Overview
The Livingstone suni is larger than the East African suni and has longer, thicker horns. The general color is a rich reddish brown, with the lighter colored hair tips on the upper parts giving a faintly speckled appearance. The back, neck and top of the head are darker.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammal
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Bovidae
- Genus
- Neotragus
- Species
- Neotragus moschatus
Habitat
Dry savannah with sufficient undergrowth. Distribution- In South Africa, Livingstone suni are found in Zululand north of the Hluhluwe River and in northeastern Northern Province. Also in southeastern and northeastern Zimbabwe, most of Mozambique, and southern Malawi. For convenience in record keeping, we use the border between Mozambique and Tanzania to separate the Livingstone suni from the East African suni.
Diet
Diurnal grass grazer, feeds early morning and late afternoon.
Behavior
They are shy, most active at night, and sleep during the day in a shady, sheltered area. They are social but males defend a territory of about 7.5 acres (3 hectares). They scent-mark the boundaries with secretions from their preorbital glands. There may be an individual or communal dung pile on the periphery of the territory. A male usually takes one mate, but other females may share his territory. A single calf is born weighing about 2 lbs, after a gestation of 183 days. For protection, they are well camouflaged in dry grass and keep very still. When a predator is almost on top of them, they spring out and bound away into the underbrush.
Hunting
The suni is a demanding game animal. The usual hunting method is by slow, silent stalking in thick cover, with frequent glassing. However, if in an area with smooth roads that allow a vehicle to travel quietly, it is often productive to cruise slowly during the early morning and again in late afternoon, peering carefully into the bush on either side. When a male suni is spotted, it is stalked in the thick cover, which calls for agility, the ability to move soundlessly, and sharp eyesight. One should wear as little clothing as possible, and soft, smooth sneakers. Suni are usually taken with a shotgun using small shot; however, if the range is short, this can damage the fragile skin, or even blow the horns off. A case can be made for using a very small-caliber rifle, or a larger one with solids. Any scope should be of low power.
Conservation Status
Overall, the Suni species is listed as Least Concern by IUCN, but there is no assesment for the Livingstone subspecies. More information is needed on this subspecies population and distribution patterns.