Antelope
Categories: Bovids | Wildlife of Africa
- This article deals with the African herbivorous mammal. For other uses, see Antelope (disambiguation)
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Aepyceros |
The antelope are a group of herbivorous African animals of the family Bovidae, distinguished by a pair of hollow horns on their heads. These animals are spread relatively evenly throughout the various subfamilies of Bovidae and many are more closely related to cows or goats than each other. There are many different species of antelope, ranging in size from tiny to very big. They typically have a light and elegant figure, slender, graceful limbs, small cloven hoofs, and a short tail. Antelope have powerful hindquarters and when startled they run with a peculiar bounding stride that makes them look as though they are bouncing over the terrain like a giant rabbit. Some species of antelope can reach speeds of 60 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour), making them among the fastest of land animals.
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Species
There are about 90 species of antelope in about 30 genera of which about 15 are endangered. These include:
Black Buck Antelope have been imported into the United States, primarily for the purpose of "exotic game hunts", common in Texas. There are no true antelope native to the Americas. The Pronghorn Antelope of the Great Plains belongs to family Antilocapridae. The Mongolian Gazelle (Procapra gutturosa), sometimes classified as an antelope, can run with a speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). Suni are small antelope that live in south-eastern Africa. They stand between 12-17 inches high at the shoulder. They are very similar to the dik-dik in size, shape, and color but have many smaller differences.
Believe it or not, there is no such thing as a Sahara Antelope. This is a common misconception.
Hybrid Antelope
A wide variety of Antelope hybrids have been recorded in zoos. This is due to a lack of more appropriate mates in enclosures shared with other species or with misidentification of species. The ease of hybridization shows how closely related some antelope species are. It is probably that some so-called species are actually variant populations of the same species and are prevented from hybridization in the wild by behavioural or geographical differences.
- A mating between a male Eland and a female Kudu produced a sterile male hybrid that resembled the Eland.
- Blue Wildebeest produce fertile hybrids with the smaller Black Wildebeest. This led to an entire herd of 180 "genetically contaminated" Black Wildebeest being destroyed in a wildlife conservation park (species purity is a human concept, nature is far more flexible).
- In the early 1900s the London Zoological Society hybridized several antelope species including: the water-bucks Kobus ellipsiprymnus and Kobus unctuosus, and the Selouss antelope Limnotragus seloussi with Limnotragus gratus.
Listed antelope hybrids include:
- Bongo/Sitatunga
- Lesser Kudu/Sitatunga
- Eland/Greater Kudu
- Blue Duiker/Maxwell's Duiker
- Bay Duiker/Red-flanked Duiker
- Bay Duiker/ Zebra Duiker
- Black Duiker/Kaffir Duiker
- Cape Hartebeest/Blesbok
- Bontebok/Blesbok* Black Wildebeest/Blue Wildebeest
- Common Waterbuck/Defassa Waterbuck
- Defassa Waterbuck/Nile Lechwe
- Defassa Waterbuck/Kob * Nile Lechwe/Kob
- Kafue Lechwe/Ellipsen Waterbuck
- Red-fronted Gazelle/Thomson's Gazelle
- Beisa Oryx/Fringe-eared Oryx
- Grant's Gazelle/Thomson's Gazelle
- Beisa Oryx/Gemsbok
- Arabian Oryx/Scimitar-horned Oryx
- Thomson's Gazelle/Roosevelt's Gazelle
- Slender-horned Gazelle/Persian Goitered Gazelle
- Persian Gazelle/Blackbuck
- Cuvier's Gazelle/Slender-horned Gazelle
Cultural aspects
The antelope's horn is prized for medicinal and magical powers in many places. In the Congo, it is thought to confine spirits. Christian iconography sometimes uses the antelope's two horns as a symbol of the two spiritual weapons that Christians possess: the Old Testament and the New Testament. Their ability to run swiftly has also led to their association with the wind, such as in the Rig Veda, as the steeds of the Maruts and the wind god Vaya.
External links
- San Diego Zoo. Includes pictures.
- Eland. Includes pictures.
- African Wildlife Foundation's Hartebeest page. Include a dropdown menu of other antelope pages.de:Antilope
es:Antílope eo:Antilopo fr:Antilope io:Antilopo it:Antilope lv:Antilope nl:Antilopen pl:Antylopa pt:Antílope ru:Антилопа sv:Antiloper uk:Антилопа zh:羚羊亚科