BACK
East African Impala
East African Impala

Average Mass:
65 kg (145 lb)

Average Shoulder Height:
90 cm (36")

Rowland Ward:
567 cm (26 3/8")

SCI:
60 Points

East African Impala Spoor

Track: 60mm (2 3/8") x 41mm (1 5/8")

East African Impala Distribution

Distribution is Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

The impala is active throughout the 24-hour day, alternating resting and grazing, and drinking at least once a day.  Herds have a home range of about 2-6 square kilometers.  About 1/3 of adult males hold territories, which vary in size from 0.2-0.9 square kilometers.  These territories are marked with urine and feces, and are defended against the intrusion of rival males.  The owner of the territory attempts to control any female herds which wander into it.  Prodigious leaps are the most well known feature of the impala's movement.  Executed seemingly without effort, these jumps may span over 9 meters / 30 feet and may be 2.5 meters / 8 feet high - often over bushes and even other impala.  Unlike many other plains grazers, the impala flees into dense vegetation rather than out into the open grassland.  During the breeding season, males make a hoarse grunting sound.

Categorical-discrete (CD) distribution model

The species prefers edges between grassland and denser woodland, notably Acacia, it does not perform well in low nutrient status areas such as the Brachystegia woodland (Hirst, 1975; East, 1988, 1989, 1990; Jarman & Jarman, 1974).