Springbok

Antidorcas marsupialis

The springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) is a slender antelope of southern Africa's dry grasslands, shrublands, and semi-desert. It has a cinnamon-brown back, white belly, dark flank stripe, and a white face marked with brown bands. Both sexes usually carry ringed, lyre-shaped horns, though males are heavier. The name comes from its sudden stiff-legged leaps, often called pronking, during alarm or social excitement. A fold of skin along the back can open to show a white crest during these displays.

Springbok are managed on game ranches, private reserves, zoological parks, and conservation landscapes, with husbandry built around open space and low-stress herd movement. They are selective grazers and browsers, so captive diets usually combine grass hay, browse, pellets formulated for antelope, and careful mineral balance. High, safe fencing is essential because they jump well and startle easily. The species remains widespread, but translocations, hunting programs, and mixed-species exhibits still require attention to genetics, disease risk, water access, and the limits of keeping an arid-adapted antelope in wetter or colder climates.