Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Chordata

Class – Mammalia

Order – Artiodactyla

Family – Bovidae

Subfamily – Alcelaphinae

Genus – Beatragus

Species – B. hunter

The Hirola was among the many animals present within Tsavo Area but did not get the oppurtunity to encounter them, unfortunately. It’s among the 91 species of antelopes documented, a critically endangered species with not more than 2000 individuals and endemic to Kenya’s Ijara District and Somalia; although its status is unknown in Somalia.

Features

• The Hirola is a slender antelope.

Body length between 1.2 and 2 m.

Weighs between 80 and 118 kg.

• Their coat is sandy brown in colour with a pale underside, but sometimes males have a grey colouration.
• They have a white stripe going from eye to eye over their forehead, a thin white tail and white ears that are tipped with black.
•  Hirola have enlarged pre-orbital glands beneath their eyes and due to this they are sometimes known as the “four eyed antelope”.
• Both males and females have well developed lyre-shaped horns. Their horns have bold, conspicuous rings and they can reach up to 70 cms in length.
• They live in groups of 5 – 40 individuals consisting of females, their offspring and a dominant territorial male.
• When fighting, males drop onto their knees, but when wrestling, they remain on all fours.
• Hirola feed on grasses and forbs. They are selective feeders, only feeding on short, newly sprouted grass. They are able to go for long periods without drinking water
• Predators of Hirola

– Lions

– Cheetahs

– African Wild Dog

– Humans

– Hyenas and eagles on young Hirola

The Hirola has been included as one of the 10 species to be investigated by the Zoological Society of London Edge of Existence Programme in 2007. The reason for this is because, if the Hirola becomes extinct, we not only loose a species but an entire genus for all time. There is also no subspecies of the Hirola.

Its numbers increased from about 1000 in the early 1960’s to 14,000 in the early 1970’s. It then underwent two drastic declines, from 14,000 down to about 2000 from 1976 – 1978 and from 2000 to 300 in 1995.

Reasons for Hirola decline then

– Competition with cattle

– Drought which had plagued the region

Reasons for Hirola decline now

-Poaching

-Disease

-Predation

-Competition for water and pasture from domestic livestock

-Habitat loss

-Severe drought

Kenya Wildlife Service together with other donors have been working to save this precious species from extinction. In 1963, a founding population of 10-20 hirola was released into Tsavo East National Park. This population grew to 79 individuals by 1996. In 1995 Hirola Management Committee (HMC), which is currently housed at KWS, was formed with the mandate of conserving this species. In 1996, with assistance from donors, another 29 hirola were translocated into the Tsavo East population. There are now an estimated 100 hirola in Tsavo East National Park.

Four local communities in the Ijara District have also collaborated with Terra Nuova, developed and put forward a proposal to formally establish the Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy for the in situ protection of hirola. This was in 2005.

Conservation of these animals in their natural range is still of the major objectives of KWS, Kenya.