Antelopes and gazelles
As seen from the following frames, this is not just a few animals,
but more than 150 different
species, and then you have all the sub-species. It has not been
easy to decide how to display
all those. As you see in the frame Family Bovidae, the antelopes
and gazellas has been split
into 10 subfamilies, and those underlined have links to their own
separate pages.
The Subfamily Antilopinae, the true antelopes are displayed on this
page, and on the page
with Gazellas. These two pages
may change when we see how it is best to split the animals.
This depends on what we can find of information and pictures..
Family
Bovidae
Subfamily
Bovinae: cattle,
buffaloes and spiral-horned antelopes, 27 species in 10 genera
Kudu,
Eland, Nyala and Bongo.
Subfamily Cephalophinae:
duikers, 21 species in 2 genera
Subfamily Hippotraginae:
grazing antelopes, 7 species in 3 genera Oryx,Sable,
Gaisa
Subfamily Antilopinae: gazelles, dwarf antelopes
and the saiga, 34 species in 13 genera
Subfamily Caprinae: goat-antelopes: sheep, goats, muskox,
takin etc., 33 species in 10 genera
Subfamily Reduncinae:
reedbucks, lechwe, 9 species in 2 genera
Subfamily Aepycerotinae:
impala, 1 species in 1 genus
Subfamily Peleinae: rhebok, 1 species in 1 genus
Subfamily
Pantholopinae: Tibetan antelope, 1 species in 1 genus
Subfamily Alcelaphinae:
wildebeest, topi/tsessebe, 10 species in 4 genera |
Subfamily
Alcelaphinae
The
subfamily Alcelaphinae, from the family Bovidae,
contains Wildebeest,
Hartebeest,
Bonteboks
and several similar species.
All in all it contains 10 species in 4 genera, although
Beatragus is sometimes considered a subgenus
of Damaliscus, and Sigmoceros for the Lichtenstein's
Hartebeest.
Genus Beatragus,
Hirola
Genus
Damaliscus, Topi, bonteboks
Genus
Alcelaphus, Hartebeest
Genus Connochaetes,
Wildebeest
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Subfamily Antilopinae (Antelopes)
The gazelles, blackbucks,
springboks, gerenuks, dibatags and Central Asian gazelles
are often referred to as
"True Antelopes" and are usually the sole representatives
of the Antilopinae. "True Antelopes" occur
in much
of Africa and Asia with the highest concentration of species
occurring in East Africa in Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania. The saigas and Tibetan antelopes
are related to "True Antelopes" (Antilopinae)
and goats (Caprinae), but often placed in their own subfamily,
Saiginae. These animals
inhabit much of Central
and Western Asia. The dwarf antelopes are sometimes placed
in a separate subfamily, Neotraginae,
and live entirely in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Tribe Antilopini
Genus Ammodorcas
Dibatag Ammodorcas
clarkei
Genus Antidorcas
Springbok
Antidorcas marsupialis
Genus Antilope
Blackbuck Antilope cervicapra
Genus Eudorcas
Mongalla
Gazelle Eudorcas albonotata
Red Gazelle Eudorcas rufina
Red-fronted Gazelle Eudorcas
rufrifrons
Eastern
Chad red-fronted gazelle, Gazella rufifrons centralis
North Nigeria Red-fronted gazelle,
Gazella rufifrons hasleri
Kanuri Red-fronted Gazelle, Gazella
rufifrons kanuri
Nubian Red-fronted gazelle, Gazella
rufifrons laevipes
Senegal Red-fronted gazelle, Gazella
rufifrons rufifrons
Thomson's
Gazelle, Eudorcas
thomsoni, Gazella thomsoni
Heuglin's Gazelle Eudorcas tilonura
Genus Gazella
Arabian Gazelle Gazella arabica
Chinkara or Indian Gazelle Gazella benettii
Queen of Sheba's Gazelle Gazella bilkis
Dorcas Gazelle Gazella dorcas
Mountain Gazelle Gazella gazella
Saudi Gazelle Gazella saudiya
Speke's Gazelle
Gazella spekei
Genus Trachelocele
Cuvier's Gazelle Gazella
cuvieri
Rhim Gazelle or Slender-horned Gazelle Gazella leptoceros
Goitered Gazelle Gazella subgutturosa
Genus Litocranius
Gerenuk Litocranius
walleri
Southern Gerenuk
Litocranius walleri walleri
Northern Gerenuk Litocranius walleri
sclateri
Genus Nanger
Dama Gazelle Nanger dama
Grant's Gazelle
Nanger granti
Bright's
Gazelle, Nanger granti brighti
Southern Grant's Gazelle, Nanger
granti granti
Northern Grant's Gazelle, Nanger
granti lacuum
Peter's Gazelle, Nanger granti
petersi
Robert's Gazelle, Nanger granti
robertsi
Soemmerring's Gazelle Nanger soemmerringii
Genus Procapra
Zeren Procapra gutturosa
Goa Procapra picticaudata
Przewalski's Gazelle Procapra przewalskii
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.
