Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure

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Fast Facts:

This swamp-dwelling antelope has white markings on its face, and stripes and spots on the reddish or chocolate body.
Excellent swimmers, they will flee into the water when threatened.
Sitatunga feed while immersed up to their shoulders and move slowly through the vegetation.

Sitatunga

Scientific Name	Tragelaphus spekii
Classification	Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae
Status	Low risk
Range	Central and Western Africa
Habitat	Swamp forests and marshes
Diet	Leaves, buds, shoots, fruit, reeds, and grasses
Size	Height: 2-4 feet Length: 3.5-5 feet Weight: 90-260 pounds
Lifespan	19 yrs.
Location
Print Fact Sheet	Sitatunga

Special Features

The hooves are long and narrow with extended false hooves and flexible toe joints that are adaptations for living in the marshes.
They are slow, clumsy land runners.
Only the males have long twisted horns.
They have been known to submerge themselves completely underwater, with only their nostrils above the waterline.
Males have a loud barking vocalization.

Social Structure & Behavior

Reproduction
Sexual maturity at 1-2 years. Gestation 7 months. Single birth. Weaned after 6 months. Calves must learn how to walk through the marshy ground.