaphus swaynei
( Sclater , 1892)

The Somalia hartebeest ( Alcelaphus swaynei ), also known as Swayne's hartebeest or Korkay , is a species of antelopes found in central Ethiopia within the hartebeest (Alcelaphini). It differs from other members of the genus in that it has a more contrasting coat and its smaller and more widely spaced horns. The animals live in higher mountains around 2000 m and inhabit short grass savannahs. They form small herd groups that can sometimes also join together to form larger groups. Their main diet consists of grasses. The once larger area of ​​distribution has now shrunk significantly. Two wild populations are currently known. The species is considered to be endangered. It was introduced scientifically in 1892.

features

Skull of a Somalia hartebeest

With a head-torso length of 250 cm and a shoulder height of 124 cm, this antelope species is medium-sized. The tail becomes about 50 cm long. As with all red hartebeest , the head is elongated and lightly built. A small hump ( withers ) rises above the front legs so that the back line appears to be sloping. In contrast to its relatives from eastern Africa, the Somalia hartebeest has a more intense coat color. Generally, the fur is dark chocolate to reddish brown in color, in some individuals it can be very dark to blackish, especially on the face, neck and sides. The single hairs are brown with white tips. Dark spots appear in the center of the face and on the legs as distinctive features, but the former are hardly noticeable in very dark animals. The tip of the tail is colored black. Both sexes have horns that, when viewed from the front, stand apart in a U to V shape. The shape of the horns is similar to that of the Kongoni hartebeest ( Alcelaphus cokii ), but they are not so bent at an angle, but more gently curved so that they look more like a lyre . The horn tips are much further apart. Compared to the horns of other hartebeests, they are relatively short and light, as are the bone cones on which the horns sit. There is strong gender dimorphism in terms of skull and horn dimensions .

distribution

The distribution of Somalia Kuhantilope ( Alcelaphus swaynei ) and the further types of authentics-Kuhantilopen ( Alcelaphus )

The Somalia hartebeest originally inhabited the entire area around the Ethiopian Trench from Somalia in the north south to Lake Zway . She disappeared from Somaliland at the beginning of the 20th century due to the rinderpest . Now their occurrence is limited to two areas within the rift valley in central Ethiopia: the Senkelle Swayne's Hartebeest Sanctuary east of Shashemene and the Maze National Park . Two released populations from the Senkelle area, which were settled in Awash National Park and Nechisar National Park , did not survive. The entire range of the species is given today with 259 km². The Somalia hartebeest lives at altitudes above 2000 m. It inhabits dry short-grass savannahs that have arisen on fallow land and are dominated by sweet grasses such as Eleusine , Chloris or Harpachne as well as dog-tooth grasses . This preference for short grass savannah strongly distinguishes the Somalia hartebeest from other hartebeest.

Way of life

Like other hartebeest, the Somalia hartebeest lives in herds. These herds consist of females and. A herd usually consists of less than 10 individuals. In November the herds come together and form groups of up to 180 animals. However, these group associations split up again in mid-December, at the beginning of the birth phase. Male animals sometimes form bachelor groups. Flank and head rubbing represent important social interactions between the male individuals. Rank fights among each other have not been observed so far, so that the males, unlike other hartebeest, may not live territorially. The main activities fall in the early morning between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. and in the late afternoon between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Most of the animals spend the daytime heat in the shade. Food intake takes up more than half of the active phase with around seven hours, the rest is divided into rest with almost four hours, hiking with a little more than an hour and other activities with around half an hour. The Somalia hartebeest is adapted to hard grass forage ( grazing ) and prefers short, lush grass stands . If possible, the animals drink regularly, but they can do without water for a long time. A single cub is born between December and February. The annual reproductive phase is therefore relatively short and, unlike the neighboring Kongoni hartebeest ( Alcelaphus cokii ), more seasonally bound. It is believed that around two thirds of the calves survive the first year. Occasionally, animals get rinderpest as observed in 1897. In general, hartebeests are less susceptible than, for example, the lyre antelopes .

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




Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

The Somalia hartebeest is a species from the genus of the common hartebeest ( Alcelaphus ). The red hartebeest are medium-sized representatives of the antelopes , which are characterized by a slender head and long legs. However, they show a considerable range of variation. They are distributed over large parts of eastern, western and southern Africa and are considered to be specialized herbivores. There are more than half a dozen species of the red hartebeest. The genus in turn belongs to the red hartebeest (Alcelaphini) tribe , which also includes the wildebeest ( Connochaetes ) and the lyre antelopes ( Damaliscus ). The tribe in turn forms part of the family of horned bearers (Bovidae) and within this the extensive subfamily of the Antilopinae .

