Sable antelopes fight back against lions, sometimes fatally
Faced with lions, the sable antelope does not simply run. It confronts its attackers, swinging scimitar-shaped horns that can reach back to guard its vulnerable rump, the spot predators prefer. Males carry horns up to 165 centimetres long, and some predators have died in these fights.
This large antelope lives in wooded savanna from southern Kenya to South Africa, with a separate population in Angola. It shares the genus Hippotragus with the roan antelope and the extinct bluebuck. Four subspecies are recognised. The giant sable, found only in a few places in central Angola, is bigger with longer horns, is listed as Critically Endangered, and is Angola's national animal; the eastern sable, smallest of the four, lives around Kenya's Shimba Hills.
Males stand about 117 to 140 centimetres at the shoulder and typically weigh 235 kilograms, with females a little lighter at around 220. Both sexes have ringed horns that curve backwards, reaching 81 to 165 centimetres in males and 61 to 102 in females. Calves and females are chestnut to dark brown, while males turn black after about three years. They live about 19 years in the wild and 22 in captivity.
Herds of 10 to 30 females and calves follow a single bull. Young males are pushed out at around three years and form bachelor groups of up to 12, while daughters stay; oversized herds split into new ones, each again with one adult bull. Calves are born sandy-coloured for camouflage after roughly nine months of gestation and lie hidden for at least 10 days. Sable visit salt licks and even chew bones for minerals.
Agricultural development is eating into their grassland habitat, and young sable feed many carnivores, from leopards and African wild dogs to Nile crocodiles. The animal carries cultural weight across the region: it appeared on the Rhodesian flag and coat of arms, serves as the emblem of TAAG Angola Airlines, and gives Zimbabwe's national rugby union team its nickname.
Source: Sable antelope
