Nearly Extinct Antelope Species is Photographed for the First Time Ever

This is the first-ever photograph of the Upemba lechwe — one of the world’s rarest large mammals, now teetering on the brink of extinction, with fewer than 100 of these elusive creatures believed to remain.

The image of Africa’s “forgotten antelope” a rare and relatively unknown species—has been published for the first time by wildlife researchers in a study in the African Journal of Ecology this month.

The photo was taken during an aerial survey of the Kamalondo Depression, a vast sunken region in the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo—the only known habitat of the Upemba lechwe. During the survey, researchers spotted just 10 of these elusive antelopes, reinforcing concerns that fewer than 100 of the animals remain in the wild.

The species is known for being extremely skittish, making clear and non-blurry photographs almost impossible to capture. Although the herd of the Upemba lechwe quickly disappeared from view for the researchers, one antelope stopped for “literally a few seconds” — long enough for Manuel Weber, of Upemba National Park’s Department of Research and Biomonitoring, to capture a single image of it. This image is thought to be the first-ever photograph taken of a living Upemba lechwe since it was identified as a subspecies in 2005.

“I knew that we needed that photograph — otherwise we would have no way to get any media attention for the cause, and I was devastated after the first day, since we did connect with a few Upemba lechwe, but they were running for their life, so no way to capture them on camera,” Weber tells The Guardian.

“It was in the morning of the second day, that a single individual stopped for just a few seconds — long enough for me to press the trigger — before running off like the other individuals we have seen.”

Weber described capturing the image as a thrilling moment, and researchers hope the photograph will spark much-needed awareness for efforts to protect this overlooked species.

“The feeling was unbelievable, I barely slept the nights before we found it, very worried that we would not be able to do the survey, that we would not find any (in that case we would be responsible for the extinction of a species), and the need to get that photograph to generate the awareness needed to save them,” Weber tells The Guardian.

Unlike other antelopes in the region, the Upemba lechwe lacks the dark leg stripes and distinctive shoulder patches that are typically seen on similar species.

Image credits: Header photo by Upemba National Park.