Swayne’s hartebeest is an Ethiopian form of the hartebeest. Its coat is dark red-chocolate to chestnut, with fawn or cinnamon fur on the rump, tail, and lower legs.
A 2010 Ethiopian report describes a deep red-chocolate to chestnut body, with fawn or cinnamon on the rump, tail, and lower half of the legs. Adult specimens sometimes appear silvery because their hairs have white tips. The horns curve outward and slightly down from the head, then upward at the tips; they are usually but not always hooked backward, and may or may not turn inward.
According to Ethiopia’s 2010 report, it inhabits open country and light bush, sometimes tall savanna woodland. Herds usually number 4–15 and may reach 30, with a bull leading females and young.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.