Topi
Topi | |
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Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Bovidae |
Subfamily: | Alcelaphinae |
Genus: | Damaliscus |
Species: | |
Subspecies: | D. l. jimela
|
Trinomial name | |
Damaliscus lunatus jimela (Matschie, 1892)
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Range in dark green | |
Synonyms[2] | |
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Damaliscus lunatus jimela is a
Names
The word tope or topi is
Other names recorded in East Africa by various German explorers were mhili in
By the turn of the 19th century this antelope was called a topi by most in English.[6][7][8] Writing in 1908, Richard Lydekker complains that it would have so much simpler if all these new forms of korrigum had simply been called East African korrigum, Bahr-el-Ghazal korrigum, etc., than constantly adopting different native names for different geographic forms of essentially the same antelope.[7]
In 2003 Fenton Cotterill argued the correct name for jimela topi was nyamera in English,[9] referencing that to the 1993 Kingdon field guide, which reports it as another Swahili name for topi antelopes.[10]
New names invented in 2011 for various populations of this subspecies were Serengeti topi, Ruaha topi and Uganda topi.[2]
Taxonomy and range
Damaliscus lunatus jimela was originally
In 1914 Gilbert Blaine pointed out that Matschie's description in which the dark patch on the upper foreleg extended as a stripe down the front of the leg towards the hooves, if correctly taken from Böhm's painting, and if correctly painted, was not present in any of the specimens known to him in London, and that this was thus another subspecies than the other topi of East Africa, and perhaps restricted to a small area. He subsequently created another four subspecies based on small differences in hair colour and size, recognising seven in East Africa.[11]
Some recent authors have controversially[12][13][14] split it into three different species,[2] or have classified it as Damaliscus korrigum jimela,[15][16] although this has been rejected by the American Society of Mammalogists' Mammal Diversity Database as of 2021.[2] Some recent researchers simply consider this population to belong to D. lunatus korrigum.[17]
In 1910, the Spanish professor
According to the 2005 definition of D. korrigum jimela, topi can be found in the following countries:
Description
The hair colour of the
This subspecies has horns with a shape that gives the effect of the space between them having a
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female with calf, Uganda
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in the Serengeti
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grazing in theMasai Mara
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running in Uganda
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A pair of topi
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Topi in Kenya
Ecology
Topi prefer pastures with green grass that is medium in height with leaf-like swards. Topis are more densely populated in areas where green plants last into the dry season, particularly near water.[21] When foraging for food, topi tend to take small bites at a fast rate.[22]
The topi has what is possibly the most diverse social organization of the antelopes. The reproductive organization ranges between the traditional territorial system or resource defense
The vast majority of births occur between October and December with half of them occurring in October.[24] The fidelity of a female to a territory can last three years in the Serengeti.[23] The females in these territories function as part of the resident male's harem. These herds tend to be closed (except when new females are accepted) and both the male and his females defend the territory.[25]
Status and conservation
In 1998, Rod East estimated a global population of ca. 71,000 topi for the
In Tanzania, East estimated a total of 58,510 individuals in 1998.[26] According to the 2014 A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Tanzania, there were a total of 35,000-46,500 individuals in the country. Of those, there are some 27,000-38,500 in the
In
In Rwanda, East estimated a that there were less than 500 individuals in 1998.[26] An aerial census counted 560 in Akagera National Park and neighbouring Mutara Domaine de Chasse (hunting area) in 2013, an identically done census counted 805 in 2015. This was believed to be natural increase in the absence of significant numbers of predators.[30]
In
In the adjoining
In 2016 the IUCN estimated a similar number as in 1998, with 50,000-70,000 mature individuals, and continued to state the population was trending downward. No mention made of the 2008 assessment, but it was stated that East had estimated 58,500 in 1998 (the assessment cites the date 1999) in Tanzania and the 2014 book had estimated it as 35,000-46,500, which represents a 25-46% decline over three generations (18 years) in the country which holds the majority of the population, thus assuming the figures for Tanzania are accurate and can be applied to other countries, and assuming East's 1998 numbers for the other countries are accurate, this could mean the world population had dropped by a mean of 36%, which would qualify this species for a "vulnerable" status, although if the population in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda had not fallen below their 1998 estimations the species would actually qualify as "near threatened".[1]
References
- ^ .
- ^ a b c d e "Damaliscus lunatus (Burchell, 1824)". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists. 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ .
- ^ OCLC 12266224.
