With a maximum height of 30 cm and a maximum mass of around 3 kg, this tiny ungulate is believed to range only in the West African forests of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Ghana. Royal antelopes are so small that an average-sized calf can fit comfortably into a person’s hand! Like many of their larger antelope counterparts, the males grow horns (albeit a miniature sized pair) that are around 2.5cm long.
There is remarkably little known about these antelopes, with only a handful of ecological studies ever having been conducted, and there are no recorded observations of these animals in the wild (or at least, none have been published). For more information visit the MammalMAP virtual museum or blog.
