English: One of Zakouma’s most common large antelopes is the Lewel hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus lelwel these animals represent a very important population of this Central African race of the hartebeest as elsewhere their population has declined markedly notably in Central African Republic and South Sudan. The tiang (Damaliscus lunatus tiang) with its somewhat larger horns is the Central African subspecies of the more familiar topi (Damaliscus lunatus jimela) of East Africa and tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus lunatus) of Southern Africa. There are thought to be around 1,000 of this antelope in Zakouma the population would likely be larger but during the wet season they move north outside the safety of Zakouma National Park where some of them still fall victim to meat poachers. Remarkably vast herds of tiang still survive in eastern South Sudan and they also still occur in the west of Ethiopia but in the Central African Republic these animals have all but disappeared and could well become extinct there. Few tiang remain elsewhere in southern Chad so Zakouma’s herds are very important as they are now the largest anywhere in the country.