Common Eland

While the common eland is originally from eastern and southern Africa, they now graze throughout the U.S. The eland is one of the largest antelopes with their huge, almost ox-like bodies.

Here are 9 facts you have to know about this freakishly large antelope.

  1. They have pointy and very narrow ears.
  2. They have a brown coat, although mature bulls can look grayer. This is actually caused by their thinning hair which causes their dark skin to show from underneath. The calves have vertical white body stripes along their sides, but these fade with age.
  3. Eland all have a dewlap, but it’s much larger on males, running almost all the way from the neck down into its chest. The female dewlap has a tuft of hair hanging from the middle.
  4. Their smooth horns twist once or twice near the base and the female eland actually grow longer horns, but with less mass.Common Eland
  5. Males weigh about 1,100 pounds (yes! 1,100!) but can weight up to 2,200 lbs. Females typically weigh 665 pounds but can get as heavy as 1,300 lbs. Although the common eland is massive, it’s still not quite as large as the giant eland.
  6. The eland is a very gentle wild animal and can be very tame.
  7. They can hybridize with kudu.
  8. Although they are one of the largest antelopes, they are also the slowest. Eland can trot for hours and are high jumpers, but they cannot sustain a gallop (https://www.britannica.com/animal/eland).
  9. They are highly sought after by the hunting community because of their ability to avoid detection in spite of their size

Written by Carly Brasseux.