Despite its name, the waterbuck is not truly aquatic nor as much at home in water and swamps as is the sitatunga or lechwe.
The waterbuck has a long-haired, often shaggy brown-gray coat that emits a smelly, greasy secretion thought to be for waterproofing. In East Africa two types occur, the common waterbuck and the defassa waterbuck, distinguished only by the white pattern on the rump. The common waterbuck has a conspicuous white ring encircling a dark rump, while the defassa has wide white patches on either side of the rump. The waterbuck is a large, robust animal; males are generally about 25 percent larger than the females. Waterbucks have large, rounded ears and white patches above the eyes, around the nose and mouth and on the throat. Only the males have horns, which are prominently ringed and as long as 40 inches. The horns are widely spaced and curve gracefully back and up. They are sometimes used with lethal results when males fight one another over territories As its name would indicate, the waterbuck inhabits areas that are close to water in savanna grasslands, gallery forests and riverine woodlands south of the Sahara. Such habitats not only provide sustenance but long grasses and watery places in which to hide from predators. Although males do compete for and hold territories, the waterbuck is generally a quiet, sedentary animal. Like some other antelopes, the male does not mark his territory with dung or urine, as his presence and smell are apparently sufficient. He tries to retain females that wander into his area, but is seldom successful for long, since the females have large home ranges and, in herds of five to 25, are constantly crossing in and out of males territories. Waterbucks do not migrate or move great distances, so territories are usually held year round. Despite its name, the waterbuck is not truly aquatic nor as much at home in water and swamps as is the sitatunga or lechwe. It does, however, take refuge there to escape predators
Size: 5400px × 3600px
Location: Botswana Africa
Photo credit: © Sheree Sedgbeer / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., 25, africa, african, animal., antelope, antelopes, apparently, area, areas, brown-gray, close, coat, common, compete, constantly, crossing, defassa, distances, distinguished, dung, east, emits, females, forests, gallery, generally, grasses, grasslands, greasy, great, habitats, held, herd, herds, hide, hold, home, inhabits, kuro, large, long, long-haired, male, males, mark, migrate, move, occur, pattern, places, predators., presence, provide, quiet, ranges, retain, riverine, rump., sahara., savanna, secretion, sedentary, seldom, shaggy, smell, smelly, south, successful, sufficient., sustenance, territories, territories., territory, thought, types, urine, wander, water, waterbuck, waterbucks, waterproofing., watery, white, wild, wildlife, woodlands, year
