THE IMPALA OR PALLA 



{Aepyceros melampus) 



Rooi-bok of the Boers ; Impala of Zulus, Swazis and Matabele ; 

 Pala or Pallah of Basutos and Bechuanas ; Impaya of Shan- 

 gaans ; Eepala of Makalakas ; Kug-ar of Masarwa Bushmen ; 

 Inzero of Masubias ; Nswala of Lower Zambesi natiyes ; 

 Pala of Waganda ; Luondo and Mpala in Barotseland, Ngami- 

 land, Chilala and Chibisa. 



This graceful antelope, which is known to the 

 South African Dutch colonists as the Rooibok, 

 fornierly inhabited South Africa as far south as 

 Kuruman in Bechuanaland, but is now extinct in 

 that locality. At the present time it is found along 

 the Limpopo River and its affluents ; and in Zulu- 

 land, the Eastern Transvaal, Portuguese East Africa 

 and Rhodesia. Beyond the Zambesi it extends up 

 the east side of Africa to Lower Kordofan. 



Impala are gregarious, associating in troops or 

 small family parties of five or six, to large herds of 

 a couple of hundred individuals. All gregarious 

 animals, however, when persecuted by man, break 

 up into small parties and troops and scatter over 

 the country. 



The ewes always largely predominate in a herd ; 

 and often an entire herd is composed of females and 

 a few immature males. At other times a few adult 



86 



