A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus Gazella .
Gazelles are known as swift animals. Some can run at bursts as high as or run at a sustained speed of .["Gazelle". The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2007, Columbia University Press.] Gazelles are found mostly in the deserts, grasslands, and of Africa, but they are also found in Southwest Asia and central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. They tend to live in herds, and eat fine, easily digestible plants and leaves.
Gazelles are relatively small antelopes, most standing high at the shoulder, and are generally fawn-colored.
The gazelle genera are Gazella, Eudorcas, and Nanger. The taxonomy of these genera is confused, and the classification of species and subspecies has been an unsettled issue. Currently, the genus Gazella is widely considered to contain about 10 species.
One widely familiar gazelle is the African species Thomson's gazelle ( Eudorcas thomsonii), sometimes referred to as a "tommie". It is around in shoulder height and is coloured brown and white with a distinguishing black stripe. The males have long, often curved, horns. Like many other prey species, tommies exhibit a distinctive behaviour of stotting (running and jumping high before fleeing) when they are threatened by predators such as , , African wild dogs, , , and .
Etymology
Gazelle is derived from
French language gazelle,
Old French gazel, probably via
Old Spanish gacel, probably from North African pronunciation of
,.
To Europe it first came to
Old Spanish and
Old French,
and then around 1600 the word entered the
English language.
The
Arab people traditionally hunted the gazelle. Later appreciated for its grace, however, it became a symbol most commonly associated in
Arabic literature with human beauty.
(1999).
9781558761995, Markus Wiener Publishers.
.
Note in particular pages 7 and 8 of this (linked-to) paper published at a conference in 2015. In many countries in northwestern Sub-Saharan Africa, the gazelle is commonly referred to as "dangelo", meaning "swift deer".
Species
The gazelles are divided into three genera and numerous species.
|
|
| Gazella | Arabian gazelle
G. arabica | | Arabian Peninsula |
Cuvier's gazelle
G. cuvieri | | Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia |
Dorcas gazelle
G. dorcas | | North and saharan Africa, Sinai Peninsula and Southern Israel |
Goitered gazelle
G. subgutturosa | | Azerbaijan, eastern Georgia, part of Iran, parts of Iraq and southwestern Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Gobi Desert |
Arabian sand gazelle
G. marica | | Syrian Desert, southeastern Turkey, and Arabian Desert |
Chinkara or
Indian gazelle
G. bennettii | | Iran, Pakistan and India |
Mountain gazelle
G. gazella | | Israel, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, Dubai and Turkey |
Rhim gazelle
G. leptoceros | | Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya and Sudan |
Speke's gazelle
G. spekei | | Horn of Africa |
Erlanger's gazelle
G. erlangeri | | Arabian Peninsula |
| Eudorcas | Mongalla gazelle
E. albonotata | | Floodplain and Sudanian Savanna of South Sudan |
Red-fronted gazelle
E. rufifrons | | The Sahel region of central Africa |
Red gazelle
E. rufina | | Mountain areas of North Africa |
Thomson's gazelle
E. thomsonii | | East Africa |
| Nanger | Dama gazelle
N. dama | | Sahara desert and the Sahel |
Grant's gazelle
N. granti | | Northern Tanzania to South Sudan and Ethiopia, and from the coast to Lake Victoria |
Soemmerring's gazelle
N. soemmerringii | | Horn of Africa |
|
Prehistoric species
Fossils of genus
Gazella are found in
Miocene,
Pliocene and
Pleistocene deposits of Eurasia and Africa, which occupuied a broader distribution that modern members of the genus. The earliest members of the genus are known from the Middle Miocene of Africa, around 14 million years ago with members of the genus inhabiting Europe from the Late Miocene until their extinction in the region during the Early Pleistocene around 1.8 million years ago.
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Genus Gazella
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Gazella borbonica - Early Pleistocene Europe
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Gazella capricornis - Miocene Asia
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Gazella harmonae - Pliocene of Ethiopia, unusual spiral horns
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Gazella praethomsoni - Pliocene Africa
[
]
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Gazella negevensis - Early Miocene Asia
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Gazella thomasi - Thomas's gazelle
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Gazella vanhoepeni - Pliocene Africa
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Subgenus Vetagazella
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Gazella altidens
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Gazella blacki - Pliocene Asia
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Gazella deperdita - Late Miocene Europe
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Gazella dorcadoides - Middle Miocene Asia
[
]
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Gazella pilgrimi - Late Miocene Europe
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Gazella gaudryi - Middle Miocene Eurasia
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Gazella kueitensis - Pliocene Asia
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Gazella lydekkeri - Mid to Late Miocene Asia
[
]
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Gazella paotehensis - Middle Miocene Asia
[
]
-
Gazella paragutturosa - Pleistocene Asia
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Gazella parasinensis - Pliocene Asia
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Gazella praegaudryi - Pleistocene Africa
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Gazella sinensis - Pliocene Asia
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Gazella brianus - Pliocene Asia
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Subgenus Gazella
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Gazella janenschi - Pliocene Africa
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Subgenus Trachelocele
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Gazella atlantica - Pleistocene Africa
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Gazella tingitana - Pleistocene Africa
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Subgenus Deprezia
In culture
Symbolism
The gazelle, like the antelope to which it is related, is the
totem of many African families. Some examples include the
Joof family of the Senegambia region,
[Faye, Louis Diène, Mort et naissance: le monde Serer people, Nouvelles Éditions africaines (1983), p. 74, ] the Bagananoa of
Botswana in
Southern Africa (said to be descended from the BaHurutshe),
and the Eraraka (or Erarak) clan of
Uganda.
[Roscoe, John, The Northern Bantu: An Account of Some Central African Tribes of the Uganda Protectorate, The University Press (1915), p. 262] As is common in many African societies, it is forbidden for the Joof or Eraraka to kill or touch the family totem.
Poetry
One of the traditional themes of Arabic love poetry involves comparing the gazelle with the beloved, and linguists theorize
ghazal, the word for love poetry in Arabic, is related to the word for gazelle.
It is related that the
Caliph Abd al-Malik (646–705) freed a gazelle that he had captured because of her resemblance to his beloved:
The theme is found in the ancient Hebrew Song of Songs. (8:14)
Gallery
File:Grants Gazelle Gazella granti in Tanzania 2645 Nevit.jpg|Grant's gazelle (male)
File:Gazella dama mhorr 2.jpg|Dama Gazelle
File:Cuvier's Gazelle.jpg|Cuvier's gazelle (female)
File:Gazella thomsonii - Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Orlando, Florida, USA - 20100916.jpg|Thomson's gazelle (male)
File:Gazella spekei (Speke's Gazelle).jpg|Speke's gazelle (female)
File:Group of Gazella subgutturosa.JPG|Goitered gazelle (females and young)
File:Chinkara.jpg|Chinkara (female)
File:Gazella-dorcas.jpg|Dorcas gazelle (female)
File:Gazella rufifrons AB.jpg|Red-fronted gazelle
File:Gazella gazella.jpg|Mountain gazelle (male)
File:GazellaSoemmerringiWolf.jpg|Soemmerring's gazelle (females)
File:Slender-horned gazelle (Cincinnati Zoo).jpg|Slender-horned gazelle (male)
File:Granada Alhambra gazelle Poterie 9019.JPG|Gazelles on one of the Alhambra vases made for the Alhambra palace
External links
