Ugandan kob: Difference between revisions

| status_ref = <ref name="IUCN">{{IUCN2008cite iucn |assessorauthor=Anderson,IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group M.|assessor2date=Mills,2016 G.|last-assessor-amp=yes|year=2008|id=11043|title=''Kobus kob'' ssp. ''thomasi'' |downloadedvolume=2016 |page=e.T11043A50190198 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T11043A50190198.en |access-date=2212 MarchNovember 20092021}} Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern</ref>

| image2_caption = Female and calf<br/>both at [[Semliki Wildlife Reserve]], [[Uganda]]

The '''Ugandan kob''' ('''''Kobus kob thomasi''''') is a [[subspecies]] of the [[kob]], a type of [[antelope]]. It is found in [[sub-Saharan Africa]] in [[South Sudan]], [[Uganda]] and the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]. The Ugandan kob is normally reddish-brown, differentiating it from other kob subspecies.

A Ugandan kob appears on the [[coat of arms of Uganda]], along with a [[grey crowned crane]] (''Balearica regulorum gibbericeps''), representing the abundant [[Wildlife of Uganda|wildlife]] present in the country.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ottawa.mofa.go.ug/data-smenu-27-Uganda-Coat-of-Arms.html |title=Uganda Coat of Arms |publisher=Uganda High Commission in Canada |accessdateaccess-date=27 June 2019}}</ref>

The Ugandan kob is similar in appearance to the [[impala]] but it is more sturdily built. Only the males have horns, which are lyre-shaped, strongly ridged and divergent. Males are slightly larger than females, being {{convert|90|to|100|cm|ft|abbr=on}} at the shoulder, with an average weight of {{convert|94|kg|lb|abbr=on}}, while females are {{convert|82|to|92|cm|ft|1|abbr=on}} at the shoulder and on average weigh about {{convert|63|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. Apart from the throat patch, muzzle, eye ring and inner ear, which are white, the coat is golden to reddish-brown, the colour differentiating it from other kob subspecies. The belly and inside of the legs are white, and the front of the forelegs are black.<ref name=Estes>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g977LsZHpcsC&pg=PA98 |title=The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates |first=Richard |last=Estes |publisher=University of California Press |year=1991|isbn=978-0-520-08085-0 |pages=98–102}}</ref><ref name=Kingdon>{{cite book |title=East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Volume 3, Part. C: Bovids |last=Kingdon |first=J |year=1982 |publisher=University Chicago Press |isbn= |pages=367–381 |url= }}</ref>

This subspecies is native to East Africa. It occurs in South Sudan, to the west of the Nile, Uganda and the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Its range used to extend into northwestern Tanzania, where it grazed the grasslands margining Lake Victoria, and into southwestern Kenya, but it has been [[Local extinction|extirpated]] from these countries. It is typically found in open or wooded [[savanna]], within a reasonable distance of water, and it also occurs in grasslands near rivers and lakes. Its habit of lying out in open grassland make it an accessible target for [[Poaching|poacher]]s, and 98% of the present population are found in national parks and other protected areas.<ref name="IUCN"/>