THE TORA HARTEBEEST 
BUBALIS TORA 
Tora hartebeest was the first member of the Bubaline 
genus in which the horns are widespread to be brought to the 
notice of European scientists , having been originally met with 
in 1863 by the Austrian naturalist -traveller Heuglin, who, 
however, thought that it was specifically identical with the 
bubal, so that it was not until ten years later that it was at 
length accurately described and named by Dr Gray. 
In size the Tora is much on a par with the West African or the Lelwel 
hartebeest, a big bull standing over fifty inches at the shoulder. In colour 
the Tora is of a uniform reddish yellow, the tail and chin being black as in 
other members of the hartebeest family. The pedicle on which the horns 
stand is much less elongated than in the Lelwel or the Cape hartebeest, 
and the horns themselves, which first spread outwards and then curve 
upwards, seldom measure more than twenty inches in length. 
The range of the Tora hartebeest is confined to Southern Abyssinia, as 
far east as Lake Zwai, and the neighbourhood of the Blue Nile and its 
tributaries above Sennaar. 
Living on open plains, or amongst thin thorn scrub, and consorting 
together in herds of either a few or a considerable number of individuals, 
the Tora hartebeest is said to exactly resemble, in its habits and attributes, 
all other members of the genus to which it belongs, being equally keen- 
sighted and watchful, and equally swift and enduring, if chased on 
horseback, with any of its congeners. 
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