African Antelope: Roan

Roan are found almost exclusively in lighted wooded savannah, favouring open areas of grass and with easy access to drinking water. Sadly the Roan are an endangered species and only has a haphazard distribution in the savannah ecosystems south of the Sahara Desert. This is mainly due to fairly recent hunting pressures prior to the religiously enforced conservation measures found today. However, despite these conservation efforts there are only 70 left in South Africa in the Kruger National Park, and only an estimated 5-700 in all the other conservation areas in Mpumalanga. The Roan are quite a large and bulky type of antelope, with the male bulls weighing in at 270kg and measuring in 1.4 metres at the shoulder, while the female cows are a little smaller weighing in at 170-210kg. Their breeding habits don’t generally have a particular pattern and calves are born after a gestation period of 40 weeks the year round. Calves are hidden in the first month after being born amongst thick bushes, and after this month they will join other calves to form creches. Unfortunately it is these breeding habits that have contributed further to it’s demise, as there is a very high mortality rate amongst the calves in creches, around 80%.