Topi

Topi stand about 45 in (113 cm) to about 46 in (115 cm) tall at the shoulder and weigh from 108 kg (238 lb) to 130 kg (286 lb). Their coats are a rusty red colour with purple blotches on the upper limbs. The horns are lyre-shaped and are conspicuously ringed and can reach between 30-60 cm (12-24 in) centimetres in both sexes.

Topi live in savannah and floodplains where they favor medium-length grass. Topis can go without drinking if green grass is available, but drink every day or two when grass is dry.

Topis are build for speed with lean bodys and will sometimes jump over each other to get away from a threat. The gregarious topis spend much of their life with other antelopes such as wildebeest, and with zebra and ostrich.

Topis are exceptionally gregarious and live in herds of 15 to 20, although in some places, it is possible to see herds of hundreds. They have a remarkable social organization that is linked to the geographic and seasonal distribution of food.

In some areas of the Serengeti and the Mara, topis have large territories within a home range, occupied throughout the year by a male and a small breeding herd of females. Both males and the females cooperate in defending the territory against strange topis of either sex.

Males will engage in fights for territory and these are fought by lunging on to their knees while pushing each other to and fro with their horns.

The migrational pattern, adapted to large open plains where topis concentrate sometimes in thousands, allows a suppopulation to move together en masse.

Topis are most active in the morning and evening, resting in shade through the hot hours. In early mornings, spirited tournaments are frequent in bachelor herds.

Good places to see them are in the Masa Mara National Reserve and the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

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