Kob
Kobus kob (Erxleben, 1777)
The kob (Kobus kob), also called Buffon's kob, is a mammal in the family Bovidae, subfamily Antilopinae and tribe Reduncini. It is a large, terrestrial herbivore with a cathemeral activity pattern, and adults weigh 78.5 kg, with values up to 146 kg reported.
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Quick facts about the kob
Gestation lasts 254.8 days, females have 1 young per litter and 1.3 litters per year, and sexual maturity is reached at 384 days (1.1 years). The kob is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 78.5 kg – 146 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 21.9 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 21.9 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 255 days – 274 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 months – 13.2 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.3src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the kob
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
_female_and_calf.jpg){kind=link}
Where does the kob live?
Not recorded
What is the kob?
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Kob” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kob&oldid=1384684246), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the kob endangered?
The kob is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the kob classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderArtiodactyla
- familyBovidae
- genusKobus
- SpeciesKobus kob (Erxleben, 1777)
Synonyms Antilope kob, Kobus kob adolfi, Kobus kob bahrkeetae, Kobus kob kob, Kobus kob pousarguesi, Kobus kob riparia, Kobus kob ubangiensis
Other names and names in other languages (23)
- Buffon's kobEnglish
- Buffon’s kobEnglish
- Buffon’s kobEnglish
- كوبArabic
- cobuAsturian
- voduška kobCzech
- GrasantilopeGerman
- Kob-AntilopeGerman
- Kob-WasserbockGerman
- MoorantilopeGerman
- Senegal-Kob-WasserbockGerman
- Αντιλόπη ΚομπGreek
- kobiFinnish
- Cobe de BuffonFrench
- Közönséges mocsáriantilopHungarian
- コーブJapanese
- 코브Korean
- KobwaterbokDutch
- kob żółtyPolish
- CoboPortuguese
- КобRussian
- travna antilopaSlovenian
- 赤羚Chinese
Relatives of the kob
Other species in the same genus Kobus.
Waterbuck
Kobus ellipsiprymnus
Lechwe
Kobus leche
Puku
Kobus vardonii
Nile lechwe
Kobus megaceros
Upemba lechwe
Kobus anselli
White-eared kob
Kobus leucotis
CompareKob vs WaterbuckKob vs LechweKob vs PukuKob vs Nile lechwe
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the kob?
The kob is a mammal in the family Bovidae, order Artiodactyla. It belongs to the subfamily Antilopinae and the tribe Reduncini.
How heavy is a kob?
An adult kob weighs 78.5 kg, and our sources report values up to 146 kg.
What does the kob eat?
The kob is a herbivore.
Is the kob endangered?
No. The kob is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a kob live?
The kob has a lifespan of 21.9 years, with values up to 21.92 years reported by our sources.
How many young does a kob have?
A kob has 1 young per litter, with 1.3 litters per year. Gestation lasts 254.8 days, with values up to 273.9 days reported.
When does a kob reach sexual maturity?
A kob reaches sexual maturity at 384 days (1.1 years), with reported values from 365 to 403 days.
Who named the kob?
The kob, Kobus kob, was named by (Erxleben, 1777).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Kob (Kobus kob). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/kobus-kob
“Kob (Kobus kob).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/kobus-kob.
@misc{kobus_kob_2026,
title = {Kob (Kobus kob)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/kobus-kob},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}