- ^ OCLC 1236807.
- ^ OCLC 5266086.
- ^ OCLC 1598642.
- ^ Cotterill, Fenton Peter David (January 2003). "A biogeographic review of tsessebe antelopes, Damaliscus lunatus (Bovidae: Alcelaphini) in south-central Africa". Durban Museum Novitates. 28: 45–55. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-4729-2135-2.
- ^ a b c Blaine, Gilbert (1914). "Notes on the Korrigum, with a Description of Four new Races". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology. 8 (13): 326–335. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ "About the Mammal Diversity Database". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- S2CID 17640424. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- PMID 29551763. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- ^ a b Cotterill, Fenton Peter David (January 2003). "Insights into the taxonomy of tsessebe antelopes, Damaliscus lunatus (Bovidae: Alcelaphini) in south-central Africa: with the description of a new evolutionary species". Durban Museum Novitates. 28: 11–30. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
- ^ OCLC 62265494.
- ^ PMID 27676077.
- . Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ PMID 24831669.
- ISBN 978-0-520-08085-0.
- .
- JSTOR 5369.
- ^ a b Duncan, P. (1976). "Ecological studies of topi antelope in the Serengeti". Wildlife News. 11 (1): 2–5.
- .
- ^ Duncan, P. (1975). Topi and their food supply. Ph.D. thesis, University of Nairobi.
- ^ a b c d e East, Rod; IUCN/SSC Antelope Specialist Group (1998). "African Antelope Database" (PDF). Occasional Paper of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. 21: 200–207. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- ^ Foley, C.; Foley, L.; Lobora, A.; de Luca, D.; Msuha, M.; Davenport, T. R. B.; Durant, S. (2014). A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Tanzania. Princeton, USA: Princeton University Press.
- .
- ^ Ogutu, Joseph; Owen-Smith, Norman; Piepho, Hans-Peter; Said, Mohammed (June 2011). "ILRI Policy Brief 2 - Wildlife numbers in Kenya's Mara region in decline" (PDF) (Press release). International Livestock Research Institute. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
- ^ "Akagera National Park Aerial Census Report Summary-August 2015" (PDF). African Parks. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
- ^ . Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- .
- .
- ^ A. Plumptre; D. Kujirakwinja; D. Moyer; M. Driciru; A. Rwetsiba (August 2010). Greater Virunga Landscape Large Mammal Surveys, 2010 (Report). Wildlife Conservation Society. pp. 5, 6. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ Uganda Wildlife Authority: Planning Unit (26 July 2012). Buhanga, Edgar; Namara, Justine (eds.). Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kyambura Wildlife Reserve, Kigezi Wildlife Reserve-General Management Plan (2011 - 2021) (Report). Uganda Wildlife Authority. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ F. Wanyama; E. Balole; P. Elkan; S. Mendiguetti; S. Ayebare; F. Kisame; P. Shamavu; R. Kato; D. Okiring; S. Loware; J. Wathaut; B.Tumonakiese; Damien Mashagiro; T. Barendse; A.J.Plumptre (October 2014). Aerial surveys of the Greater Virunga Landscape - Technical Report 2014 (Report). Wildlife Conservation Society. p. 11. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ "Queen Elizabeth National park records an increase in wildlife". The Independent (Uganda). Kampala, Uganda. 4 July 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
- ^ Tumushabe, Godber W.; Bainomugisha, Arthur (2004). "ACODE Policy Briefing Paper No. 7, 2004-The Politics of Investment and Land Acquisition in Uganda-A Case Study of Pian Upe Game Reserve" (PDF) (Press release). Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment. p. 3. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ "Bokora Wildlife Reserve". Uganda Wildlife Authority. 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ Uganda Wildlife Authority: Conservation Department and Karimojong Overland Safaris (28 May 2013). Pian-Upe Wildlife Reserve-General Management Plan (PDF) (Report). Uganda Wildlife Authority. pp. 20–22, 24. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ a b Uganda Wildlife Authority: Planning Unit (25 February 2015). Buhanga, Edgar; Namara, Justine (eds.). Lake Mburo Conservation Area - General Management Plan (2015 - 2025) (PDF) (Report). Uganda Wildlife Authority. pp. 7, 11, 20, 22, 27, 35, 36, 38, 39. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ "Uganda Safari – Nile buffalo, Sitatunga, Reedbuck, Topi, Kob and plains game". Worldwide Trophy Adventures. 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.