Average Mass: |
Track: 64mm (2 1/2") x 41mm (1 5/8") |
Description It is reddish with lighter areas in the posterior and a white underbelly with a greasy appearance due to the sebaceous glands at the roots of the hairs. It has a short, busy tail and a conspicuous grey patch under each ear where scent glands are situated. Only the male, or ram, possesses short, stout, ringed horns that are hooked forwards and can weigh up to 55 kg (120 lb). Bohor Reedbucks live in small groups consisting of a few individuals. It is active during the day but retreats to cooler areas during the daily temperature peaks. Bohor Reedbucks have a distinctive whistling (males) and a frog-like croaking (females). These animals become most verbose during ritual mating displays. Gestation period is about 7.5 months. Habitat Ethiopia and the Blue Nile region of the Sudan Categorical-discrete (CD) distribution model The species prefers grasslands within the moist savanna and forest/savanna zones, as it needs to drink daily or at least regularly (East, 1988, 1990). Biology The bohor reedbuck is exclusively a grazer, that feeds on fresh green grasses and tender reed shoots. Like other small antelope, the bohor reedbuck hides from predators rather than forming herds in defence. Whilst the grass and reeds of its habitat provide important shelter from predators, it can be difficult to communicate with each other in such dense surroundings, and thus the bohor has adopted leaping and whistling as effective forms of communication. Choruses of variable whistles are frequently herd throughout the night, and leaps, which differ in height, length and style, are a characteristic behaviour of the bohor reedbuck. During the wet season when food is plentiful, females and their offspring occur separately, with up to five females living within the breeding territory of a male reedbuck. Although, due to the changeable nature of their habitat, this is more a case of the rams defending access to the ewes, rather than defending an area, whilst the ewes seek out the best and safest pastures. During the dry season, these small groups merge into herds of up to ten animals . Courtship in the bohor reedbuck begins with the male circling the female, and making a peculiar bleating noise, described as the sound of a toy trumpet. Male calves are driven away from the herd after six months, and form bachelor herds until they become fully mature at the age of four years. Females however, are able to breed at just one year of age.
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