Tribe Saigini
Genus Pantholops (Sometimes classified in Caprinae)
Tibetan Antelope Pantholops hodgsonii
Genus Saiga
Saiga Saiga tatarica (Asia) |
Tribe Neotragini
Genus Dorcatragus
Beira Dorcatragus megalotis
Genus Madoqua
Günther's Dik-dik Madoqua guntheri
Kirk's Dik-dik
Madoqua kirkii
Silver Dik-dik Madoqua piacentinii
Salt's Dik-dik Madoqua saltiana
Genus Neotragus
Bates's Pygmy Antelope Neotragus batesi
Suni Neotragus moschatus
Royal Antelope Neotragus pygmaeus
Genus Oreotragus
Klipspringer Oreotragus
oreotragus
Genus Ourebia
Oribi, Ourebia
Ourebi
Ourebia ourebi aequatoria
(Uganda)
Ourebia ourebi cottoni (Tanzania)
Ourebia ourebi dorcas (Chad)
Ourebia ourebi gallarum (Central Ethiopia)
Ourebia ourebi goslingi (North Zaire)
Ourebia ourebi haggardi (Northern Kenya)
Ourebia ourebi hastata (Zaire, Malawi, Zimbabwe)
Ourebia ourebi kenyae (Kenya)
Ourebia ourebi montana (Sudan to west Ethiopia)
Ourebia ourebi ourebi (South Africa)
Ourebia ourebi quadriscopa (Senegal to Nigeria)
Ourebia ourebi rutila (Angola)
Ourebia ourebi ugandae (Uganda)
Genus Raphicerus
Steenbok Raphicerus campestris (compestris)
Cape Grysbok Raphicerus melanotis
Sharpe's Grysbok Raphicerus sharpei |
Oribi (Ourebia ourebi,
known as Oorbietjie in Afrikaans) are graceful slender-legged,
long-necked small antelope found in grassland almost
throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Two of these
subspecies are listed on the IUCN Red List: Haggard's oribi
(Ourebia ourebi haggardi) is classified as Vulnerable (Vu
C1) and the Kenya Oribi (Ourebia ourebi kenyae) is classified
as Extinct (EX).
http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/antelope_report.pdf
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Dibatag Ammodorcas
clarkei
Dibitag,
Ammodorcas clarkei
Photographer: unknown. Source: http://www.apus.ru/
Dibatag has disappeared
from substantial parts of its former range, e.g., northern Ogaden
where
human and livestock numbers are now high and it is under heavy
pressure in Somalia. The overall decline
in range andnumbers due to hunting and habitat degradation is
estimated to have exceeded 30% over
three generations (21 years, 1985 to 2006). However, numbers
are currently cautiously estimated to
exceed the threshold of 2,500 mature individuals that would
be necessary to qualify for a listing as EN
under criterion C (Wilhelmi et al. 2006) but may be close to
meeting this.
