Ugandan kob
{{Short description|Subspecies of mammal}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Subspeciesbox
| name = Ugandan kob
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| image = Ugandan kob (Kobus kob thomasi) male.jpg
| image_caption = Male
| image2 = Ugandan kobs (Kobus kob thomasi) female and calf.jpg
| image2_caption = Female and calf
both at Semliki Wildlife Reserve, Uganda
| genus = Kobus
| species = kob
| subspecies = thomasi
| authority = (Sclater, 1864)
}}
The Ugandan kob (Kobus kob thomasi) is a subspecies of the kob, a type of antelope. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa in South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Ugandan kob is normally reddish-brown, differentiating it from other kob subspecies.
A Ugandan kob appears on the coat of arms of Uganda, along with a grey crowned crane (Balearica regulorum gibbericeps), representing the abundant wildlife present in the country.{{cite web |url=https://ottawa.mofa.go.ug/data-smenu-27-Uganda-Coat-of-Arms.html |title=Uganda Coat of Arms |publisher=Uganda High Commission in Canada |access-date=27 June 2019}}
Description
The Ugandan kob is similar in appearance to the impala but it is more sturdily built. Only the males have horns, which are lyre-shaped, strongly ridged and divergent. Males are slightly larger than females, being {{convert|90|to|100|cm|ft|abbr=on}} at the shoulder, with an average weight of {{convert|94|kg|lb|abbr=on}}, while females are {{convert|82|to|92|cm|ft|1|abbr=on}} at the shoulder and on average weigh about {{convert|63|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. Apart from the throat patch, muzzle, eye ring and inner ear, which are white, the coat is golden to reddish-brown, the colour differentiating it from other kob subspecies. The belly and inside of the legs are white, and the front of the forelegs are black.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g977LsZHpcsC&pg=PA98 |title=The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates |first=Richard |last=Estes |publisher=University of California Press |year=1991|isbn=978-0-520-08085-0 |pages=98–102}}{{cite book |title=East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Volume 3, Part. C: Bovids |last=Kingdon |first=J |year=1982 |publisher=University Chicago Press |pages=367–381 }}
Distribution and habitat
This subspecies is native to East Africa. It occurs in South Sudan, to the west of the Nile, Uganda and the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Its range used to extend into northwestern Tanzania, where it grazed the grasslands margining Lake Victoria, and into southwestern Kenya, but it has been extirpated from these countries. It is typically found in open or wooded savanna, within a reasonable distance of water, and it also occurs in grasslands near rivers and lakes. Its habit of lying out in open grassland make it an accessible target for poachers, and 98% of the present population are found in national parks and other protected areas.
Naming
Traditionally, Uganda kob is named differently according to tribes and ethnical backgrounds. In Acholi, its called "Till," the Bugisu people call is "Ishisi," Baganda people call it "Ensiima" and other tribes have their respective naming. Ugandan Kob local name "Til" was derived and used in Uganda's oil industry called the Tilenga project in western Uganda .{{Cite web |title=How the kob found its way on Coat of Arms |url=https://www.newvision.co.ug/category/news/how-the-kob-found-its-way-on-coat-of-arms-NV_172017 |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=New Vision |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2018-11-14 |title=Storm brews over Total oil project name |url=https://www.independent.co.ug/storm-brews-over-total-oil-project-name/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=The Independent Uganda |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=BATTE |first=BAKER |date=2018-12-06 |title=Locals reject environmental report on Tilenga oil project |url=https://observer.ug/business/locals-reject-environmental-report-on-tilenga-oil-project/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=The Observer |language=en-US}}
Ecology
File:035 Uganda kobs mating at Queen Elizabeth National Park Photo by Giles Laurent.jpg.]]
Ugandan kobs are herbivores and feed largely on grasses and reeds. The females and young males form loose groups of varying size which range according to food availability, often moving along watercourses and grazing in valley bottoms. One group in South Sudan was recorded as travelling {{convert|150|to|200|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} during the dry season. Sometimes non-breeding males form their own groups. Females become sexually mature in their second year, but males do not start breeding until they are older.
Larger populations of kob tend to have a lek mating system, the females living in loose groups and only visiting the traditional breeding grounds in order to mate. For this purpose, males hold small territories of up to {{convert|200|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} in diameter, the smallest territories being in the centre of crowded leks. Calving takes place at the end of the rainy season; a single calf is born in November or December, after a gestation period of about nine months.{{cite web |url=https://animaldiversity.org/site/accounts/information/Kobus_kob.html |title=Kobus kob |author=DuVal, E. |year=2000 |work=Animal Diversity Web |access-date=27 June 2019}}