Name: Springbuck
Scientific Name: Antidorcas Marsupialis

Description

The springbuck is a strikingly marked, gazellelike antelope. It has a white face with dark stripes from the mouth to the eyes, a reddish-brown coat that turns to a darker shade and then to white on the lower third of its body, and a white backside. It stands approximately 80cm high at the shoulders and is characterized by a fold of skin that runs from the midback to the rump. This fold can be opened in times of excitement to display a crest of white hair. Both sexes also have black, curved, lyre-shaped horns. Larger males can have horns 36-48cm in length. Their colouring consists of three colours, white, reddish/tan and dark brown. Their backs are tan coloured and at the bottom they are white, along each side there is a dark brown stripe extending from the shoulder on towards the inside thigh. Rams are slightly larger than ewes and have thick horns, the ewes tend to have skinnier legs and longer, more frail horns.

Habitat

Springbucks are mostly confined to game reserves and farms in treeless savanna associated with the edges of dry lake beds. In South Africa springbok inhabit the vast grasslands of the Freestate and the open shrublands of the greater and smaller Karoo. In Namibia they live in the grasslands of the south, the kalahari desert to the east and the dry riverbeds of the northern bushveld of the Windhoek region. In Botswana they mostly live in the Kalahari Desert in the southwestern and central parts of the country.

Distribution

Springbuck range includes south and southwestern Africa, mainly in the countries of Namibia, Botswana, Angola and the Republic of South Africa.

Size

Medium sized brown and white gazelle that stands about 75 cm high.

Weight

Springbuck males weigh between 33-48 kg and the females between to 30-44 kg.

Lifespan

10 years.