Raphicerus campestris
Afrikaans : Steenbok
Zulu : Iqhina
German : Steinböck
Spanish : Steinantilope
The colour of the steenbok varies from a reddish-brown to a lighter reddish-fawn. A dark patch is found above the nose and a dark marking on the forehead. The throat, eyebrows, abdomen, underside of tail and insides of legs are white. The upper side of the tail is reddish-fawn. They also have large, white lined ears and excellent hearing. They are about 52 cm in height at the shoulder.
Steenbok are normally solitary, except when a mother is with her young or when a male and female are courting. Steenbok establish well-defined but overlapping territories, which both sexes will defend against trespassers, and mark their territory using glands between the hooves on the front and back feet, a gland between the two halves of the lower jaw, and with glands just in front of the eyes. Males will mark off their territories with urine and secretions from gland under the chin as well as using dung. The males are known to use roads and telephone lines as boundaries.
Gender differences:
Only the males have horns, usually 9 cm in length, which are widely spaced and grow vertically upwards with a very slight forward curve at the tips. Males weigh 8-14Kg and females 10-13Kg.
Habitat:
Steenbok can be found in a wide variety of habitat but prefer short grassland with shrubs for cover. They avoid woodland and dense thickets and also extensive areas of short grass. They are found in Botswana, South Africa, Southern Mozambique, Namibia except dry west coast and most parts of Zimbabwe.
Diet:
Steenbok are mixed feeders, preferring a rich diet of easily digestible foods. The diet of the steenbok ranges from grasses to roots and tubers of some plants. They feed on buds and any new shoots and have been known to scavenge meat from carcasses as well as kill the young of ground birds but this is due to severe shortages of food.
Steenbok tend to eat more grasses in the early rainy season or after burns. They are often sighted feeding at the side of a newly constructed road, grassland clearing or firebreak (wherever there is fresh, new vegetation), particularly in the early morning or evening.
Reproduction:
Steenbok breed throughout the year, but calves are usually born in the summer. A female will normally give birth to one young, after a gestation period of approximately 5 - 5½ months. The interval between births ranges from five and a half to nine months. At birth, the young steenbok weigh around one kilogram. Within five minutes of birth, steenbok begin to feed from their mothers. They begin to eat grass around two weeks after birth. For the first few weeks, young steenbok remain hidden. Steenbok are weaned in three months.
Life Expectancy ± 6 Years
Other:
When a predator approaches, the steenbok freezes. If the predator comes too close, the steenbok flees. When frightened it lies down quietly in the grass, but if disturbed it zigzags through the undergrowth with its head forward. Predators are leopard, caracal, wild dog, cheetah, hyena, python and the Martial eagle.
Steenbok get their name from the Afrikaans steen (meaning 'brick'), a reference to the overall colour of the species.
They are the only bovid who scrape the ground before and after urination and defecation.
Steenboik are sometimes confused with duiker, but they do not have a tuft of hair on their heads, nor the broad dark stripe extending from their foreheads and along their noses.
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