In conservation biology, we sometimes refer to “charismatic megafauna.” These are the biggest, cutest, and most popular wildlife species. Think about tigers, pandas, or polar bears. Species like these attract lots of attention in the media, in conservation, and in research. They’re cool species and they certainly deserve the attention. However, it’s not just the biggest and most well-known species that are fascinating.
I learned this lesson during a college field course in Kenya on the natural history of mammals. For a course project, my classmates and I were tasked with taking a week to observe a native wildlife species. It was an exciting prospect. Elephants, hyenas, buffalo, zebras, lions, hippos, and more were all around our study site.
Our professor explained, though, that we wouldn’t be observing any of these charismatic megafauna species. Instead, we would be focusing on the dik-dik. This tiny antelope species lived right around the dorms and dining hall of our field campus. We saw dik-diks every day and never paid much attention to them.
Image by Lindsay Martinez
Nobody was very excited to spend a week watching what we were sure was the least exciting mammal around. However, it didn’t take long to realize that the ecology of dik-diks is just as cool as any other species. The experience reminded me that if you spend enough time watching any wildlife species, you will see amazing things.
One of the main things I learned about dik-diks once I started watching them closely was that they are very territorial. Mated pairs, who sometimes have a baby too, live in little territories. They fiercely work to defend their territory from other pairs. Territories are sometimes marked with urine or piles of dung, called middens. Sometimes, dik-diks also make scratches in the dirt to mark their territories.
Finally, dik-diks also produce a black goo from their preorbital glands located just below their eyes. They rub that goo on vegetation to mark their territory. Dik-diks are constantly walking about or munching on grass and then quickly rub the side of their face on the grass. Left behind is a black ball of goo. Once I realized dik-diks did this, I couldn’t stop finding grass with black blobs on the ends.
Image by Lindsay Martinez
Although marking territories in all these different ways is probably meant to create clear boundaries and avoid conflicts, dik-dik fights do sometimes happen. These fights may be to win over some extra territory or maybe even to steal another dik-dik’s mate.
A conflict usually happens right at the boundary between two pairs’ territories. Males only ever fight another male and females only females. In a conflict, the hairs on the top of the dik-diks’ heads stand up tall. They crouch down to face each other and then hop back and forth as if they are going to butt heads.
They usually don’t ever actually hit each other, but sometimes a real collision does happen. After no more than a few minutes of fighting, one animal is eventually chased off. Then, both continue on with their day of eating and marking territories.
Image by Lindsay Martinez
I learned dozens and dozens of other facts about dik-diks while closely watching them for a week. It turned out that this under-the-radar and miniature antelope is a very interesting animal worthy of a bit more of my attention.
If you’re like me, you’re probably drawn to big, famous, and far-away wildlife species However, the animals right in front of you have all sorts of cool attributes too. Whether it’s a robin, a squirrel, or an ant, I bet you can find something cool around your own home if you just sit back and watch for a while.
