Africa is rich with small antelopes in the family Neotraginae, including bush duikers, forest duikers, dik-diks, sunis, grysboks, and more. Our record system identifies 40 dwarf or pygmy African antelopes. No known hunter has taken them all, and with several areas closed to hunting, no one ever will.
Initially, most African hunters are drawn to dangerous game or the glamorous antelopes like kudu, sable, and nyala. In planning early safaris, most of us give only passing thought to the little guys. We might take one or another in a chance encounter, but rarely are they high on the wish list. This changes over time, as small antelopes are an acquired taste.
Kirk's dik-dik, a small antelope found in eastern Africa.
The Tiny 10 of Southern Africa
In the Southern region of Africa, from Zambia southward, there are just 10, and each is a possible prize. I’m not sure who came up with the “Tiny 10 of Southern Africa,” but my friend and fellow writer Peter Flack did the most to popularize the concept. Taking all 10 is a tough task. Some are highly localized and uncommon, others widespread and plentiful in proper habitat. All are essentially solitary, often seen as mating pairs or family groups, but never herds.
They live in a world filled with predators of all sizes, so are naturally wary and nervous. Keen senses and flight are their only defenses. Below, I address them in ascending order of difficulty, easiest to hardest. This ranking is my opinion. Almost any of the little guys might be taken in a chance encounter. This is common with some, and unlikely with others, but it can happen. The difficulty comes when hunting for a specific animal. In that context, any of them can pose a major challenge.
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1. Steenbok
Creatures of dry, grassy plains, the pretty little steenbok is widespread across Southern Africa and generally plentiful in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Unlike most of our Tiny 10, they are often glassed at distance. I rate them the least difficult because they are diurnal and visible, most often taken as targets of opportunity.
Steenbok are often found in dry, grassy plains.
2. Southern Bush Duiker
The common, grey, or southern bush duiker is the most widespread and probably the most plentiful of the Tiny 10. Densities vary widely, but the Southern bush duiker occurs almost throughout Southern Africa, generally preferring thornbush habitat. They are somewhat nocturnal but are often seen in the early morning and late afternoon. Spot-and-stalk is the common technique for hunting them and, like steenbok, bush duikers are often taken in chance encounters while in search of other species.
3. Oribi
Although widespread in Central Africa, the oribi is spotty down south. In South Africa, they are primarily found in certain areas along the Indian Ocean coast north of Port Elizabeth. Oribis are generally found near water, so are plentiful at the mouth of the Zambezi River in Mozambique, occur in central Zimbabwe, and are fairly widespread in Zambia. In the right area, oribi are fairly easy to hunt. Like steenbok, they are diurnal and highly visible, so are susceptible to spot-and-stalk tactics.
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4. Damara Dik Dik
The Damara dik dik is an enigma to me, closely related to the Kirk dik dik of Masailand, but separated by hundreds of miles. The only dik dik of Southern Africa, they are found in dry thornbush and mountain habitat in central and northern Namibia, and on up into Angola. When I first hunted Namibia in the 1970s, I saw Damara dik diks, but in those days they were protected. Although long open, they are a special-license animal, with small quotas. So, it’s essential to hunt an area that both has them and has permits.
Once there, I’ve found them fairly plentiful and not exceptionally difficult to spot. Dik diks are diurnal, although mornings and late afternoons are the best times to locate them. A good technique is to walk slowly around the lower slope of rocky hills, glassing carefully into thornbush at the base. Usually found in pairs, the hard part is to identify the male because their tiny horns are nearly obscured by a long tuft of hair between the ears.
It’s likely they’ll spook before a shot is possible, but this isn’t the disaster it seems. Dik diks are highly territorial. Sit down in cover and be patient. It might take an hour, but chances are they will circle back. Distances are usually too great to use a shotgun, and the dik dik’s skin is paper-thin and fragile. Accuracy is essential, but the standard plains game rifle will cause too much damage. Many PHs prefer .22 rimfires as they are enough gun and cause almost no damage, but they are questionable in terms of distance. For me, the .22 Hornet is the perfect tool.
