Range Description

Endemic to the Ogaden region of SE Ethiopia and adjoining areas of N and C Somalia.

In Ethiopia, dibatag formerly occurred widely in the vast plains of the Ogaden region in the eastern lowlands. An extensive ground survey revealed that the dibatag is now rare or absent in the northern Ogaden but still occurs locally within a reasonably large area in the southern Ogaden, where it appears to be quite common in some localities (Wilhelmi 1997). In contrast to the northern Ogaden, which has a relatively high density of settlements and concentrations of armed pastoralists and their herds, the southern Ogaden has lower human densities and extensive areas where the natural flora and fauna appear to be largely intact.

It once occurred widely in central Somalia and on the Haud Plateau. By the early 1980s it had disappeared from large parts of its former range but still occurred locally in reasonable numbers in parts of the central coastal hinterland. Local people indicated that it was still present in this region in the late 1980s, but no more recent information is available. This area has been affected by 20 years of civil and military conflict as well as drought and overgrazing and its status is widely considered to have deteriorated, along with that of other antelope species such as Nanger soemmerringii and Oryx beisa that are easier to monitor (Wilhelmi et al. 2006).