The Cape bushbuck (Tragelaphus sylvaticus), also known as imbabala and southern bushbuck, is a common, medium-sized bushland-dwelling, and a widespread species of antelope in sub-Saharan Africa. It is found in a wide range of habitats, such as rain forests, montane forests, forest-savanna mosaic, savanna, bushveld, and woodland. The Ethiopian endemic species known as Menelik's bushbuck or decula was classified as a scriptus group species as opposed to Woodley. In the case of Tragelaphus, these 'species' would be based mostly on geography and pelage as opposed to genetics.
In 2018, Hassanin et al. published a molecular phylogenetic study that provided support for the scriptus and sylvaticus species, with a divergence time of at least 2 million years, albeit with considerable genetic diversity within each of these groups.
Description
thumb|left|[[Eduard Rüppell|Rüppell's depiction of the Abyssinian bushbuck (1835)]]
thumb|upright|left|Close-up of a bushbuck ram from the Kruger National Park, South Africa
Cape bushbucks stand around at the shoulder and weigh from in males and in females. They have a light brown coat, with up to seven white stripes and white splotches on the sides. The white patches are usually geometrically shaped and on the most mobile parts of their bodies, such as the ears, chin, tail, legs, and necks. The muzzles are also white. Horns, found only on the males, can reach over half a metre and have a single twist. At 10 months old, young males sprout horns that are particularly twisted and at maturity form the first loop of a spiral.
The Cape bushbuck has on average less striping and more uniform colouration than populations in West Africa. Other interpretations restrict the taxon to Southern Africa sensu stricto or consider them sensu lato to occur in the above range except eastern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Bushbuck are active throughout the day, but tend to be nocturnal near human habitations.
Bushbuck are solitary animals, but are not aggressively antisocial, and individuals sometimes forage in close proximity. Bushbuck live within a "home" area, which is usually around on the savannah and much larger in the forest, that they will not normally leave. These areas usually overlap other bushbuck home areas.
Some game farmers in southern Africa discovered that the bushbuck may compete with the closely related, larger nyala when they tried to introduce the two species to the same area. However, the two species are often found in close proximity in natural communities (e.g., in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique).
Predation by chimpanzees
In Fongoli, Senegal, western chimpanzees of both sexes occasionally hunt bushbucks, preferring fawns when given the chance.