Common Eland
Taurotragus oryx
🐃
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Pecora
Bovidae
Taurotragus oryx
The Spiral-Horned Titan — Taurotragus oryx, the common eland, is Africa’s most imposing antelope, an evolutionary masterpiece of power, endurance, and grace spread across the continent’s open savannas.
Description
The common eland is one of the largest land mammals still walking the Earth, rivaling bison in size but moving with the agility of a gazelle. Standing up to 1.6 m at the shoulder and nearly 3 m in body length, males develop massive neck dewlaps and thickened foreheads used in ritual combat. Both sexes possess tightly spiraled horns, though males’ are shorter and thicker.
Elands are versatile feeders, switching between browsing and grazing depending on the season. They inhabit savannas, woodlands, and semi-arid regions from southern to eastern Africa — from Namibia’s dry bushveld to Ethiopia’s highlands. Taurotragus oryx is also capable of going long periods without drinking, obtaining moisture from vegetation, an adaptation that allowed its ancestors to spread widely across fluctuating Pleistocene climates.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
1000
1.7
2.55
3
kg
m
m
m
Mixed Feeder
Herbivores – Grazers
Hunt History
Humans have hunted T. oryx since the Late Stone Age. Its great size made it a cornerstone of early African subsistence, and its image is immortalized in San rock art across southern Africa, where it often appears in trance scenes — symbolizing spiritual potency and transformation. Later, Iron Age hunters and pastoralists valued its hides and meat, and in the colonial era, elands were hunted extensively for sport and leather.
Archaeological associations:
Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa — Rock art panels depicting elands in trance symbolism, dated to ~3,000–2,000 years BP.
Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape — Late Pleistocene–Holocene faunal assemblages include T. oryx bones with cut marks, ~10,000 years BP.
Olorgesailie Basin, Kenya — Stone tools and large bovid remains (including probable Taurotragus), ~50,000 years BP.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Extant
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
0
BP
Late Pleistocene
Africa
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Medium
Fat %
6
Est. Renderable Fat
34.2
kg
Targeted Organs
Hump/backfat, marrow, mesenteric fat
Adipose Depots
Hump/backfat, mesenteric, perirenal; marrow
Preferred Cuts
Hump/backfat & marrow
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
4