24/09/2026
Today, as South Africans celebrate Heritage Day, here are a few things you may not know about the springbok, a resourceful Kalahari specialist and the country’s national animal:
It can go its entire life without drinking standing water, extracting all the moisture it needs from the plants, wild melons and roots it eats.
It is both a grazer and a browser, switching between grasses and shrubs depending on what the Kalahari’s semi-arid landscape offers. In the heat of the day, it rests in the shade of camel thorn trees to conserve moisture.
When threatened, it pronks: bounding up to three metres into the air on stiff legs, signalling to predators that it is too fit and agile to be worth the chase. Speeds of up to 90 km/h tend to reinforce the point.
Its coat is not just beautiful. The cinnamon-coloured back reflects the sun; the white underside bounces heat rising from the hot red sand.
Images by Marcus Westberg
