The common eland (Taurotragus oryx), also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, stands as the largest living antelope species. These majestic creatures inhabit the savannas and plains of East and Southern Africa. They have adapted to a variety of habitats and exhibit unique feeding behaviors. This article delves into the dietary habits of the common eland, exploring what they eat, how they adapt to different food sources, and the role of their diet in their overall survival.
Physical Characteristics and Habitat
The common eland is characterized by its stocky and heavy body. Mature males can weigh over 900 kg, while females are significantly lighter, weighing less than 600 kg. Their coat is typically tan-colored, often adorned with scattered, sometimes indistinct, vertical white stripes. Both sexes possess distinctively twisted horns, which can grow up to 70 cm long, with males having thicker horns. A notable feature is the dewlap, a skin flap on the lower throat, which has a brush of dark hair and becomes especially pendulous in older males.
Common elands inhabit a range of habitats, including grasslands, savannas, woodlands, and semi-deserts. They prefer semi-arid areas with shrub-like bushes and often inhabit woodlands and mountaintops, avoiding dense forests.
Dietary Preferences and Adaptations
Common elands are primarily herbivores, with a diet mainly consisting of grasses and leaves. They are both browsers and grazers, adapting their feeding habits to the available vegetation. Their small, narrow mouths allow them to be highly selective in choosing the plants they eat.
Seasonal Variation in Diet
During the drier winter months, common elands browse, feeding on leaves, branches, and other available vegetation. However, they have adapted to grazing during the rainy season when grasses are more common and nutritious. This flexibility allows them to thrive in environments with seasonal changes in vegetation.
Read also: The Diet of the Common Warthog
Specific Food Sources
Elands have been known to consume a variety of plants, including grasses like Setaria and Themeda, and fruits from Securinega and Strychnos. They require a high-protein diet of succulent leaves from flowering plants but will consume lower-quality plant material if necessary, including forbs, trees, shrubs, seeds, and tubers.
Water Conservation
Common elands obtain most of their water from their food, which is crucial for survival in arid environments. They will drink water when available but can survive on the moisture content of the plants they consume. This adaptation allows them to thrive in areas where water sources are scarce.
Feeding Behavior and Social Aspects
Common elands are crepuscular, meaning they are most active during the morning and evening hours. They often feed at night when vegetation has taken in moisture from the air, providing a higher water content. During hot days, they rest in shaded areas to conserve energy and water.
Herd Dynamics
These animals are social and are often found in herds of 25-60 individuals, occasionally gathering in groups of more than 1,000, especially during the rainy season. Mature males and females typically form separate herds, with the young congregating in nursery herds. A hierarchy exists within these herds, influencing access to breeding females for males and feeding sites for females.
Nomadic Lifestyle
Common elands are nomadic, wandering over large areas in search of the best foraging opportunities. Herd size varies widely depending on habitat type and season, ranging from as small as 2-5 individuals to as large as 25-70, and sometimes up to 400 animals.
Read also: Omnivorous Starling
Physiological Adaptations for Survival
The common eland possesses several physiological adaptations that aid in its survival in diverse and often harsh environments.
Thermoregulation
Elands have developed thermoregulatory mechanisms to withstand extreme temperatures. They can allow their body temperature to rise during the day, dissipating the heat at night. This reduces their need to sweat and conserves water. Peripheral thermal receptors on their skin allow them to sense heat and adjust evaporative cooling accordingly.
Water Conservation
Their kidneys are efficient at conserving water by concentrating their urine. They can also alter their metabolic rate and slow their breathing to reduce water loss. These adaptations are essential for survival in arid and semi-arid environments.
Threats to Diet and Survival
Several factors threaten the common eland's survival, including habitat loss due to human activities, hunting, and competition with livestock for resources.
Habitat Loss
As human populations grow and expand settlements and agriculture, they encroach on elands' living spaces, destroying habitats and food sources. This habitat loss reduces the availability of suitable grazing and browsing areas, impacting their diet and overall health.
