By far the most abundant antelope (and for many good reasons), impala are often dismissed as too common to care about by guides and visitors alike. But what if I told you we have it all wrong? An impala is all that an antelope is meant to be – and then some more! There is after all a reason for their prolific success. As the end of the rutting season draws to a close, the social dynamics between herds of impala are changing. Without slowing down and stopping for these lithe creatures, one would simply overlook the complex social structure at play.
During the rutting season, male impalas will be seen in small groups dropping their heads and attempting to dominate other rams with their impressive horns. These two rams paused momentarily to scan their surroundings.
The impala’s intricate but at the same time highly flexible social organisation has been carefully developed throughout their evolution. Fossil evidence has shown that modern impala have remained practically unchanged for 6.5 million years. A powerful endorsement of the impala’s original design, yet shows the adaptability of well-organised social dynamics.
At different times of the year, impala have as many as five distinct social groupings, depending on the season, the availability of food, and the pressures of predation. Three main organisations occur during the wet season (November to March)
- territorial males with and without breeding females
- bachelor herds of non-territorial adult and juvenile males
- breeding herds of females and juveniles including young males less than four years old.
During the dry season (April to October), the groupings are either:
- female herds with or without males present.
A key for the dynamics of impala is that they are only territorial when it counts, toward the end of the rains in February. By April most males have staked out a small territory of their own, providing them with breeding opportunities until the females move onto a neighbour’s territory. Two months of this behaviour, and some synchronised mating later, leads to synchronised births in a two or three-week period mid to late November.
After the rut male’s territorial urge wanes as they regroup into bachelor groups or join up with breeding herds of now pregnant females. Some males will have a brief resurgence of territorial tendencies when a smaller secondary rut occurs in September, which will account for females who failed to fall pregnant earlier in the year and result in ‘out-of-season’ fawns seen in April.
After the abundance of new impala lambs, it’s been wonderful to see the start of the young males’ horns begin to poke through. It will take them about 3 years to grow their horns fully.
Impalas are not only leading actors in the daily dynamics and dramas of this ecosystem but are key role players in the area’s complex ecosystem – as Barry Bath describes. They may be everywhere but that is no reason to overlook them, in fact, it is this very reason that we should stop, acknowledge and appreciate their success. Next time you see a herd of impala, I hope you stop to watch a few unremarkable minutes in their otherwise remarkable lives.
Love impala alarm chuffs and their playful pronking. Q: is the female impala with horns still around?
I love your appreciation for the impala. I’m grateful for the reminder to connect with them. I certainly will, from a distance until February when I am able to see them up close again
Impalas are certainly the prettiest antelopes. The cutest ones are Steenbok, I think. I love seeing big herds of Impalas with their shining coat, three colors and their delicate legs. It is astonishing how high they can jump. And in their rutting season the males sound certainly ferocious. Interesting how they try to keep all the females together and how hard they try to chase them into the correct position. Very interesting animals indeed
It is very interesting to get to know more and more about an animal’s behaviour, I am in particularly as I work in this field. Every creature should be looked at with wonder and curiosity, like children do. In fact, children are the best to show the life of living creatures. This allows to open up animals apparently secret world, with their permission. Impalas haven’t changed throughout so many years because they are perfectly adapted to the environment they live in. I watched videos in which rams fought off a leopard and then a pair of wild dogs.also in the water, it wasn’t intimidated at all, by the wise use of his horns he defied his predators. Fantastic creatures. I particularly love the pictures of the young male, it’s a real portrait. Bravo Keagan!
Hi Keagan, I love the impala’s and here on the reserve we see them coming in between the houses, and we hear them blowing and the males rutting. They come right up to my veranda, where I put some pellets out for them to eat. I love it when the lambs are born and the mothers bring them to come and eat the grass and drink water here by us. The little males with the horns just starting to come out are so cute. I see them licking themselves, and then they lick each other as well.
It is true for those who have taken several safaris, that seeing impalas loses a bit of cachet when there are other fascinating animals to see. However, the additional information you presented here , revitalizes my interest in this both prolific and environmentally important antelope.