Scientific Name: Aepyceros melampus
Type: Mammal
Diet: Herbivore
Size: 28 to 36 inches tall
Weight: 100 to 135 pounds
Lifespan: 12 years
Habitat: Savanna and light woodland
Protection status: Endangered
Found in these Heartlands: Kazungula, Zambezi
Impalas are fleet runners who are able to leap distances of up to 33 feet (10 meters). They use this technique to escape predators and sometimes, apparently, simply to amuse themselves. The impala can also clear bushes and other obstacles by soaring some 10 feet (3 meters) in the air. Typically, a running impala will simply jump over anything in its path.
Impala video.
What does a impala look like?
The impala is reddish-brown with white hair inside the ears, over each eye and on the chin, upper throat, underparts and buttocks. A narrow black line runs along the middle of the lower back to the tail, and a vertical black stripe appears on the back of each thigh. Impalas have unique brushlike tufts of black hair that cover a scent gland located just above the heel on each hind leg. This graceful antelope is known for its long, spiral horns, which males use to challenge each other in tests of strength.
Where do impalas live?
Impalas are medium-sized antelopes that roam the savanna and light woodlands of eastern and southern Africa. Impalas are found at grassland and woodland edges, usually very close by water.
What does a impala eat?
Able to both graze and browse, the impala has both a greater and more reliable food supply than animals that do either one or the other. It eats young grass shoots in the wet season and herbs and shrubs at other times. In the rainy season, when food is plentiful, they may gather in large herds of several hundred animals to browse on grasses and herbs, bushes, shrubs, and shoots.
Did You Know this about impalas?
The female is similar to the male but does not have horns. The male's graceful lyre-shaped horns are 18 to 37 inches long.
During periods of intense mating the male vocalizes loudly, making a sound between a lion's roar and a dog's bark. Exhausted by such activity, males seldom can hold their territories for more than a few months at a time.
Impala images
Impala Wallpapers
Download free Impala wallpapers, click on the image to open the large version.
Impala wallpaper 1
Impala wallpaper 2
Impala wallpaper 3
Impala wallpaper 4
Impala wallpaper 5
Impala wallpaper 6
Impala Coloring pages
Print free Impala coloring pages, click on the image to open the large version.
Impalas are fleet runners who are able to leap distances of up to 33 feet (10 meters). They use this technique to escape predators and sometimes, apparently, simply to amuse themselves. The impala can also clear bushes and other obstacles by soaring some 10 feet (3 meters) in the air. Typically, a running impala will simply jump over anything in its path. 
