Facts About Eland

Eland is the world’s largest antelope which inhabit the open plains of Southern Africa and the foothills of great South African plateau. The word “eland” is derived from the Dutch word for moose. The Dutch settlers named the largest wild herbivore of this region with the name of the large northern herbivore. However in Dutch, it is called “Eland antelope” so that it can be distinguished from the Moose found in the northern boreal forests. Eland is depicted in the early rock art of East Africa. It finds a distinct place in some South African tribes’ mythology. Read the following lines to know some more interesting and amazing information on eland.

Facts About Eland

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Bovidae

Subfamily: Bovinae

Genus: Taurotragus

Species: T.oryx

Binomial Name: Taurotragus oryx

Height: 1.36-1.8 m

Weight: Male: 400-1000 kg; Female: 136.4-272.7 kg

Life Span: 8-10 years in the wild

Diet: Herbivore

Range: Eastern and Southern Africa, Drakensburg Mountains

Habitat: Sparse forests, lives in open territory to the semi-deserts

Mating: July and August

Sexual Maturity: Male: 4 years; Female: 3 years

Gestation Period: 8-9 months

Number of Offspring: One

Interesting And Amazing Information About Eland

In contrast to being the largest African bovid, eland is the slowest antelope. Its running speed is hardly 25 mph. However, it can jump till 10 feet from the starting point.
Tendon or joints present in the eland’s foreleg create a sharp clicking sound while it walks. This sound is audible till distance and is an indicator of a herd approaching nearby.
The diet of an eland ranges from the leaves, fruit to the high branches of the trees.
Eland resembles an ox in having a thick neck and Brahman Bull-like dewlap which is commonly seen in males.
Adult male eland has a group of hair on its forehead. This hair grows consistently and is the longest and densest in older eland.
Eland is initially tawny-colored and gradually turns into gray or bluish-gray as it grows old. The old eland generally turns into almost black color.
Similar to gazelle and oryx, eland can store water by raising the body temperature to 7°C during the hot days.
It can easily adapt itself to different types of habitat like savanna, grassland, and mountain. However, it cannot survive in swamps, desserts and forests.
The size of eland discourages the attack from the predators. However, the calves are in constant threat from lions, hyenas and human beings.
The dominant male eland leads a solitary life and occasionally demonstrate its strength by locking horns. The victory is established when the opponent is thrown on the ground.
Young elands live in small groups with three or four members. Female elands, however, live in big groups and the members vary every day.
In comparison to the male eland, the female eland moves around more.
Male eland has double times longer horn than the female ones. Usually, the female horns grow up to 63 cm whereas the male horns grow up to 126cm.
Eland is domesticated in Africa for meat and milk. Eland’s milk has three times more fat content than the milk from the dairy cows. Even the protein content is double than the cow’s milk.

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