Nyala

Description:

The coat is rusty or rufous brown in females and juveniles, but grows a dark brown or slate grey, often tinged with blue, in adult males. Females and young males have ten or more white stripes on their sides. Only males have horns

Habitat:

Grassland/mixed woodland.

Notes:

Since I am a novice in Africa, I find it quite difficult to tell the difference between the Nyala, the Kudu and the Bushbuck. The uploaded pictures shows a young Nyala female, an older nyala female and a male Nyala. Here is a link to a photo gallery of all species mentioned... http://www.pbase.com/mytmoss/kudu_nyala_... Nyala are mixed feeders, browsing predominantly during dry times and grazing more grass during and after the rains. Fruit will also be eaten at times. Breeding all year round with seasonal peaks, the young resembles the females in colour and remains hidden for the first few weeks of its life. Alert and wary in nature, the nyala use a sharp, high, dog-like bark to warn others in a group about danger. This feature is mainly used by females. They also react to the alarm calls of impala, baboon and kudu. The impala has been found to react to the calls of the nyala too. The main predators of nyala are lion, leopard and Cape hunting dog, while baboons and raptorial birds are the predators of juveniles.