The Antelope of africa

Waterbuck

Kobus ellipsiprymnus

Rugged and robust animals with conspicuous white rings on rear ends. defassa waterbuck (one of the two sub-species) have a solid white patch on their rump. Only the males carry the long forward-swept horns.

Distribution The defassa waterbuck occurs in East, central and West Africa, in a line to the west of the Rift Valley. The common variety of waterbuck occurs from the Horn of Africa, heading south through East Africa into South Africa.

Social structure Males are territorial but they do not scent-mark their territories. Numerous female home ranges overlap the territory and a male will attempt to keep passing females in his area when the rutting season begins.

Range differentiation

Two subspecies occur, the common waterbuck (K.e. ellipsiprymnus) and the Defassa waterbuck (K.e. defassa). Both subspecies have similar builds. The common waterbuck is grey compared to the defassa which is redish brown.

Common waterbuck also have a conspicuous white ring on their rear ends whereas the defassa have a solid white patch in this rear region. Only the males carry the long forward-swept horns. The two species are known to interbreed.

Habitat They are associated with water, living on the floodplains in the vicinity thereof but they are not aquatic animals as the name might suggest.

Feeding They are predominantly grazes but will browse when necessary.

Breeding Young are born throughout the year after a gestation period of nine months. Breeding can be seasonal in some areas. The mother hides her young for about three weeks, returning three to four times a day to suckle them. After each suckle session she will clean the calf to prevent odour form attracting predators.

defassa waterbuck with its solid white rump

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The defassa waterbuck is charachterised by having a solid white rump.

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A male will chase any other individual it deems a threat away from the herd during the rutting season.

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Male waterbuck will push and prod with its front legs before ventually mounting the female.

The white ring

The reason for the white circle on the rump of the waterbuck has been the subject of many theories. It has been theorized that the white circle is to allow the young, or the rest of the herd, to follow when they are on the move or running from danger.

Another theory for the white ring is that the waterbuck has a gland that secretes a musky scent into the skin when the animal is threatened, rendering the meat distasteful. If an individual survives an attack from a predator it will have the scent on the skin for a length of time. This will attract flies to the scent thereby causing major irritation to the animal. on the rump is that the ring gives the flies a target area to aim at. This is also the only area that the waterbuck can access to chase the flies off – by using the tail. The theory goes that the ring provides an aiming point for the flies and they all land in the area of the ring thereby allowing the waterbuck to swat them away.

New theory of the ring

A new theory is that, as lions chase from behind they will know that they are chasing a waterbuck when they see the ring on the rump and if they have had a bad experience with feeding on waterbuck in the past and they will give up the chase as soon as they see the white ring on the rump. This theory does not hold water though as it known to be untrue that lions do not hunt waterbuck as they find them distasteful.

The theory of the ring is given greater complication when looking at the defassa waterbuck of Zambia and central Africa. In this subspecies the whole rump is white. In areas where the range overlaps the two will interbreed with the offspring showing varying rump markings.