KLIPSPRINGER, Oreotragus oreotragus

WHAT IT IS

The only antelope that lives on kopjes and cliffs. Short body, massive hindquarters, and sturdy long legs. Stands on tips of truncated hotyves. Male wt 23 lb (10.6 kg), ht 20 21 in (49 52.5 cm); Female wt 29 lb (13.2 kg), ht same as male. Head wedge shaped on short neck, with big rounded ears. Horns wide set, upstanding spikes, 4 in (10 cm). Occasionally present in females of East African race. Coat rough, hairs air filled, brittle, and loose (good insulation and padding). Color: nondescript, grizzled, yellowbrown or brown; ears with black border, white inside with radiating lark lines. Scent glands Huge preorbital glands opening in bull's eye of naked black skin.

WHERE IT LIVES

Eastern Africa, from Red Sea hills to tip of South Africa, north to southern Angola; sea level up to 15,000 ft (4500 m), in climates ranging from arid and hot to wet and cold. More widespread in distant past, relict populations persist on isolated mountains in Nigeria and the Central African Republic.

GOOD PLACES TO SEE IT

Tsavo, Aberdares, and Mt. Kenya NP, Kenya; Arusha, Kilimanjaro, and Serengeti NP, Tanzania; Luangwa NP (Muchinga Escarpment), Zambia; Nyika, Kasungu, and Lake Malawi NP, Malawi; Matobo NP, Zimbabwe; Augrabies and Kruger NP, South Africa; Namib Naukluft NP Namibia.

ECOLOGY

Depends on steep, rocky terrain as a refuge against predators and on adequate nearby food resources. Home may be a kopje on the open plain or an inselberg in the middle of a woodland. A hillside scree of loose rock, a cinder cone, even a level expanse of jagged lava rock are all places where the klipspringer's superior jumping ability and surefootedness enable it to escape terrestrial predators.
A water independent browser of leaves, shoots, berries, fruits, seed pods, ancl flowers of evergreen shrubs and bushes, succulents (aloes, sanseveria, euphorbias), and herbs, plus a little new green grass.

HOW IT MOVES

Bounds up and down steep slopes and jumps from rock to rock, landing with all 4 feet together on the flat tips of its hooves; walks in a stilted manner and runs in jerky bounds even on level ground.

ACTIVITY

Varies according to season and microclimate. Females spent 31% of the day foraging in the wet season, 24% in the dry season (Ethiopian study). Males stood lookout much of the time their mates were eating and resting, foraging only 18% and 9.5% of the day in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. Night activity remains unstudied.

SOCIAL/MATING SYSTEM

Unusually close proximity average 4 to 15 yd and the male's watchdog role distinguish klipspringer families. Both habits are adapted to open habitat where young and adults are exposed to eagles and ground predators. The female usually initiates and leads movements, followed by the male. By playing a watchdog role while his mate devotes the extra feeding time needed to bear and suckle young, the male protects his genetic investment against both predators and rival males. Where predation pressure is severe, pairs take turns feeding and standing guard.
Klipspringers may typically spend their adult lifetimes within the same home range/territory, which can be as small as 20 acres (8 ha) in lush climates, increasing to 37 acres (15 ha) in arid regions, up to 121 acres (49 ha) in subdesert One adult male stayed 9 years on the same kopje. Families venture outside their territories only when drawn to new growth or a salt lick as many as 9 adults have been known to gather on a greenflush. If fires burn off their cover and food, klipspringers will evacuate their territories and take up temporary residence in places they normally avoid.
Offspring usually disperse as yearlings, sons sooner than daughters, though without obvious parental prompting. Occasional extra females are probably daughters, which sometimes breed incestuously.

PAIR BOND

Although both sexes deposit dung in middens, a dunring ceremony remains to be described. Preorbital gland marking seems more important pair activity. Synchronized and protracted alarm calling may be equally or more important, possibly comparable to the duetting of pair bonded birds.

REPRODUCTION

Varies from seasonal in harsh climates to year round in more equable conditions, with a rainy season peak. Gestation: estimate! at 5 (probable) to 7.5 months (long). Both sexes reach adult weight at 1 year.

OFFSPRING AND PARENTAL CARE

After hiding for up to 3 months, calves stay close to mother, nursing twice a day for 7 to 8 minutes, during which father remains on highest alert. Weaning is complete at 4 to 5 months.

PREDATORS

Leopard, jackals, and spotted hyena; calves vulnerable to eagles and baboons. Because klipspringers must often leave their refuges to forage, they are very alert to predators and to alarm signals of other species, react by fleeing to higher ground with or without first calling, the female leading. Once safe, they give whistling alarm calls in duet.

DIFFERENCES IN KLIPSPRINGER BEHAVIOR

Expect to see and hear Usual context and meaning

Click on picture to see this behavior.

Territorial Advertising

Male standing sentinel on promontory.

Dung middens up to 3 yd diameter, usually on flat ground along property lines. Unclear whether klipspnngers urinate and defecate in sequence.

Both partners scent-posting property, every day or 2, females leading. Male marks most and also overmarks females's deposits. Look for black, shiny "pearls" on twigs.

Aggression

Medial horn threat + lowered forequarters.

Courtship

Male makes faint humming sound while following and licking female's rear end. During mating march.

Biting by female. Aggressive response to courting male.

Response to Predators

Bounding flight. Gait adapted to steep slopes.

Bounding in place. As dunng flight.

Whistling, especially in duet, female calling right after the male,. Synchronized calling, stimulated by predators, also serves to advemse couples' presence to ocher klipspnogers and reinforce pair bond.

Reprinted from "The Safari Companion" by Richard Estes
wildlife