The kobo is one of the 9 species of antelope that we can see in BIOPARC.
Each one of them has specific and very curious characteristics. From their size to their ways of reacting to danger. Discovering them is a beautiful way to get closer to these mammals and our commitment to their conservation.
A non-territorial male that scares away predators with a musky scent
The kobo, or eastern waterbuck, has a long body and neck and short legs, although it is a great runner. They are grayish brown in color and with age their fur darkens, unlike what happens in humans where white gray hair shows the passing of the years. It characterizes them a white ring on the back of its hindquarters and has glands that produce a waterproofing secretion with a strong odor very similar to musk. This aroma permeates the flesh of older individuals, making them unappetizing to predators such as lions, hyenas and leopards. Besides, his meat is not edible for humans.
It's an antelope very dependent on waterFact in the face of dangers they take refuge in it. Their diet is a wide variety of herbaceous plants, their average lifespan is 18 years and they reproduce once a year with single-calf births. The kobo lives in green savanna areas close to water sources and its population is distributed from Somalia and Kenya in the north, to South Africa in the south, passing through Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana. And at BIOPARC Valencia we can see it coexist with giraffes, blesboks, impalas, Thomson's gazelles and various birds such as sacred ibis and African jabirus.
Two new kobo specimens, Chanel and Jaiv, who come from Safari Park Beekse Bergen (Holland) walk through the Savannah with giraffes and other species of antelope.
Today the kobo has the leading role because two new copies join BIOPARC's spectacular vision of the green savanna. They come from the Beekse Bergen Safari Park in Holland and they are a female from 2009, Chanel, and her young son born in 2015, Jaiv. They come to accompany Nico, the adult male who resides in BIOPARC. They arrived a few months ago and, after acclimatization, these days they have joined the multispecies enclosure that recreates the green meadows of the African savanna. The young male in the case of this species is not a problem since kobos are not territorial and it is common to see them in nature in the same herd. We easily distinguish them by their horns, which can measure up to a meter in length, while the females lack them.
