Scientists search for famed antelope in Angola
Date: 16-Aug-02
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
Author: Ed Stoddard
"There is a lot of speculation that these animals have gone extinct, but if they have not we can start a programme to protect them," expedition head Wouter van Hoven of the University of Pretoria told Reuters.
Male giant sables have elegant horns which curve backwards and can grow to an astonishing five feet (1.60 metres) or more.
There have been unconfirmed sightings in recent years but no confirmed sightings for 20 years. The animal's only known range is Angola and there are none to be found in zoos anywhere.
Richard Estes, a Smithsonian research associate from the United States who studied the animals in the early 1970s, said he was hopeful of finding some in the Luando Reserve in central Angola.
"We estimated there were 1,000 to 2,000 giant sables in that area (30 years ago)," said Estes, who is joining the two-week expedition which will conduct most of its work by helicopter.
Angola's government and its arch-foe the UNITA rebel movement signed a ceasefire agreement in April, raising hopes for peace in a country that has known little but ruinous civil war since independence from Portugal in 1975.
The war destroyed much wildlife in the tropical country, which once teemed with animals. Its huge herds of elephants were shot out by both government forces and UNITA, who sold ivory from the tusks to fund its war efforts.
Countless animals were hunted for food by the rebels, many of whom spent decades living off the bush.
But Estes said the giant sable's spiritual significance may have protected it.
"It's a totem animal for local people and so they traditionally have not hunted it. And I am not aware that soldiers spent a lot of time in the Luando Reserve during the war," he said.
The expedition is being launched just ahead of the United Nations Earth Summit in Johannesburg at the end of August.
Biodiversity and the fate of the planet's many endangered species will be high on the agenda of the summit, which will seek to hammer out a global action plan to reduce poverty without hurting the environment.