Topi is one of Africa’s most common and most widespread antelopes. Very common in the Serengeti. It ranges from the long grass Serengeti plains to the Serengeti woodlands, but rarely seen on the short-grass plains in the Eastern Serengeti.
Their enormous size makes it difficult for most predators to hunt them successfully (except lions and spotted hyenas). They are medium-sized antelopes with a striking reddish-brown to purplish-red coat. With distinct black patches appear on their face, their upper forelegs, and their hips and thighs.
The topi’s yellowish-tan legs look like it encased them in stockings to complete their singular
What to look for
. This antelope is unusual in several ways. Most notably, if a female detects danger when in labor, she can delay the birthing process and runoff.
Topis have a bounding gait and considered to be the fastest of all ungulates. Topi looks like a smaller and darker hartebeest, with higher forequarters sloping to lower hindquarters. Still, it has a less-elongated head and ordinary-looking horns, which are similar in both sexes.
It is a member of the tribe Alcelaphini (family Bovidae), which also includes the blesbok, hartebeest, and wildebeest. Damaliscus lunatus, also known as the Topi in East Africa and as the sassaby or tsessebe in southern Africa.
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