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Menelik's Bushbuck
Belonging to the same family as the
Mountain Nyala, the Kudu, the Bongo and the Eland, the bushbuck
shares with them the family characteristic of shy and elusive
behaviour. Over forty races of bushbuck have been identified, which
vary considerably both from the point of view of colouration and
from the type of habitat they frequent. Most of them are forest-
living animals inhabiting dense bush, usually near water, though
this is not an essential, as some of them have been known to go
without drinking for long periods when necessary.
Of the two Ethiopian races, meneliki
and powelli, the latter is the more common and somewhat smaller. But
Menelik's is also fairly widespread and can be seen in much of
Ethiopia's highland forest up to the treeline at 4,000 metres
(13,000 ft.) They are com mon, for example, in the cedar forests of
Menagesha and parts of the Entoto range, even ir, eucalyptus groves
as long as there is still some ground cover. No accurate estimate
has been made of their total population because of their nocturnal
and furtive habits. Like the Mountain Nyala, they are easier to
observe in the Bale Mountains National Park where they are fully
protected and therefore a little less shy. Powelli inhabits the
lower lying country, so between them they cover almost all types of
habitat, from highland forest to savanna woodland - with the
exception of open country.
In Bale, as you climb up through the
hagenia forest with its flowering trees, and enter the zone of Giant
Heath and St. John's Wort, sunlight dapples the ground beneath your
feet, lichens hang softly from every twig and bright dark green
mosses clothe the branches. Suddenly a glimpse of bright chestnut
draws your attention to the female bushbuck, and usually not far
away is the shining dark, almost black, male. Bushbucks are often
solitary, but in Bale anyway, Menelik's is almost always seen in
pairs or small family parties of female and young. They are
extremely beautiful little animals, with a coat longer than that of
other bushbucks, perhaps because of living in the lower temperatures
of high altitudes. The horns, which are carried only by the male,
have a spiral twist and a well-defined longitudinal ridge or keel on
the front or back surfaces, and transverse rings. The record horn
length is 34.93 cms.
They stand 80-90 cms. (35 inches) at
the shoulder and slightly higher at the rump, running along in a
hunched up manner between the bushes and shrubs. They have large
broad ears and when they stop to regard an intruder the ears with
their tufts of white are conspicuous. A spinal crest of longish
white or black hairs runs down the centre of the back. A white spot
on the cheek, and on the female sometimes a blackish collar on the
lower neck, faint white spots on the haunches, and limbs with a
contrasting dark and light pattern. The tail is bushy and long,
reaching to just above the hocks, white underneath and black-
tipped.
Most bushbuck tend to spend the heat
of the day lying up in dense bush where there is no hope of spotting
them. The highland forest where Menelik's bushbuck lives, is
relatively cool and you can see them (if you are in luck) at any
time of day. It is more usual however, to spot them from about four
o'clock onwards, or in the early morning. They have a loud barking
alarm call, sometimes repeated, which can be heard from some
distance away, and also a series of grunts. Very few Menelik's have
been collected by sportsmen. The multiplication of numbers in the
park could lead to its greater accessibilty to authorised huntsmen,
and produce an income for conservation.
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