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Sable Antelope — printable fact sheet
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Sable Antelope
Hippotragus niger
Hippotragus niger is one of the few antelopes that will reliably kill a predator. A cornered bull drops onto its knees or backs into cover and scythes its ridged, backswept horns — up to 165 cm along the curve in the giant sable of Angola — in fast slashing arcs, and lions have …
Did you know?
- A sable antelope’s horns can grow up to 1.6 meters (over 5 feet) long, making them one of the longest-horned antelopes in Africa.
- The extinct bluebuck, Hippotragus leucophaeus, was the sable's closest relative and the first large African mammal driven extinct in historical times, wiped out around 1800; only four mounted specimens survive. Sable bulls fighting drop to their knees and fence with horns from that position, which keeps the deadly points aimed forward and away from a rival's flank. Young sable bulls form bachelor herds and are excluded by the territorial male, and a bull who wins a territory can hold it for only a few years before being ousted.
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