Tsesebe

Description:

Tsessebe are found primarily in Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. They used to be spread throughout a significant amount of Africa, from Senegal to eastern Ethiopia down to the northern areas of South Africa. Tsessebe can run at a maximum of 80 kilometers per hour.

Habitat:

Tsessebe are herbivores that primarily graze in grasslands, open plains, and lightly wooded savannahs. But they are also found in rolling updlands and very rarely in flat plains below 1500 m. Tsessebe found in the Serengeti usually feed in the morning between 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and in the afternoon after 4:00 p.m. The periods before and after feeding are spent resting and digesting or watering during dry seasons.

Notes:

Tsessebe reproduce at a rate of one calf per year per mating couple. Once a calf is born they reach sexual maturity in two to three and half years. After mating the gestation period of a tsessebe cow lasts seven months. The rut, or period where females are receptive to mating, starts in mid-February and stretches through March. The population of Damaliscus lunatus was estimated to be in the tens of thousands in 1998 and thus declared at low risk of extinction. However, the IUCN Species Survival Commission observed a general population decline that would result in the population becoming vulnerable to extinction by the year 2025. As was mentioned earlier, Tsessebe populations were present in much greater numbers but populations declined due to habitat destruction with bush encroachment playing a primary role.