The Eland antelope is the largest and heaviest antelope species. The males reach a shoulder height of 1.5 meters and a weight up to a ton! The females are slightly smaller and lighter than the males. What you will notice immediately in both sexes are the tightly twisted horns. All eland antelopes have a tawny fur with 2 to 15 white horizontal stripes. Another special feature is the black stripe on their back.
Eland antelopes live in dry savannas and in mountainous grasslands up to 3000 meters high in East and South Africa. Surely you see them relaxing in our park. However, these antelopes can easily reach speeds of up to 70 km / h. They usually start their escape with some elegant, high jumps that immediately give them a head start. Their food consists of leaves, herbs and grasses. The eland antelopes, like us humans, have a gestation period of nine months. However, the calf weighs 35 kilograms at birth, significantly more than a human baby! Most of the eland antelopes live in groups of up to ten animals. There are at most two males in a herd. In steppes, eland antelopes often associate with zebras, wildebeests and ostriches. So here you see the natural coexistence of these animal families! Since the eland antelope can give milk, people have often tried to domesticate them. However, milk production is lower than that of a domestic cow and therefore the permanent keeping of these animals has not been worthwhile.
