Hartebeest

Appearance
All Hartebeests have some peculiar features in common. They all have a sloping back, and their face is long and narrow with a bit 'stupid' or prehistoric appearance. The systematics of Hartebeests are really puzzling as there are a lot of variations and subspecies. I only hope that I've got the pictured animal right, but this one appears to be a Coke's Hartebeest, A.b.cokii which occurs in the Kenya-Tanzania area.

It's a large antelope, weight around 200kg. It has an extremely long and narrow head. The general color varying from sandy to reddish, and is more intense on the middle of the back. Horns are also very variable but mostly forming a bracelet when seen from the front. The females are similar to the males but with more slender horns.

Habits
They lives in open plains or light bush land, never in dense woodland. They are very social, usually in herds with 5-15 heads but sometimes also in hundreds, often in association with Zebras. The herd is lead by a master bull. The don't move around if they don't need to and they are the most sedentary of the antelopes. The are primary grazers.