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Antelope

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Mammals

                 iAntelope
   impala
   impala
         Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Mammalia
   Order:   Artiodactyla
   Family:  Bovidae

                                   Genera

   Aepyceros
   Alcelaphus
   Antidorcas
   Antilope
   Cephalophus
   Connochaetes
   Damaliscus
   Gazella
   Hippotragus
   Kobus
   Madoqua
   Neotragus
   Oreotragus
   Oryx
   Ourebia
   Pantholops
   Procapra
   Sylvicapra
   Taurotragus
   Tragelaphus
   and others

   Antelopes are a polyphyletic group of herbivorous African and Asian
   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; many are more closely related to
   cows or goats than to each other. There are many different species of
   antelope, ranging in size from the tiny royal antelope to the giant
   eland. They typically have a light, elegant figure, are slender, have
   graceful limbs, small cloven hoofs and a short tail. Antelopes have
   powerful hindquarters and, when startled, 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 (100 kilometers) per hour, making them among the fastest of
   land animals.

Physical characteristics

   Apart from basic characteristics, antelopes differ from each other in
   appearance and physiology almost as much as they differ from other
   members of the cattle, goat, and sheep family. For example, the common
   eland towers over most breeds of domestic cattle and can be 300 times
   heavier than the tiny royal antelope.

   All antelopes have long, slender legs and powerful muscles where the
   upper legs meet the body, providing leverage and increasing leg stride
   and speed. Though antelopes are good jumpers, they are not particularly
   good climbers. A few do display good balance, such as the klipspringer,
   which stands on the tips of its hooves. The gerenuk, another African
   species, is one of the few antelopes that habitually stands on its back
   legs.

   Antelopes bear a dense coat with short fur. Most antelopes have fawn or
   brown-colored fur so they can camouflage themselves while eating. There
   are some exceptions, including the rare zebra duiker which has dark
   vertical stripes, and the gemsbok which has gray and black fur and a
   vivid black-and-white face. A common feature of the gazelle is a white
   rump, which flashes a warning to others when it runs from danger. One
   species of gazelle, the springbok, also has a pouch of white brushlike
   hairs running along its back. When a springbok senses danger, its pouch
   opens up, and the hairs stand on end.

   Antelopes are ruminants. Like other ruminants, such as cattle and
   sheep, they have well-developed cheek teeth or molars, which grind cud
   into a pulp. They have no upper incisors; in order to tear grass stems
   and leaves, their lower incisors press against a hard upper gum pad
   when they bite.

   Antelopes rely on their keen senses to avoid predators. Their eyes are
   on the sides of their heads, and their pupils are elongated
   horizontally, giving them a broad view of danger from both the back and
   front. Their senses of smell and hearing are also acute, giving them
   the ability to perceive danger while out in the open where predators
   often prowl after dark.

   Both sexes of most antelope species grow horns, though the males' horns
   are generally larger. The dik-dik and klipspringer, two species where
   the male mates with only one female, have horns that are little more
   than spikes. However, in species where males compete to mate with
   several females, horns may grow as long as 1.5 m (5 ft.). Despite their
   large size, antelope horns are hollow and lightweight. Antelope horns
   are almost always slightly curved, although in some species such as the
   blackbuck, they are shaped like a pair of corkscrews spiraling out in
   opposite directions.

   In many species, the males are larger than the females. In several
   species, such as the Asian blackbuck, males and females also differ in
   colour.

   Antelope life spans are hard to determine, and most known figures
   relate only to those in captivity. Captive gnus have lived to be over
   20 years old, and captive impalas have lived into their late teens. In
   the wild, antelopes rarely live to their teens, as they are often
   preyed upon.

Behaviour

   Unlike carnivores and primates, herbivores such as the antelope are not
   noted for high intelligence. Since their food cannot run, antelopes do
   not have to be quick-thinking. However, they can be very clever in
   escaping from their enemies. Antelopes are fast runners, although they
   are not the fastest animals in the world. They are good at quick,
   precise turns, and they can run very fast for extended periods of time.
   This gives them an advantage over many predators such as the cheetah,
   which relies on sprinting and can be tired out by the antelope's
   greater stamina.

