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Kobus megaceros Cladus: Eukaryota Name Kobus megaceros (Fitzinger, 1855) References * Kobus megaceros on Mammal Species of the World. Vernacular names The Nile Lechwe (Kobus megaceros) is an endangered species of antelope found in floodplains in Southern Sudan and far western Ethiopia. Nile Lechwe stand 90 to 100 centimetres at the shoulder and weigh from 70 to 110 kilograms. Females are golden-brown with a white underbelly and no horns. Males are chocolate brown to russet with a white 'hood' over the shoulders and small white patches over the eyes. They have long ridge structured horns which are vaguely 's' shaped in profile. Nile Lechwe are found in marshy areas where they eat aquatic plants. Nile Lechwe are crepuscular, they are active in the early morning and late afternoon. They gather in herds of up to fifty females and one male or in smaller all male herds. During mating season, young males bend their horns to the ground as if to poke the earth. Then they urinate onto their long throat and cheek hair. These males will roll in the feces of other males, and sometimes devour it. Males fight in the water, their heads submerging in horn-to-horn combat. These contests are usually short and violent. Females are quite loud, making a toad-like croaking when moving. The wild population is estimated at 30,000 to 40,000 animals. ^ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2008). Kobus megaceros. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 5 April 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of endangered. Source: Wikipedia, Wikispecies: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
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