The Kob (Kobus kob)

The kob (Kobus kob) is a species of antelope found in Africa’s northern savanna ranging from Senegal east to South Sudan. The kob resembles its smaller relative the impala (Aepyceros melampus). Like the impala, the Kob also exhibits sexual dimorphism with the male growing larger than the female and have horns. A male Kob will stand about three to three and a half feet tall at the shoulders and weigh in excess of 200 pounds. The male kob has ridged horns, with transverse corrugations, that are about 17 inches in length. A female Kob generally will be about three quarters the size of the male and has no horns.

Three subspecies of kob are found in Africa: Uganda Kob (K. k. thomasi); Buffon’s Kob (K. k. kob) and White-eared Kob (K. k. leucotis. The Uganda Kob and Buffon’s Kob are typically golden to reddish-brown in color, with a white throat patch, and black front forelegs. Male kobs tend to get darker as they get older. The white-eared kob (K. k. leucotis), a subspecies found in the Sudd region of South Sudan, is darker colored than the other two subspecies, and is more similar in color to the male Nile lechwe (Kobus megaceros).

The Uganda Kob can be found in north-east Democratic Republic of the Congo, south-west Sudan and throughout Uganda. The Uganda Kob once ranged into Kenya, and Tanzania, but is now extinct in these countries. The Buffon’s Kob has the widest distribution range of the three subspecies of kob. It can be found from Senegal to Central African Republic and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, Buffon’s Kob is now extinct in Gambia and Sierra Leone. The white-eared Kob has the most restricted range of the three subspecies. It can be found in Sudan, South Sudan, south-west Ethiopia and extreme north-east Uganda. White-eared Kob in the Boma grassland ecosystem form the second largest population of antelope found in Africa.

African Kob generally live in flat, open, grassy areas near permanent water. Typical kob habitat includes floodplains and grasslands near water within savanna woodlands. Kob are diurnal grazers, feeding mainly on grass, during the morning and early evening hours of the day. Some of the grass species eaten by the kob include palisade grass, (Urochloa brizantha), Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana), and species of the genera Echinochloa, Setaria (African bristlegrass), Hyparrhenia (thatching grass) and Digitaria (crabgrasses). Within their range, Kob may move from one grazing area to another, in response to seasonal rains. In particular, the white-eared kob exhibit annual mass migrations, similar to those of the wildebeest and zebra on the Serengeti. Population densities can reach 1,000 kob per square kilometer during these migrations.

Like most African antelope, Kob are hunted by the African lion (Panthera leo), leopard ((Panthera pardus), spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), and African wild dog (Lycaon pictus). Humans also hunt Kob for both sport and meat.

African Kob become sexually mature early in their second year. Calving season coincides with the end of the rainy season. After a gestation period of close to nine months, the female kob will usually give birth to a single calf. During the first month, the calf will stay hidden in dense vegetation. The calf enters the mothers’ herd when it become three to four months old. The calf is weaned at about seven months and leaves the mother’s side. Kob do not have strong social bonds, however, females live in herds, sometimes numbering in the thousands. When males first mature, they join bachelors herds and normally wait for several years before actually breeding.

The population density affects the chose of the mating strategy used by kob males. When in average or low population densities (i.e. less than 15 kob per square kilometer), male kob use a resource-defense strategy. The male establishes a conventional territory in the best habitat available, which is then used by females and their young. Males will actively herd females and keep them in their territories.

In denser populations (i.e. greater than 14 kob per square kilometer) a portion of kob males will adopt a lek mating system. A lek is an aggregation of males that gather to engage in competitive displays used to entice visiting females to mate. Although lek usage is most commonly found in birds, this behavior is also found in insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

Male kob that adopt a lek mating system will defend territories 15 to 200 meters in diameter on a traditional mating ground. The most dominant males are found in the center of the lek. Their territories are the smallest and the most highly-contested because this is where most of the breeding occurs. A dominant male is only able to maintain a center territory for several days to a week, due to intense competition from other male kob and the need to leave to find food and water.

The center territories are popular with the female kob despite the rapid male turnover. Female kob visit these leks only to breed, and males provide no food resources or parental care. Up to 90 percent of the kob females will visit leks to mate in denser populations. Courtship and mating only last for several minutes within these center lek territories.

This lek mating system appears to have evolved in the kob because in dense populations, males cannot defend the widely-dispersed food resources or the dynamic and temporary female herds.

Although the kob is still widespread and relatively numerous, the range of this species has diminished and become more fragmented. The kob is still commonly found in protected areas, such as national parks, yet it is highly vulnerable to poaching, which has caused large-scale declines in populations within certain national parks (e.g. Comoe National Park). The tendency for kob to congregate in relatively large concentrations make them highly susceptible to hunting.

Loss of habitat due to the human expansion into kob habitat is another major cause of kob population reduction (e.g. reason kob is extinct in Kenya and Tanzania). Despite the violent civil war that last for decades, the white-eared kob still survives in good numbers in South Sudan.

The Kob is found in a number of National Parks, including:
Murchison Falls National Park
Queen Elizabeth National Park
Garamba National Park
Virunga National Park
Niokolo-Koba National Park
Comoe National Park
Arly-Singou National Park
Mole National Park
Bui National Park
Pendjari National Park
Waza National Park
Benoué National Park
Faro National Park
Zakouma National Park
Manovo-Gounda-St. Floris National Park
Sangba National Park
Boma National Park
Badingilo National Park

The kob is native to the following countries: Benin; Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Côte d’Ivoire; The Democratic Republic of the Congo; Ethiopia; Gambia Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Mali; Niger; Nigeria; Senegal; Sierra Leone; South Sudan; Sudan; Tanzania; Togo; Uganda. However, the kob is no longer found in Gambia, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.