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5. Klipspringer
Although spotty in South Africa, the klipspringer is widely distributed in northern Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It is a creature of rocky hills and mountains. The klipspringer (“rock jumper” in Afrikaans) is pretty much the only member of the Tiny 10 that usually offers a genuinely physical hunt. Though often glassed from below (as we did with Harley Young’s animal), the “klippie” is very much a mountain animal, so hunting them among their jumbled boulders can be a real scramble.
As with Damara dik dik, the klipspringer is a special-permit animal in Namibia, so if on the wish list, it’s important to speak up when booking a safari. Where they occur, I’ve found them reasonably plentiful in Namibia.
The klippie is an interesting animal, with hollow hair that is more like a miniature quill. It’s a stand-alone genus and species, with no accepted races or subspecies. Above Southern Africa, the klipspringer follows the Great Rift Valley all the way to Djibouti and Somalia. They are habitual, usually frequenting the same rocky hills. Wherever hunted, glassing and stalking is the usual technique.
Often, you’ll hear their shrill alarm bark before you see them, then spot them dashing up a ridge, jumping from rock to rock. Twenty years ago, in northeastern South Africa, PH Jasper Atchison showed me a new trick. We set up on a rimrocked cliff, and he started calling, using an alarm bark.
Klipspringer, known for their agility in rocky terrain.
6. Natal Red Duiker
The Natal red duiker is only found in northeast South Africa, primarily KwaZulu-Natal, and on up through Mozambique into southern Tanzania. In South Africa, this animal is uncommon and exceptionally difficult to hunt. In Mozambique, especially in the Coutadas around Marromeu Reserve, they are plentiful and widespread. So, it’s easier if you hunt them in the right places.
In Coutada 11, where I’ve done most of my Mozambique hunting, red duikers aren’t seen every day, but in the course of a week, most hunters will have an opportunity. One of the many forest duikers, they are most plentiful in the thickest habitat, but we generally glass them along the edges.
A common landform in this region’s miombo forest is slight depressions that hold water and create pans, open grassy clearings with thick forest beyond, with small papyrus swamps in the middle. In this area, nyalas are typically hunted by sitting and glassing pans in the late afternoon. Almost invariably, red duikers will be seen along the edge.
7. Livingstone’s Suni
In South Africa, the Natal red duiker is difficult, but the sunis that share its thick habitat are almost impossible. In South Africa they say: “I’m going looney, looking for a suni.” There, they are only found in the thickest coastal bush of KwaZulu-Natal but are widely distributed in Mozambique.
Taking a suni by a chance encounter is highly unlikely anywhere. Although diurnal, these little antelopes are denizens of cover that is so thick it is near jungle. In the thickest tall tree miombo forest of coastal Mozambique, what we call “suni forest,” they are plentiful. You must go into the forest and hunt them carefully and slowly.
Once trapped and snared to near extinction, after 30 years of careful management they are so common today that on any given day success is likely, and in two or three days, almost certain. As with so many of the small antelopes, they are territorial. A big male will likely be seen again nearby. We hunt them by slowly walking the forest roads and trails. Or, by sitting on a termite mound in the early morning or late afternoon.
In the thick cover, the suni would be a ghost if it weren’t for its continually flicking tail, which usually gives it away. Because the cover is so thick, a shotgun is the most common tool. However, in recent seasons I’ve felt that a small, accurate rifle like a .17 HMR, .22 magnum, or .22 Hornet is a better and more precise choice. You must still find a window in the brush, but that’s the same with a shotgun. For its size, the suni has amazingly long, deeply ringed horns.
Likely related crossword puzzle clues:
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8. Cape Grysbok
The two grysboks, Cape and Sharpe’s, are blocky, attractive little antelopes, reddish in color, with a sprinkling of white in the coat. Their horns are smooth, short, sharp, and coal black, rising more vertically from the skull than with most of the small antelopes. The Cape grysbok is as much as 25% larger in body and horn. It is separated from the Sharpe’s variety by several hundred miles and has the smallest range of our Tiny 10.
Cover-loving and nocturnal, its primary range is thick coastal bush at the extreme southern tip of South Africa, both east and west of the Cape of Good Hope. There is also a major pocket of Cape grysbok in the Eastern Cape, in the coastal forest west of Port Elizabeth, and in the dense Addo thornbush around the massive Addo Elephant Park. The majority of Cape grysbok taken by sport hunters come from the Eastern Cape population.
