The pelage is soft and lax. The coloration varies from yellowish gray to reddish brown above and from grayish to white below. Horns, possessed only by the males, are ringed, stout at the base, somewhat longitudinally grooved, and occasionally partially concealed by a tuft of hair on the forehead. A characteristic feature of the genus is the elongated snout. The accessory hooves are small, and the tail is not conspicuous.
Females have four mammae.
Dik-diks usually frequent areas that are rather dry but have considerable brush for concealment. These shy, elusive animals usually stay in dense vegetation, but they utilize definite paths through their territories. Although at least one species regularly occurs along streambanks, others seem to live for months without moisture except that obtained from dew and the vegetation they consume. For food, dik-diks browse on such shrubs as acacias and also take some grass. The animals lived in permanently mated pairs, together with their young, on territories of 5-20 ha.