The roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) is found in portions of west, central, east and southern Africa. Only elands, bongos and male kudu can exceed them in weight.
Roan distribution chart from Wikipedia. |
It is named for its roan color, a reddish brown. It has a grayish/brown, short and erect mane that goes from the back of the neck to the rump. It has a black face with white patches around the eyes and mouth. It has a dark tail terminating in a black tuft. It has ringed horns that arch slightly backwards, a little shorter in females.
From this angle, the roan has a clownish face. |
There are six subspecies. We saw the nominate subspecies (H. e. equinis) which is found in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique. We were in Hwange NP in Zimbabwe and I spotted it in a field off to our right: one of the few times I spotted an animal before our guide did. I recognized it as a roan, but only because I'd been looking at a picture of one in my book on Southern African Wildlife the night before. Our guide mentioned they were only rarely seen and he had not seen one in a long time.
The guide was quite impressed by both the fact that you spotted it first AND that you knew instantly what it was.
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