Steenboks

6/25/2013

Steenboks are cute little antelopes that stand 52 cm tall. They live in dense forest and feed on mainly leaves. However steenboks have no glands to hide their scent from predators so they are an easy target for lions, carcals, cheetahs, pythons and even marital eagles. But being a fast runner the light weight steenbok can run faster than a jackal.

They only weigh 9 - 13 kg but have a short life but for females, their gestation (6 months) is 1/12 of their lives (6 years). Steenbok don't need water they get enough from food but they will drink when water is offered.

The photos are of a male. You can tell because he has horns and females don't, but females are heavier.

2 Comments

Ard

7/3/2013 08:27:10 pm

Dear Stan,
Although it has taken me a long time to post a comment to tell you this...I LOVE your blog. I enjoy sitting down with a cup of tea in the morning before I leave and catching up on your adventures, and every Friday at Tai Tamariki, we pile onto the white couch with a laptop and have a catchup on all the Shepherd blogs. You have had such amazing experiences and the photos and information you supply about animals are fantastic. It is almost overwhelming reading about the rich variety of wildlife you have encountered when I think about the range of toy "African Animals" we have at Tai Tamariki - it is limited to the famous five; lions, giraffes, gorillas, leopards & zebras! You are passing on your knowledge to a keen audience of 3 & 4 year olds (and some babies who like the elephants and lions!) I feel very proud of your strong stance against poaching too. It takes powerful persuasion to change people's habits, and you might be one of those who can! We are hearing frequent news about Nelson Mandela's illness lately - who knows,you might be in SA when this amazing man reaches the end of his life?
Love you & miss you! Keep up the terrific reportage.
Andrea xxx

Di Jordan

7/18/2013 07:48:48 am

This guy's face is way too cute. He looks quite big but 52cm is little. We just had quite a big earthquake this morning. It made you stop still and then get to a safe place. Fortunately it stopped and everything is ok.
Ciao

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Steenboks

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