Bad at Goodbyes

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Hirola.

Species Information 02:05

The Hirola is a critically endangered land mammal, an antelope, native to to eastern Africa, specifically Kenya and Somalia, with two subpopulations, one within the Tsavo East National Park in Kenya, and another in unprotected land on the Somali-Kenyan border in Garissa County, Kenya. Its scientific name is Beatragus hunteri, and it was first described in 1889.

 

Description

The Hirola is a medium-sized antelope, approximately 3-4 feet tall at shoulder height, roughly 6-7 feet in body length, and weighing between 150-300 pounds. They have a slender build, a long neck, long legs, two curved tall horns, and a roughly foot long tail.

 

Their coat color ranges from tan and reddish-brown to gray with a white underside and white patches on the face, ears, legs and tail. They have a long, narrow face and a pointed muzzle. Large, oval-shaped eyes are set on either side of the head, surrounded by a white ring of fur that connects across their muzzle, looking a bit like a pair of spectacles. They have large dark preorbital glands under their eyes; these are specialized scent glands that secrete a waxy pheromonal fluid used for marking territory, social communication, and differentiating individuals. Their ears are large and pointed and between the ears both male and female Hirola grow curved, somewhat U-shaped ringed horns, up from the top of the head. The horns are sharp and tall, growing between 1.5 and 2.5 feet in height.

 

Behavior and Diet

Hirola are social animals that typically live in small herds of about a dozen individuals, though larger herds may form during the wet season when resources are more abundant. In general these herds consist of a group of adult  females, their offspring, and a single territorial dominant male. Subgroups will also form: small bachelor herds of yet to mate adult males, and mixed-sex herds of not yet reproductive-aged juveniles. The Hirola will also congregate with other species, joining herds of Grant’s Gazelle and Plains Zebra.

 

The herds roam over home ranges that can exceed 40 square miles, and are seasonally nomadic, seeking newly sprouting grasses. Males are territorial, using chemical cues, urine, dung and pheromones to mark their range. And visual signals, head-flagging, scratching the ground with their hooves, and slashing vegetation with their horns.

 

Hirola are generally crepuscular, active around sunrise and sunset. During the peak heat of the day, they’ll shade under shrubs and trees, resting to reduce water loss and conserve energy. In this arid landscape, they can survive long periods without drinking water, relying on the moisture content in the young green grass shoots central to their diet.

 

Hirola are herbivores, grazers, that mainly feed on these grasses. They are selective feeders, preferring new grasses, and if grasses grow too long, or are disturbed by other grazers, the Hirola will seek other patches. That said, during the dry season, when grass is scarce they will feed opportunistically, taking advantage of any available food source, browsing on leaves and fruits.

 

Herds graze together, seeking food sources cooperatively, and the group structure helps detect predators, protect young, and increases the chance of individual survival if the herd is preyed upon.

 

Reproduction

Hirola mate once a year, in March and April. With the dominant male mating with multiple females in his herd. Pregnant females gestate for roughly eight months, and then right before birthing the female separates from the herd, to give birth alone, hidden in dense vegetation. She births a single calf, and the pair remain isolated from their herd for two to eight weeks, as the mother nurses, and the calf quickly develops, gaining strength, agility, speed, soon able to stand and run. And once the calf can keep pace, they rejoin their herd, which now will often include other new mothers and their new calves, who provide protection, communal rearing, and social interaction for the young Hirola.

 

Juvenile Hirola reach reproductive maturity between 2 to 3 years of age, though the young males are generally not large or dominant enough to establish territories and compete for mates until they’re 4-5 years old. Hirola live for an estimated 10-15 years.

In The Dream

————

In the dream,

 

All is dusk, orangelit, and she is low to the dusk-colored earth in the highgrass

And she herself is dusk-colored, and alone, for the very first time in her life.

And in the dream, I can see her ears twitch, the wind and brush-rustle command her attention.

And I think I can see her fear, but even in the dream, another’s mind is unknowable.

And so I wait, holding my own fears for her, as her contractions increase,

I dread hyena and cheetah in the drought spent, as she risks a soft whimper

And then sudden a tangle of new life, stick-limbs and smallness and beginnings.

A calf damp in the drylands draws a first breath, opens eyes to first sight: her Mother.

 

In the dream.

————

Habitat

Hirola are native to native to to eastern Africa: to Kenya and to the Kenya-Somalia border, with two subpopulations, a protected subpopulation translocated in the 1960s to the Tsavo East National Park in Kenya, and a second subpopulation in unprotected land on the Somali-Kenyan border in Garissa County, Kenya.

 

This is a semi-arid, open grassland savanna, where the landscape shifts seasonally between dry arid conditions and relative greenery during the rainy seasons. These are grassy plains scattered with occasional shrubs and trees growing in dry sandy soils; a rugged flat expanse of muted browns with limited surface water.

 

This is a hot, dry climate with summer temps reaching into the lower 100s°F and winter lows dropping into the 60s°F. Annual rainfall ranges from 12-24 inches with distinct wet and dry seasons.

 

Hirola share their grassy plains with:

Gold-banded Forester, Marabou Stork, Western Cattle-Egret, Vervet Monkey, Giant Sensitive Plant, Tall-boy Star-Chestnut, Dwarf Gecko, Cinnabar Bracket, Somali Dwarf Mongoose, Common Hippopotamus, Hairy Carpet Weed, Teasel Gourd, Yellow Baboon, Grant’s Gazelle, Quail Grass, Lilac-breasted Roller, African Gray Hornbill, Tana River Crested Mangabey, Black Pearl, Water Lettuce, African Savanna Elephant, Blue Monkey, Pod-Mahogany, Henna, Cheetah, Cashew, Common Bark Katydid, Reticulated Giraffe, Spotted Hyena, Desert Rose, Greyleaf Heliotrope, Desert Warthog, Plains Zebra, and many many more.

 

Threats

Historically, the Hirola population has been threatened by human encroachment, habitat loss, and fragmentation. The expansion of human settlements, infrastructure development, agriculture and the introduction of domesticated livestock have reduced and transformed the Hirola’s natural habitat.

 

In the 1970s and 1980s, a viral disease called rinderpest jumped from domesticated livestock to the Hirola killing over 13000 individuals, roughly 90% of the remaining population.

 

Relatedly, human induced climate change, due to our persistent over-reliance on fossil fuels, has resulted in prolonged droughts in the Hirola’s native habitat forcing Hirola to compete with domesticated livestock for scarce food and water, and affecting the balance of prey species to predator species in their habitat. 

 

So we’re in these drought conditions and a herd of gazelle (who tend to range farther than the Hirola) head west in search of better grazing. Now, in the Hirola’s native range, there are less prey species, so lion and cheetah focus on the Hirola. And so now predation, which we think of as a natural part of an ecosystem, has been imbalanced by human climate impacts, creating an additional population pressure on the Hirola.

 

And lastly, though made illegal in 1997, poaching continues. Humans killing Hirola with snares and guns.

 

Conservation

Fortunately the Tsavo subpopulation lives entirely on protected land. And in Garissa, the Hirola Conservation Program is protecting and restoring critical Hirola habitat through bush clearing, removing invasive plants and promoting native vegetation. They also mount anti-poaching patrols throughout the Hirola’s range.

 

Hirola are legally protected at the local, national, and international level.

 

In 2012, the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Ishaqbini Community Conservancy, established a 6000 acre livestock-free and predator-proof sanctuary to breed and reintroduce Hirola into the wild within their historic range in eastern Kenya.

 

!n 2016, the Hirola Conservation Program, in partnership with locals, helped establish the Bura East Community Conservancy. This is 1800 sq miles of land that is collaboratively managed by indigenous semi-nomadic Somali people, who are exploring new ways to share feeding grounds for their livestock and resources with herds of Hirola.

 

A 2024 study found that the harmonious coexistence program reduced predation, poaching, and deforestation; aiding the recovery of the Hirola.

 

Nevertheless the Hirola has been considered critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1996 and their population is in decline.

 

Our most recent counts estimate less than 250 Hirola remain in the wild.