Philip Lutley Sclater

Originally, all representatives of the red hartebeest were grouped into one species, the " hartebeest " ( Alcelaphus buselpahus ) and regarded as a subspecies. Molecular genetic studies from 1999 and 2001 revealed three clades within the genus . A limited to southern Africa with the Lichtenstein Kuhantilope ( Alcelaphus lichtensteinii ) and the Southern Kuhantilope ( Alcelaphus caama ) further comprises the western Africa and closes the West Africa Kuhantilope ( Alcelaphus major ) a. The third clade in turn consists of the four East African representatives. The Somalia hartebeest is the sister group of the Torah hartebeest ( Alcelaphus tora ). There is occasional gene exchange between the western and eastern clade, while the South African group is monophyletic . However, there is a “mixed group” in the eastern clade, which may be due to incorrect assignments. From the high diversity in the eastern group and the occasional exchange with the West African forms, the authors of the study concluded that the red hartebeest probably originated in East Africa. They began diversification around 500,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene . As a further result, they suggested that the genus consists of at least two species, the southern group and the western / eastern group. Peter Grubb then raised the two southern representatives to their own species status in 2005. In a 2011 revision of the hornbeams, Colin Peter Groves and Grubb also recognized the other forms as independent species. However, the view is not fully shared, other authors see the "hartebeest" as the only existing species.

The first scientific description of the Somalia hartebeest was made in 1892 by Philip Lutley Sclater under the name Bubalis swaynei . He used the head with skin of an individual from Somaliland , which came from the collection of the British Army member and researcher Harald George Carlos Swayne . In his honor, Sclater also named his new species. In the same year Swayne himself published a report on his observations on the way of life of animals, from here the indication of the type region with Haud , about 170 km south of the city of Berbera ( 100 miles from the coast ). Swayne's descriptions were also incorporated into The book of antelopes , published by Sclater and Oldfield Thomas two years later . The existence of hartebeest in the region was known beforehand, and most of them were equated with other species.

Threat and protection

The greatest threat to the Somalia hartebeest is the expansion of the land used for agriculture or grazing, as well as hunting. The species survives today only in two protected areas, the Senkelle Swayne's Hartebeest Sanctuary and the Maze National Park , and thus has a very limited habitat. The Senkelle area is completely surrounded by arable land and pastures. The grazing domestic cattle compete with the wild animals for food, especially during the growing season of the plants, on the other hand the local farmers see their harvest threatened by the wild animals. The IUCN classifies these reasons the Somali hartebeest as "at risk" ( endangered one). In 2008, the number of animals living in the wild was estimated at around 800 individuals, although in the previous three decades there were sometimes strong fluctuations in the size of the population. According to this, a low of 480 animals was recorded around 2005. Especially in the Senkelle region there has been a recent increase in population. At present (2016) experts assume around 1000 wild Somalia hartebeest. One of the most important protective measures is the preservation of the two remaining populations.

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, ISBN 978-84-96553-77-4 , p. 696
  • JG Lewis and RT Wilson: The ecology of Swayne's hartebeest. Biological Conservation 15, 1979, pp. 1-12

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Isabella Capellini and Leonard Morris Gosling: The evolution of fighting structures in hartebeest. Evolutionary Ecology Research 8, 2006, pp. 997-1011
  2. ↑ a b c d 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. 696
  3. ↑ a b c L. Morris Gosling and Isabella 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
  4. ^ A b J. G. Lewis and RT Wilson: The ecology of Swayne's hartebeest. Biological Conservation 15, 1979, pp. 1-12
  5. ↑ a b IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group: Alcelaphus buselaphus ssp. swaynei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017. e.T809A3145291 ( [1] ); last accessed on October 11, 2017
  6. ↑ a b Øystein Flagstad, Per Ole Syvertsen, Nils Chr. Stenseth and Kjetill S. Jakobsen: 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. doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2000.1416
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ 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
  9. ↑ 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
  10. ↑ Don E. Wilson and DeeAnn M. Reeder: Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005 ( [2] )
  11. ↑ Colin Groves and Peter Grubb: Ungulate Taxonomy. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, pp. 1-317 (pp. 108-280)
  12. ^ Philip Lutley Sclater: On a new antelope from Somaliland, and on some other specimens of antelopes from the same country. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1892, pp. 98-102 ( [3] )
  13. ^ Harald George Carlos Swayne: Field notes on the antelopes of Northern Somaliland. Proceedings of Zoological Society of London 1892, pp. 300–308 ( [4] )
  14. ^ Philip Lutley Sclater and Oldfield Thomas: The Book of Antelopes. Volume I. London, 1894-1900, pp. 21-25 ( [5] ).
  15. ^ Philip Lutley Sclater: On some mammals from Somali-land. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1884, pp. 538-542 ( [6] )
  16. ^ Ethelbert Lort Phillips: Notes on the antelopes from Somaliland. Proceedings of Zoological Society of London 1885, pp. 930-932 ( [7] )
  17. ↑ Tewodros Kumssa and Afework Bekele: Human-wildlife conflict in Senkelle Swayne's Hartebeest Sanctuary, Ethiopia. Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences 1, 2013, pp. 32-38
  18. ↑ Yosef Mamo, Girma Mengesha, Aramede Fetene, Kefyalew Shale and Mezemir Girma: Status of the Swayne's Hartebeest (Alecelpahus buselaphus swaynei) meta-population under land cover changes in Ethiopian protected areas. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation 4, 2012, pp. 416-426

Web links

Commons : Somalia hartebeest ( Alcelaphus swaynei )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files