Tragelaphus spekii, Sclater, in Speke’s Journ. of Discov. p. 223 (1863); id. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 103, pl. xii., 1880, p. 452, 1883, pp. 34–37; Heugl. Reise Weiss. Nil, p. 319 (1869); Brooke, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 485 (part.); id. P. Z. S. 1878, p. 884; Huet, Bull. Soc. Acclim. (4) iv. p. 83 (1887); Thos. P. Z. S. 1891, p. 388 (part.); Flow. & Lyd. Mamm. p. 347 (1891) (part.); Ward, Horn Meas. p. 155 (1892); id. Records, p. 197 (1896), (2) p. 292 (1899) (part.); Lugard, Rise E. Afr. Emp. i. p. 533 (1893); Lyd. Horns and Hoofs, p. 254 (1893); id. Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 276 (1894) (part.); Jackson, Big Game Shooting, p. 311 (1894); Matsch. Säug. Deutsch-Ost-Afr. p. 139 (1895); Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. p. 958 (1898) (part.); Gedge, in Ward’s Great and Small Game of Africa, p. 476 (1899).
Eurycerus (Hydrotragus) spekii, J. E. Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 49 (1872) (part.).
Eurycerus spekii, Gray, Hand-l. Rum. p. 119 (1873) (part.).
Tragelaphus spekii spekii, Rothschild, Novit. Zool. v. p. 206 (1898).
Vernacular Names:—Nzoé of Karagweh (Speke); Chobé or Njobé of Uganda (Gedge).
Adult male. Height at the withers about 36 inches. General colour a tolerably uniform greyish brown, greyer on the sides of the neck; a dark median dorsal line running down the nape, over the withers, and then passing into white in the middle line of the back. Head with white ocular and cheek-spots and white chin, as in the other species of the genus. A few pale spots low down on the hind-quarters, an indistinct line of similar spots extending along the sides above the belly, and in the adult at last only very ill-defined white stripes on the body. Legs of a richer and darker brown than the body; fore legs pale behind the knee and down the inner side of the cannon-bone, the pastern-spots scarcely distinct; hind legs coloured like fore legs, but pale in front of the hock.
Horns without a third twist.
Subadult male of a darker brown than the adult and with the white markings even less distinct.
Adult female. Smaller than the male and of a rich dark red colour, blacker dorsally, with a dark spinal stripe and very faint indications of white stripes on the body. Fore legs blackish from above the knee; hind legs blackish from below the hock; pastern-spots distinct.
Young female more or less distinctly marked with white stripes and spots, and more yellowish in colour than the adult.