Water goats are ungulates of the bovine family, assigned to the group of antelopes. This taxon belongs to the subfamily of the same name with the Latin name Reduncinae, which also includes redunks and roe deer of the antelope. The genus of water goats (Latin Kobus) unites six species of artiodactyls that live in Africa.
General characteristics of the genus
Antelopes of the genus Kobus are medium or large (height up to 1.3 meters, weight up to 250 kg). These animals are characterized by a long coat, giving them a shaggy look. A unique sign of water goats is the absence of preorbital glands, which are found in all other bovids. The horns are quite long (from 50 to 100 cm or more), go back from the head and bend upward at the end. They grow only in males.
Water goats are herd animals living near marshy ponds. The distribution area is part of the African continent, located south of the Sahara desert. All representatives are good at swimming and use ponds as shelter from attacking predators.
Systematic position
In the system of zoological classification of Mammals, the subfamily of water goats belongs to the subclass of animals (Mammalia), the placental order (Eutheria), the artiodactyl order (Artiodactila), the ruminant order, and the bovine family (Bovidae).
The closest to the genus Kobus within the subfamily are reduncans (Redunca).
Species composition
The following species of antelopes belong to the genus Kobus:
- Common Water Goat (Kobus ellripsiprymnus).
- Sudanese goat (Kobus megaceros).
- Lychee (Kobus Leche).
- Kob (Kobus kob).
- Puku (Kobus vardonii).
The most famous representative of the genus Kobus is the species Kobus ellripsiprymnus, which has two subspecies:
- K. ellripsiprymnus defassa (otherwise called singing);
- K. ellripsiprymnus ellipsen.
In the Russian name Kobus ellripsiprymnus, the word "ordinary" is often omitted.
Subspecies differ in color and distribution area. Some researchers single out the sing sing in a separate form - Kobus defassa Riippel.
Common water goat
Among representatives of the genus Kobus, this species has the largest and most powerful physique. Males of these antelopes grow up to 130 cm at the withers and can weigh up to 250 kg (females are slightly smaller). A unique feature of this taxon is a wide white spot of a ring or horseshoe shape located on the croup, which is absent in other species.
In the photo, the water goat looks like a massive animal of a brownish-gray color with widely spaced and slightly bent forward fork-shaped horns, the length of which can exceed a meter. The coat is long, thick and stiff; there is a small mane on the neck. There are white spots around the eyes and on the throat.
Sudanese goat
Currently classified as an endangered species (at the beginning of the 20th century, there were less than 40 thousand individuals). The habitat of the Sudanese goat belongs to the floodplains of South Sudan and northwestern Ethiopia. This species is also called Nile lychee.
Sudanese goat is much smaller than usual (height up to 100 cm, weight within 70-110 kg). The horns are lyrically curved and reach from 50 to 80 cm in length. The coat has a fleecy texture. The longest hair grows on the cheeks.
Sudanese goats have a pronounced sexual dimorphism in color. So, in females, the back is golden brown, and the stomach is white. Males have white areas on the shoulders and near the eyes, and the rest of the coat is brown with a chocolate or reddish hue.
Lychee
Lychees are medium-sized antelopes with a height of about one meter and weighing up to 118 kg (females - up to 80). At the same time, the height at the withers is not maximum, since the back line is located at a slope in the direction from the back of the body to the front. Horns strongly bend up.
The habitat of this species is rather narrow and includes the following regions:
- Botswana;
- Nambia
- Angola
- South Congo;
- Zambia.
The lychee population is characterized by high density, due to which the territory of one male is from 15 to 200 m in diameter.
Cob
Kob, otherwise called the swamp goat, has a massive harmonious physique with long legs and a muscular neck. The maximum height at the withers of males is 90 cm and weight is 120 kg. The most typical color is reddish brown. There is a white spot on the neck, and a black pattern on the front of the legs. The lower abdomen is white.
According to the color and regions of distribution, 3 subspecies of the cob are distinguished: white-eared, Sudan and Buffon cob.
Puku
The smallest antelope of the genus Kobus (growth about 80 cm), in morphological structure is very similar to coba.
The horns of these antelopes are relatively short, but powerful and prominent, with well-defined rings. The color is golden yellow with a gray-white bottom. The hair of the extremities has a plain brown color.
The distribution range of the species is central Africa.