SANParks.org Forums

OK!

So that leaves OWN's cemented mind as far as Kruger Suni are concerned!

Hi OWN,

Thanks for your explanation and PM No worries from my side now

I guess it's safe to post my Black Rhino and calf pics, along with Palm-nut Vulture, Pink-throated Twinspot, Lemon-breasted Canary, Samango Monkeys in flight etc. etc. etc.

Barcud- At the risk of being spin-binned , just a clarification here I suppose the SM's were not actually flying , but they were running away

Hi Okie - Flying - in mid air - Superman like

Should we start a new thread on things we imagined we saw in Kruger?

Forget the 'Big Five'! Did you know that there is also a 'Small Five' which people strive to get sightings of. Blue and Red Duiker, Grysbuck, Klipspringer, Steenbuck and the smallest which you can see if you are lucky and observant when you visit the Kruger and the Natal Parks. Suni or Livingstone's Antelope (Neotragus moschatus), is a very small species of antelope which occurs in South-East Africa in dense underbrush.

Suni are around 30-43 cm high at the shoulder and weigh 4.5-5.4 kg. They are usually reddish brown, darker on their back than their sides and legs. The belly, chin, throat and insides of legs are white. The nostrils are prominent red, and there are black rings around the eyes and above the hooves. Males have horns 8-13 cm long, that are ridged most of their length and curve backwards close to their heads. Females do not have horns. Suni can make weak barking and whistling sounds.

Suni feed on leaves, fungi, fruits and flowers, and need almost no free water.

They are shy, most active at night, and sleep during the day in a shady, sheltered area. They are social but males defend a territory of about 3 hectares. They scent-mark the boundaries with secretions from their preorbital glands.

There may be an individual or communal dung pile on the periphery of the territory. A male usually takes one mate, but other females may share his territory. A single fawn is born weighing about 900gm. after a gestation of 183 days.

Predators include lions, birds of prey, snakes, and other carnivores. For protection, they are well camouflaged in dry grass and keep very still. When a predator is almost on top of them, they spring out and bound away into the underbrush.

Brilliant info on the “small five” thanks gmlsmit Does anyone know whether the book Duikers of Africa: Masters of the African Forest Floor is still available to buy and where a person can buy it? I find these smaller antelope very fascinating.

A year ago we toured a few of the KZN parks and were lucky to see Suni in two different parks in the north on the same day. One in the morning before we left one park and one in the evening when we arrived at the next.

At least I am confident they were Suni, here the pics.





All the best, Michael

We saw a Suni, on the Mahonie Loop in 2009.

Sadly in those (pre forums) days, we were more interested in "the big five", so didn't really appreciate what we were seeing.

The light was fading, and there was a car already stopped by the side of the road. We stopped, ever hopeful that it was a big cat, and this old Saffie told us to remain quiet, and we would see something very special. He told us that it was a Suni, and that it was a very rare antelpoe. He had been visiting the park since he was a kid, and this was the first one he had ever seen!!!

I can now realise why he was so excited, and how disappointed he must have been when we didn't share his enthusiasm.

I had written in my diary, we saw elephant, kudu, impala, zebra, buffalo, and suni, but we were so disappointed not to have seen a big cat!!!!! How short sighted we were in those days!!!

It was only after joining these forums, that I realised what a special sighting it really was!!

If any of you forums members happens to be that old oom, I would like you to know that I now realise how incredibly privileged we were to see it!!

Did you at least take a pic

Sadly no..........firstly it was almoost dark, secondly it was well hidden in the bush, thirdly in those days we only had a point and shoot, and fourthly it wasn't a big cat, so not worthy of a picture. (IOHO)