Impala (Aepyceros melampus)

C took R jnr to the Paintball Range today to have his gas cylinders filled, en route we pass the Mukuba Hotel, just outside town. C remembered that they keep beautiful animals at the hotel and suggested I take a few pics there.

What a lovely surprise! First thing we saw, once on their premises, was three Impala, two adult females and a baby, on the tarred road! Just next to the road, in their official garden, I saw a group of about 20, all but one were females! After plenty shots, I managed to get this one, I was in ecstasy, because here I can show you the male (very young) on the left side of picture, and the female, posing for me, while a baby peeps at me from under the tree! Are they awesome or are they awesome?

Would?ve loved to show you the whole herd, but this one won today!

The average weight for an Impala is about 75 kilograms. They are reddish-brown in color with lighter flanks and white underbellies, has a characteristic "M" marking on its rear. The horns of males are lyre-shaped and can reach up to 90 centimeters in length.

Impala can adapt to different environment because they are grazers as well as browsers. They graze when the grass is green and browse on shoots, seedpods and foliage at other times. Impala are active during both day and night

When startled the whole herd starts leaping about in order to confuse their predator, they can jump distances more than 9 meters (30 ft) and 2.5 meters (8 ft) high.

The breeding season of impala begins to the end of the wet season in May. The entire affair typically lasts approximately three weeks and the young are born after seven months. The mother can prolong giving birth for an additional month if conditions are harsh.

When giving birth a female impala will isolate herself from the herd, and will keep the fawn in an isolated spot for a few days or even leave it lying out in hiding for a couple of days, weeks, or more before returning to the herd. There the fawn will join a nursery group and will go to its mother only to nurse and when predators are near. Fawns are suckled for 4 to 6 months.

Males who mature are forced out of the group and will join bachelor herds.