The hartebeest was formerly widespread in Africa, but populations have undergone a drastic decline due to habitat destruction, hunting, human settlement, and competition with livestock for food.

The hartebeest is extinct in Algeria, Egypt, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Somalia, and Tunisia; but has been introduced into Eswatini and Zimbabwe.

[6] The first use of the word "hartebeest" in South African literature was in Dutch colonial administrator Jan van Riebeeck's journal Daghregister in 1660.

[13] However, this finding was not replicated by Alan W. Gentry of the Natural History Museum, who classified it as an independent species of Alcelaphus.

It also showed the tribe Alcelaphini to be monophyletic, and discovered close affinity between the Alcelaphus and the sassabies (genus Damaliscus)—both genetically and morphologically.

[17] Conversely a 2001 phylogenetic study, based on D–loop and cytochrome b analysis by Øystein Flagstad (of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim) and colleagues, found that the southern lineage of A. b. caama and A. lichtensteinii diverged earliest.

[2] Another analysis of cytochrome b and D-loop sequence data shows a notable affinity between the A. b. lelwel and A. b. tora divisions.

[18] The eight subspecies, including the two controversial ones, are:[1][19] In 2000, a study scrutinised two major populations of the Swayne's hartebeest, from the Senkele Wildlife Sanctuary and the Nechisar National Park, for mitochondrial (D-loop) and nuclear (microsatellite) variability in an attempt to estimate the levels of genetic variation between the populations and within the subspecies.

Another revelation was that the translocation of the individuals from the Senkele Wildlife Sanctuary in 1974 had not made a significant contribution to the gene pool of the Nechisar National Park.

[8] Hybrids between the Lelwel and Tora hartebeest have been reported in eastern Sudan and western Ethiopia, in a stretch southward from the Blue Nile to about 9° N latitude.

Sterility of the hybrid was attributed to difficulties in segregation during meiosis, indicated by azoospermia and a low number of germ cells in its seminiferous tubules.

[31] There are three well-defined hybrids between the subspecies: The genus Alcelaphus emerged about 4.4 million years ago in a clade whose other members were Damalops, Numidocapra, Rabaticeras, Megalotragus, Oreonagor, and Connochaetes.

Flagstad and colleagues showed an early split in the hartebeest populations into two distinct lineages around 0.5 million years ago – one to the north and the other to the south of the equator.

[8] Fossils of the red hartebeest have been found in Elandsfontein, Cornelia (Free State) and Florisbad in South Africa, as well as in Kabwe in Zambia.

[38] In Israel, hartebeest remains have been found in northern Negev, Shephelah, Sharon Plain and Tel Lachish.

[39] A large antelope with a particularly elongated forehead and oddly shaped horns, the hartebeest stands just over 1 m (3 ft 3 in) at the shoulder, and has a typical head-and-body length of 200 to 250 cm (79 to 98 in).

[40] The other distinctive features of the hartebeest are its long legs (often with black markings), short neck, and pointed ears.

[46] The Tora hartebeest is a dark reddish brown in the upper part of the body, the face, the forelegs and the rump, but the hindlegs and the underbelly are a yellowish white.

[5] The hartebeest shares several physical traits with the sassabies (genus Damaliscus), such as an elongated and narrow face, the shape of the horns, the pelage texture and colour, and the terminal tuft of the tail.

[48] The hartebeest exhibits sexual dimorphism, but only slightly, as both sexes bear horns and have similar body masses.

[52] Active mainly during daytime, the hartebeest grazes in the early morning and late afternoon, and rests in shade around noon.

[40] Adult hartebeest are preyed upon by lions, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs; cheetahs and jackals target juveniles.

[55] The thin long legs of the hartebeest provide for a quick escape in an open habitat; if attacked, the formidable horns are used to ward off the predator.

[65] A study in the Nazinga Game Ranch in Burkina Faso found that the hartebeest's skull structure eased the acquisition and chewing of highly fibrous foods.

[8] For instance, in comparison with the roan antelope, the hartebeest is better at procuring and chewing the scarce regrowth of perennial grasses at times when forage is least available.

[66] These unique abilities could have allowed the hartebeest to prevail over other animals millions of years ago, leading to its successful radiation across Africa.

[65] Hartebeest inhabit dry savannas, open plains and wooded grasslands,[11] often moving into more arid places after rainfall.

[40][65] Pictorial as well as epigraphic evidence from Egypt suggests that in the Upper Palaeolithic age, Egyptians hunted hartebeest and domesticated them.

[50] However, from the beginning of the Neolithic age, hunting became less common and consequently the remains of the hartebeest from this period in ancient Egypt, where it is now extinct, are rare.

The study considered hartebeest meat to be healthy, as the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids was 0.78, slightly more than the recommended 0.7.