In Ethiopia, dibatag formerly occurred widely in the vast plains
of the Ogaden region in the eastern lowlands.
The Ogaden is a plateau, with an elevation above sea level that
ranges from 1,500 meters in
the northwest, falling to about 300 meters along the southern
limits and the Wabi Shebelle valley. |
![](pics/Ogaden_Map.jpg)
Shaded relief map of Ethiopia,
cropped and centered on the Ogaden area
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogaden
An extensive ground survey revealed that the dibatag is now rare
or absent in the northern Ogaden but
still occurs locally within a reasonably large area in the southern
Ogaden, where it appears to be quite
common in some localities (Wilhelmi 1997). In contrast to the northern
Ogaden, which has a relatively
high density of settlements and concentrations of armed pastoralists
and their herds, the southern Ogaden has lower human densities and
extensive areas where the natural flora and fauna appear to be
largely intact.
Dibatag inhabit semi-arid, dense to scattered bush, low- to medium-height
thornbush savanna and plains
with thicket/grassland mosaics. They prefer sandy to moderately
gravelled, ferrous oxide rich red soils,
characterized by numerous termite mounds (Wilhelmi, in press). Their
altitudinal range is approximately
200 to 1,200 m (Yalden et al. 1986).
Above information collected from:
Heckel, J.-O.,
Wilhelmi, F., Kaariye, X.Y. & Amir, O.G. 2008. Ammodorcas clarkei.
In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2.
<www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 28 January 2012.
Blackbuck, Antilope cervicapra
A blackbuck in central India
Location: Mahavir Harini Vanasthali National
Park, Hyderabad, 2009
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Buck.jpg
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The
Blackbuck is included here as it belongs to the same genus as the
african antelopes. The blackbuck, Antilope cervicapra,
is an antelope species native to the Indian subcontinent that has
been classified
as near threatened by IUCN since 2003, as the blackbuck range has
decreased sharply during the 20th century.
The blackbuck is the only living species of the genus Antilope.
Its generic name 'Antilope' stems from
the Latin word antalopus, a horned animal.
Males and females have distinctive coloration. Male blackbucks are
black and white and have long
twisted horns, while females are fawn coloured with no horns.
Body Length: 100150 cm (3.34.9 ft), Shoulder Height: 6085
cm (2.02.79 ft)
Tail Length: 1017 cm (3.96.7 in), Weight: 2535 kg
(5577 lb)[6]
The horns of the blackbuck are ringed with 1 to 4 spiral turns, rarely
more than 4 turns, and can be as
long as 79 cm (31 in). A trophy blackbuck is greater than 46 cm (18
in). In the male, the upper body is
black (dark brown), and the belly and eye rings are white. The light-brown
female is usually hornless.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbuck
Mongalla Gazelle, Eudorcas
albonotata<
no picture found
It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the well-known Thomson's
Gazelle.
Mongalla Gazelles inhabit the flood plains and flat savanna grasslands
in southeast Sudan, east of the
Nile, but not reaching the Ugandan and Kenyan borders. They have been
recorded from the Omo region
in south-west Ethiopia, but there is no recent information on its
occurrence in this country
East (1999) guessed that the total population of Mongola Gazelle could
number 100,000, but numbers
are known to fluctuate substantially in this area and the central
parts of its range are particularly
inaccessible. An aerial survey carried out by WCS in 2007 produced
a population estimate for part of
South Sudan of 278,000 (Fay et al. 2007).
The Mongalla gazelle inhabits floodplain and savanna grasslands in
Sudan (East 1999). This gazelle is
adapted to following a nomadic annual cycle over the eastern Sudd
floodplains, an ecologically peculiar region where extensive floods
are followed by extreme aridity (Hashim in press). During the wet
season, the Mongalla Gazelle aggregates in high population densities
with other migratory species such as
White-eared Kob and Tiang (Hillman and Fryxell 1988).
