Kobus kob
kob

Kobus kob occurs in the moist savannah zones of Africa, from Senegal to western Kenya (Nowak 1991).

Kob are usually found near permanent water sources (Deutsch 1994a). They frequent moist savannah, floodplains, and the margins of adjacent woodlands. Elevated areas with short grass are the preferred habitat for lek sites (Deutsch and Weeks 1992).

Females prefer high-visibility mating sites with short grasses and few thickets. This preference may serve to avoid lion predation (Deutsch and Weeks 1992), though Balmford and Turyaho (1992) disagree.

Standing aproximately 92 cm high at the shoulder, Kobus kob has a short, reddish-brown coat, with a white throat-patch and white underparts. A distinctive black stripe marks the front of the forelegs (Stuart and Stuart 1992). Horns average 44 cm in length and are ridged with transverse corrugations. They are curved, turning up at the tips. Only males carry horns (Smith 1985). The multiple subspecies that comprise Kobus kob are distinguished primarily by variation in pelage darkness (Meester and Setzer 1971). ()

Kob are mostly active in morning and evening hours. They form mixed-sex herds of females and young males (< 8 months) that may vary greatly in size over short time periods. Females occupy large, overlapping home ranges, apparently moving in response to food availability. Males' movements are more restricted, and they commonly remain close to lek areas (Balmford 1992). Herds of non-breeding males may also form. Populations vary widely in density; 8 to 124 kob per square km have been reported in suitable habitat (Muhlenberg and Roth 1985). This variation in density affects male mating strategies. Males may move in herds, have single territories, or defend lek territories (Deutsch 1994a). Higher populations favor lek mating. Kob on the Ivory Coast, which has low popualtion densities, do not lek (Muhlenberg and Roth 1985).

Kob may migrate to graze along watercourses. One population in SE Sudan traveled 150-200 km in the dry season (Nowak 1991). Populations may reach great densitites (1000 kob/sq km) during these migrations (Fryxell and Sinclair 1988).

Kob are herbivorous. They eat grasses and reeds, and may migrate great distances to graze along watercourses (Fryxell and Sinclair 1988).

No negative effects are described in the literature

Kob are commonly hunted for sport and food. A survey of bushmeat preferences in Cameroon ranked kob as the third most favored species, second only to North African porcupine and guinea fowl (Njiforti 1996).

Meester and Setzer (1971) report the range of the species as greatly diminished, but kob are still common in national parks (Njiforti 1996). Kob in the Boma grassland ecosystem form the second largest population of antelope in Africa (East 1988).

Kob are hunted by lions (/Panthera leo/), spotted hyenas (/Crocuta crocuta/), human poachers, and wild dogs (/Lycaon pictus/) (Deutsch and Weeks 1992).

Muhlenberg and Roth (1985) list a series of management recommendations to maintain kob at their present population levels: (1) grassland habitat near rivers should be left undeveloped for grazing and access to water, (2) hunting should focus on bachelor males rather than the easily-obtained territorial males, and (3) simgle females should not be harvested, as they are likely to be in estrous or caring for young.

The name Adenota has sometimes been used to denote a genus or subgenus comprising K. kob and K. vardoni (Nowak 1991). Kobus kob includes at least ten described subspecies (Meester and Setzer 1971). The most widely recognized of these are the Uganda kob (/K. kob thomasi/), the white-eared kob (/K. kob leucotis/), and the Buffon's or Western kob (/K. kob kob/).