Agazelle is one of manyantelope species in thegenusGazella/ɡəˈzɛlə/.[2] There are also seven species included in two further genera;Eudorcas andNanger, which were formerly consideredsubgenera ofGazella. A third former subgenus,Procapra, includes three living species of Asian gazelles.
Gazelles are known as swift animals. Some can run at bursts as high as 100 km/h (60 mph) or run at a sustained speed of 50 km/h (30 mph).[3] Gazelles are found mostly in the deserts, grasslands, andsavannas ofAfrica, but they are also found insouthwest andcentral Asia and theIndian subcontinent. They tend to live in herds, and eat fine, easily digestible plants and leaves.
Gazelles are relatively small antelopes, most standing 60–110 cm (2–3.5 ft) high at the shoulder, and are generallyfawn-colored.
The gazelle genera areGazella,Eudorcas, andNanger. Thetaxonomy of these genera is confused, and the classification ofspecies andsubspecies has been an unsettled issue. Currently, the genusGazella is widely considered to contain about 10 species.[4] One species is extinct: theQueen of Sheba's gazelle. Most surviving gazelle species are consideredthreatened to varying degrees. Closely related to the true gazelles are theTibetan goa, andMongolian gazelles (species of the genusProcapra), theblackbuck of Asia, and the Africanspringbok.
One widely familiar gazelle is the African speciesThomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii), sometimes referred to as a "tommie". It is around 60 to 70 cm (24 to 28 in) 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 ofstotting (running and jumping high before fleeing) when they are threatened by predators such ascheetahs,lions,African wild dogs,crocodiles,hyenas, andleopards.
Gazelle is derived fromFrenchgazelle,Old Frenchgazel, probably viaOld Spanishgacel, probably from North African pronunciation ofArabic:غزال‹See RfD›ġazāl,[5][6]Maghrebi pronunciation‹See RfD›ġazēl.[7] To Europe it first came toOld Spanish andOld French,[7] and then around 1600 the word entered theEnglish language.[8] TheArab people traditionally hunted the gazelle. Later appreciated for its grace, however, it became a symbol most commonly associated inArabic literature with human beauty.[9][10] In many countries in northwesternSub-Saharan Africa, the gazelle is commonly referred to as "dangelo", meaning "swift deer".[11]
Fossils of genusGazella are found inMiocene,Pliocene andPleistocene 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.[13]
The gazelle, like the antelope to which it is related, is thetotem of many African families. Some examples include theJoof family of theSenegambia region,[29][30] the Bagananoa ofBotswana inSouthern Africa (said to be descended from the BaHurutshe),[31] and the Eraraka (or Erarak) clan ofUganda.[32] As is common in many African societies, it is forbidden for the Joof or Eraraka to kill or touch the family totem.[30][32]
One of the traditional themes of Arabic love poetry involves comparing the gazelle with the beloved, and linguists theorizeghazal, the word for love poetry in Arabic, is related to the word for gazelle.[33] It is related that theCaliphAbd al-Malik (646–705) freed a gazelle that he had captured because of her resemblance to his beloved:
O likeness ofLayla, never fear! For I am your friend, today, O wild gazelle! Then I say, after freeing her from her fetters: You are free for the sake of Layla, for ever![33]
The theme is found in the ancient HebrewSong of Songs. (8:14)
Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains.
^Sponheimer, M.;Reed, K.E.; Lee-Thorp, J.A. (June 1999). "Combining isotopic and ecomorphological data to refine bovid paleodietary reconstruction: a case study from the Makapansgat Limeworks hominin locality".Journal of Human Evolution.36 (6):705–718.Bibcode:1999JHumE..36..705S.doi:10.1006/jhev.1999.0300.PMID10330334.
^Bouvrain, G. (1996). "The gazelles from the late Miocene of Macedonia, Greece".Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie.199 (1):111–32.doi:10.1127/njgpa/199/1996/111.
^Meng, X.; Zhu, D.; et al. (September 2010). "Late Cenozoic stratigraphy and paleomagnetic chronology of the Zanda Basin, Tibet, and records of the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau".Acta Geologica Sinica.82 (1):63–72.doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2008.tb00325.x.S2CID128749824.
^Vislobokova, I.; Dmitrieva, E.; Kalmykov, N. (1995). "Artiodactyls From the Late Pliocene of Udunga, Western Trans-Baikal, Russia".Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.15 (1):146–159.Bibcode:1995JVPal..15..146V.doi:10.1080/02724634.1995.10011214.
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Quotations related toGazelles at Wikiquote
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