Citations 21:29

Information for today’s show about the Hirola was compiled from:

 

Andanje, S. A., & Ottichilo, W. K. (1999). Population status and feeding habits of the translocated sub-population of Hunter’s antelope or hirola (Beatragus hunteri, Sclater, 1889) in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. African Journal of Ecology, 37(1), 38–48. – https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2028.1999.00141.x

 

Andanje, S. A. (2002). Factors limiting the abundance and distribution of hirola (Beatragus hunteri) in Kenya [Doctoral dissertation, Newcastle University]. Newcastle University eTheses. – http://hdl.handle.net/10443/1048

 

Ali, A. H., Kauffman, M. J., Amin, R., et al. (2018). Demographic drivers of a refugee species: Large-scale experiments guide strategies for reintroductions of hirola. Ecological Applications, 28, 275–283. – https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1664

 

Ali, A. H., & Kivai, S. (2026). Drivers of Hirola Antelope Diet Selection in Natural and Managed Habitat in Eastern Kenya. Ecology and Evolution, 16(1), e72980. – https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72980

 

iNaturalist – https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=-1.375032027&nelng=40.634809542&quality_grade=research&subview=map&swlat=-2.322767254&swlng=39.657286413&view=species

 

IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group. 2017. Beatragus hunteri. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T6234A50185297. – https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T6234A50185297.en

 

Jowers, M. J., Queirós, J., Resende Pinto, R., Ali, A. H., Mutinda, M., Angelone, S., Alves, P. C., & Godinho, R. (2020). Genetic diversity in natural range remnants of the critically endangered hirola antelope. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 190(1), 384–395. – https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz174

 

Kimitei, K.K., Kimanzi, J. and Andanje, S.A. (2015), Habitat suitability modelling for Hirola (Beatragus hunteri) in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. African Journal of Ecology, 53: 550-559. – https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12248

 

Lundgren, E. J., Wallach, A. D., Svenning, J.-C., Schlaepfer, M. A., Andersson, A. L. A., & Ramp, D. (2024). Preventing extinction in an age of species migration and planetary change. Conservation Biology, 38(6), e14270. – https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14270

 

Olney, H. 2002. “Beatragus hunteri” (Online), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed June 8, 2026. – https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Beatragus_hunteri/

 

Probert, J., Evans, B., Andanje, S., Kock, R., & Amin, R. (2015). Population and habitat assessment of the Critically Endangered hirola Beatragus hunteri in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. Oryx, 49(3), 514–520. – https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605313000902

 

Ruso, G. E. (2017). Beatragus hunteri (Artiodactyla: Bovidae). Mammalian Species, 49(955), 119–127. –  https://doi.org/10.1093/mspecies/sex015

 

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirola

 

Yassin, M., Mohamed, A. M., Isiah, S., & Abdullahi, A. (2024). Assessment of Community Capacity Building and Recovery of the Hirola Antelope in Ijara Sub-County, Garrissa County, Kenya. American Journal of Environment Studies, 7(3), 1-16. – https://doi.org/10.47672/ajes.2094

For more information about Hirola conservation please see the Hirola Conservation Program at https://www.hirolaconservation.org

Music 23:47

Pledge 29:42

I honor the lives of all Hirola. I will commit their name to my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species. I grieve.

 

And so, in the name of the Hirola I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of plant and animal kin and their habitat, by individuals, corporations, and governments.

 

I forever pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Okinawa Sumire.

Species Information 02:05

The Okinawa Sumire  is a critically endangered flowering plant native to the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, in the Pacific Ocean, specifically, the island of Okinawa, roughly 400 miles southeast of the Japanese mainland. Its scientific name is Viola utchinensis and it was first described in 1938.

 

Description

The Okinawa Sumire is a small, evergreen perennial in the Violet family with a creeping, low-growing form, reaching heights of roughly eight inches, but many individuals, specifically those most exposed to wind and saltspray in their coastal cliffside habitat, only reach two to four inches in vertical height. So instead the plant grows laterally, spreading horizontal along the rockface, with thick branching roots that snake into cracks and fissures in the stone, anchoring against powerful ocean winds.

 

The Okinawa Sumire  grows clusters of thickened, deep green, heart-shaped leaves, with a waxy sheen, an adaptation to help prevent water-loss, transpiration, and providing protection from harsh sunlight and saltspray. They are an evergreen, they do not shed leaves in autumn or winter, instead retaining chlorophyll and photosynthesizing all year long.

 

They bloom from February to April, producing light blue, pale purple, purplish-white flowers each about an inch in diameter, with five petals growing from the ends of long slender stalks.

