Gazelles have a stiff-legged jump called a stot. Jumping: Springbok and beira escape with bounding leaps that often confuse a predator giving chase. Although rheboks tend to run from danger, males have been seen attacking and chasing baboons. A threatened gerenuk lowers its head and neck, and then either slowly creeps away or makes a fast dash for survival. Running: Yellow-backed duikers dart with great speed into the protection of dense vegetation. A rhebok sentinel or lookout stays on guard and alerts its group with a cough-like grunt if a threat is discovered. But antelope do have some ways to keep safe.įreeze Frame: When a Maxwell’s duiker sense danger, it freezes, often with one leg off of the ground, so as not to be noticed.Īlarm calls: Maxwell’s duikers use two vocalizations: an alarm whistle and a loud bleat klipspringer make a loud, shrill whistle. Large birds of prey may take young calves. What's the plan? Antelope must always be on the lookout for danger, as they make a hearty meal for many predators-leopards, lions, civets, hyenas, wild dogs, cheetahs, and pythons-depending on species and location. And klipspringer have tiny, rounded hooves with a pad in the center that acts like a suction cup, allowing these nimble antelope to hop from rock to rock without falling. Slender-horned gazelles have sturdy, wide hooves for walking on the shifting sand of their desert habitat. Lechwes, which live in swampy areas, have long, pointed hooves to give them sure footing in the water. Each hoof has a split down the middle, dividing the hoof into two toes. Hooves are another specialty for many antelope. Some horns, like those of the addax and blackbuck, twist in interesting spirals others are ridged or corrugated, like those of the impala and the sable antelope still others grow in wide curves with a sharp point on the end, like those of the gnu. Horns are permanently attached, unlike a deer’s antlers, which are shed each year. The horns are made of a bony core encased in a hard material made largely of keratin (the same substance our fingernails are made of!). Horns or antlers? All antelope have horns in some species they are only found on the males, whereas in others, such as gazelles, both males and females have them. Be sure to see Goats & Sheep, Oryx, and Nile Lechwe to read about other Antilopinae subfamily members. There are even some species within the Bovidae family that are known as goat-antelope! This page will focus on some of the species in the Antilopinae subfamily, commonly called antelope as well as those such as impalas, gazelles, and gnu or wildebeest.
What IS an antelope? The word antelope has been used to describe a wide variety of horned mammals in the Family Bovidae.
0 kommentar(er)
