Details
Aepyceros melampus
A medium-sized antelope of eastern and southern African savannas. It is agile, slender, and known for high leaps when escaping predators.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
Impalas inhabit wooded savanna, grassland, shrubland, and open areas near water. They avoid dense forest and extremely arid desert.
The coat is reddish brown with a white belly and black markings on the hind legs. Males have long lyre-shaped horns, while females are hornless.
They live in herds and may leap dramatically when alarmed. During the rut, males defend territories or groups of females.
They graze heavily in wet seasons and browse leaves and shoots in dry seasons. This mixed feeding strategy helps them persist through seasonal change.
Births may be synchronized with local rainy seasons. Calves hide at first, then join nursery groups and the maternal herd.
The species is widespread and common, though some subspecies and local populations require management for habitat fragmentation and hybridization risks.
