THE ELAND By Victor Siingwa

The eland is one of the common animals found in relatively high numbers in Kafue National Park, south Luangwa national park and many others. It’s quiet a beautiful animal for game viewing and one can get multiple good photos of this animal because of its docility.

The Eland

The eland is world’s largest and slowest antelope. It has a cow-like appearance, the eland can jump up 2.5m fence from a standstill it is also able to maintain and endure a trot indefinitely. Both males and females have spiral horns, though female horns are often longer and thinner. Male eland have a tuft of black hair which grows out of the male eland's prominent dewlap; it is a loose fold of skin that hangs down from the neck. Adult males have a mat of hair on the forehead that grows longer and denser as the animal ages. Usually fawn or tawny-colored, elands turn gray or bluish-gray as they get older; the oldest animals become almost black.

Elands inhabit grasslands, mountains, sub-deserts, and acacia savanna as well as the Miombo woodland areas.

Behavior

Unlike most antelopes the elands the older the male, the more solitary its tendencies, younger animals may form small groups called bachelor heads. Males are also more sedentary than females, who may travel widely, especially during the dry season. Females and young are found in loosely cohesive groups and come together in nursery groups, calves spend a lot of time grooming and licking each other, developing bonds even stronger than those of a calf with its mother. The attraction calves exhibit towards each other probably developed as a defense tactic, as herds with calves are consistently larger than those without. Eland young are born year round. After the young are weaned at about 3 months, the mothers rejoin the female herds and the calves remain together in the nursery group. With year-round births, some adult females are always present in a nursery group and they defend all juveniles present, not just their own. Juveniles usually remain in the nursery groups until they are almost 2 years old, when they begin to wander off and join other loose groupings of their own sex.

Diet

Although the eland is often considered a plains-dwelling animal, they browse more than graze, feeding in areas where shrubs and bushes provide the leaves of preference. Using their horns elands bring twigs and branches into their reach. They also consume certain fruits, large bulbs and tuberous roots.

Because of this animal’s size and docility, as well as its rich milk, tasty meat and useful hide, it is becoming an increasingly popular ranch animal in most game ranches. However, studies have suggested because of the Elands need for a vast range to find sufficient food and its low density in number creates game management problems. Therefore because of this reason, this new idea may not be viable in the long term as suggested by the African wildlife Fund (AWF).

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