Alcelaphus buselaphus

The hartebeest, also known as kongoni or kaama, is an African antelope. It is the only member of the genus Alcelaphus. Eight subspecies have been described, including two sometimes considered to be independent species. A large antelope, the hartebeest stands just over 1 m at the shoulder, and has a typical head-and-body length of 2 to 2.50 m. The weight ranges from 100 to 200 kg. It has a particularly elongated forehead and oddly-shaped horns, a short neck, and pointed ears. Its legs, which often have black markings, are unusually long. The coat is generally short and shiny. Coat colour varies by the subspecies, from the sandy brown of the western hartebeest to the chocolate brown of the Swayne's hartebeest. Both sexes of all subspecies have horns, with those of females being slenderer. Horns can reach lengths of 45–70 cm (18–28 in). Apart from its long face, the large chest and the sharply sloping back differentiate the hartebeest from other antelopes. A conspicuous hump over the shoulders is due to the long dorsal processes of the vertebrae in this region.

Alcelaphus buselaphus

D. Gordon E. Robertson · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
hartebeestPBDB
Sits inside
AlcelaphusPBDB
Diet
grazerPBDB, for Alcelaphus
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Bovidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 762 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 2.58 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 0 of 101 occurrencesPleistocene — about 73 of 101 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 28 of 101 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.5–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.2–2.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.1–2.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.0–1.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.8–1.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.4–1.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.3–1.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.1–1.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.0–924 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences924 ka–821 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences821 ka–719 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences719 ka–616 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences616 ka–513 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences513 ka–411 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences411 ka–308 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences308 ka–205 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences205 ka–103 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences103 ka–0 Mya — about 39 occurrences774 ka11.7 ka3.08 Mya0 Mya

101 occurrences of Alcelaphus buselaphus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

101 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

6 formations

Gebel Silsila-YCS — 24.50°N, 33.00°EGabal Silsila — 24.77°N, 32.95°EGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EMbuga Clays — 3.87°S, 33.70°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Alcelaphus buselaphus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 77 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Alcelaphus buselaphus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Alcelaphus buselaphus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

396 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 101 sites for Alcelaphus buselaphus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

40 references

Each of the 101 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 28 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Alcelaphus buselaphus

Credit
D. Gordon E. Robertson
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Alcelaphus buselaphus · zmh-s:7487

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAlcelaphus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Pallas 1766