Suni

Moschusböckchen ( Neotragus moschatus )

The Moschusböckchen ( Neotragus moschatus ) - also known as Suni - is a living in East Africa dwarf antelope. The Moschusböckchen one of the smallest antelope species worldwide. Bears his name there because of the striking scent glands on the face, the strong smell of musk.

Features

The shy young goat gets you rarely see. Although it is smaller than the Sharpe Grysbok with a weight of up to eight kilograms and a shoulder height of up to 40 centimeters, but you could because of the rich, red-brown, white speckled hair dress, which is on the belly white, confused with this. The tail has a white tip and is constantly moving. Since the ears are pink on the inside, they look almost transparent. Males have short, straight, strong curled horns, they also possess a striking gland in front of each eye.

Only the males develop horns.

Way of life

Moschusböckchen are so-called concentrate selector, which means they only eat certain nutrient-rich plants. They graze here in the herb layer and low bushes. Moschusböckchen come only in dry thickets or gallery forests before with dense undergrowth. They are active during the cooler time of the day and at night. The enzyme bound to a territory males leads one to four females. It is extremely territorial. The zoologist CA Spinage reported by the encounter with a captive Moschusböckchen that attacked him without hesitation as he stepped into his enclosure. Despite the small size of the attacker he had to beat a retreat.

Dissemination

The Moschusböckchen lives in the dry savannas along the east coast of Africa. It is for example found in the nature reserves St. Lucia complex, Kruger Park, Mana Pools, Arusha National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya and Amboseli.

Though its meat is considered less palatable than the other lugs, the Moschusböckchen in large parts of its range has become rare.

The Moschusböckchengehört the few wild mammals of Zanzibar - living here holdings constitute a separate subspecies ( moschatus moschatus Neotragus ) and are particularly threatened.