THE IMPALA

Impala feeding on the fresh grass shoots in Naivasha

THE IMPALA

Impalas are medium-sized antelopes that roam the savanna and light woodlands of eastern and southern Africa. In the rainy season, when food is plentiful, they may gather in large herds of several hundred animals to browse on grasses and herbs, bushes, shrubs, and shoots.

CHARACTERISTICS

 Impala is reddish-brown with white hair inside the ears, over each eye and on the chin, upper throat, under-parts and buttocks. A narrow black line runs along the middle of the lower back to the tail, and a vertical black stripe appears on the back of each thigh. Impalas have unique brushlike tufts of black hair that cover a scent gland located just above the heel on each hind leg.

TERRITORY

When food is plentiful, adult males will establish territories of up to two hundred females and young ones and will chase away bachelor males that follow. A male impala tries to prevent any female from leaving his territory by ensuring that he establishes his territory in a foodrich area. During the dry seasons, territories are abandoned, as herds must travel farther to find food. Large, mixed tranquil herds of females and males are then formed while young male impalas who have been made to leave their previous herd form bachelor herds of around thirty individuals. Males able to dominate their herd are contenders for assuming control of a territory through battles in which the winner takes up the role of heading the territory.

BREEDING

In East Africa young are born year round, but birth peaks usually coincide with the rains. The breeding season of impalas, also called rutting, begins toward the end of the wet season in May. The entire affair typically lasts approximately three weeks. Though the young are usually born after 6–7 months, the mother has the ability to delay giving birth for an additional month if conditions are harsh. When giving birth, the female leaves the herd and seeks a secluded spot to bear her fawn. After which she cleans the fawn and eats the afterbirth. If the fawn is born at a time when there are few other young around, the mother will stay with it in a secluded spot for a few days or even leave it lying out for a week or more before returning to the herd. If there are many other fawns, she may take hers back to the herd in a day or two, where a nursery group  forms and the fawn will go to its mother only to nurse and when predators are near. This is because predators have more difficulty selecting an individual from a nursery group; hence the fawns are safer there. Fawns are suckled for four to six months. Males who mature are forced out of the group and will join bachelor herds.

PREDATOR ATTACKS

When frightened or startled, the whole herd starts leaping about to confuse their predator. They can jump distances more than 10 meters and 3 meters high. Impalas can reach running speeds of about 90 km/h to escape their predators. When escaping from predators, they releases a scent from their glands on their heels, which helps them stay together. This is done by performing a high kick of their hind legs.

DIET

Impala is able to both graze and browse; the impala has both a greater and more consistent food supply than animals that do either one or the other. It eats young grass shoots in the wet season and herbs and shrubs during the dry season.

Did You Know?

• The female is similar to the male but does not have horns. The male's graceful lyre-shaped horns are 18 to 37 inches long.
• During periods of intense mating the male vocalizes loudly, making a sound between a lion's roar and a dog's bark. Exhausted by such activity, males seldom can hold their territories for more than a few months at a time.