This antelope lives in dry mountain grasslands. Only males have horns, and grass is its main food.
Its coat ranges from gray-brown to pale reddish-brown. Males have slender horns; females do not.
In March 1992, researchers measured 92 adult mountain reedbuck at Rolfontein Nature Reserve in South Africa: 36 males and 56 females. Males averaged 30.7 kg and females 27.2 kg. Male tails averaged 167 mm, compared with 158 mm in females; both body-mass and tail-length differences were significant.
The sexes did not differ significantly in head-and-body length, hind-foot length or ear length. Six weeks before the survey, fire had burned more than half the reserve’s grazing area. The authors suggested post-fire forage conditions as a possible reason that mean body mass was lower than at another reserve during the same season. Male mass ranged from 22–37 kg and female mass from 22–35 kg; mean head-and-body length was 1,151 mm.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
At Rolfontein, fire had burned more than half the grazing area six weeks before the survey, and adult mean body mass was lower than at another reserve during the same season. The authors proposed post-fire forage conditions as a possible factor.