Black-faced impala

Description

The impala is a svelte and nimble antelope that inhabits the tree-filled savannahs and scrublands of a good part of eastern and southern Africa. Their coats are reddish-brown, with a white underbelly and rump, white tail and a black lengthwise stripe. The tail is used as a communication signal, so when one impala detects a threat, it moves its tail nervously from side to side to warn the other members of the herd.
Extremely quick, when they run from predators (leopards, African wild dogs, cheetahs, hyenas and lions), they run and can leap incredible distances up to 9 m long and 3 m high.
They feed on grass, seeds, marram grasses and, above all, Acacia leaves from different bushes. They are a gregarious species that forms two types of groups: herds of ewes, young and babies led by an older female and herds comprised exclusively of adult males and adolescents.
During the reproductive period, each male separates from the others and defends its own territory, between 10 and 60 hectares, which it occupies year after year as long as it isn’t defeated by another rival. Groups of ewes travel from one territory to another and the rams try to round them up and keep them inside their own territory, while they fight and expel any other male that may appear.
In fights, they use their long spiralling horns that can be up to 92-cm long and are lyre shaped, distinguishing them from the females.
Of the three existing subspecies of impala, the Barcelona Zoo houses the only one that is today in serious danger of extinction, the black-faced impala, characterised by having long black stripes on its face, leading to its name. Today they only live in southern Angola and northern Namibia.
Indeed, there are no more than 2500-3000 specimens in the wild, the majority of which are in the national parks of Iona (Angola) and Etosha (Namibia).
There are not large numbers in captivity either, as there are only specimens of this subspecies at four zoos in the world: San Diego (USA), Pretoria (South Africa), Lisbon (Portugal) and Barcelona.
Given the small numbers in captivity, there is no EEP for this animal, although the Barcelona Zoo does participate in a coordinated programme for recording and supervising the few individuals in captivity, jointly with the Lisbon and Pretoria Zoos.