[6] Males have shoulder heights of 90–100 cm (3.0–3.3 ft) and an average weight of 94 kg (207 lb).

Females have shoulder heights of 82–92 cm (2.69–3.02 ft) and weigh on average 63 kg (139 lb).

[5][6] The pelage of the kob is typically golden to reddish-brown overall, but with the throat patch, eye ring, and inner ear being white, and the forelegs being black at the front.

Those of the white-eared kob (K. k. leucotis), which is found in the Sudd region (the easternmost part of their range), are strikingly different and overall dark, rather similar to the male Nile lechwe, though with a white throat and no pale patch from the nape to the shoulder.

[7] The kob is currently found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.

It was formerly also found in Gambia, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Morocco and Tanzania, but is now extinct in those areas.

[1] It inhabits flat areas and open country close to permanent water, with consistent climate.

[6] In flooded areas, they may travel hundreds of kilometers, and dry-season walks to water may take 10 km or more.

[6] Grasses preferred by kobs are Hyparrhenia species, Brachiaria brizantha, Setaria gayanus, Chloris gayana, and Echinochloa and Digitaria spp.

All-male herds may number in the hundreds and accompany females as they travel during dry season.

Adult males try to establish their territories in the best habitat available, which are inhabited by herds of females and their young.

Herds are fluid and change in size and structure as individuals travel to find green vegetation.

Lek clusters are located on patches of short grass or bare ground within comparably tall grassland.

[12] Females and bachelor males live in large herds of up to 2000 and move through the leks, which are surrounded by high-quality grass and are near waterholes and commonly travelled routes.

[1] Buffon's kob (Kobus kob kob) is protected in several parks, including Niokolo-Koba in Senegal, Comoé in Côte d'Ivoire, Arly-Singou in Burkina Faso, Mole and Bui in Ghana, Pendjari in Benin, Waza, Bénoué and Faro National Parks of the North Province of Cameroon, Zakouma in Chad, and Manovo-Gounda-St. Floris and Dzanga Sangha Forest Reserve in the Central African Republic.

Together with tiang and Mongalla gazelles, they participate in one of the largest mammal migrations on Earth, numbering about 1.2 million individuals in total.