Gerenuk live in thornbush and semi-desert where surface water is seasonal or absent. They browse the leaves, shoots and flowers of acacia and commiphora shrubs, and they select young, moisture-rich growth. Field accounts consistently report that gerenuk do not drink, taking their water from plant tissue and from dew, and this independence lets them occupy country that water-dependent antelope must abandon in the dry season.
The feeding posture is the animal's signature. A gerenuk rises onto its hind legs, using its forelegs against a branch for balance, and browses at a height of roughly two metres, above the reach of dik-dik and most gazelles and below that of the giraffe. The elongated neck and narrow muzzle let it work between long thorns.
The non-drinking claim rests on observation rather than controlled physiological measurement, so it is better stated as no drinking recorded than as a proven inability. The gerenuk is not the only arid antelope with this reputation; the oryx and dik-dik show comparable independence from free water.