• Home
• Natural Heritage
• Nature Guide
• Mammals
• Sharpes Grysbok

Name

Sharpe's Grysbok or Northern Grysbok [Raphicerus sharpei]

Appearance

This shy antelope of South Africa is smaller and stockier than the Cape grysbok. The Sharpe’s grysbok has a rufous-coloured coat and stands 500 mm at the shoulder and weighs 8 kg as an adult. Only males grow horns that grow up to 60-100 mm in length. The rufous coat is interspersed with white hairs, giving the Sharpe’s grysbok’s coat a grizzly appearance.

Sharpe's Grysbok Diet

The Sharpe’s grysbok is a browser and feeds off shoots and leaves of the shrubs and bushes in South Africa. They are also known to eat grass shoots, fruit and flowers. In the evenings, the Sharpe’s grysbok also eats cultivated crops from farms.

Sharpe's Grysbok Breeding

The gestation period for the Shape grysbok is seven months, after which a single lamb is born. Not much has been recorded on the breeding habits of the Sharpe’s grysbok due to their shy and secretive natures.

Sharpe's Grysbok Behaviour

The Sharpe’s grysbok feeds during the early morning and late evenings. They can be seen lying down out in the bushveld of South Africa during the heat of the day. They tend to be a solitary animal.

Where They Are Found

The Sharpe’s grysbok males and females live on separate territories from one another. territories are marked with dung pellets in middens. They are also known to take refuge in Aardvark burrows in South Africa.

Field Notes

The Sharpes’ grysbok has a similar appearance and prefers the same habitat as the Cape grysbok. The Sharpe’s grysbok are found in the north-eastern Mpumalanga's Lebombo mountain range and further north.