SWAHILI NAME FOR ANTELOPE: Swala

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Suni are dwarf antelope with t slender build and relatively high hindquarters. Measured at the shoulder, they are 12-16 inches high, and they weigh a maximum of 18 pounds.

Their color is gray to rich chestnut on the back with a slight speckled appearance. They are paler on the sides of their face and body, and their necks are white.

Male suni have strongly ringed horns which slope backward at the same angle as th4 plane of their faces. The female lacks horns. Absence of tufts of long hair on their heads and knees helps distinguish them from other small antelope.

Large glands below their eyes produce a strong musk scent.

DISTRIBUTION:

Suni prefer thick undergrowth--either underbrush in dry montane forests above 9,000 feet, or reed scrub along rivers.

They range, in patchy distribution from Kenya to eastern South Africa, Zanzibar and Mafia Island.

BEHAVIOR:

Suni are shy, secretive creatures. Their color harmonizes so well with their surroundings that they are generally not seen until almost underfoot. Then they bound away with considerable speed, dodging and twisting about the underbrush and then quickly disappearing.

The animals rub musk from the glands near their eyes on vegetation within their territories.

Suni live along, in pairs, or sometimes in small family groups. They vocalize with weak barking sounds and piercing whistles.

DIET:

Suni sleep in shade during the heat of the day, then towards evening move into glades, where they feed. Their diet consists mainly of freshly fallen leaves, but also includes fruit, flowers and grass.

Suni are almost independent of water. They derive nearly all needed moisture from the vegetation they eat.

REPRODUCTION AND GROWTH:

Adult males usually associate with one to four females. Suni reach sexual maturity at six months of age.

Gestation lasts six months. Young in the wild are born between mid-November and mid-December and are somewhat darker in color than the adults. In captivity births may occur throughout the year. They can live ten years in captivity.

NOTE:

Illegal hunting and agricultural encroachments have caused a drastic decline in Suni populations. They are considered vulnerable but not yet endangered.