Bates's Pygmy Antelope
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| Neotragus batesi de Winton, 1903 |
The Bates's Pygmy Antelope (Neotragus batesi)—also known as the Dwarf Antelope or Bates' Dwarf Antelope—is a very small antelope live in the moist forest and brush of Central and West Africa. It is in the same genus as the suni and the royal antelope.
Adult antelope weigh about 2–3 kg (4.4 to 6.6 pounds), 50–57 cm long, with a tail length of 4.5 to 5 cm. Only males have horns, about 3.8–5 cm long. Their coat is shiny dark chestnut on the back and lighter toward the flanks. Male antelopes are generously bigger than females.
Bate's pygmy antelopes eat leaves, buds, shoots, fungus, grass, and herbs. They also eat crops, which made them unpopular to farmers. They often caught in snares near agricultural fields. They have a typical territory of 2 to 4 hectares. Males are territorial; marking their territory with scent produces in the preorbital glands. Females are friendlier with each other and sometimes live in small groups. They bark when fleeing. Most pygmy antelopes mate at late dry and early wet seasons. Gestation period is 180 days. One young is born per pregnancy. The fawn weight between 1.6 and 2.4 kg.
Bate's pygmy antelopes are not endangered, IUCN list them as Near Threatened. Their biggest problem was habitat loss; the expansion of human population was very negative of the future populations. They are not hunted for meat, but farmers sometimes kill and eat limited numbers.
[edit] References
- Antelope Specialist Group (1996). Neotragus batesi. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
- Information
