T
he diminutive springbok is one of the most beautiful of
our South African antelope (Figure 1). The sight of a herd
of springbok “pronking” stiff-legged, with raised dorsal
crests, is a sight never to be forgotten. This stiff-legged jumping,
referred to as “stotting” or “pronking”, is what gave rise to the
name “springbok”, which literally means “jumping buck”.
Springbok are brightly coloured with sharply contrasting
bands of rufous fawn and chocolate brown on the f lanks set
against an underbelly of pure white. Shoulder height is about
76–82 cm. They weigh about 32–36 kg (70–80 pounds). The
head is pure white with a narrow dark brown stripe across the
eye and from the cheek to the muzzle. The buttocks and a large
triangular patch on the lower rump are pure white, bordered with
dark brown. A dorsal gland on the back is covered by invertedlong white hairs which f lare open to form a conspicuous crest
when the animal is excited. When folded into a ridge on the back
the white crest is covered by light brown hair. They also have
pre-orbital glands below the eyes and tarsal glands on the lower
legs. Horns are fairly short but are strong, heavily ridged in the
males, lyrate and rise slightly upwards and backwards, diverg-
ing outward and curving sharply inwards in a hook at their tips.
The horns of females are noticeably more slender and straight-
er (Figure 1). Females have similar colouring, but are slightly
smaller than the males.
BIOLOGY
Behaviour and habits
Springbok form small herds of 20 to 30 animals during the
dry months of the year. Very large herds may form after rainBy Cleve Cheney
The springbok is an iconic South African animal widely distributed in the drier parts of South Africa,
but absent from the Lowveld (Mpumalanga) and KwaZulu-Natal. They are common in parts of the
Free State, the Karoo and the Northern Cape Province. They are also found in the western parts of
South Africa bordering on Namibia and Botswana. They do not occur in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.