 

Reproduction

The Okinawa Sumire  is likely pollinated by bee, or small butterfly and moth. Its pale petals are lined with darker purplish nectar guides. Nectar guides are veins or patterns or markings on a flower’s petals, visual signals that help pollinators quickly locate the flower’s nectar. Like directions, like a simple map that indicates where to find nectar, and in doing so, the bees and butterflies also inadvertently collect and distribute pollen.

 

So, once pollinated, the Okinawa Sumire  produces small rounded dehiscent fruit, full of tiny black seeds. Deshiscent describes how the fruit, when mature, dries out and splits open to release its seeds. The seeds fall into the cracks and crevices of the limestone cliffside where they are further distributed by ants. This is called myrmecochory, ant seed dispersal. The seeds have an elaiosome, a small nutrient rich appendage, and worker ants will drag the seeds to their nest to share this food with their colony. They consume the elaiosome, but the seed coat is too thick and tough for the ants to crack, so they simply discard the seed, now underground and ideally in good conditions for germination.

In The Dream

————

In the dream, 

 

A limestone cliff, a kind of monument,

A stone record of a millennia of ocean life,

Raised from the sea by incomprehensible forces.

 

The rock is kissed by the ocean’s salty spray

and to the west a blue dress, unbroken waves and sky.

 

And there on the cliff face, a button of purple,

A tiny soft violet flirting with the bees

Serving supper to ants,

at the edge of the world.

 

In the dream.

————

Habitat

The Okinawa Sumire is native to the island of Okinawa, in the Ryukyu archipelago, roughly 400 miles southwest of the Japanese mainland. Okinawa is fairly small, roughly 65 miles long by about 10 miles wide. The northern half of the island is relatively undeveloped and sparsely populated, while the southern parts are quite urban, housing over a million people.

 

Our Okinawa Sumire is found in just one location in the middle section of the island, right on the western coast. It grows on limestone ocean cliffsides, in the crevices of raised coral reefs. So raised coral reefs; let’s do a little geology:

 

Coral reefs are bustling underwater colonies built by small invertebrates called stony coral polyps, who extract calcium carbonate from seawater to construct hard, protective skeletons around their soft bodies. As generations of these stony coral polyps live and die, their skeletal remains accumulate, layer upon layer, gradually building up the structures we call coral reefs. This process can take thousands, even millions of years, as the reef slowly grows upwards and outwards.

 

Over time, the spaces between the coral skeletons become filled with sediments: sand and the remains of other marine animals, becoming more densely packed. Simultaneously, dissolved minerals in the seawater seep into the porous framework, then crystallize and bind the sediments and coral skeletons together. Meanwhile the weight of these accumulating layers, combined with the pressure of the water above, compresses the coral structure, gradually transforming this loose, porous, once-organic material into solid limestone rock.

 

In the case of Okinawa, the once-coral/now-limestone formation began developing roughly 1.5 million years ago, and then roughly 450,000 years ago tectonic activity lifted the seabed in this region raising the formation above the water’s surface, creating islands, the Ryukyu Islands.

 

So then exposed to the air, the limestone is weathered and eroded by rain, wind, and waves carving the rock, and creating jagged crevices, cliffs, and caves: raised coral reefs. And in the cracks of that limestone, grow the tiny purple blooms of our Okinawa Sumire.

 

The climate in this coastal region is subtropical, with hot, humid summers and mild winters. Summer highs reach the low 90s°F, while winter lows rarely dip below 50°F. Rainfall is abundant, averaging 80-100 inches per year, with a rainy season from May to June.

 

The Okinawa Sumire shares its coastal habitat with:

Sago Cycad, Warbling White-Eye, Common Moorhen, Slender Green-winged Grasshopper, Rice Field Frog, Sea Hibiscus, Sword-tailed Newt, Japanese Fig, Western Honey Bee, Ryukyu Flying-Fox, Korean Mulberry, Okinawa Tree Lizard, Plains Cupid, Asian House Gecko, Small Indian Mongoose, Crimson Marsh Glider, Wild Boar, Screw-Pine, Umbelled Rockjasmine, Okinawa Thistle, Joro Spider, Blue Rock-Thrush, White-flowered Black Mangrove, Giant Asian Mantis, Coastal Hog Fennel, Green Sandpiper and many many more.

