The body hair is about 25 mm in length and is particularly fine textured. Coloration ranges from fawn through brownish gray to chestnut. A. buselaphus has prominent white patches on the hips and black on the forehead, muzzle, shoulders, and thighs. The genus is characterized by the rump being lower than the shoulders, a long head, slender legs, a tufted tail, and large, conspicuous glands below the eyes. The horns, borne by both sexes, unite or rise from a single pedicel, have heavy encircling rings, and are usually 450-700 mm long.
Females have two mammae.
The hartebeest inhabits dry savannahs and grasslands. The hartebeest is diurnal, feeding in the early morning and late afternoon and resting in the shade during the heat of the day. The diet consists mainly of grass. Young males left the females at about 20 months and joined the male groups. At 3-4 years of age they began to attempt to take over a territory and hence control of the females thereon.