The dik-dik
The Dik-dik, a dwarf antelope, and smallest East African wild ruminant, belongs to the family Bovidae, Genus Madoqua. Standing only 30 -40 cm tall, and weighing between 3 – 6 kg, they inhabit the dry grasslands of Eastern Africa.
Dik-diks can be found in various other habitat types, such as forests and open plains, but require good cover, and will relocate when the grass has grown to tall for them to see over. As the dik-dik is herbivorous, the vegetative features in their habitat are used for consumption, as well as cover. Due to the hot temperatures, and arid climate in which the live, they are known to avoid the mid-day heat by keeping to shaded areas.
A territorial animal, the dik-dik uses a well defined home range, of approximately 1000m². This territory is scent marked through a secretion from a preorbital gland located on the inside corner of each eye. Dik-diks form permanent mating pairs, and although their territories’ are close in proximity, neighboring conflict seldom occur.
One objective of this study was to gain further insight of the dik-dik habitat selection. This was accomplished via outfitting several individuals with radio collars, equipped with a GPS.
A second objective of this study was to gain insight into possible uncertainty that is associated with working with both satellite and telemetry data.