Blesbok or Blesbuck

Description:

The Blesbok or Blesbuck (Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi) is an antelope with a distinctive white face and forehead. Its white face is the origin of its name, because bles is the Afrikaans word for blaze. Although it is a close relative of the Bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus dorcas) and can interbreed with it, creating an animal known as the Bontebles or Baster Blesbok, it does not have the same habitat. The Blesbok is indigenous to South Africa and is found in large numbers in all national parks with open grasslands, from the Transvaal Highveld, through the Free State veld, to as far south as the Eastern Cape. It is a plains species and dislikes wooded areas. It was first discovered in the 17th-century, in numbers so numerous that herds reached from horizon to horizon.