670 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Transvaal Klipspringer 



OREOTRAGUS OREOTRAGUS IRAN SVAALEN sis Roberts 



Oreotragus oreotragus transvaalensis Roberts, Annals Transvaal Mus., vol. 5, 



no. 4, p. 276, 1917. (Rustenburg District, Transvaal.) 

 FIGS.: Millais, 1895, p. 92 ? fig., p. 93, pi. 



This subspecies is becoming very scarce with the advance of set- 

 tlement in the Transvaal and Zululand, but it survives in moderate 

 numbers in the Kruger National Park. 



It differs from the Cape Colony subspecies "in having a very dis- 

 tinct dark-brown or black mark above the hoofs and the under parts 

 of the body white in strong contrast to the upper parts"; and from 

 the Nyasaland subspecies "in having the top of the head of the same 

 colour as the back." Head and body (of female type) , 800 mm.; tail, 

 75. (Roberts, 1917, p. 276.) 



The range of this subspecies includes the Transvaal and Zululand 

 (Roberts, 1937, p. 783) . The form of eastern Bechuanaland and that 

 of Southern Rhodesia will be here provisionally included with it. 



"It is far from common .... The only part of Natal in which 

 I have personally found it is the . . . Drachensberg range, and, 

 beyond the limits of the colony, in the precipitous faces of the 

 Bombo mountains." (Drummond, 1875, p. 396.) 



Chubb (1909, p. 123) records four specimens from Matabeleland, 

 Southern Rhodesia. 



"In the country now known as Southern Rhodesia, klipspringers 

 used to be very plentiful throughout the granite formation, not only 

 amongst continuous ranges of hills and in the innumerable rocky 

 kopjes which stud the country, but also amongst the rocks and 

 boulders through which many of the rivers run on their way to the 

 Zambesi or the Limpopo" (Selous, 1914, p. 187) . 



In Southern Rhodesia "Klipspringers were at one time common 

 wherever hilly country occurred, but native hunting with nets and 

 dogs has seriously reduced their numbers on the small isolated hills. 

 In the more rugged ranges such as the Umvukwes and Matopoe this 

 small antelope is secure. They occur also in all the large ranges 

 such as the Zambesi Escarpment and many other inaccessible parts 

 of the country. Legally considered as 'Ordinary Game.' " (Game 

 Warden, Wankie Game Reserve, in litt., March, 1937.) 



"They are reported to be comparatively plentiful in Swaziland 

 and parts of the Transvaal. . . . Klipspringer occur among the 

 hills around Molopolole and elsewhere in Eastern Bechuanaland." 

 (Shortridge, 1934, vol. 2, pp. 478-479.) 



"0. o. transvaalensis is so easily destroyed that it has rapidly dis- 

 appeared with the advance of settlement, surviving only where land- 

 owners have specially protected it or where the bush and mountains 



