Giant eland Common eland Greater kudu Mountain nyala Bongo Sitatunga Cape bushbuck Nyala Lesser kudu Taurotragus /təˈrɒtrəɡəs/ is a genus of large African antelopes, placed under the subfamily Bovinae and family Bovidae.

The genus authority is the German zoologist Johann Andreas Wagner, who first mentioned it in the journal Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen in 1855.

[1] The name is composed of two Greek words: ταῦρος (taûros), meaning a "bull" or "bullock",[2][3] and τράγος (trágos), meaning a "male goat"—in reference to the tuft of hair that grows in the eland's ear which resembles a goat's beard.

In a 2008 phylogenomic study of spiral-horned antelopes, chromosomal similarities were observed between cattle (Bos taurus) and eight species of spiral-horned antelopes, namely: nyala (Tragelaphus angasii), lesser kudu (T. imberbis), bongo (T. eurycerus), bushbuck (T. scriptus), greater kudu (T. strepsiceros), sitatunga (T. spekei), giant eland and common eland.

It was found that chromosomes involved in centric fusions in these species used a complete set of cattle painting probes generated by laser microdissection.

Notable mixed inherited traits were pointed ears as the eland's, but a bit widened like kudu's.

[8] Previous genetic studies of African savanna ungulates revealed the presence of a long-standing Pleistocene refugium in eastern and southern Africa, which also includes the giant eland.

The coat of the common eland varies geographically; the eland in southern Africa lack the distinctive markings (torso stripes, markings on legs, dark garters and a spinal crest) present in those from the northern half of the continent.