The most common antelope specie that you will see while in the Masai Mara National park includes the following.
Beisa Oryx
The male and the females look alike may be hard to differentiate. The females however have slender and shorter horns. The ears are abit long and they have a lot of hair. They are abit muscular. They eat grass like most antelopes.
Coke’s Hartebeest
They have sharp horns with a wide forehead. This antelope has a long back, big chest, pointed ears and long legs. They move in groups of between 20 and 300 and majorly eat grass. They run at a soead of about 70 kilometers per hour.
Common Eland
After the giant eland, the common eland is the second largest antelope in the world and can grow up to 7 meters tall. Both males and females have twisted horns, with slight differences. The male horns are a bit larger, whereas the females have spiral horns. The horns are used to protect themselves and their young ones against predators..
Gerenuk
This antelope is also known as the giraffe necked antelope since they have very long necks with a very small head. They are reddish brown. The males have slim horns that are triangular shape. The female gerenuks are very maternal towards the young ones. Gerenuks form small herds with 5 to 6 members.
Impala
This is a very common antelope. Its medium sized with a long neck and a slender body. It’s the males that have large horns. They are also the largest horn in the region. Females are smaller and thinner than male impalas. The males form a bachelor herd of up to 30 members, while the female herd can have 6 to 100 members.
Kirk’s Dik-Dik
This is also the world’s smallest antelope. It’s very careful since it’s prone to the prey traps. Their name is derived from the sound that the males make while they are startled. They have a high betabolism rate and this makes hem consume a lot of food.
Thomson’s and Grant’s Gazelle
This gazelle is one of the most common gazelles in the Masai Mara National Game reserve. This animal was names by Joseph Thompson who was always called ‘Tommie’. The animals usually weight about 40 to 80 Kilograms. The Thompson’s gazelles are most recognizable by the thick black tail, black strip on the flank and the short horns. Thomson’s gazelles prefer savannas and grassland habitats, particularly in the Serengeti region of Kenya and Tanzania
Topi
These antelopes are very agile and run up to about 90 kilometers per hour when in danger. They are similar to the Hartebeests but they have very distinctive differences.
Common Waterbuck
The common waterbuck is a large and muscular antelope. Male waterbucks have ringed horns, which can grow up to 100 cm, and are widely spaced while curving backwards and up. Waterbucks use their horns to fight for the territory and these fights can be dangerous for both males.
Blue Wildebeest
This is one of the fastest of all the antelopes on this list. it runs up to 85 kilometers per hour. They have a sharp beard and a log tail. The males are larger than the females and abit heavier.
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