Springbok (redirected from springbuck)

springbok: see antelope.

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springbok

 or springbuck

Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis)

(credit: George Holton/Photo Researchers)

Species of antelope (Antidorcas marsupialis), native to treeless plains of southern Africa, the national emblem of South Africa. It stands about 30 in. (80 cm) high at the shoulder, and both sexes have ringed, lyre-shaped horns. A fold of skin from midback to rump can be opened to display a crest of white hair. The reddish brown upper body has a broad horizontal dark-brown band on each side; the underparts, head, tail, and rump are white. When excited, the springbok, with head down, hooves bunched, and back arched, makes a series of stiff-legged, vertical leaps up to 12 ft (3.5 m) high, an action called pronking.

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springbok (less commonly), springbuck

an antelope, Antidorcas marsupialis, of semidesert regions of southern Africa, which moves in leaps exposing a patch of white erectile hairs on the rump that are usually covered by a fold of skin

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Springbok 

(Antidorcas marsupialis), an artiodactyl mammal of the family Bovidae. The body length is 120 to 140 cm, the tail length reaches 87 cm, and the weight is 32–36 kg. The back and sides are yellow-brown; the sides are marked with dark stripes. The head and underparts are white. Along the back and croup there is a fold of skin with long, light hairs that stand up, forming a white crest, when the animal is frightened or excited. Both males and females have lyre-shaped horns reaching a length of 40 cm. The springbok is a herd animal that inhabits the forest-less plains of southern Africa (south of 10° S lat.). In fright or in play it jumps as high as 3.5 m. The springbok feeds on grass and the leaves of shrubs. Nearly extinct, it has been preserved only in a few national parks in southern Africa.