Distribution:  Endemic to Horn of Africa, centered in Northern Kenya on Lake Turkana and up into Ethiopia and Somalia.  Southern boundary in Kenya is Tana River.

Habitat:  Of all dikdik species, live in hottest, driest desert and subdesert scrub.

Food and Feeding Methods:  Green foliage, buds, shoots and bark of dwarf scrubs, fruits and herbs.  Depends on low-level thickets and succulents where there is little grass growth.  Stands on hind legs to extend reach.  Salt is important in diet but it rarely drinks water since it gets sufficient liquid from the plants it eats. 

Social Behavior:  Diurnal, monogamous, territorial.  Due to greater tolerance of heat, Guenther’s is only dikdik species that is strictly diurnal.  Live in closely associated pairs on territories defended by males against intruders of either sex.  Females initiate and lead family movements while males bring up rear, so male is in effect marking female’s territory.  Territories range from less than 1 to 88 acres and contain a combination of dense and more open ground with 6 to 13 stations where dung and urine latrines called ‘middens’ are visited regularly.  Use dung, urine and face-gland deposits to mark boundaries of territories.  Where latrines are located on a boundary, two families contribute to same latrine, each sticking to own side of dung-marked border.  Females and young also contribute to latrines but males always cover with own dung.  Both sexes mark twigs near middens with secretions from preorbital glands.  Pair bonds exist independently of a territory and last for life.  Pair and family bonds are maintained by proximity, coordinated activities and social grooming, especially sniffing and touching with nose.

Dikdiks are vulnerable to about 20 different predators so survival depends on vigilance, knowledge of home range, secure hiding places and ability to hit top speed within first few jumps (can run up to 26 mph).  Any disturbance elicits freezing and then a crouching or creeping departure, but sudden short, swift flights are due to breathy whistles from both partners, sometimes in a duet.  Reunions involve face rubbing in which female licks male’s preorbital glands that flow in response to excitement.  Main contact call is soft whistle.

Reproduction:  Females first calve at 15 to 18 months.  One calf is born after gestation of about 6 months.  Young calves are kept hidden and mother visits several times a day to suckle.  Young dikdiks disperse during adolescence at 6 to 9 months.  Males are forced by father’s aggression to leave but it’s unknown why females leave family group.  Soon after leaving, young are able to establish pair bonds.  Males become territorial by one year though horns are not fully developed for 2 years.

Status:  Very widespread and not endangered.  Large herds of livestock passing through are known to temporarily force dikdik out of territories, but Guenther’s dikdik survive well in dense, thorny thickets where livestock aren’t able to over-browse.

Adaptations:  To survive in hot, arid conditions, have developed mechanism for cooling blood through nasal panting: flexible proboscis is lined with blood vessels in moist, black mucous that are used for evaporative cooling by increasing normal breathing rate.  Increased airflow cools blood that is returned to heart where hot blood going to brain is cooled in form of a radiator.  Selective cooling allows body temperature to rise without risking brain function. 

Pale underpart of buttocks can be fanned into discs that are more conspicuous than tail signal and are used as an alarm.

When alarmed, produces a whistling sound through its nose that sounds like zik-zik, from which its name is probably derived.

Head/Body Length:      1 ¾ - 2 ft.                              Tail Length:    1 - 2   in. 
Shoulder Height:               1 - 1 ¼ ft.                 Weight:          8 - 12 lbs.   

Dikdiks on Sosian

Martial Eagle vs. Dikdik

One evening I had just gone outside to sit on the verandah and read, when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a big bird flying by over our swimming pool.  I didn't pay much attention to it as we always had harriers and other raptors hunting around the house in the evening.  But something about its behavior seemed strange and I looked up just in time to see it dive rapidly into the dry dam like a kamikaze pilot, hitting something on the ground with a loud thump.  With this impact came the piercing scream of a desperate animal and I instantly knew that this large bird had just caught a dikdik casually feeding at our saltlick.  I grabbed my binoculars and saw the dikdik's legs thrashing in the air as the bird held it down.  The dikdik's mate instinctively ran toward it when it heard its cries but seeing the bird, stopped in its tracks and raced off into the bush.  The struggle was brief as the dikdik died quickly.  I finally got a good look at the bird and saw that it was a juvenile martial eagle, one of the largest eagles in Africa.  It stood on top of the dikdik for over twenty minutes before it began to feed, ripping pieces of meat out of the flank with its sharp beak.  When it grew too dark, the eagle flew to a nearby tree to roost for the night, returning at first light the next morning to feed some more.  It was a magnificent display of hunting by this raptor though you had to feel for the poor little dikdik and its mate.

Orphaned Dikdik

Lorian rescued an orphaned baby dikdik that was found in the middle of the road in bad shape, probably only hours old.  It's most likely that its mother was killed after giving birth and the baby wandered out in the open, a very unsafe place for a dikdik.  It was tiny, about the size of our little cat Bella, with very long legs and tiny hooves no bigger than my small fingernail.  I found it surprisingly strong for such a tiny animal.  Lorian started out feeding it dry skim milk fortified with vitamins but then switched to camel milk on the advice of our neighbors.  Sadly, it went downhill quickly and died after only a week.  These small wild animals are really fragile and I don't think it ever recovered from the shock of losing its mother and finding itself surrounded by humans.  It's a harsh environment in the bush as I learn every day.