Steenbok

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Another image capture from trip to Botswana in February. Might not have spotted this small antelope in the tall grasses, but our guide luckily did. The grasses were also quite damp from previous nights rain. These antelope stand at 16" - 24" at the shoulder. The black circular area in front of the eyes are scent-glands. As cute as he looks in this image, you should see them in person. C&C welcome.

D500, Sigma 150-600mm C @ 220mm, 1/1000s, f 7.1, HH, ISO 2000.


Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Geoffrey,

A very special sighting indeed - Steenbok are delightful and rather shy creatures and you were lucky to spot one during this trip.

I enjoyed reading the intro and thought I might add that only males have horns. What I find interesting about the species is, they have a great sense of self-preservation: unlike other antelopes, in order to hide their presence from predators those little chaps bury their droppings and even cover up a patch after urinating. Male and female share a territory but often move separately, for the same reason.

Back to your image, I feel it does portray the elusiveness and shy nature of this animal. At the same time I am sorry you did not have an opportunity to catch him in the clear. Difficult to focus on this little face among such vegetation but I do think the face is pretty sharp, so well done!

Thank you for sharing and I hope to see more from you, really nice to see something different here in the Wildlife Forum:S3:

Kind regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Geoffrey - Steenbok are often quick to run as soon as the vehicle comes to a stop so well done to capture an image. I like the through the grass image and your techs look good. The yellow flowers add nicely too.

TFS,
Rachel

[Bill Dix]

It was a treat to see this little guy; the only one we saw on our trip. I love the alert pose and the view through the grass. I agree with Rachel that the yellow flowers are a nice touch.

[keith mitchell]

Really like this little Antelope in it's environment,well done getting it in all that tall grass.Very interesting and informative comment from Gabriela.Geoffrey I have enjoyed viewing this.

Keith.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Thanks everyone. Gabriela, thanks for adding only the males have horns, and the self-preservation behavioral aspects of the Steenbok.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)