Neotragus moschatus
Silhouette: [unknown] · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The suni (Nesotragus moschatus) is a small antelope of the family Bovidae, and one of the smallest ungulates on earth. It occurs in dense underbrush from central Kenya to KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It is also found on the island of Zanzibar off of Tanzania.
Suni are around 30 to 43 centimetres (12 to 17 inches) high at the shoulder and weigh 4.5 to 5.4 kilograms (9 lb 15 oz to 11 lb 14 oz). They are usually reddish brown, darker on their back than their sides and legs. The belly, chin, throat and insides of legs are white. The nostrils are prominent red, and there are black rings around the eyes and above the hooves. Males have horns 8–13 cm (3–5 in) long, that are ridged most of their length and curve backwards close to their heads. Females do not have horns. Suni can make weak barking and whistling sounds.
Suni feed on leaves, fungi, fruits and flowers, and need almost no free water. They are shy, most active at night, and sleep during the day in a shady, sheltered area. They are social but males defend a territory of about three hectares. They scent-mark the boundaries with secretions from their preorbital glands. There may be an individual or communal dung pile on the periphery of the territory. A male usually takes one mate, but other females may share his territory. A single calf is born weighing about two pounds, after a gestation of 183 days.
Felids, raptors, snakes, and other meat-eaters prey on suni. For protection, they are well camouflaged in dry grass and keep very still. When a predator is almost on top of them, they spring out and bound away into the underbrush. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aberdare National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jardim Zoológico de Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 2 | Tortoise Sanctuary | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Exotic Animal World | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Suni sighting in Nairobi on a given day, based on 48 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 11 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and August
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Suni in Nairobi on a given day, against about 30% in May–June and September–December, the lowest months. Those are among Nairobi's wettest months, with about 95 mm of rain a month against 25 mm in July.
Between 5 and 8 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Suni sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Nairobi, in our data
Nairobi is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Suni sightings: about 40% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Bovidae
The closest relatives of the Suni that you can see in Nairobi (family Bovidae, Bovids) are Natal Duiker (about 30%), Northern Bushbuck (about 20%) and Hartebeest (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Suni is recorded against all the mammals logged in Nairobi (48 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