Read also: Feeding Your Degu
Competition with Livestock
Competition with livestock for resources is another significant threat. Cattle and other domestic animals often graze in the same areas as elands, reducing the availability of food and water. This competition can lead to malnutrition and decreased survival rates for elands.
Hunting
Hunting, both legal and illegal, poses a threat to eland populations. Their meat is highly prized, especially by illegal hunters, because each animal provides a large quantity of meat. This hunting pressure can deplete local populations and disrupt their social structure.
Conservation Status and Efforts
According to the IUCN Red List, the total common eland population size is around 136,000 individuals. While they are not currently endangered, their populations face ongoing threats. Conservation efforts are crucial for ensuring their long-term survival.
Protected Areas
About half of the estimated total population lives in protected areas. These areas provide a safe haven for elands, protecting them from hunting and habitat loss. Major populations are supported in protected areas such as Omo (Ethiopia), Serengeti, Katavi, Ruaha, and Selous-Kilombero (Tanzania), Kafue and North Luangwa (Zambia), Nyika (Malawi), Etosha (Namibia), Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Botswana/South Africa), and Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park (South Africa).
Private Land Conservation
Relatively large numbers of common elands now live on private land, particularly in Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. This reflects their value as a trophy animal and their potential for sustainable use. Some farmers have switched from cattle to eland farming, as elands are better suited to African climates.
Domestication and Human Use
Common elands have a mild temperament and have been successfully domesticated for meat and milk production in South Africa and Russia. Their meat is highly prized, and their milk is rich in nutrients.
Benefits of Eland Milk
Eland milk contains more butterfat and has a higher protein content than cow's milk. It can also be stored for up to eight months, making it a valuable resource in areas with limited refrigeration. A female eland can produce up to 7 kg of milk per day.
Challenges of Domestication
Despite their potential for domestication, there are challenges to consider. Common elands require a substantial grazing area, along with salt licks and supplementary feed such as maize, sorghum, melons, and beans, which can be expensive. They are also capable of jumping over high fences or breaking through enclosures, making housing difficult.
Communication and Social Behavior
Common elands communicate through various methods, including vocalizations, gestures, scent cues, and display behaviors.
Vocalizations
If eland bulls sense predators nearby, they bark and attempt to attract the attention of others by trotting back and forth until the entire herd is aware of the danger.
Flehmen Response
The flehmen response, a behavior in which an animal curls back its upper lip, exposing its front teeth, inhales with the nostrils usually closed, and then often holds this position for several seconds, occurs primarily in males in response to contact with female urine or genitals.
Scent Cues
Females urinate to indicate fertility during the appropriate phase of their estrous cycle, as well as to indicate their lack of fertility when harassed by males.
Taxonomic Classification and Evolutionary History
The common eland was first described in 1766 by German zoologist and botanist Peter Simon Pallas. It belongs to the order Artiodactyla, family Bovidae, and subfamily Bovinae.
Subspecies
There are three recognized subspecies of the common eland:
- Taurotragus oryx oryx (Pallas, 1766; Cape eland): Found in Southern and southwestern Africa.
- Taurotragus oryx livingstonii (Sclater, 1864; Livingstone's eland): Found in the Central Zambezian miombo woodlands.
- Taurotragus oryx pattersonianus (Lydekker, 1906; East African eland or Patterson's eland): Found in East Africa.
Evolutionary History
The Bovidae family ancestors of the common eland arose approximately 20 million years ago in Africa. The first members of the tribe Tragelaphini appear six million years ago during the late Miocene. An extinct ancestor of the common eland (Taurotragus arkelli) appears in the Pleistocene in northern Tanzania.
Hybridization
Male elands and female greater kudus can produce a viable male hybrid, though whether it is sterile is unknown. An accidental crossing of an East African common eland (T. o. pattersonianus') with an East African kudu (T. s. bea) occurred in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The hybrid produced was sterile.