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The sable antelope (Hippotragus niger) is an antelope which inhabits wooded savanna in East and Southern Africa, from the south of Kenya to South Africa, with a separate population in Angola. The sable antelope shares the genus Hippotragus with the extinct bluebuck (H. leucophaeus) and the roan antelope (H. equinus), and is a member of the family Bovidae.

There are 4 susbspecies of Sable Antelope. The one that is in kenya is Hippotragus niger roosevelti, the Eastern sable or Shimba sable, and is the smallest of the four subspecies. It occurs in the coastal hinterlands of southern Kenya, particularly in the Shimba Hills National Reserve, and ranges through the region east of Tanzania's eastern escarpment and into northern Mozambique.The Shimba Hills National Park (190 km²) is the last refuge of the sable. Roosevelt’s sable Hippotragus niger roosevelti is one of Kenya’s most distinctive and threatened large mammals.Kenya’s sable population declined from >235 individuals in the mid-1970s to ca. 60 individuals in 2015 (>74% decline in 40 years).

Even though the Sable Antelope species is classified by IUCN as "Least concern", given the low number, small distribution, and rapid decline, Sable Antelope in Kenya qualifies as a nationally ‘Critically Endangered’ species.

Source : HISTORIC AND CURRENT DISTRIBUTION, ABUNDANCE, AND HABITATS OF ROOSEVELT’S SABLE ANTELOPE HIPPOTRAGUS NIGER ROOSEVELTI in Journal of East African Natural History 104