Sable Antelope – One Sold for $ 385 000 and Giant Species Rediscovered in Angola.

Pin It

Sable Antelope Bull in Kafue, Zambia

The Giant Sable Antelope has been positively sighted for the first time in decades, proving that it is not extinct, while a less threatened species was sold for almost half a million dollars.

The Sable Antelope

The Sable Antelope (Hippotragus niger) is an antelope found in the wooded savannah of East and Southern Africa. They stand from 120 to 140 centimetres (4 to 4½ foot) at the shoulder and weighing between 200 and 270 kilograms (440 and 600 pounds). Males are very distinctively black, with white underbelly, cheeks and chin. They have a shaggy mane and ringed horns which arch backward and are up to more than 1½ metres (5 feet). It is a majestic animal mainly as a result of its striking colour and massive  horns.The Four Sable Antelope Subspecies

The Sable found in South Africa is Hippotragus niger niger which is classified to be at “low risk” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is, however, still so scarce that a male was sold for $ 385 000 on the annual Gravelotte game auction, held in the Selati Game Reserve in Limpopo, South Africa on October 2008. The buyer  Kobus du Toit, who paid this amazing price bought it “for my son, who breeds with the best stock.”

Conversely, Hippotragus niger variani, also known as the Giant Sable Antelope and Palancas Negras in Portuguese, had not been positively sighted since the end of the 27 year long Angolan Civil War. This lead to a fear that it had been wiped out as a consequence of the war.

The  Giant Sable Antelope is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN and is endemic to the region between the Cuango and Luando Rivers in Angola. The Giant Sable is a national symbol of Angola and is portrayed on numerous stamps, banknotes, and even passports of the nation. The Angolan National Football Team is fondly known as the Palancas Negras in honor of the antelope.

But on 25 July 2009, some of the concerns about this iconic antelope where relieved. Three Giant Sable Antelope were spotted, positively identified and fitted with GPS collars, by a group of specialists in the Cangandala National Park and Luando Game Reserve, in Angola’s northern Malanje province. This has revived hopes that the subspecies will have actually survived the country’s long lasted civil war.

Vladimir Russo Angola’s national director of Environment, said this followed an expedition by specialists of the ministry as part of the specie’s conservation project run by his department.

A third subspecies Hippotragus niger kirkii (Zambian Sable Antelope) is found in central Angola and western Zambia and is classified as vulnerable while the fourth, Hippotragus niger roosevelti, is native to Kenya and West Tanzania.

What Do These Events Demonstrate?

The fact that a Sable has been sold at such a high price is an indication of the strength of the game farming industry in South Africa. This is confirmed by the fact that the number of Sable sold was half the total population of the area only 20 years ago.

There is always hope that a species that should, by all yardsticks, have become extinct is able to survive and hopefully re-establish itself.

Photograph by Paulmaz at Wikimedia Commons under a GNU Free Documentation license.