The giant sable antelope (Hippotragus niger variani), also known in Portuguese as the palanca negra gigante, is a large, rare subspecies of the sable antelope native and endemic to the central highlands of Angola, occurring specifically in two areas: Cangandala National Park (south of the city of Malanje) and Luando Natural Strict Reserve (between the Kwanza and Luando Rivers, south of Cangandala).
It was first described in 1916 by Frank Varian, a British engineer and naturalist, as a new subspecies of sable antelope distinguished by its size, horn structure and length, and unique facial markings.
At the time, Varian worked on the construction of Angola’s Benguela Railway, which connected the inland mining areas with the Atlantic coast.
In January 2004, a group from the Centro de Estudos e Investigação Científica of the Catholic University of Angola, led by Dr. Pedro Vaz Pinto, was able to obtain photographic evidence of one of the remaining herds from a series of trap cameras installed in the Cangandala National Park, south of Malanje.
The giant sable antelope is evaluated as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Coloration in bulls is black, while cows and calves are chestnut, except in southern populations where females turn brownish-black.
Typically, giant sable antelopes are specialized browsers feeding on foliage and herbs, especially those growing on termite mounds.