COKE’S HARTEBEEST 
BUBALIS COKEI 
the present day this species is undoubtedly the best known 
of all the hartebeests, as it abounds on the open plains 
/ of East Africa, which are intersected by the Uganda 
i Railway, and is therefore seen in great numbers by all 
! travellers and sportsmen who use that line. 
Mk. In Coke’s hartebeest, although the horns are of the 
same bracket shape as in the two preceding species, they are on the average 
shorter and thicker, the pedicle on which they stand being of moderate 
height. In general colour these animals are a bright red brown, fading 
to pale yellow on the inside of the thighs. They are considerably smaller 
than Jackson’s hartebeest, which is the species whose range most closely 
approaches theirs. 
The range of Coke’s hartebeest appears to extend in East Africa from 
Usugara in German East Africa to the neighbourhood of the Tana River 
in British East Africa. Personally, I have met with Coke’s hartebeest not 
only in very great numbers on the bare, treeless Kapiti and Athi plains, 
but also on the wooded slopes of the Machakos hills, and in the forest - 
covered country to the south of the Voi River, far away, I think, 
from any open ground; so that although this species of hartebeest is 
decidedly more of a plains than a bush frequenting species, it is capable 
of adapting itself to an environment of open forest and bush in which 
there are no open spaces of great extent. In British East Africa, Mr 
A. H. Neumann states that Coke’s hartebeest is not found to the west of 
Lake Naivasha, and I certainly did not see any of these animals whilst 
walking from Lake Naivasha to Lake Nakuru in 1902. Nor did I see 
any Coke’s hartebeests on the Laikipia Plateau, only a few Jackson’s; 
but still there can be no doubt that the ranges of these two species 
occasionally overlap. 
On the open plains to the east of Nairobi, Coke’s hartebeests are the 
most numerous of all the animals to be found in that part of East Africa, 
often congregating in herds of over a hundred individuals. They may often 
be seen feeding in company with zebras, wildebeests, and Grant’s and 
Thomson’s gazelles. Although great numbers of them are annually killed 
by lions or shot by settlers or sportsmen, their numbers do not yet appear 
71 
