By AmandaREO
I was scrolling through my instagram feed, rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of people's posts, when I came across a video from National Geographic. I think I fell in love as soon as I saw the baby gerenuk, taking his first steps. These long necked antelopes are adorable, and really interesting as well.
These small headed animals live in small groups. They often consist of females and babies, or just males. When the females are ready to give birth (which can be at any time of the year, or at least before the rainy season), she leaves her group and goes to a secluded place. The baby spends the first weeks of its life hidden in a bush!
They communicate, too. For example, they make a buzzing sound when they are alarmed, a bleat when they are in danger, a whistle when they are annoyed, and a soft bleat when females talk to their babies.
Gerenuks are able to reach six to eight feet off the ground when they eat by using their front legs to look for food. They're pretty picky in what they eat, and generally prefer succulents. They also eat tender leaves, buds, flowers, shoots of prickly bushes and more. Surprisingly, they do not need to drink water directly, because they get enough of it through their plants.
Gerenuks are able to adapt, and often found in flat thorn bushes and thickets. They live in Africa, and roam five different countries.
Problems such as habitat loss and fragmentation are the biggest threats to Gerenuks. As we expand our civilization, Gerenuks and many other animals are being forced into decline. The gerenuks population has gone down by 25% over the last 14 years! There are about 95,000 gerenuks left, and it's estimated that they will become extremely vulnerable if we continue our ways.
Hopefully goes without saying to not hunt, and to try to stay off wild lands. There are many organizations which you can donate to like the African Wildlife Foundation working to protect gerenuks, happily, and we hope to see these adorable antelopes thriving again.
(To learn more go here: https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/gerenuk )
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