   The antelope's choice to flee is based largely on the type of predator
   and its distance from the herd. Usually, gazelles will permit lions to
   come within 200 m (650 ft.) before fleeing. They likely recognise that
   a hunting lion prefers to hide while stalking its prey, meaning a
   visible lion is unlikely to attack. Cheetahs, who are superb sprinters,
   pose a more dangerous threat. Gazelles will flee from cheetahs when
   they are over 800 m (0.5 mi.) away.

   Antelopes communicate with each other using a varied array of sounds.
   For example, dik-diks whistle when alarmed, warning other animals of
   danger as well. This characteristic makes dik-diks less favorable prey
   for hunters. Generally, though, sight is a much more common form of
   communication than sound among antelopes. An antelope's mood is
   indicated by its posture and movement. When excited or alarmed, most
   medium-sized species of antelope bounce up and down on all four legs,
   keeping them stretched out straight. This behaviour, known as pronking
   or stotting, acts as an alarming display. Some biologists theorize that
   stotting also sends a message to predators, showing that individual
   antelopes are fit and alert, and therefore not worth pursuing.

   Antelopes also use scent signals to communicate; these signals can
   linger for many days. Antelopes that live in herds have special glands
   in their hooves that leave a scented record of their movement. If an
   antelope were accidentally separated from its herd, it would be able to
   follow the scent tracks back.

   Antelope species common to forests tend to stay in the same place all
   their lives, but species that live out in the open often migrate to
   feed and breed. The gnus carry out the most famous of these migrations
   through the plains and open woodlands of eastern and southern Africa.
   Gnus are sedentary in some places, but in others, such as Serengeti
   National Park, gnus travel between two different home ranges. One of
   these ranges is used during the dry season, while another is used
   during the wet season. Migration can be very risky; the dangers include
   crossing crocodile-infested rivers, but migration also supplies the
   gnus with food at different times of the year.

Species

   Various species of antelope from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur
   Enlarge
   Various species of antelope from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur

   There are about 90 species of antelope in about 30 genera, of which
   about 15 species are endangered. These include:
     * addax
     * bluebuck
     * bongo
     * bontebok
     * common eland
     * dik-dik
     * duiker

                     * gazelle
                     * gemsbok
                     * hartebeest
                     * impala
                     * klipspringer
                     * kudu
                     * nyala

                                     * oribi
                                     * oryx
                                     * Grey Rhebok
                                     * roan antelope
                                     * royal antelope
                                     * sable antelope
                                     * springbok

                                                       * suni
                                                       * tibetan antelope
                                                       * topi
                                                       * waterbuck
                                                       * wildebeest
                                                       * zeren

   Blackbuck antelope have been imported into the United States, primarily
   for the purpose of "exotic game hunts," common and popular in Texas.
   There are no true antelope native to the Americas. The pronghorn
   antelope of the Great Plains belongs to the family Antilocapridae. The
   Mongolian gazelle or zeren (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 and are very similar to the dik-dik
   in size, shape and colour, but have many smaller differences.

   Antelope are not a cladistic group in and of themselves, but rather are
   considered a miscellaneous group. The term is used loosely to describe
   all members of the family Bovidae who do not fall under the category of
   sheep, cattle or goats. Native antelope can be found in Asia, India,
   and Africa.

Hybrid antelope

   A wide variety of antelope hybrids have been recorded in zoos. This may
   be due to a lack of more appropriate mates in enclosures shared with
   other species, or misidentification of species. The ease of
   hybridization shows how closely related some antelope species are. It
   is likely 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 in an attempt to preserve species purity.
     * 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
     * East African Oryx or Beisa oryx/Fringe-eared oryx
     * Grant's Gazelle/Thomson's gazelle
     * Beisa oryx/ Gemsbok
     * Arabian Oryx/ Scimitar Oryx or Scimitar-horned oryx
     * Thomson's gazelle/Roosevelt's gazelle
     * Slender-horned gazelle/ Goitered Gazelle or Persian goitered
       gazelle
     * Goitered Gazelle or Persian gazelle/ Blackbuck
     * Cuvier's Gazelle/Slender-horned gazelle

Cultural aspects

   The antelope's horn is prized for its 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. In European Medieval culture, the antelope
   represented nobility as evidenced in Chaucer and John Lydgate. The
   antelope's ability to run swiftly has also led to its association with
   the wind, such as in the Rig Veda where antelopes are the steeds of the
   Maruts and the wind god Vaya.

   In Fez, Morocco, leather made from the hide of the antelope was used to
   manufacture Adargas, shields used in battle.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antelope"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
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