Puku

The puku is restricted to north Angola , north Botswana , Malawi , north-eastern Namibia , south Tanzania , former Zaire , Zambia and Zimbabwe (East, 1996; Wilson & Reeder, 1993). A first rough distribution map was obtained by acquiring and overlaying the two maps in Skinner & Smithers (1990) and Rodgers (1984). The map was then refined using the more accurate country maps in East (1988, 1989, 1990) as indicated by Dr. R. East ( 23 June '97 )

Categorical-discrete (CD) distribution model

The species prefers grassland in riverine areas and marshy dambos within woodland (East, 1988, 1989).

Plentiful in Luangwa and Zambezi Valley, these furry orange antelope with thick, heavily ringed V shaped horns, are gregarious and graze along the floodplains near permanent water.

They have limited distribution in Africa, confined to the area drained by the Zambezi and its tributaries and a few isolated pockets in Tanzania.

They move in herds of up to thirty or so.

The population numbers are greatly reduced in some areas, notably in Angola, Botswana, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Only about 150 individuals remain in Botswana — all concentrated in the Chobe National Park. In contrast, the number occurring in Tanzania is a robust 40,000.

The Zambian population is even greater.

The entire population was wiped out of Malawi in the 1930s. In 1984 there was apparently a successful reintroduction of the species back into the will.

A study in Kasanka National Park in Zambia found that male Kobus vardoni were especially vulnerable to poaching. There were large areas of unoccupied suitable habitat. After five years of anti-poaching control the number of individual puku increased two fold. This provides hope for the regeneration of the species in areas where its numbers have been depleted.