The graceful impala is a slender, medium-sized antelope so adaptable that it is found from southern Africa to the northern limits of East Africa.
Unlike other antelopes, impalas have large, brushlike tufts of long, coarse black hair that cover a scent gland located just above the heel on each hind leg.
Size: 28 to 36 inches tall; weight: 100 to 135 pounds
Diet: Grazers and browsers, Impalas eat tender young grass shoots in the wet season and herbs and shrubs at other times. During the dry season they drink daily.
Habitat: Savanna and light woodland. Impalas are found at grassland and woodland edges, usually very close by water.
Socialisation: Their social organisation allows impalas to adapt to prevailing environmental conditions. When food is plentiful, the males become territorial. In home ranges averaging 3 square miles, six to eight dominant males set up territories.
The females form herds of 10 to 50 or more and wander in and out of male territories. If they start to leave the territory, the male tries to herd them back to the centre, or he feigns danger just beyond his boundary by taking a stance normally used as a warning sign. He tries to mate with females in oestrus and defends his territory from challenging males. Bachelor males are allowed to remain in male territories if they ignore the females.
The territorial male's challenger will have worked his way up through the hierarchy of the bachelor group until he becomes the dominant male. He then leaves the group and challenges a territorial male through horn duels.
Reproduction: Between 6 and 7 months, a single fawn is born.
Life span: 12 years.
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