Source: IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist
Group 2008. Eudorcas albonotata. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on
28 January 2012.
Red-fronted
Gazelle Eudorcas rufrifrons
The Red-fronted gazelle, Eudorcas rufifrons, is a species of gazelle
that is widely but unevenly distributed
across the middle Africa from Senegal to north-eastern Ethiopia. It
is mainly resident in the Sahel zone,
a narrow cross-Africa band south of the Sahara, where it prefers arid
grasslands, wooded savannas and shrubby steppes.
Some authorities (e.g. Kingdon 1997) consider that Thomson's gazelle,
Eudorcas
thomsoni, of East Africa,
is a subspecies of Red-fronted gazelle. The red-fronted gazelle was
formerly considered a member of the
genus Gazella within the subgenus Eudorcas before Eudorcas
was elevated to genus status.
Klipspringer, Oreotragus oreotragus
Klipspringer,
Oreotragus oreotragus
©
http://www.schmode.net/klipspring002.htm
(not active as per
Sept.2010)
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Cuvier's Gazelle, Gazella cuvieri
A
Cuvier's Gazelle at the San Diego Zoo in San Diego, California
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cuvier%27s_Gazelle.jpg
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Cuvier's Gazelle, Gazella cuvieri, is a species of gazelle found in
Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
It is also known as the Edmi. It is one of the darkest species of
gazelle in coloring, due to its partial
woodland habitat. It is sometimes placed in a separate genus, Trachelocele,
from other gazelles,
together with Goitered gazelles and Rhim Gazelles.
It is very rare in wild with only 2000 individuals
Gerenuk,
Litocranius walleri
Gerenuk,
Litocranius walleri
Photographer: William
M. Ciesla, http://www.forestryimages.org/
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The
Gerenuk, Litocranius walleri, also known as the Waller's Gazelle,
is a long-necked species of antelope
found in dry bushy scrub and steppe in East Africa, from Somalia and
eastern Ethiopia through northern and
eastern Kenya to northeastern Tanzania. The word Gerenuk (pronounced
with a hard g) comes from the Somali
language, meaning giraffe-necked. Gerenuk are sometimes
also called the Giraffe-necked Antelope.
It is the only member of the genus Litocranius.
![](pics/L-walleri2.jpg)
Adult
male gerenuk, Litocranius walleri walleri, August 2001
© Copyright Brent Huffman, 2001
www.ultimateungulate.com
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Gerenuks have a small head for their body, but their eyes and ears
are big. Unlike females, males have horns and
a more muscular neck. They are brown on their back, and lighter underneath.
They have short, black tails.
From head to tail, the gerenuk is around 150 cm long. Males are a
little taller than females, ranging from 89-105 cm,
and the females are 80-100 cm. The male is also heavier than the female,
weighing at 45 kg, and females are 30 kg.
![](pics/gerenuk.jpg)
Gerenuks,
Litocranius walleri, in the Samburu National Park - Kenya
Source: Gerenuks (Litocranius walleri) in the Samburu National
Park - Kenya
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Gerenuks eat food from higher places than most other gazelles and
antelopes. They do this by standing up on their
hind legs, and stretching out their long necks to get food off of
tall bushes or small trees. Most of their diet is made
up of leaves and shoots of shrubs and trees, but also includes buds,
flowers, fruit, and herbaceous plants .
Gerenuks do not appear to drink water; they get enough water from
the plants they eat. Because of this,
they can survive in very dry habitats.
Dama Gazelle Nanger dama
![](pics/dammah-gaz.jpg)
Dama
Gazelle
Nanger dama
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The Dama Gazelle, Nanger dama, is following the same
trail into extinction in the wild as the Scimitar-horned
Oryx, Oryx dammah, Status justification: The sustained
decline due to uncontrolled hunting and habitat loss has continued
and is now estimated to have exceeded 80% over 10 years. Extensive
field surveys have been made
since 2001, but all subpopulations encountered are very small,
with all at risk from unmanaged large-scale
hunting, and the total population certainly numbers well less
than 500 individuals.
