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Does anyone know the status of Roan antelope in the Kruger? I recently saw one on the tar road whilst heading up towards Pafuri but I haven't seen any previously for years.

A few years ago a Ranger told me that the numbers were decreasing because of the man-made waterholes. Apparently, the Wildebeest weren't migrating seasonally like they were supposed to and they were eating the habitat that the roan would normally eat. Hence the closure of a lot of the waterholes.

Can anyone comment?

See this article by KNPSM on the closure of boreholes. I do not have roan specific information, and did not see one in the Pafuri area.

Thanks for that, DuQues. It's a very interesting article and explains a lot.

They meant well by putting in all the artificial waterholes but they had the wrong effect, ultimately.

Lets hope that the more rarer species in the Park continue to thrive.

I heard that there is only 40 Roan left in KNP.

I hope someone replies to that Marcel.
If so, it is very sad.

Hi Marcel, Great question.... I tried to find some information about the Roan numbers now..... not much available. Although if you check this site out (see link below) it references the latest Red Book Data (2004) and it's not good news Numbers fluctuate between 42-50
http://www.waza.org/conservation/projec ... .php?id=43

Wow! It's reaaly sad that these animals are suffering.
Apparently their numbers have never been high, but i suppose never this low either...

I am of the impression that Roan antelope are exceptionally vulnerable animals in general. They have never really thrived anywhere to my knowledge. I have heard about the ‘borehole’ theories but surely there are other factors too? Easy prey? Genetically weak?
Are there any animal experts out there that could possibly elaborate? I’m surprised how little information there is out there (on Roan), despite large conservation projects.

Apparently when new waterholes are built, other animals like wildebeest will spread and not only stay in one area that has the waterhole they normally drink from. The roan stay in this waterless area and when the wildebeest move there they eat all their food. The roan species doesn't get enough to eat.

Any OTHER reasons for the fragile Roan populations?
(I know about the waterhole theory)

I have a superb book about the Park dated 1986, by Paynter and Nussey, called Kruger, Portrait of a National Park.

A couple of interesting things are confirmed in it. Firstly roan are very susceptible to anthrax. Indeed so much so that the rangers used to innoculate them against it (one of the very few active interventions). The treated ones could be identified by a purple mark on their rump. The program cost R20000 a year - quite a lot in those days! Oddly, many current rangers are totally unaware of this.

Despite this, they also say that roan were not uncommon in the north of the Park - though exact numbers are not mentioned.

They also say that roan, sable and eland are frequently (!) seen around the Babalala area. I can sort of go along with this. I have seen sable around here, and from my first visit in 1988 till about 1998 we always saw eland in this area. But something has happened (as many others who have years of experience have commented) since and I have not seen eland since (despite always going to the north of the Park).

Is this too many visitors on too few roads? Is it the effect of the floods in 2000 driving animals away and they simple have not returned from whereever they are now? Can't blame the opening of the fences since this predates that. Any thoughts.

Richard

Yes Richard, I can also confirm this. We saw eland in the Northern region more frequently back in the period of 1998 as compared to now. It seems to me that the rare antelope of the KNP are rare for good reasons – they seem to be innately susceptible to disease and drought (and other climatic anomalies.)

Despite this though, these antelope survive (and even flourish in region elsewhere outside KNP) and that is the key I think. The conservationists need to pinpoint the encouraging and positive prognostic factors.

Roan are actually quite common in other parts of africa ( population over 150000 ) Those in the kruger seem to be prone to disease and competition from other herbivores

Female sable are often confused for roan as the female sable has a brownier colour then the male

I recall the kruger population being some 770 not so many years ago but that has now dropped to around 70?

Why doesnt kruger management re-introduce the roan and other rare antelope from countries where they are still found in some numbers?

If you want to see roan go to chad ( their was an interesting article on this in getaway magazine )

Yes, they are not too scarce over Africa...



However, if you look at this map... You can see what humans have done....


Legend....
Green is where they used to occur naturally..... Funny yellow lines is where they occur now

Source: Cites

Sable numbers have crashed to just over 100 if you include the private reserves... Roan was 38 apparently in last census with no young ones seen . The Roan in Chad is a slightly different race to Krugers. The Zambian, Tanzanian, Botswana populations are quite strong and are the same species as Kruger