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Seen at Punda Maria birdhide in June 2005.

....aaaand action!

Saw these on the H7

In the mating season these angelic little creatures can sound more fiercesome than any predator. Forget cute These guys can put anyone away as Don Juan lovers Their stamina is amazing

And their roaring rules!!!

Never measure stamina by size. There is a reason why Impies are the most predominant mammal in the park. The male impie earns his right to be "king" in terms of sheer numbers. The lion has nothing on this little guy. And he only eats greens.

It reminds me of my fist patrol in the park during my army days. We were stelthily creeping through the bush, convinced we were about to ambush some nasty people when a rutting impala shot out of the bush hotly pursued by aother grunting and "roaring". We just about s..t ourselves! It took a while to get used to!

It was even worse later in the rutting season when the grunting became sporadic as we were not expecting it.

BG

The rutting season must lay claim to one of the noisiest seasons of the wild.

I read in a mag, (which I wont name seeing as I have put them on the spot already), that impala do not pronk. But, have seen them jump vertically in the air, backs arched, back and front hooves almost touching. Is this not pronking?

I've also seen impala do this but apparently only springbok pronk

The following from the book [url=http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3979] “Beat about the Bush"

Hi all
I would like some comments about the following behaviour on Impalas in KNP recently.
Impalas are my favourite animal in the Park, for various reasons... i think because they are often so under-rated regarding their interest factor and beauty.... ... however

with all the recent heavy roads, the gravel roads are pretty waterlogged, with water leaching up everywhere. Now, as it gets hot, and the day sunny, the impalas - all sexes and ages -are getting onto the roads and laying down in whole herds, just about. It is most strange! They are lying in the wet and moist sand patches, and make driving in certain areas really frustrating... they wont move in hurry either!
It is as if they are cooling off their bodies by lying on the moist
gravel on their white bellies. I go to the park really often, and never really noticed this behaviour in the mass action "sit in" that is occurring.

I also noticed that 3 weeks ago, they just did not want to move, never seen anything like it before, I would also like to know if anyone has any idea why?
Don't you just love these little horns, one day he may be the boss man

Can't say I have seen this behaviour before, very interesting.... Is the bush just to wet

I love Impies Fizzpop.
My take is that the prime rutting time is on its way.
There is a reason why Impies are so prevelant in the Prk.. they are really good breeders.
Prime rutting season is about a month from now. Who knows who is woeing whom??