Livingstone’s Suni hunting in Mozambique

Suni is a very small antelope with a distinctive crouching form. They are a tan-brown to rufous in colour with a white belly. For their size, they have large rounded ears which appear pinkish-brown in the sunlight which often gives their presence away in the thick forest or riverine canopies. Their flickering tails are dark fawn to almost black. Only the males have heavily ridged straight growing horns. Suni is found throughout Mozambique and can be hunted in the forested areas scattered throughout the country as well as in the dense riverine and thorn bush areas. Suni is active throughout the day and night. They have regularly used pathways and males also have territorial dung middens that make for good hunting ambush areas. The best way to hunt them in low-density areas is to wait over a fresh midden and try calling. In the high-density Sand Forest areas, you will be spoilt for choice and you will see hundreds of these small antelope. At the sight of danger, these animals normally freeze; their alarm call is a sharp nasal whistle made just before fleeing to find a hiding place in the undergrowth. Suni is classified as a species of least concern by the IUCN. However, a prearranged Mozambican hunting license is required to hunt Suni.