9. Blue Duiker
The blue duiker is the smallest of the numerous forest duikers and probably the world’s second-smallest antelope after the royal antelope. Interestingly, the blue duiker occupies a huge range in Central Africa but is very limited in Southern Africa. In RSA, it’s found in dense coastal bush along the Indian Ocean and in Mozambique near the Zambezi Delta. It’s also found in northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania, then continuously across Central Africa to Nigeria. Its range barely dips into northern Zambia, as does the yellowback duiker.
In the Eastern Cape, the blue duiker is a specialty animal, but a possible prize. I did two blue duiker hunts with Adrian Ford south of Port Alfred. Ford had a pack of lovely little dogs trained specifically to hunt blue duiker. The hunt was exciting, fun, and successful. Of the Tiny 10, only with blue duiker do both sexes carry horns. The male’s horns are thicker, but not much to look at or judge.
In recent years, now armed with trail cameras, a lot of blue duikers are taken from blinds over artificial waterholes. In coastal Mozambique, a lot of blue duikers share the dense suni forest with Livingstone’s suni. In fact, a lot of “sunis” we saw scampering away were actually blue duikers. In the forever-shadowed forest, it is not easy to tell them apart.
10. Sharpe’s Grysbok
The Sharpe’s grysbok just tips into South Africa’s Limpopo Valley but occupies a large range to the north, including most of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Tanzania. Despite a large range, this animal exemplifies Jack O’Connor’s famous line, “Even where there are lots of them, there aren’t very many of them.”
There probably are a lot of them, but they’re largely nocturnal, cover-loving, and it doesn’t take much to hide them. I said that almost any of the Tiny 10 might be taken easily in a chance encounter. In October 1984, Russ Broom and I drove from the Lusaka airport toward camp in Zambia’s Kafue region. Once in our hunting block we stopped, uncased rifles, and checked zero. Twenty minutes later Russ spotted a nice Sharpe’s grysbok. Somehow, I missed the easy shot.
When Mother Nature smiles, it’s unwise to kick sand in her face. I didn’t see another grysbok for five years, taking my first in the Zambezi Valley in Mozambique in 1989. Grysbok are relatively common all through the Zambezi Valley on both sides of the river. Often in the early morning one would flash across the road. At night, we’d see them in headlights as we headed back to camp, but night hunting was not allowed. Few were taken. Certainly not more than a handful per season.
Then we had a brutal drought year in 2005 that nearly eliminated the ground cover. With the bush so open we saw grysboks all over the place. Any hunter who put in a bit of time could be successful. I didn’t shoot one that year because I didn’t need another. The previous year, I was stalking a group of buffalo in some thick stuff. Suddenly, a big male grysbok walked between me and the buffalo, not 50 yards away. I was carrying a double .470, but my great tracker Mukassa had my scoped .375. We made a quick trade while the grysbok was hidden, and I shot him when he stepped out.
Additional Information on Dik-Diks
Kirk’s dik-diks are tiny antelopes that vary in color depending on their habitat but are typically yellowish-gray to reddish-brown on its back and grayish-white on their belly. Males have horns that are ringed and stout at the base, which are often concealed by a tuft of hair on their forehead. These antelopes have beautiful, large, dark eyes surrounded by a white ring. And while their eyes are stunning, they provide more than just sight. Preorbital glands appear as a black spot below the inside corner of each eye. The most distinguishing feature is their elongated snout, which is also an evolved cooling mechanism that stops them from overheating, even in extreme temperatures of up to 40°C (104°F).
Dik-diks stand about 30-40 centimetres (12-15.5 in) at the shoulder, are 50-70 cm (19.5-27.5 in) long, weigh 3-6 kilograms (6.6-13.2 lb) and can live for up to 10 years. Dik-diks are named for the alarm calls of the females. In addition to the females' alarm call, both the male and female make a shrill, whistling sound. Female dik-diks are somewhat larger than males.
