Diet
Springbok are mixed feeders, switching between grazing and browsing seasonally. When grasses are fresh, they mostly graze. At other times, they browse on shrubs and succulents. Springbok can meet their water needs from the food they eat, and survive without drinking water through dry season, or even over years. Reportedly, in extreme cases, they do not drink any water over the course of their lives. Springbok may accomplish this by selecting flowers, seeds, and leaves of shrubs before dawn, when these foods are most succulent. Springbok gather together in the wet seasons and spread out during the dry season, an unusual trait among African animals. In places such as Etosha, springbok can and do seek out water bodies when they are available. Examples of food items eaten by springbok are grasses, such as Themeda triandra, and succulent plants, such as Lampranthus.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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