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SPRINGBUCK - Antidorcas marsupialis |
SIZE: Shoulder height 75 cm, mass (m) 41 kg, (f)
37 kg. Both of the sexes have horns.
COLOUR: Cinnamon brown with white belly, the white
separated from the brown by a broad, dark brown band
along either flank.
GESTATION PERIOD: 5.5 - 6 months
POTENTIAL LONGEVITY: 10 years
RECORD LENGTH OF HORNS: 48 cm
MOST LIKE: The Impala, but both sexes of springbok
have horns. Unlike impala, the springbok has a white
face and dark red-brown band along flank.
HABITAT: Dry grassland, other semi-arid regions where
ample karoo type vegetation exists for feeding.
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Springbok roam in herds of up to 100 in the dry months
and several hundreds in the rainy season, and they are very
vocal at certain times of year. Their main predators are
cheetah, leopards and lions. They often associate loosely
with other game species, such as wildebeest, blesbok and
ostriches. They are browsers as well as grazers, feeding
on shrubs and grasses, and digging out roots and bulbs.
Springbok males are territorial, but do not always remain
on their territories throughout the year. During the breeding
season, they try to keep females in their territory by herding.
Springbok lambs are born in the rainy season, when the grass
is green and there is plenty of food. The mother hides her
(single) newborn offspring in bush or long grass, and for
a day or two it remains still. The newborn soon gets its
strength and speed and is able to flee if threatened or
disturbed. Females with young lambs tend to form nursery
herds; the young then remain together resting while the
females graze. Young females remain with the herd, while
young males are usually evicted at about six months of age:
they then join bachelor herds.
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DISTRIBUTION
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| Springbok
are small buck with a very characteristic habit of giving a
series of high, stiff-legged leaps when in danger, or simply
when they feel like it, which has given rise to their name.
A leaping springbok can clear 3.5 m, and can reach speeds of
90 km/hr, bounding 15 metres in a single leap. A crest of white
hair on their curved backs fans out prominantly during these
leaps . |
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WILDLIFE
PARKS
AND
RESERVES
WHERE
THIS SPECIES
IS FOUND: |
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