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Fast Facts:
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They skim across wetlands with ease, but are a bit clumsy and uncertain on hard ground
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If disturbed they can run at great speed with impressive leaps, and take refuge in water since it is a great swimmer
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Like the reedbuck, it sometimes flattens itself on the ground to avoid detection.
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| Scientific Name:
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| Classification:
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Phylum: Chordata, Class: Mammalia, Order: Artiodactlya, Family: Bovidae
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| Status:
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Endangered - Calf mortality is high usually about 50
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| Range:
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Southern Africa
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| Habitat:
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The Lechwe are adapted to a habitat of marshlands , swamps and shallowly inundated floodplains of up to 500 mm deep.
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| Diet:
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Within this habitat, Lechwe browse on the lush green aquatic and semi-aquatic grasses.
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| Size:
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Weight: up to 270 pounds
Height at shoulder: 42 inches
Body length: 6 feet long
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| Lifespan:
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| Location:
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Special Features:
- The coat is rather long and rough. The Male's is dark, and almost black, while the female's is
reddish.
- The horns found only on males, are long, slender, and lyre-shaped. The hooves are long and narrow.
- The hindquarters are noticeably higher than the shoulders.
Social Structure & Behavior:
Activity peaks during the cooler hours of the morning and afternoon. Most animals prefer to rest during the heat of the day.
As a result of its amphibious habits, the Lechwe is preyed on by a variety of predators, from crocodiles and pythons to lions, leopards, spotted hyenas and wild dogs.
Lechwe may congregate in hundreds, although most herds number about 20 to 30 individuals. The ram will defend his territory with threatening displays, sometimes fatal, duels may be heard a
long distance away.
Breeding and Caring for Young:
They come onto dry land only to rest and calve.
Rams are territorial and do not share space, whereas males which fail to establish territories congregate in bachelor herds.
Territories are actively defended. Ewes and their offspring form breeding herds and move freely between territorial rams, who will compete for mating favors only while receptive ewes are within their domains.
Breeding is not strictly seasonal. However there is a tendency for ewes to drop their calves during late winter and early summer when water levels recede. Gestation period is 225 days. Terminally pregnant females leave the heard to give birth to single lambs in the cover of clumps of bushes, where they keep their offspring hidden for two to three weeks.
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