Springbuck Hunting in Southern Africa

Springbuck is a strikingly marked, sleek, graceful, agile gazelle-like antelope and once the national emblem of South Africa; however, today it is only recognised as the name and logo for the national rugby team. The species name was translated from the Afrikaans word “Springbok”, which means “jumping buck”. The name was derived from its unique behavioural trait known as pronking: a leap in the air with an arched back and stiff legs.

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Lions and Lion Lands. From “The Book of the Lion”, 1913, by Sir Alfred E. Pease

In my youth I believed myself so hemmed in by circumstances and duties that I thought I should never break through such barriers into the real world beyond. Conventionalities which then looked like a granite wall I have discovered to be a delusion. I have learnt that human beings do not always understand the language in which duty calls, and that by the use of a little force a hole can be made through the thorny zariba of circumstances by which the poor, impounded creature, whether peasant or potentate, may escape to taste of life.

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