Buffon's Kob
Kobus kob (Erxleben, 1777)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The kob (Kobus kob) is an antelope found across Central Africa and parts of West Africa and East Africa. Together with the closely related reedbucks, waterbucks, lechwe, Nile lechwe, and puku, it forms the Reduncinae tribe. Found along the northern savanna, it is often seen in Murchison Falls and Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda; Garamba and Virunga National Park, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as grassy floodplains of South Sudan.
Kob are found in wet areas (such as floodplains), where they eat grasses. Kob are diurnal, but inactive during the heat of the day. They live in groups of either females and calves or just males. These groups generally range from five to forty animals.
Among the kobs of eastern Africa, the Ugandan kob (Kobus kob thomasi) appears on the coat of arms of Uganda, and white-eared kob (Kobus kob leucotis), found in South Sudan, southwest Ethiopia, and extreme northeast Uganda, participate in large-scale migrations.
Wikipedia contributors, Kob; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:19:35.108641+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Kobus kob (Erxleben, 1777)
- Name authority
- (Erxleben, 1777)
- Common name
- Buffon's Kob
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Bovidae
- Genus
- Kobus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderArtiodactyla Owen, 1848
- familyBovidae Gray, 1821
- subfamilyAntilopinae Gray, 1821
- tribeReduncini Knottnerus-Meyer, 1907
- genusKobus A. Smith, 1840
- speciesKobus kob (Erxleben, 1777)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Kobus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Ellipsen WaterbuckKobus ellipsiprymnus (Ogilby, 1833) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| PukuKobus vardonii (Livingstone, 1857) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| LechweKobus leche Gray, 1850 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Kobus kob kob (Erxleben, 1777) (Erxleben, 1777) | synonym |
| Kobus kob pousarguesi (Neumann, 1905) (Neumann, 1905) | synonym |
| Kobus kob riparia (Schwarz, 1914) (Schwarz, 1914) | synonym |
| Kobus kob ubangiensis (Schwarz, 1913) (Schwarz, 1913) | synonym |
| Kobus kob adolfi Lydekker & Blaine, 1914 Lydekker & Blaine, 1914 | synonym |
| Kobus kob bahrkeetae (Schwarz, 1913) (Schwarz, 1913) | synonym |
| Antilope kob Erxleben, 1777 Erxleben, 1777 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=183857 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3RB5S. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.