Impala – Dark horses of the Kruger
You’d be forgiven for paying scant attention to impala in the Kruger National Park. After all, there are a little over 150 000 of them and they’re the one mammal species you can bet your life’s savings you’ll see.
I’ll concede that after spotting my fifth herd on a drive I do show them little more than perfunctory interest. But twice a year all this changes and the impala becomes one of the most fascinating and entertaining creatures around. You see, the months of May and June mark the peak of the male impala’s rutting season when the handsome and otherwise gentle ram is brimming with testosterone and transforms into a strutting beast, defending his females and territory with threatening displays of aggression marked by roaring and chasing and fighting. He is literally a raging hormone!
Okay, drama aside, let me take you back a step. The closing days of summer and the onset of autumn are characterised by shorter day lengths which triggers in male impala a gradual increase in testosterone production. The males respond by separating out of their bachelor groups to set up territories through heightened aggression displays; fighting, scent marking and baleful vocalising. Their throaty roars are quite incongruous to their otherwise soft appearance and upon interpreting the sound to guests on my trails it often took some convincing before they would believe my tale. The rams defend their territories aggressively and horn clashing with intruding males becomes a common sight. I was once lucky enough to have a ring-side seat to one such contest. On an Mphongolo Backpack Trail a few years ago, we walked onto a fighting pair of rams and such was their intense concentration on each other we were able to watch them unnoticed and up close for some time. Though they emitted no sounds themselves, the horn-clashing and foot stomping amidst the dust they’d kicked up made for quite a setting. They eventually moved closer to the trail group than comfort would allow and I had to make myself seen and heard to chase them off for fear of crashing into us.
While rival males are chased out, so are the females actively herded into tight groups by the territorial male bringing the term ‘control freak’ to the animal world. He spends his days completely preoccupied with procreation and unendingly defends his territory from competing males while herding and mating his females. Less time is spent on feeding and resultantly, his condition declines weakening his efforts. Soon he isn’t able to match the advances of rival males vying for his patch and is eventually displaced by a stronger ram. This turnover of the mating male will occur roughly every week but ensures that a fresh and varied input of genes takes place. Most of the ewes are covered in about three to four weeks which has a knock-on effect in that the lambs are born over a very short window period in late November to early December. This is the second time of the year the impala will pique your interest, but we’ll leave that for a later blog.
So make sure the Kruger Park is where you’ll find yourself these coming winter holidays. The weather is glorious, the bush less dense and the animals easier to spot. Be sure to pay closer attention to the impala and see if you can identify the behavioural patterns I’ve just described. The impala is a dark horse indeed!
