SPRINGBUCK – A SIGN OF LIFE
One of the smaller antelopes on the African continent, yet if you want to observe life in its purest form, come
and search for the Springbuck antelope, Antidorcas marsupialis.
Contact us to arrange your Namibia safari and take the chance to see these animals in the wild.
The first thing about a Springbuck one tends to notice is the skinny legs, and the
big brown eyes. With horns that start out straight and then curve towards each other, the Springbuck is a pretty
looking animal. Adult animals can weigh anything from 19 Kilograms to 35 Kilograms in the case of a big ram.
Springbucks are herd animals. Herds can number from anything between five to thousands of animals.
Young and old, ram and ewe, everyone stays in the herd. There is definitely a hierarchy when it comes to
dominant rams, but the point is the herd is never broken up. Light brown with a dark stripe and white belly,
the colourations of a springbuck is of importance again. Not only is it beautiful, but helps the Springbuck to
survive in very harsh environments. Survival is of the utmost importance, and the Springbuck have several
strategies. First and foremost will be its amazing speed. Not as fast a Cheetah, the Springbuck can sprint very fast for short distances. This is usually enough
to escape a predator like a lion.
Another very amazing survival strategy is about the herd. Not only are there so many more eyes and ears to look
out for predators, but numbers help a lot in other survival strategies. “Pronking” is a term used when
Springbuck start jumping straight up into the air. When pronking they can reach heights of almost two metres,
and that from a standstill, and cover forward distances of up to three metres, so those skinny legs have immense
flexibility in them. So, just imagine a couple of hundred Springbuck starting to jump into the air, when
coming under attack from a predator. Not one animal will jump the same time as its partner next to him, so the
picture you get is animals jumping at different times. With the colours they have, light brown, with a dark
stripe and then the white belly, this mass jumping now becomes one of blurring stripes, and in that is a survival
strategy hidden.
The predator when charging in at full speed just sees this blurring of bodies and it makes it immensely
difficult for the predator to pick one animal to focus on, thus escape for the Springbuck is possible.
Springbuck are grazers, and prefer short green grass. This usually means that they will move around in an area,
once the rains start falling. They will be the first animals in an area after the rains, due to the sweet green
grass that appears very soon after.
Springbuck, like Oryx are found all over Namibia. In areas where there are a lot of bush
and trees to be found, there numbers will be limited, but they can still be found.
When one thinks of the Namib Desert, the Springbuck is the first antelope that comes to mind. Dainty yet so full
of life, they are another of Namibia’s many wonderful attributes.
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