The bontebok (''Damaliscus pygargus'') is an
antelope found in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
,
Lesotho and
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
. ''D. pygargus'' has two
subspecies; the
nominate subspecies (''D. p. pygargus''), occurring naturally in the
Fynbos and Renosterveld areas of the Western Cape, and the
blesbok (''D. p. phillipsi'') occurring in the
Highveld
The Highveld (Afrikaans: ''Hoƫveld'', where ''veld'' means "field") is the portion of the South African inland plateau which has an altitude above roughly 1500 m, but below 2100 m, thus excluding the Lesotho mountain regions to the south-east of ...
.
The bontebok is related to the
common tsessebe
The common tsessebe or sassaby (''Damaliscus lunatus lunatus'') is the southern, nominate subspecies of ''Damaliscus lunatus'', although some authorities have recognised it as an independent species. It is most closely related to the Bangweulu t ...
.
Description
The bontebok is a tall, medium-sized antelope. They typically stand high at the shoulder and measure along the head and body. The tail can range from . Body mass can vary from . Males are slightly larger and noticeably heavier than females.
[Burnie, D. and Wilson, D.E. (eds.), ''Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife''. DK Adult (2005), ] The bontebok is a chocolate brown colour, with a white underside and a white stripe from the forehead to the tip of the nose, although there is a brown stripe across the white near the eyes in most blesbok. The bontebok also has a distinctive white patch around its tail (hence the Latin name), while this patch is light brown/tan in the blesbok. The horns of the bontebok are lyre-shaped and clearly ringed. They are found in both sexes and can reach a length of half a metre.
Habitat
Blesbok live in the Highveld, where they eat short
grass
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...
es, while bontebok are restricted to the coastal Fynbos and the Renosterveld. They are
diurnal, though they rest during the heat of the day. Herds contain only males, only females, or are mixed, and do not exceed 40 animals for bontebok or 70 for blesbok.
Behavior
![Buntbock 8426](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Buntbock_8426.jpg)
Bontebok are not good jumpers, but they are very good at crawling under things. Mature males form territories and face down other males in displays and occasionally fight them.
Conservation
Bontebok were once extensively killed as
pests, and by the early 20th century were reduced to a wild population of just 17 individuals. The species was saved from certain extinction when Dutch farmer Alexander van der Bijl corralled the remaining individuals into a fence, which they were unable to jump out of. In 1931, this herd of 17 was transferred to
Bontebok National Park
Bontebok National Park is a species-specific national park in South Africa. It was established in 1931 to ensure the preservation of the Bontebok. It is the smallest of South Africa's 18 National Parks, covering an area of 27.86 km2 The p ...
, which was established for the explicit purpose of conservation of the species. By the time the park was relocated to better suit the needs of the bontebok in 1961, the herd had grown to 61 members. Today, their population is estimated to range from 2,500 to 3,000, all descendants of the original herd of 17 members.
While Bontebok are extinct in their natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
, they have increased in population to the point where they are now very abundant and avidly
farm
A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used ...
ed, because they are popular quarry for hunters and are easy to sustain.
In culture
The bontebok is the provincial animal of
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...
.
References
* Skead, C.J., 1980. ''Historical mammal incidence in the Cape Province Volume 1. The Department of Nature and Environmental Conservation of the Provincial Administration of the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town''.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1009881
Damaliscus
Mammals of South Africa
Mammals of Lesotho
Mammals of Namibia
Afrikaans words and phrases
Mammals of Southern Africa
Fynbos
Renosterveld
Mammals described in 1767
Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas