Giant Eland
Taurotragus derbianus
📈🐃
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Pecora
Bovidae
Taurotragus derbianus
The Giant of the Savanna — Taurotragus derbianus, the Derby eland, stands as Africa’s largest antelope, a blend of strength, elegance, and evolutionary refinement shaped by millions of years of open-grassland adaptation.
Description
The giant eland is a spiral-horned antelope native to the savannas and woodlands of central and western Africa. It towers at 1.8 m at the shoulder and carries thick, corkscrew horns that can exceed 120 cm in length. Its short, reddish-tan coat with narrow white vertical stripes provides camouflage amid the dry forests of Senegal, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. Unlike many grazers, T. derbianus is primarily a browser, feeding on leaves, pods, and fruits from trees and shrubs. Its massive size and high endurance allow it to travel great distances in search of forage during the dry season. Two subspecies are recognized: the western (T. d. derbianus) and the eastern (T. d. gigas), both imperiled by habitat loss and hunting.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
1000
1.8
2.7
4.4
kg
m
m
m
Mixed Feeder
Herbivores – Grazers
Hunt History
Humans have pursued the giant eland for tens of thousands of years. Paleolithic rock art in the Ennedi Plateau (Chad) and Tassili n’Ajjer (Algeria) depicts large eland-like antelope being hunted with spears and atlatls, showing their importance in prehistoric diets and spiritual symbolism. In more recent centuries, Sudanese and Sahelian hunters prized the species for its meat, hides, and horns—status symbols of strength and virility.
Archaeological associations:
Ennedi Plateau, Chad – Neolithic petroglyphs depicting spiral-horned elands, ~7,000 years BP.
Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria – Late Holocene rock paintings of eland hunts, ~6,000 years BP.
Upper Nile Basin sites, Sudan – Butchery remains of large antelopes interpreted as early Taurotragus relatives, ~5,000 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
40.8
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