 

Threats

The Okinawa Sumire faces two anthropogenic, human-caused threats. First poaching, the Sumire has historically been illegally collected from the wild for cultivation in ornamental gardening and for medical use. Today, the plant’s rarity and beauty continue to make it a target for illegal extraction.

 

And human induced climate change, resulting from a persistent over-reliance on fossil fuels, is a looming threat. The Okinawa Sumire’s limited range and low population are at risk from extreme weather events, which are increasing in frequency and severity due to global warming. A single extreme weather phenomenon, a strong tsunami, a rockslide, could abruptly drive the Sumire to extinction.

 

Conservation

Fortunately the habitat of the Okinawa Sumire is considered a national monument by the Okinawa prefecture, and its entire range is protected in the Okinawa Kaigan Quasi-national Park. Collecting and trading the wild species is illegal.

 

There are off-site seedbanking and cultivation programs at the Okinawa Churashima Foundation Research Institute and at the Tsukuba Botanical Garden outside Tokyo, with living collections under active study.

 

Nevertheless the Okinawa Sumire has been considered critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2016 and their population is currently in decline.

 

Our most recent counts estimate less than 200 Okinawa Sumire remain in the wild.

Citations 17:56

Information for today’s show about the Okinawa Sumire was compiled from:

 

Beattie, A. J., and N. Lyons. 1975. “Seed Dispersal in Viola (Violaceae): Adaptations and Strategies.” American Journal of Botany 62, no. 7: 714–722. – https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1975.tb14104.x

 

FamousFix. n.d. “Flora of the Ryukyu Islands.” FamousFix. Accessed June 3, 2026. – https://www.famousfix.com/list/flora-of-the-ryukyu-islands

 

iNaturalist – https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?captive=false&nelat=26.527232454&nelng=127.974081399&quality_grade=research&subview=map&swlat=26.42028461&swlng=127.849111916&verifiable=any&view=species

 

Karnish, A. (2024). “Seed dispersal by ants: A primer”. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 185(5), 403–411. – https://doi.org/10.1086/730787

 

Koidzumi, G. (1938). “Contributiones ad Cognitioem Florae Asiae Orientalis”. Acta Phytotaxonomica et Geobotanica 7 (2): 112–117 [113]. – https://doi.org/10.18942/bunruichiri.KJ00002594478

 

Marcussen, T., Ballard, H. E., Danihelka, J., Flores, A. R., Nicola, M. V., & Watson, J. M. (2022). A Revised Phylogenetic Classification for Viola (Violaceae). Plants 11(17), 2224. – https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11172224

 

Ministry of the Environment, Japan. 2016. Viola utchinensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T54081377A54081585. – https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T54081377A54081585.en

 

NYAN. 2026. “Viola utchinensis.” Violet Chamber of Flower Photo Gallery. Last updated March 19, 2026. –  https://www.io-net.com/violet/violet2/okinawa(e).htm

 

Shinmoto, Mitsutaka, Xiaohe Xinli, Anri Nerio, Nagaken Ishigaki, and Lishio Wu. 2011. “Research on Resource Botany of Natural Forests in Subtropical Okinawa.” The Science Bulletin of the College of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus 52. – https://agriknowledge.affrc.go.jp/RN/2030722825

 

Sutton, Sharon, and Clara Benecke. 1985. “ARGS Members Visit Japan.” Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society 43, no. 2 (Spring). – https://www.nargs.org/sites/default/files/free-rgq-downloads/VOL_43_NO_2.pdf

 

U.S. Forest Service. n.d. “Visual Cues.” Celebrating Wildflowers. Accessed June 3, 2026. –  https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/Plant_Strategies/visualcues.shtml

 

Yousefi, N., S. S. Mehrvarz, and T. Marcussen. 2012. “Anatomical Studies on Selected Species of Viola(Violaceae).” Nordic Journal of Botany 30: 461–469. – https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-1051.2011.01266.x

 

Wikipedia. n.d. “Viola utchinensis.” Wikipedia. Accessed June 3, 2026. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_utchinensis

Music 19:47

Pledge 24:53

I honor the lives of all Okinawa Sumire. I will commit their name to my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species. I grieve.

 

And so, in the name of the Okinawa Sumire I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of plant and animal kin and their habitat, by individuals, corporations, and governments.

 

I forever pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.