Nile Lechwe
Kobus megaceros
🦌
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Pecora
Bovidae
Kobus
Kobus megaceros
From Greek megaceros (“great horn”) — referring to the male’s impressive lyre-shaped horns — and “Lechwe,” derived from the Bantu word for “swamp antelope.”
A semiaquatic antelope of the Upper Nile wetlands, the Nile Lechwe blends grace, endurance, and adaptation to flooded grasslands.
Description
The Nile Lechwe is a medium-sized antelope uniquely adapted to the floodplains and marshes of the Nile Basin, particularly South Sudan’s vast Sudd wetlands. Adults stand about 1.0–1.2 meters at the shoulder and weigh 80–120 kilograms.
Their long hooves and water-resistant coat allow them to wade and swim easily through flooded vegetation. Males display striking coloration — dark brown to slate gray with white facial patches — and sweeping ridged horns up to 90 cm long.
They are primarily grazers, feeding on aquatic grasses and sedges, and form herds that shift seasonally with water levels. Nile Lechwe are strong swimmers and may flee into open water to escape predators like lions and crocodiles.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
88
kg
m
m
m
Grazer
Hunt History
The Nile Lechwe’s range overlaps ancient Nilotic and Upper Egyptian cultures, including the Dinka, Shilluk, and Nuer peoples, who continue to live among these floodplains. Rock art from Nubia and Upper Egypt depicts long-horned antelopes resembling lechwe, indicating their symbolic and subsistence role.
They provided meat and hides, though their habitat made hunting logistically difficult. In traditional cosmologies, the lechwe and other swamp ungulates symbolized fertility and abundance — embodying the flooding rhythm of the Nile itself.
Modern populations are primarily confined to protected areas like Shambe National Park and the Sudd, where ecological pressures mirror the challenges of human habitation in dynamic floodplains.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
No
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
0
BP
Late Pleistocene
Africa - South Sudan, eastern South Sudanese wetlands, White Nile Basin, and Ethiopia.
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Medium
Fat %
15
Est. Renderable Fat
15
kg
Targeted Organs
Perirenal Fat, Omental Fat
Adipose Depots
Perirenal Fat, Mesenteric Fat, Subcutaneous Fat
Preferred Cuts
Perirenal Fat
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
3