Trivia question for Jun-15-2011

Carter likes the big eyes on these guys which is why he decided to feature them in the trivia. These guys live from the Cape of Good Hope, where it is found in mountain fynbos, through the rest of Southern Africa, where it is found in rocky kopjes in woodland and savanna, all the way up East Africa and into the highly mountainous highlands of Ethiopia.

Reaching approximately 22 inches at the shoulder, these guys are relatively small animals compared to some of their larger antelope cousins. They stand on the tips of their hooves and can fit all four hooves on a piece of cliff the size of a Canadian dollar coin. Males have horns that are usually about 4–6 inches long. Females in Eastern African populations also have horns.

So here are Carter’s questions:  Tell us what this animal is and how many times a day do they typically scent-mark?  Also, tell us  how long these guys will typically stand-still while on guard duty?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Wow, Carter did it again.  No one guessed correctly this time.  The dwarf Antelope we featured is the Klipspringer.  The Klipspringer is a small species of African antelope.   Its name, klipspringer, literally means “rock jumper” in Afrikaans/Dutch). It is also known colloquially as a mvundla (from Xhosa “umvundla”, meaning “rabbit”).

These guys stay busy all day grazing and scent-marking up to 500 times a day.  (How would you like to be the person who follows behind them to get that statistic?)   These guys take turns keeping guard while the others eat.  They have been known to stand completely still for up to 30-minutes at a time.  Here is more on these little guys: Klipspringer

Thanks for playing along 😉