A wetland antelope that grazes while standing in shallow water.
The body is chestnut with pale underparts and throat. Dark markings on the legs and body differ among regional populations.
Lechwe in Zambia’s Kafue Flats shift among grassland habitats as water levels rise and fall. Blaser-Hart and colleagues compared water records, grass growth, and the monthly distribution of Kafue lechwe from March 2010 to April 2011. As water rose, a larger share of the animals used grassland with termite mounds, while fewer were found in deeply flooded grassland. Shallow grassland was used throughout the year; deeper seasonal grassland became important as water receded. Nitrogen measured in dung was lowest at the end of the wet season and higher in the dry season.
After the dams began operating, seasonally flooded grassland had shrunk by more than half in the study area, and vegetation had changed. The Kafue lechwe population was estimated to have fallen from about 100,000 in the 1970s to about 23,000 in 2022. The authors suggest that dam-related changes may have affected the population by altering habitats and movement. Hunting and competition with livestock also continue, so they identify several possible contributors to the decline.
IUCN Red List (IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group) · Near Threatened (NT) · Global
The IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group’s 2016 global assessment listed the Southern Lechwe as Near Threatened (NT), with a decreasing population trend. It was assessed on 20 April 2016 and published in 2017.