Sunday, November 28, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Tigger would be jealous
These springboks (jumping goats), a type of gazelle, are found in southwest Africa, and can jump up to 13 feet in the air! The jumping behavior is known as "stotting" or in Afrikaans, "pronking", and is thought to be a predator evasion tactic. The gazelles jump into the air when a predator is around in order to demonstrate their "uncatchability". The reasoning behind this is that predators may not waste their time with certain springboks that jump higher and thus may require more energy to catch than weaker ones that can not jump as high or as much. Other ungulates, such as deer, also employ stotting behavior to deter predators.
Another interesting feature of the springbok is that they hardly ever drink water. In fact, in extreme cases, this animal can go an entire lifetime without drinking once. Instead, these animals get the water they need by eating succulent flowers, seeds, and leaves of shrubs.
Labels:
mammalia
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