The springbok, a medium-sized antelope native to the arid and semi-arid regions of southern Africa. With its distinctive reddish-brown coat, white underparts, and a prominent dark stripe along its flanks, the springbok is recognizable across its range. This herbivorous mammal adapts its feeding strategies to challenging environmental conditions.
Main Food Sources
Springbok are mixed feeders, allowing them to thrive in diverse environments. They are both grazers (consuming grasses) and browsers (feeding on shrubs and other non-grass vegetation). Their diet includes various grasses, especially when young and tender, and forbs (herbaceous flowering plants).
When grasses are scarce or dry, springbok shift to browsing on shrubs and young succulents. Specific plant species like Acacia mellifera flowers and leaves, and Pentzia spp. shrubs are components of their diet. They also consume roots and tubers, especially when other vegetation is less available.
Dietary Habits and Environmental Influences
Springbok foraging behavior is influenced by seasonal changes and environmental conditions in their arid habitats. During the wet season, when fresh grasses are abundant, they primarily graze, favoring succulent, nutritious green growth. As the dry season progresses and grasses become lignified or scarce, their diet shifts towards browsing on shrubs, forbs, and succulent plants.
Springbok exhibit selective feeding, choosing the most palatable and nutrient-rich parts of available vegetation. They can stand on their hind legs, like goats, to reach higher foliage, and dig for roots to supplement their diet. Their activity patterns adapt to temperature, with feeding occurring more often during dawn and dusk in hot months, and shifting to midday in cooler periods.
Meeting Hydration Needs
Springbok have remarkable adaptations for surviving in water-scarce environments, often obtaining moisture directly from their food. They can maintain water balance without drinking free water if their diet contains at least 67% water. This is achieved by consuming succulent plants, flowers, seeds, and leaves, particularly during cooler hours before dawn when these plant parts are most hydrated.
While they can go for extended periods, even their entire lives, without drinking from open water sources, springbok will drink when water is available. Their ability to derive moisture from metabolic processes and dew further contributes to their independence from standing water. This water conservation strategy allows them to inhabit vast dry plains and deserts across southern Africa.