Bubal

The bubal is a type of kongoni or hartebeest native to northern Idiri. Avoiding desert interiors and wooded areas, they can be found in small herds on coastal plain and in grassy scrub throughout the lands of the southern Adelantean. In Raziya, they are found chiefly on the Plain of Storms and in the Stormbreak Hills, up to the lower levels of the Rassi Plateau.

Appearance

The bubal is a large ungulate, standing up to three and a half feet at the shoulder and weighing between 220 and 400 pounds. It has a large powerful chest, and its back slopes down noticeably from the shoulders which have a small but noticeable hump. The bubal has a very svelte wedge-shaped head, with an elongated forehead and long flat-topped snout. Its dark ridged horns are equally unusual, looking U-shaped with viewed from the front but making a back-swept S when seen from the side. Its short and shiny coat is a plain and sandy color overall, except for long greyish patches on either side of its muzzle above the nostrils, and the black tuft on its short tail.

Behavior

Bubals are primarily grazers who consume the hardy grasses of the coastal plains and lower massifs of north Idiri. While they will roam extensively over their preferred environment of rocky, scrubby plains, they are non-migratory and maintain a rough territory within a given area. Sometimes they will stray up to the edges of oases to nibble on one of their favorite treats, fresh green orchardgrass.

Like other kongoni, bubals are social animals that are usually found in herds of a hundred or more individuals. Multiple generations live together in one herd, with smaller subgroups of territorial, non-territorial, and subadult males, and of females and calves. They are alert and intelligent creatures, and though the placement of their eyes high on their foreheads allows them to keep watch while grazing, usually a herd will have at least one animal on lookout as well, standing up on a rock or mound of dirt for the best view. Sometimes younger adult bubals will wander off to graze by themselves or in pairs, particularly in areas where their chief predator the Tessary lion is uncommon; this can make them vulnerable to human hunters. Although only lions will kill an adult bubal, calves may be preyed on by leopards and hyenas.

Bubals' eyesight is not all that sharp but their sense of hearing and smell are very keen and discriminating, so most of their communication comes in the form of vocalizations and scent marking with dung piles. They make quiet quacking and grunting sounds to one another, and produce a sharper quacking call when alarmed. Juveniles tend to be noiser than adults, and a group of calves will often be accompanied by a low gabble of their youthful voices.

Relationship with Humans

Bubals are not extensively hunted in most places where they live, as their meat is considered too oily for it to be preferred as a game animal. Its coat and hide, too, tend to be somewhat oily, which limits its desirability for clothing, rugs, or blankets. It is however sometimes used to produce rustic but weatherproof awnings and bags, particularly saddlebags.

Respected in ancient times by both the Yemelites (pagan precursors to the Yehani) and the Amunati, bubals were once used as a sacrificial animal in their temples.