The southern reedbuck, rietbok
or common reedbuck (''Redunca arundinum'') is a
diurnal antelope
The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...
typically found in southern Africa. It was first described by
Pieter Boddaert, a Dutch physician and naturalist, in 1785. It is placed in the genus ''
Redunca'' and family
Bovidae
The Bovidae comprise the family (biology), biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes Bos, cattle, bison, Bubalina, buffalo, antelopes (including Caprinae, goat-antelopes), Ovis, sheep and Capra (genus), goats. A member o ...
. This antelope has an average mass of and a body length of about .
Taxonomy and etymology
It was first described by
Pieter Boddaert, a Dutch physician and naturalist, in 1785. It is placed in the genus ''
Redunca'' and family
Bovidae
The Bovidae comprise the family (biology), biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes Bos, cattle, bison, Bubalina, buffalo, antelopes (including Caprinae, goat-antelopes), Ovis, sheep and Capra (genus), goats. A member o ...
. It gets its name from two
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
words: ''reduncas'' (meaning bent backwards and curved, while the horns are bent forwards) and ''arundo'' (harundo) (meaning a
reed; hence ''arundinum'', pertaining to
reeds).
Description
The southern reedbuck is larger than the other species in ''Redunca'', namely ''
R. redunca'' (Bohor reedbuck) and ''
R. fulvorufula'' (mountain reedbuck).
[ It stands at the shoulder.] Females weigh , while the males weigh .[ It has distinctive dark lines running down the front of each of its forelegs and lower hindlegs and whitish rings around the eyes.] It has a lifespan of 10 years.
The coat is silky and almost woolly. The color of its coat
A coat is typically an outer garment for the upper body, worn by any gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front, and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners (AKA velcro), ...
ranges between light- and greyish-brown, and may be lighter on the neck and chest. A small, black, bare glandular patch can be noticed at the base of each ear. White fur covers the underparts and the areas near the lips and chin. The tail is white underside, and appears short and bushy. Southern reedbucks measure an average of at the shoulder. Females lack horns. Males bear forward-curving horns, about long, with the base having a distinct band of pale, rubbery tissue.
Ecology
Southern reedbucks live in pairs or alone. Sometimes, they form herds consisting of about 20 members. They prefer to lie in grass or reed bed
A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and
estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...
s in the heat of the day and feed during sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon.
Terminology
Although the S ...
and sunset
Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...
, or sometimes even at night
Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...
. Old reedbucks are permanently territorial
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...
, with territories around 35-60 hectares, and generally live with a single female, preventing contact with rival males. Females and young males perform an 'appeasement dance' for older males. During the dance, the bucks run around speedily and take considerably long jumps, with the tail curled up and scented air being released from a pocket in the groin
In human anatomy, the groin, also known as the inguinal region or iliac region, is the junctional area between the torso and the thigh. The groin is at the front of the body on either side of the pubic tubercle, where the lower part of the abdom ...
at every bounce, making a popping sound. Within this territory, it is active all the time in summer, but it is nocturnal
Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatur ...
in the wet season. It regularly uses paths to reach good sites to rest, graze, and drink water. Average lifetime home ranges have been estimated as 123 ha for females and 74 ha for males.
Their main predator
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...
s include lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...
s, leopards, cheetah
The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large Felidae, cat and the Fastest animals, fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, wit ...
s, spotted hyena
The spotted hyena (''Crocuta crocuta''), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus ''Crocuta'', native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUC ...
s, Cape hunting dogs, African rock pythons and nile crocodile
The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the eastern, southern, and ce ...
s. They can camouflage themselves in the grasslands due to their coat
A coat is typically an outer garment for the upper body, worn by any gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front, and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners (AKA velcro), ...
s, which are almost the same color. If startled or attacked, they stand still, then either hide or flee with an odd rocking-horse movement, and cautiously look back to ensure the danger is gone, generally. They use vocalizations like a shrill whistle through their nostril
A nostril (or naris , : nares ) is either of the two orifices of the nose. They enable the entry and exit of air and other gasses through the nasal cavities. In birds and mammals, they contain branched bones or cartilages called turbinates ...
s and a clicking noise to alert others about danger.
Physical Characteristics
; Head and body length: 130-160 cm (males), 120-140 cm (females)
; Shoulder height: 80-105 cm (males), 65-95 cm (females)
; Tail length: 18-30 cm
; Adult weight: 60-95 kg (males), 50-85 kg (females) 11
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Feeding
As a herbivore
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...
, the reedbuck mainly feeds on grasses. It also eats herbs and reeds. It never enters into water, though it inhabits places with water sources. It needs to drink water every few days to several times a day during the dry season.
Reproduction
The southern reedbuck breeds almost all the time of the year, although most matings occur during the hot and wet season. Females reach sexual maturity
Sexual maturity is the capability of an organism to reproduce. In humans, it is related to both puberty and adulthood. ''Puberty'' is the biological process of sexual maturation, while ''adulthood'', the condition of being socially recognized ...
when they are two years old, when they leave their parent's territory. Males, which reach maturity at a slightly older age, may remain with the family group until their third year. A single young is born per birth after a gestation
Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...
period of seven to eight months, and remains amongst the dense and tall grass cover in which it was born for the next two months. The female does not stay with her young, but instead visits it for just 10 to 30 minutes each day to nurse it.
Habitat and distribution
Southern reedbucks have a wide distribution, stretching from Gabon
Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...
and Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
to South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. Their range seems to extend to the Miombo woodlands on the north. They inhabit moist grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...
s with tall grass, reeds, sufficient cover, and water nearby, such as floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...
s, pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing.
Types of pasture
Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...
s, woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...
s, and valley
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...
s. They are common in seasonally flooded valleys near the Malagarasi River.[ They also occur in the southern savannas of Tchibanga and Ndende (in Republic Democratic of Congo).]
It is native to Angola, Botswana, the Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...
, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
, Gabon, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini
Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...
, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It also occurs in protected areas and areas with low to moderate levels of settlement, including significant populations on private land in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Namibia. In the Republic of Congo, it formerly occurred locally in the savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
s of southern Congo, but it is probably extinct there by now. Its presence is doubted in Lesotho
Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
. Major populations occur in areas such as Selous National Park (Tanzania), Kafue National Park (Zambia), Nyika National Park (Malawi), Gorongosa National Park
Gorongosa National Park is at the southern end of the Great African Rift Valley in the heart of central Mozambique, Southeast Africa. The more than park comprises the valley floor and parts of surrounding plateaus. Rivers originating on nearby ...
(Mozambique), Okavango National Park (Botswana) and Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park () is a national park in South Africa covering an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in the country's northeast. It extends from north to south and from east to west. The administrative headquarters are i ...
and Eastern Shores (South Africa).
Conservation and threats
Southern reedbucks remain widespread, but they have been eliminated from some parts of their former range (such as the Congo) by the spread of settlement which has led to habitat destruction
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
and hunting for meat and trophies. It is reportedly one of the easiest antelope
The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...
s to approach and kill. About 60% of all southern reedbucks are thought to occur in protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...
s and about 13% on private lands. This combination of habitat loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
and overexploitation
Overexploitation, also called overharvesting or ecological overshoot, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to ...
has resulted in the species becoming rare in most of South Africa, and reduced populations to precariously low levels in west and central Africa; those in Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo are feared to be almost extinct.
Parasites of reedbucks include the filaria '' Setaria graberi''.[ ]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q755007
southern reedbuck
Mammals of Namibia
Mammals of South Africa
Mammals of Angola
Mammals of Zambia
Mammals of Southern Africa
southern reedbuck