African Antelope Information
African Antelope are varied and beautiful. Here is a small selection for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy your visit to the Zoo at the Forest Cottage.
The Bongo, or broad-horned antelope, Boocercus eurycerus, is one of Africa's most elusive animals. Keeping close to the jungle, it n
ever shows itself in the open. The bongo is about four feet high at the shoulder.
It is a rich chestnut color with vertical white lines on the sides of the body. Bulls grow darker with age and become black about the head and neck. Both male and female have massive horns that spiral in one complete twist, but the female's are not as large as the male's.
The Gemsbok, or South African Oryx,
Oryx gazella, may not be the fleetest antelope on the African plains, but it requires an exceptionally fast horse to overtake one. When hard pressed or attacked, the gemsbok will boldly defend itself. Four-foot-long rapier-like horns extend backward and upward from the head. Both sexes have horns but the females are longer.
Gemsboks are sociable animals, spending time on open plains.
They walk along in single file. Their general color is grayish brown with a black stripe extending along the lower sides of the body.
The gemsbok is one kind of a group of antelopes known as oryxes. Other oryxes are much like their big relative the gemsbok. The Beisa Oryx and the Fringe-Ear Oryx of East Africa have shorter horns than the gemsbok and lack the black flank stripes; otherwise the animals look much the same. The White Oryx inhabits the deserts of North Africa. Its horns are not straight but curve strongly backwards.
The Red Sable, Hippotragus niger,
is one of the most stately of the antelopes. Mainly a grass eater, it prefers open sunlit glades. Alarmed, it utters a series of snorts much like a horse. If wounded and cornered, it will fight savagely for its life. Its long arching horns can reach a length of 64 inches. It is about 4-1/2 feet
at the shoulder and weighs around 450 pounds.
The Gazelle, Gazella, is a slender, beautifully formed small antelope with high-tension muscles that can send it racing across the barren wilderness at an amazing speed. They can be found in desert regions, treeless plains and sandy wastes. There are about 60 different kinds of gazelles in southern Asia and northern Africa. They are rather small, about 2 to 3 feet at the shoulder. These are Gerenuk or Waller's Gazelle, Litocranius walleri. They are noted for their ability to feed while standing on their hind legs. This allows it to reach leaves on which it dines. It also has a very slender long neck and legs that are very long for the size of its body. The gerenuk lives in East Africa.
For some antelope stuffed animals, like this little Oryx plush toy and the Thomson's Gazelles, check our sponsor's online Gift Shop.
