Items23The creator’s order
  1. 1Common elandCommon elandCow-like bulk is the first clue: this and the rarer giant eland are the two largest antelope on Earth, close enough in size that accounts differ, though the giant eland is usually ranked first, and bulls can top 2,000 pounds. Both sexes carry nearly straight horns with tight spiral twists, a…0
  2. 2Greater kuduGreater kuduA kudu bull is the antelope people photograph twice: his horns open into long spirals of up to three full turns and can reach about 6 feet. Cows have no horns, so look instead for the huge, rounded ears, six to ten thin white stripes down the flanks and a white chevron between the eyes, all of…0
  3. 3Sable antelopeSable antelopeBoth sexes carry long, ridged horns that arc back in a near semicircle, up to about 5 feet in a big bull, so the coat is what tells them apart: mature bulls are chestnut to jet black, while cows and young are bright chestnut to dark brown. Against that dark body the white face with a broad black…0
  4. 4Roan antelopeRoan antelopeThe sable's paler cousin and the antelope most often mistaken for it. A roan's upper body is a grizzled gray to roan color with darker legs and white underparts, and its face carries a black-brown and white mask, lighter in females. The two clinchers are the long tufts of dark hair on the tips of…0
  5. 5GemsbokGemsbokLong, nearly straight, ringed horns of up to about 5 feet, carried by bulls and cows alike, make the gemsbok readable even in silhouette. Closer up, the white face is crossed by bold black markings that run down from the horn bases toward the muzzle, a black stripe runs along the spine to a short…0
  6. 6Blue wildebeestBlue wildebeestA large, box-like head, a black mane and a flowing beard in both sexes give the wildebeest a shape no other plains antelope shares, apart from its South African cousin, the black wildebeest; a blue wildebeest's long tail is black, not white. Look for dark vertical bands on the neck and…0
  7. 7Black wildebeestBlack wildebeestThe tail settles it: a black wildebeest has a long, horse-like tail that is bright white, where a blue wildebeest's is black. The coat is chocolate brown to black, short and glossy in summer and shaggier in winter, with brush-like tufts of dark hair on the face, a beard running down the neck to the…0
  8. 8WaterbuckWaterbuckThe rump names a waterbuck from behind at a glance and also tells the two forms apart. The defassa waterbuck has broad white patches on either side of the rump, while the common waterbuck has a clean white ring circling a dark rump. Both occur in East Africa and often interbreed where their ranges…0
  9. 9HartebeestHartebeestHartebeest have one of the oddest silhouettes on the savanna, and shape is the way to know them. The head is extremely long and narrow, with the eyes set high, and the strongly ridged horns, found in both sexes, rise from a tall bony base on top of the skull. The back slopes down from high…0
  10. 10TopiTopiAlso known as tsessebe, sassaby and tiang, the topi has a coat so glossy it can look almost iridescent in low sun, ranging from tan to deep reddish or purple-brown. The quick check is the legs: black on the upper half, light tan below, as if the animal had pulled on pale stockings, with more black…0