Wednesday, February 25, 2009
A gazelle (Arabic: غزال transliteration: ġazāl) is an antelope currently or formerly in the genus Gazella. Two additional genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, now include six species of gazelles that used to be considered members of the genus Gazella, when Eudorcas and Nanger were considered subgenera. Likewise, the genus Procapra has been considered a subgenus of Gazella, and its members are also referred to as gazelles, but they are not treated in this article.
Gazelles are known as swift animals; they are able to reach high speeds (as high as 50 Miles per hour or 80 km/h[1]) for long periods of time. Gazelles are mostly found in the deserts, grasslands and savannas of Africa, but they are also found in southwest and central Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent. They tend to live in herds and will eat less coarse, easily digestible plants and leaves.
The gazelle species are classified as part of the order Artiodactyla, family Bovidae and genera Gazella, Eudorcas and Nager. Members of the Artiodactyla order are principally distinguished by the foot; they have an even number of toes (the bovid family comprises 6 genera and 12 species). The taxonomy of these genera is a confused one, and the classification of species and subspecies has been an unsettled issue. Three species—the Red Gazelle, the Arabian Gazelle, and the Queen of Sheba's Gazelle—are extinct. Most other gazelle species are considered threatened, to varying degrees.
A recognizable example of the gazelle is Thomson's Gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii), which is around 60 to 90 cm (23 to 35 inches) in height at the shoulder and is coloured brown and white with a distinguishing black stripe (as in the picture on the right). The males have long, often curved, horns. Tommies, as they are familiarly called, exhibit a distinctive behaviour of stotting (running slowly and jumping high before fleeing) when they are threatened by predators such as lions or cheetahs. This is a primary piece of evidence for the handicap principle advanced by Amotz Zahavi in the study of animal communication and behaviour.