Alcelaphus buselaphus ssp. tora (Tora Hartebeest)

[surroundx]

"An example of such impacts are species allowed to slip into extinction unnoticed; such as the Tora hartebeest Alcelaphus tora (Heckel et al., 2008), because it was lumped as one of several subspecies of Alcelaphus buselaphus."

"Possibly extinct 2010"

Source:

Gippoliti, Spartaco, Cotterill, Fenton P. D., Zinner, Dietmar and Groves, Colin P. (2017). Impacts of taxonomic inertia for the conservation of African ungulate diversity:an overview. Biological Reviews. doi: 10.1111/brv.12335

[Sebbe]

East, R. 1998. African Antelope Database 1998. IUCN/SSC Antelope Specialist Group. IUCN Species Survival Commission Occasional Paper No. 21.

Sudan: The tora hartebeest formerly occurred in the Ethiopia and Eritrea border region in the east. It has been eliminated from most or all of its former range in Sudan by over hunting and loss of habitat to agricultural development and the expansion of livestock grazing and settlement, e.g., it was reported to have disappeared from Dinder National Park before 1960. Sightings of hartebeest reported by local people in the 1980s and 1990s in the southeast of Dinder National Park near the Ethiopia border have not been confirmed during recent surveys in this area.

Ethiopia:Three subspecies occur. The tora hartebeest formerly occurred widely in the northwestern lowlands. Parts of its former range are inaccessible for security reasons and very little is known about its current status, but a few were observed from the air in the Dinder River valley near the Sudan border in early 1996.

Eritrea:The tora hartebeest formerly occurred widely in the western and southwestern savannas and grasslands. It survives locally in small numbers. Local people indicate that a few may survive
in the more remote parts of the Gash-Setit area in the southwest, including a few in the vicinity of Mount Bobo to the south of the former Gash-Setit Wildlife Reserve, but it apparently does not persist in areas where there are people and livestock. It is said to occur in larger numbers further to the north, in the Hawashait area of western Eritrea.

portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/SSC-OP-021.pdf

[Sebbe]

Tora Hartebeest formerly occurred in western and southwestern Eritrea, north-western Ethiopia and the adjacent border regions of Sudan; they may survive in low numbers in the savannas of Eritrea and some inaccessible parts of Ethiopia, but there have been no reports for many years and it is considered possibly extinct.

www.iucnredlist.org/details/811/0

[Sebbe]

Mallon, D. 2015. Eritrea Reconnaissance. GNUSLETTER VOL. 32 NO. 2.

Tora Hartebeest Alcelpahus buselaphus tora
(Tigrinya -wedumbi)
This subspecies is restricted to western and south-western Eritrea,
north-west Ethiopia and bordering areas of Sudan. There have been
no recent records in Eritrea, and when Hagos Yohannes showed
photographs of the animal to local people in Gash Barka, they did
not recognise it. A hartebeest head in the National Museum of Eritrea appears to be a specimen of tora on the basis of its red-brown colour and horn shape, but is labelled ‘kongoni’, the name applied to A. b. cokii from southern Kenya-northern Tanzania. No photos are allowed in the Museum, which was undergoing renovation work so it was not possible to obtain further details. Tora hartebeest was regarded as possibly extinct in Sudan by East (1999) and no evidence was obtained on a preliminary survey of Alatish NP and other parts of NW Ethiopia by Heckel et al. (2007). Given the lack of records from its former range, it is very possible that tora hartebeest is now extinct.

cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/gnusletter_vol_32__2_2015.pdf

[surroundx]

Gippoliti, Spartaco. (2018). An extinct - and overlooked - species in the hall: Alcelaphus tora in Italian Museums. Preprint. doi: doi.org/10.13140/rg.2.2.27035.31528

[Sebbe]

Tora hartebeest Alcelaphus tora Gray, 1873 and allied forms in Italian museums, with taxonomic considerations (MAMMALIA, BOVIDAE, ALCELAPHINAE).

Alcelaphus is an African bovid genus that experienced widespread decline in the continent’s grasslands. Little is known concerning the true diversity of the genus Alcelaphus between the Nile River and the Ethiopian Highlands. Specimens from Eritrea - where the type locality of Alcelaphus tora Gray, 1873 lies - are of special significance to understand the true historical diversity of the genus stretching from the Setit River in the north to the Baro River to the south. In the present paper an overview of tora specimens from Eritrea (a former Italian colony) that are stored in Italian museums is presented. A few specimens from the study area are also discussed. Some taxonomic considerations concerning the validity of other taxa described from the region, and generally interpreted as hybrids between tora and lelvel hartebeests, are also included. The need for a specific hartebeest Action Plan for the conservation of the diversity of Alcelaphus is underlined.

www.researchgate.net/publication/374847752_TORA_HARTEBEEST_ALCELAPHUS_TORA_GRAY_1873_AND_ALLIED_FORMS_IN_ITALIAN_MUSEUMS_WITH_TAXONOMIC_CONSIDERATIONS_MAMMALIA_BOVIDAE_ALCELAPHINAE?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3S1mZBMmBZigQ2OclGTtuz5bTK1PXCYGhzgoebTsfDPOlh2jMtoo_hBc4_aem_plneacsxathUxPepLTqkTA