Oreotragus oreotragus, or Klipspringer. Klipspringer is Afrikaans for “Rock Jumper. Also known as mvundla (derived from Xhosa for rabbit).

The Klippie is an antelope. Meaning, its in the Subfamily Antilopinae, with the dik-diks, gazelles, steenbok, and so on, as distinct from the other groups that include other creatures also called antelopes, such as hartebeest, elands, etc. They occur across East and southern Africa, typically in rugged terrain.

They typically form monogamous pair bonds, though I once witnessed the assembly of several dozen pairs in a “herd.” I suspect there was an increase in predation pressure at about that time, in that place, and possibly some patchiness of food, that caused this. It wasn’t really a herd … just a collection of pairs, presumably.

Klipspringer, which are very small (dog size) have hooves that are adapted to springing around on rocks. They can avoid predators with very impressive agility. I once met a klippie that had been part of a pair that lived on a small rocky hill which was, unfortunately for the pair, totally enclosed in a high fence to house a pack of African hunting dogs.Lycaon pictus (a.k.a. African wild dog … but not a wild dog; not of the same genus as our domestic dog or the wolf) I’m told the pair persisted for several months before one of them seemed to disappear, and when I came along about a year and a half later, the remaining individual was still around.

I took this picture in Augrabies Falls National Park, in South Africa.