Bushbuck

Other Name:
Imbalaba

Type:
Mammal

Diet:
Bushbucks are mainly browsers, but on rare occasions will consume grass. They are selective feeders, but during hardship they are able to adapt their feeding habits for the sake of survival.

Size:
Height at the shoulders 70cm

Weight:
Maximum weight is about 80kgs and ranges between 45 and 80kgs.

Protection Status:
Least Concern

General Backgound:
Bushbucks are the most widespread antelope in Sub-Saharan Africa. Two species are recognised, the kéwel (Tragelaphus scriptus) and the imbabala (Tragelaphus sylvaticus). Both species are more closely related to other members of the tragelaphine family than to each other (the imbabala to the bongo and the sitatunga, and the kéwel to the nyala). Bushbuck are found in rain forests, montane forests, forest-savanna mosaics, and bush savanna forest and woodland.

The kéwel is a smaller animal, with a mainly red or yellow ground colour. It is conspicuously striped and patterned and there is little to no sexual dimorphism with respect to ground colouration. As the first of the bushbuck to be described by Pallas in 1766 as Antilope scripta from Senegal, it retains the original species name for bushbuck. Its common name, Kéwel (Wronski and Moodley, 2009), is taken from the Wolof language spoken in Senegal. As most studies of bushbuck have focused on the imbabala, very little is known about the biology of the kéwel, except for what can be gleaned from museum specimens and hunting trophies.

The imbabala is larger than the kéwel and its colouration varies greatly with geography and habitat type. Only the most genetically ancient of the imbabala populations (from Angola, Zambia, southern DRC, Botswana and northern Zimbabwe) bear any significant striping. And even in these populations the horizontal stripe, if present at all, is broken up into a series of spots. Thick horizontal striping as in the kéwel never occurs. In general, patterning in the imbabala reduces with distance away from south-central Africa. Ground colouration is also more variable than in the kéwel, ranging from yellow to red-brown, brown, olive to almost black. Mountain forms of the imbabala in the Gregory Rift Highlands, Mount Elgon, the Imatong Mountains and the Ethiopian Highlands all appear larger, with very dark ground colour and almost no patterning. Much of the variation in ground colouration, especially deviations from red-brown, occurs mainly in males. The first Latin name that can be attributed to the imbabala was Antilope sylvatica after Sparrman (1780) described from the Cape Colony. Its common name, imbabala (Wronski and Moodley, 2009), is taken from the Xhosa language spoken in that part of South Africa. Much of the scientific as well as public interest literature about bushbuck to be found on the internet, pertain only to the imbabala, not the kéwel.

Places in which they are found in Zimbabwe:

Chimanimani National Park

Chizarira National Park

Gonarezhou National Park

Hwange National Park

Kazuma National Park

Mana Pools National

Matusadonha National Park

Matobo National Park

Victoria Falls National Park