Where are they found?
They are native to Botswana, Zambia and southeast Zaire. The main wild populations of Lechwe reside in the southern Sudan. Lechwe dwell almost exclusively in flood plains and wetlands. These animals are excellent swimmers and waders.

What are they?
They are a mammal, part of the antelope family.

What do they look like?
Antelopes are related to other ungulates such as camels, deer, and domestic cattle, sheep, cows and goats. The Lechwe is a semi-aquatic antelope often move in very large herds of several hundred. They graze knee deep on the flood plain grasses. They have long thin horns going backwards and upwards. There are three kinds of Lechwe. The Black Lechwe is the darkest of the three, with a rich blackish brown coat, the Kafue Lechwe has larger and longer horns than the other two species with dark shoulder patches and a light brown coat. The Red Lechwe is yellowish red in colour and has a dark brown markings on the legs. The males weigh 175 - 200 lb, with a shoulder height of 195 inches. Females are hornless, unlike the males of the species. Colour changes can be observed in both sexes, depending on the seasons and males tend to be much darker in colour. Both sexes possess uniquely adapted elongated hooves for the wetlands in which they live.

How long do they live? The Antelope life span is 15 years in captivity. However this varies greatly, depending on the species. What do they eat? Lechwe feed on grasses and a few other water-dependent swamp plants. Antelopes also eat, twigs, bark, leaves, buds, herbs, fruits, and insects.

Breeding
Female Lechwe live in herds of up to 50 individuals, more if there are good food resources. Female herds contain a single adult male. The antelope mother bears one to three young after a gestation period of around 6 months, depending on the species.

Are they rare?
The remote swampy habitats where the Lechwe live has most probably given the Lechwe some protection from human interference. However, this small antelope was placed under threat in 1978, by the Kafue gorge hydroelectric scheme. The scheme deprived the animal of flood plains and swamps where it spends much of its time grazing on aquatic plants.

Did you know?
The Antelope group comprises about 150 species, of which most are peculiar to Africa and a smaller proportion native to Asia. Each of the one hundred kinds are uniquely different.

Hard, hollow horns grow around two bony cores on the male antelope's head. They grow throughout the antelope's life. They do not fall off as a deer's antlers do.