The hair on the crown forms an upright tuft that sometimes partially conceals the short, ribbed horns of the male. The upper body is gray-brown, while the lower parts of the body, including the legs, belly, crest, and flanks, are tan. A bare black spot below the inside corner of each eye contains a preorbital gland that produces a dark, sticky secretion. Perhaps to prevent overheating, dik-diks (especially Guenther's dik-diks) have elongated snouts with bellows-like muscles through which blood is pumped. Airflow and subsequent evaporation cools this blood before it is recirculated to the body.
Dik-diks live in shrublands and savannas of eastern Africa. Dik-diks seek habitats with a plentiful supply of edible plants such as shrubs. Dik-diks may live in places as varied as dense forest or open plain, but they require good cover and not too much tall grass.
Dik-diks are herbivores. Their diet mainly consists of foliage, shoots, fruit and berries, but little or no grass. They receive sufficient amounts of water from their food, which makes drinking unnecessary. Like all even-toed ungulates, they digest their food with the aid of micro-organisms in their four-chambered stomachs. After initial digestion, the food is repeatedly eructated and rechewed, a process known also as rumination, or 'chewing the cud'.
Dik-diks are monogamous, and conflicts between territorial neighbors are rare. When they occur, the males from each territory dash at each other, either stop short or make head-to-head contact, then back off for another round, with head crests erected. Males mark their territories with dung piles, and cover the females' dung with their own.
Females are sexually mature at six months and males at 12 months. The female gestates for 169 to 174 days and bears a single calf. This happens up to twice a year (at the start and finish of the rainy season). Unlike other ruminants which are born forefeet first, the dik-dik is born nose first, with its forelegs laid back alongside its body. The mother lactates for six weeks, feeding her calf for no longer than a few minutes at a time. The survival rate for young dik-diks is 50%. The young stay concealed for a time after birth, but grow quickly and reach full size by seven months. At that age, the young are forced to leave their parents' territory.
Dik-diks are hunted by leopards, caracals, lions, hyenas, wild dogs, and humans. Other predators include monitor lizards, cheetahs, jackals, baboons, eagles, hawks, and pythons.
People are the biggest threat to this species and have long hunted them, setting snares along their paths. Small bones from their legs and feet are used in traditional jewelry. Their skins are often made into suede for gloves. While there aren’t many obvious major threats to this species, the expansion of agricultural settlements and human populations affect their populations.
Quick Facts About Other Small Antelopes
Small is beautiful in Africa. These tiny creatures each have a special adaption to help it thrive on the plains.
- Native to West Africa, the royal antelope is officially the world’s smallest antelope. Royal antelope are defenseless against predators. However, they are incredibly alert and will flee to cover whenever anything comes close.
- Misguidedly thought by many to be Africa’s smallest antelope, dik-dik are a magnificent example of evolution. They get their name from their call. Dik-dik is onomatopoeia for the whistling warning sound shouted by the females. Dik-dik don’t have herds. One grazes while the other keeps watch.
- Suni can be spotted all over the eastern side of Sub-Saharan Africa, from Kenya down to Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa. Suni are so well camouflaged they practically blend into the grass.
- Mature blue duiker can weigh around 7 kg and are only 35 centimeters in height.
- There are only six floral kingdoms on the entire planet. South Africa’s Cape is one of these, home to an extraordinary type of vegetation known as fynbos.
- Thanks to strikingly red coats this small antelope is easy to identify when spotted. Only around 40,000 of these animals remain and their population is declining. Yet these small antelope can be hunted legally for trophies.
- Physically similar to grysbok, steenbok have enormous ears but relatively short horns (only males have them). Rather than grass, steenbok diet on flowers, fruits, and the young leaves of plants. On a safari it can be very difficult to distinguish steenbok from grysbok. When frightened by noise (such as a safari vehicle), grysbok will run away to a safe distance then look back.
- The only one of its genus, oribi are widespread across Southern, Eastern and Western Africa. It is small and slender and uses agility to evade predators.
- Looking a lot like Bambi, common duiker occupy savannahs all over Sub-Saharan Africa. Unlike most antelope the common duiker is omnivorous.
The smallest antelope species are often the hardest to find. These are the sights for safari connoisseurs, the people who are re-visiting Africa to discover more of its wildlife.
