The English naturalist, George French Angas first described the Nyala (Tragelaphus angasii) in 1849, on the shores of Lake St Lucia in Zululand (South Africa), calling it the “Angas Bushbuck”. Hence the origin of its scientific name while its common name came from the Zulu (African tribe) word “Inyala”. That is why today you most commonly hear professional hunters pronounce the word Inyala instead of Nyala as spelt. The name Inyala when translated from Zulu means the “shifty one”, a fitting description for such an elusive species.
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