Sable Antelope

sable antelope, (Hippotragus niger), one of Africa’s most impressive antelopes and a member of the horse antelope tribe Hippotragini (family Bovidae), so-called because of their compact, powerful build, erect mane, thick necks, and sturdy build.

Sable bulls, with their glossy black (sable) coats set off by white underparts, rump, throat, and facial markings and their great scimitar-shaped horns, are a favorite quarry of trophy hunters. Females and young are chestnut to sorrel in colour; these pronounced colour differences make the sable antelope one of the most sexually dimorphic species in the bovid family. However, south of the Zambezi River, females of the H. niger niger (“black black”) subspecies also turn very dark. The sable is a large antelope, standing 117–140 cm (46–55 inches) tall. Bulls weigh about 235 kg (517 pounds) and females about 220 kg (480 pounds).

The sable’s geographic range extends through the southern savanna from central Tanzania to South Africa. Closely associated with the broad-leaved deciduous woodlands called miombo, the sable is an “edge” species that favours the ecotone between wooded savanna and grassland. It is a grazer and a browser; during the rainy season (September to April), it forages the grasses, forbs, and foliage of woodlands, and in the dry season it emerges onto grasslands where it concentrates on flushes of green herbage after annual fires sweep the countryside. It is water-dependent and visits pools and pans daily in the dry season, as well as mineral licks to gain salt and trace elements that are in short supply in the ancient, leached granitic soils of the African inland plateau.

The sable is a sociable and territorial antelope; herds of females and young numbering up to 70 animals (sometimes even in the hundreds in Zimbabwe) live in large home ranges of 10 to more than 50 square km (4 to more than 19 square miles). Among females, there is a dominance hierarchy based partly on seniority. Herds frequently break up into smaller units of variable composition and may remain separated for long intervals. Creches of young calves regularly lag behind adults and are often found alone. Females conceive as two-year-olds and calve after a nine-month gestation. Seasonal breeding comes at the beginning of the rainy season (September–October), calving at the end (May–June). Female offspring remain in the home range, but the darkening colour and large horns of subadult males cause territorial males to drive them out in their fourth year, if not sooner. Thereafter, the young males join a bachelor herd or live as lodgers on the property of territorial males until they mature at five and are ready to compete for a territory that may be as large as 10 square km (4 square miles).

Predators and prey both occur at relatively low density in miombo woodland. Apart from occasional lions, spotted hyenas, and wild dogs, the main predator of the sable is the leopard. Adult sable are generally too large and formidable for leopards, but calves and yearlings are vulnerable.