HOME WEB NEWS IMAGES CLASSIFIEDS YELLOW PAGESPOLLS - SURVEYS WIKI COUNTRIES PHOTOS US UK INDIA
Cities Stocks Weather Movies Coupons Travel Blogs Health Horoscope Maps ASIA EUROPE Classifieds Yellow Pages
|
 1
|
|
|
This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| Gazelle | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Species | ||||||||||||||
|
Several, see text |
This article is about the antelope species. For other uses, see Gazelle (disambiguation).
A gazelle is an antelope of the genus Gazella, although the three members of the genus Procapra also widely are referred to as gazelles. Gazelles are known as swift animals; they are able to reach high speeds (as high as 50 mph[1]) for long periods of time. Gazelles are mostly found in the grasslands and savannas of Africa, but they are also found in southwest Asia. They tend to live in herds and will eat less coarse, easily digestible plants and leaves and the occasional animal carcous.
The gazelle species are classified as part of the order Artiodactyla, family Bovidae and genus Gazella. Members of the Articodacycla 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 the genus Gazella 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. All other gazelle species are listed as endangered, to varying degrees.
A recognizable example of the gazelle is Thomson\'s Gazelle (Gazella 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.
Contents |
Grant\'s-gazelle.jpg
|
MhorrGazelleza.jpg
|
Thompson\'s Gazelle.jpg
|
Persian Goitered Gazelle2.jpg
|
Chinkara.jpg
|
Gazella-dorcas.jpg
|
|
Thompson\'s Gazelle.jpeg
|
Fossils of genus Gazella are found in Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits of Eurasia and Africa. The tiny Gazella borbonica is one of the earliest European gazelles, characterized by its small size and short legs. Gazelles disappeared from Europe at the start of Ice Age, but they survived in Africa and Middle East. Three species become extinct in recent times due to human causes.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
