Habitat

The dik-diks can be found in the equatorial region of Eastern and Southern Africa, including: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda. These habitats are preferred for this species because the savannas and shrub lands of African contain thicket vegetation.  They are capable of living in forest or open plains and these environments can be arid or semi-arid (Kingswood & Kumamoto, 1997).    
The semi-arid and arid climate in Eastern Africa and Southern Africa experiencr an annual rainfall of of less than 760 mm.  Temperatures tend to be high and can reach 30 °C or above.  However, at night it can be very cold and get down to -38 °C (Gayaza, 2).  Plants that grow in arid environments are drought resistant plants such as savannah grassland, thicket, thorn brush, scrub and some areas of bare land (Gayaza ,5).  Considering that almost all dik-diks are found in arid and semi-arid environments of Southern and Eastern Africa, they are well adapted to this area and would have a hard time living in any other condition.

Figure 1. Female dik-dik looking for food.
The reduction in plant size due for slash and burn cultivation has benefited the dik-diks.  These relatively small plants are essential because it provides enough protection from the dik-dik’s predators.  Dik-diks have a brown, dusty coloring that allows them to blend very well into the dry brush surroundings.  It offers enough covering to give them time to browse for their food without being detected.  They are very short animals, often reaching heights of 30-40 cm; therefore they cannot be in tall grasses because that would hinder their view of the surroundings (Kingswood & Kumamoto, 1997).  

Figure 2. African Wild dog with a dik-dik head.
There are wide ranges of organisms that live in this type of environment in Africa.  The little rainfall and wide range of temperatures do not seem to stop some of the greatest mammal diversity in the world.  There are many carnivores that are top predators such as the lion, cheetah, spotted hyena (also known as the laughing hyena), African wild dog, and the caracal.  The reptiles that live in this habitat are the venomous black mamba, African pancake tortoise, and the Nile crocodile.  Other animals that live in Eastern and Southern Africa are African elephant, hippopotamus, black rhinoceros, warthogs, wild pigs, zebras, giraffes, gazelles, and a wide variety of birds such as the ostrich (Elias, 2006). 

 
 

 

Adaption
References
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