Decline is expected to continue based on ongoing hunting and
unpredictable arrival of large hunting parties with
high destructive potential from the Gulf states.
Dama Gazelle are present in captivity, but the number of founders
is limited. Animals from Almeria breeding
facility in Spain were introduced to an enclosure (Rmila
Royal Reserve) in Morocco (130 present in 2007)
and gazelles from München Zoo (originally bred at Almeria)
were released into an enclosure in Souss-Massa N.P.
(12 animals in 2006); these semi-captives are intended to form
part of a reintroduction programme in Morocco.
All of the animals from Almeria stock originate from Western
Sahara. Elsewhere, Dama Gazelle were released
into the 2,000-ha Bou-Hedma N.P. in Tunisia in the early 1990s
where around 17 were present in 2006;
gazelles have also been reintroduced to Guembeul Faunal Reserve
in Senegal and a reintroduction programme
in Ferlo North Reserve is underway (7 animals).
Source:
UICN Press Release - 06 February 2009 -
One fourth of antelope species are threatened with extinction
in the world |
Saiga, Saiga tatarica
![](pics/map-saiga.jpg)
Saiga,
Saiga tatarica
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Saiga,
Saiga tatarica,
is the
most highly threatened antelope in Asia
The population has shown an observed decline of over 80% over
the last 10 years and the decline is continuing.
Severely skewed sex ratios are leading to reproductive collapse.
Some protected areas exist within Saiga range but distance between
summer/winter ranges of the various
populations hinders full protected area coverage. Extension
of already existing and new protected areas is
under discussion by the Russian Federation government. Some
research is being carried out on numbers,
range and behaviour. Total prohibition of saiga meat and horn
trade as well as temporary removal of saiga
from the hunting animals list have been proposed as key conservation
measures.
The Mongolian Saiga, Saiga tatarica mongolica, has been
legally protected since 1930. Two protected areas,
Sharga NR (286,900 ha) and Mankhan NR (30,000 ha), were designated
in 1993 to protect most of the
remaining areas of occurrence.
Source:
UICN Press Release - 06 February 2009 -
One fourth of antelope species are threatened with extinction
in the world |
?
Endangered antelopes
Bovidae Cephalophinae Cephalophus Cephalophus jentinki,
Jentink's duiker Endangered C1 Decreasing
Bovidae Cephalophinae Cephalophus Cephalophus spadix,
Abbott's duiker Endangered C2a(i) Decreasing
Bovidae Antilopinae Gazella Gazella cuvieri, Cuvier's
gazelle Endangered C2a(i) Unknown
Bovidae Antilopinae Gazella Gazella leptoceros, Slender-horned
gazelle Endangered C2a(i) Decreasing
Bovidae Antilopinae Gazella Gazella spekei, Speke's gazelle
Endangered A2cd Decreasing
Bovidae Reduncinae Kobus Kobus megaceros, Nile lechwe
Endangered A2a Decreasing
Bovidae Hippotraginae Oryx Oryx leucoryx, Arabian oryx
Endangered D Decreasing
Bovidae Caprinae Pantholops Pantholops hodgsonii, Chiru/Tibetan
antelope* Endangered A2d Decreasing
Bovidae Antilopinae Procapra Procapra przewalskii, Przewalski's
gazelle Endangered C2a(i) Decreasing
Bovidae Bovinae Tragelaphus Tragelaphus buxtoni, Mountain
nyala Endangered C1 Decreasing
Source:
UICN Press Release - 06 February 2009 -
One fourth of antelope species are threatened with extinction
in the world
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![](somalia/antelopes/Image3a.jpg)
The
images used herein, except where otherwise stated, were obtained
from
IMSI's MasterClips(MasterPhotos(C) Collection,
1895 Francisco Blvd.East, San Rafael, CA 94901-5506, USA
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