WATERBUCK (Common or Defassa)



How to Recognize
Waterbuck are large antelopes with a thick brown shaggy coats. Waterbucks have skin glands which makes their coats greasy (possibly as an insulation from temperature extremes) which make them stink.

It has a distinctive white rump (the common waterbuck has a bulls-eye white rump; the defassa waterbuck has an all-white rump). This white rump is used by the mother to signal the calf to follow.

It also has white markings on the face and throat. Only the males have ridged, ringed horns that point forward at the top. Waterbucks are common to see and approachable as they are rather tame.

Habitat
Open woodland and savannah, near water (hence their name!). They will sometimes flee into the water to escape their predators.

Behavior
Nocturnal and diurnal. They can be found in territorial herds of females (cows) and young (calves), led by dominant male (bull). Younger bulls live in small groups apart from the herd. They can also be found in territorial male herds visited by wandering female herds.

Breeding
Cows give birth to a single calf. The young hide for a few weeks after birth before joining the herd.

Feeding
They have a plant diet of grasses, reeds, and brushes that is unpalatable to other herbivores. They chew their cud.

Enemies
Lions and hyenas. Waterbucks rely on waterside vegetation for cover when being pursued.


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Copyright © 2002, Dawn M. Dalton.
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