There is a place in Africa where man and beast do not seem to mind each other – just a glance, if that, as they pass each other by in going about their respective daily business. In that place lives a special animal, known as "arawale" to the locals, and known, though hardly, as "hirola" to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the hirola ("Beatragus hunteri"), which has never been plentiful, is potentially facing its final decline. This possible extinction is not like others occurring, sadly, on a too regular basis. It would be the first loss of an African mammalian genus in modern human history.
The hirola looks unremarkable at a first glance. It looks like a cross between an impala and a hartebeest. Upon closer examination, however, it makes its case: a pair of extremely conspicuous pre-orbital glands just below the eyes; a chevron-shaped white strip across the forehead; and a soothing sandy/beige-colored coat. Where the white strip meets the eyes, it encircles them, making it appear as if the animal is wearing swimming goggles. Whatever it takes to stay afloat… Mature bulls, as if to fully appreciate their predicament, betray a furrowing of the brows.
The hirola broke off from the rest of the subfamily Alcelaphinae (which includes wildebeest, hartebeest and topi) long ago and began occupying a niche – a small area of coastal bushland/grassland north of the Tana River in Kenya and into southern Somalia. In recent history, hirolas have suffered from poaching and competition with livestock. The general insecurity of the northern part of hirola's range has not helped. According to the Antelope Survey Group, there were an estimated 10,000 – 15,000 hirolas in the 1970s. Their numbers dropped to low thousands in the 1980s and subsequently to below 1,000 in the 1990s. It is now believed that there are no more than 300 or so left in its natural range in northeastern Kenya, with a separate, artificially translocated population in Tsavo East National Park of 50-100 animals. The hirola is presumed to be extinct in its former range in Somalia.
