A slim, long-necked antelope found only in eastern Ethiopia and northern Somalia. It looks like a halfway blend between a true gazelle and a gerenuk: fine, stilt-like legs, a narrow body, and a long, graceful neck that lets it browse leaves well above normal “gazelle height.” Its coat is soft grey-fawn to sandy brown above, with a clean white belly, rump, and inner legs, plus sharp white-and-dark facial markings, including twin pale stripes running from the eyes down the muzzle. Males carry thin, ridged horns that rise almost straight up before curving slightly forward; females are smaller and usually hornless, which adds to the dibatag’s delicate, deer-like look.

Dibatags live in open bushland with scattered shrubs and grasses, avoiding very stony ground and dense thickets. They’re mainly active by day and usually seen alone, in pairs, or in tiny groups of up to half a dozen animals. Rather than grazing like many antelopes, they are browsers that pick leaves, buds, and young shoots from shrubs and small trees. Their long neck and legs let them reach high foliage, and they’ll even rear up on their hind legs to stretch a little farther, in a way very similar to gerenuks.
In the rainy season, they take advantage of fresh, soft grasses; in the dry season, they switch more to shrubs, flowers, and tall herbs. They rarely, if ever, need to drink free water, drawing most of their moisture from plants—an important talent in the dry Horn of Africa.

Dibatags are shy and secretive, relying on camouflage and stillness before speed. Their brown upper coat matches dry twigs and bare earth, and when they sense danger, they often slip into cover and stand motionless with just the head showing above the bushes, watching with big dark eyes.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

Ethiopia

2016

Somalia

2016