Editing Hirola (section)

==Threats==

The reasons for the historic decline of the hirola are not known but is likely a combination of factors including disease (particularly [[rinderpest]]), hunting, severe drought, predation, competition for food and water from domestic livestock and habitat loss caused by [[woody plant encroachment]] as a result of the extirpation of elephants within its range.<ref name="Butynski, T. M. 2000"/><ref>{{cite web|author=Magin, C. |year=1996|title= Hirola Recovery Plan|publisher= IUCN Antelope Specialist Group in collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Service and Hirola Task Force|url=https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/12472|location= Nairobi}}.</ref>

This hartebeest prefers areas that are used by livestock which puts them at increased risk from diseases like [[tuberculosis]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Macdonald, D.W. |year=2006|title=The Encyclopedia of Mammals |publisher=Oxford University Press|location= Oxford}}</ref> It might be vulnerable to poaching, and is also subject to the natural phenomena of [[predation]] and [[interspecific competition|competition]] with other wild herbivores, particularly [[topi]] and [[Coke's hartebeest]], which the IUCN also calls 'threats'.<ref name="iucn"/>