Mammals

Hirola are selective grazers. Their diet consists of short grasses, supplemented occasionally with forbs. They follow the progress of newly sprouting grasses on the savannah and grasslands, avoiding areas containing long grass. Most feeding activity takes place at dawn and dusk.

The species has a harem-based mating system where dominant males defend a territory containing 7 or 8 females and their young. Small groups of bachelor males and yearlings also occur. Group size usually ranges from 5 to 40, although groups sometimes come together to form herds of several hundred individuals at certain times of the year. Males compete for access to females by posturing and fighting. Mating takes place at the start of the long rainy season (March-April), with most births occurring at the beginning of the short rainy season (October-November). Females give birth to a single young, generally away from the rest of the group. They spend up to two weeks alone with their calves, during which time both mother and calf are particularly vulnerable to predation from lions, cheetahs and hyenas. The young separate from the group at around one year of age to join a sub-group of yearlings. Females sexually mature at 2 to 3 years of age, while males do not mate until they can successfully compete with other dominant males, usually between 3 and 4 years of age. Lifespan in the wild is unknown, although this species lives for an average of ten years in captivity.

Short-grassed, seasonally arid plains between dry acacia bush and coastal forest.

Official estimates place the population size at between 600 and 2,000. The actual number of surviving individuals is thought to be closer to 600.

The population has declined drastically from 14,000 in 1973 to about 300 in 1995. Numbers appear to have recovered slightly since then, and the current population is thought to be relatively stable.

Classified as Critically Endangered (CR A1a) on the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Much of the species' decline appears to have occurred between 1983 and 1985. This coincides with a major rinderpest epidemic affecting domestic livestock in the region, and it is possible that there may have been transmission of the disease to the hirola population. Today the main threats to the species’ survival include disease, predation, competition for grazing and water with domestic livestock, habitat loss due to bush encroachment, and severe drought. The species has been legally protected from hunting in Kenya since 1971 and in Somalia since 1977. However, enforcement is poor and poaching by administration police, army, militia and refugees remains a key threat.

There have been very few conservation measures for the hirola within its natural range. In 1973 the 540 km² Arawale Game Reserve was created on the east bank of the Tana River to the south of Garissa, where a substantial proportion of the remaining hirola population occurred. However, resources were insufficient to protect the species from poaching, or to prevent human encroachment into the reserve. By the early 1990s, severe drought combined with overgrazing by domestic livestock and bush encroachment had left very little suitable habitat for the hirola within the reserve.

Concern about the survival of the species led to the translocation of a number of individuals to a national park outside its recent range, where high levels of protection and management could be assured. In 1963 a small population of about 20 individuals were released into the Tsavo East National Park in Kenya from the South Garissa District. By 1996 this population had increased to 79 individuals. That same year, 29 more individuals were introduced into the park to increase the genetic diversity of the population. There are currently around 100 animals in the National Park.

Despite efforts to relocate populations to national parks, only a small number of hirola survive. Efforts to monitor and protect the small but relatively safe population in Tsavo East National Park should continue. However, improving the habitat and resource conditions for the species within its natural range is crucial if it is to survive.

The Hirola Management Committee (HMC), a multi-institutional body comprised of local, national and international non-governmental organisations, was established in 1994 to coordinate emergency conservation efforts for this species. It produced a five-year Management Plan for the species in 2004, outlining the actions required to save the hirola. The main objectives are to improve enforcement of anti-poaching laws, enable access to food and water resources, and set up effective monitoring programmes for the species. These aims can be achieved by creating viable community-run protected conservancies or sanctuaries and by providing local people with the resources and support they need to manage and protect the hirola. One local community conservancy - the Ishakbini conservancy - has already been established at least on paper, although it is important that the animals are given preferential access to grazing and water over livestock here. Funding is urgently needed for establishing monitoring and research of hirola both in its natural habitat and in Tsavo, and for community livelihood enhancement activities such as ecotourism, which will generate the funding local people need to conserve this unique species.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)
The KWS currently houses the Hirola Management Committee (HMC), which was formed in 1995, with the mandate of conserving this species.
E-mail : hirola@kws.org

Zoological Society of London (ZSL)
ZSL has provided support and leadership in hirola conservation, Kenya (1995 on-going). This has included veterinary and translocation support, ecological research, genetic studies, and project planning and development at the in-situ community level.

Antelope Specialist Group. 1996. Beatragus hunteri. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 16 July 2006.

Butynski, T. M. 2000. Taxonomy and distribution of the hirola antelope. Gnusletter 19(2): 11-17

Kenya Wildlife Service Kenya Wildlife Service/Hirola Management Committee. 2004. Strategic Management Plan for the Hirola (Beatragus hunteri) 2004-2009.

Kingdon, J. 1997. The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. London and California: Academic Press.

Kock, R. 2006. (pers. comm.).

Nowak, R.M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World. Sixth edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London.

Pitra, C., Kock, R. A., Hofmann, R. R. and Lieckfeld, D. 1998. Molecular phylogeny of the critically endangered Hunter’s antelope (Beatragus hunteri Sclater 1889). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 36(4): 179-184.

Distribution map based on data provided by the IUCN Global Mammal Assessment.