EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Puku (Kobus vardoni)
South Luangwa National Park, Zambia

Explanation:  This medium-size antelope is restricted to south-central Africa, found only in grasslands next to rivers and other wetlands.  They are a loosely herding species with herds numbering 5 to 30.  

The males defend small territories for short periods, during which they snort a heep call to signal their prominence.  Listen to the call here, which I recorded at a riverive grassland in Zambia:

Click to play mp3 sound of puku territorial call 
  (© Bruce G. Marcot)

Pukus will share grasslands with other species, such as Yellow Baboons:

Grassland in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 
with pukus and yellow baboons.  Notice the relatively
even spacing of the animals to avoid conflicts.

In some places, pukus, along with other ungulates, have heavily overgrazed their grassland resources:

Puku males in a bachelor group, 
in a heavily overgrazed grassland.  

The puku has been locally exterminated from much of its former and historic range, and is now considered locally endangered or very rare in Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, and Malawi, although it is still locally common in parts of Zambia and Congo.