Lechwe (Kobus leche) lives in wet savanna grasslands across Southern Africa. It feeds on grass and leaves. Its conservation status is Near Threatened.
Fascinating facts about the Lechwe
- Lechwe can sprint through knee-deep water because their legs are coated with a water-repellent substance, letting them move quickly while staying submerged. This adaptation lets them use the water as a shield from predators, a tactic they employ in the marshy wetlands they inhabit. They are active by day, feeding on aquatic plants and grasses in flooded meadows, and their swift water-running helps them escape danger.
- The hind legs of lechwe are proportionally longer than those of other antelopes, a build that eases long-distance running on soggy ground. Adult lechwe stand 90 to 100 cm at the shoulder and weigh 50 to 120 kg, giving them the strength to cover extensive marshland. Their water-repellent leg covering lets them run quickly in knee-deep water, supporting their role as important herbivores of aquatic plants and flooded-meadow grasses.
- Lechwe gather in herds that can include many thousands of individuals, usually forming single-sex groups that roam the wetlands together. These massive herds are typically all male or all female, only intermixing when the rain season triggers the mating period. Being diurnal, they move and feed together during daylight, which enhances their ability to locate food and stay safe in the expansive floodplains.
- Only male lechwe grow the distinctive long, spiral horns that are vaguely lyre-shaped; females lack them entirely. Males are also larger, standing 90-100 cm at the shoulder and weighing up to 120 kg.
- Roberts' lechwe was a recognised subspecies of the lechwe that once inhabited northeastern Zambia. It has since disappeared and is now listed as extinct. The subspecies was also called the Kawambwa lechwe. It is one of four subspecies that scientists currently recognise within the species.
Sources
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At a glance
RangeSouthern Africa
HabitatWet savanna grasslands
DietGrass and leaves
About the Lechwe
In the lush wetlands of southern Africa, the lechwe moves with a quiet elegance, its long legs carrying it effortlessly across the marshy landscape as it searches for the tender shoots of aquatic plants. With its striking coat of reddish-brown and white, this antelope is a vision of beauty, its large, lyre-shaped horns bobbing up and down as it runs with a fluid, almost ethereal, gait. As it glides through the shallow waters, its webbed hooves barely making a ripple, the lechwe seems almost otherworldly, a creature perfectly adapted to its watery realm.
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