Monarto Safari Park

Monarto Safari Park is a non-government conservation charity, every visit, adoption, donation and ticket helps to save species from extinction.

Blackbuck male and female
Female Blackbuck leaping.
Blackbuck herd with young.

Animal Facts

  • Genus:

    Antilope
  • Species:

    Antilope cervicapra
  • Conservation
    Status:

    Least Concern
  • Found In:

    India
  • Weight:

    32 to 43kgs

Meet the beautiful Blackbuck!

These majestic antelope are best known for their spiralled horns, which sweep back from the head in a dramatic v-shape. Male Blackbucks are much larger than their female friends, and have a rich dark brown coat, while the girls are a lighter yellow-brown. Both sexes feature white rings around their eyes.

Monarto Safari Park first became home to these gorgeous animals in 1983, when thirteen individuals arrived from Adelaide Zoo. Since then, Monarto Safari Park has bred over 300 Blackbuck, many of which can be found in zoos across Australia. At the moment, over 70 majestic individuals call Monarto Safari Park home.

When threatened, these agile mammals can perform incredibly high leaps into the air, before dashing away at speeds of up to 80 kilometres per hour! Fortunately, the heard at Monarto Safari Park is safe and sound, meaning all the jumping and running they do here is for fun!

Friends and family are very important to this social species, with individuals usually living together in herds of ten to fifty. Throughout the year, females give birth to a single fawn after a gestation period of five to six months. When they’re not being nursed by their mum, the babies hide out in patches of long grass until they are old enough to join the herd – usually about two weeks of age. During breeding season, males can become quite territorial, though it’s usually all talk as no one gets hurt!

Feeding mostly on grasses, these graceful hoofed mammals call the grasslands and open woodlands of their native India home. With much of their habitat destroyed for agricultural purposes, sadly Blackbucks have been declared regionally extinct across Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Love Blackbuck? Join our family today to make sure this antelope stays a spring ahead of extinction!

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About Zoos SA

Zoos SA is a not-for-profit conservation charity that exists to connect people with nature and save species from extinction.

Zoos SA acknowledges the Country on which we stand always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land and we pay our deepest respect and gratitude to Kaurna (Adelaide Zoo) and Ngarrindjeri (Monarto Safari Park) Elders, past, present and emerging.

We undertake critical conservation work throughout Australia and acknowledge the traditional custodians of these lands.

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